Empty House

Well two years at an end...came back today to find house all but empty, piles of rubbish outside (with someone randomly going through it "for a carboot sale - the lesser joys of Haringey).

Tomorrow pack the rest of my shit up and have my parents to stay (dad left London in 197x and never really got over it).

Its been above all a fun few years, not always good - to be fair - but never without interest or incident, too many memories. Above all I know I've made friends for life; not to mention learning the virtues of care in the community (an hour ago talking to a guy in a pub who told me he was a servant of God sent to prepare for the next Noah's flood - and that 7/7 is just the start !).

Disco lights in hand (you have to see them - remember our house parties, I don't) I go to Winchester (Outer Bumblefuck), then to Oxford (Learned Bumblefuck)...hopefully back to London in a year, assuming it hasn't been blown up in the Second Coming.

Influences on Blair

Before I start this post let's get one thing straight; I'm not always a fan of Cherie Blair. Her tendency to milk every situation for the last penny and inclination towards trusting questionable characters (wanna buy a flat in Bristol) do not make me sleep easy given her husband runs my country (with a little help from 'the Scottish politician' (actually most of the cabinet is Scottish but you know who I mean).

However, today she had it right : her powerfully argued exposition of the importance of an independent judiciary and effective human rights protection (read it here) was timely given the widely publicised wish of the security services to use the London bombings to get from Parliament something that would be unthinkable on 6th July 2005; to intern (for that is the right word) terrorist suspects without trial for 3 months.

Yet there was an alternative view, proposed by the lovely Rebekah in Wapping - read it here (if you must). In summary the key points are :

• Cherie Booth is a "big cheese" in a law firm that makes money from the "human rights industry" and therefore biased in favour of illegal asylum seekers and terrorists (the same thing).
• Human rights have become a goldmine for lawyers who - by representing terrorists - aid and abet terrorists.
• Tony Blair has done "all the right things" since 7/7 and should now tell his wife to "keep her opinions to herself" (right wing papers in the UK generally don't like women who have opinions, let alone voice them).

This leaves Tony Blair in an inenviable dilemma, forced to chose between the opinions of on the one hand his wife who, we must assume has been instrumental in his journey to No. 10 (it is, after all, rumoured that Tone increased his involvement with the Labour party to impress a certain idealistic and passionate young barrister whom he later married) and the opinion of a newspaper which, more than any other, helped New Labour into power in 1997 and has ensured the Tories remain in the doldrums ever since.

It will be interesting to see which he choses to adopt...

By the way if anyone knows a way into this human rights "goldmine", do let me know...

Helpful Transport for London

Received this today...

Piracy Crackdown

Obviously as a wanna-be IP lawyer I'm (now) very much in favour of corporations being able to protect their intellectual property (provided I can download the occasional album gratis via Bittorent).

So it was with interest that I read on BBC news of Bill Gates' latest initiative.

I quote :

Customers who discover that their copy of Windows is pirated have two options.
They can get a free version of Windows if they fill out a counterfeit report identifying the source of the software, providing proof of purchase and returning the counterfeit CD. If they are unable to provide all the information, filling out a report will entitle them to receive a copy of Windows XP Home Edition for the reduced price of £56 or Windows XP Professional Edition for £86.

Er, so I can get a free copy if I can provide "proof of purchase"; having been to the Golden Centre in Shamshipo and the (slightly more sallubrious) Mong Kong Computer Centre (both in Hong Kong for the benefit of the uninitiated), I can honestly say I've never been offfered a receipt for pirated software...nor do many Warez sites send a receipt to your email (whether in English or Russian).

So doubt many people will be getting their hands on free copies of Windows any time soon - unless of course they stick to using good old fashioned pirated copies.

Goodbyes

Moving out and saying goodbye to people is really really shit

The Dangers of Blogging

One of the 'taken for granted' things about the internet is that it can be accessed by pretty much anyone...from Kent to Cairo to Kansas...

Some of my more avid readers will note that Spindoctor has been somewhat distressed about his forthcoming move out of the big smoke to more rural climbs...having just arrived home after the south west trains experience (replacement bus half way) and poured myself an alcoholic beverage to recover...

What do I find in my room - a sign saying "Bumblefuck welcomes careful drinkers".

Nice to see someone's reading my blog at any rate.

Must go to sleep as have new job starting tomorrow...

(Still) Don't Shoot I'm Brazilian

Just discovered how this highly dangerous south American "suicide bomber" tarvelled to the tube station.

Er, by bus - just as well he didn't decide to blow that up you might think !

Eventually public panic will wear off and the realisation of just how inept the UK security services seem to be will dawn...

Don't Shoot I'm Brazillian...

"Police shoot bomber on tube" screamed the headlines on Saturday morning....unfortunately its now emerged that the man shot five times in the head by armed police was, er a Brazilian electrician.

Cue various pieces in the more right-wing press of the difficult job undertaken by our armed police, split second decision, need to protect the public etc. The message seems to be 'tragic but understandable'.

This seems to miss the point - what of the intelligence linking the man to the bombings ? The fact that he was seen leaving a suspect address and had dark skin hardly seems satisfactory. Is anyone wearing a coat on the tube with vaguely middle-Eastern/south Asian looks a target ?

The UK police, it has to be said, do not have a sterling record in terrorism cases; the strategy, when faced with IRA bombings in the 70s seemed to be to find the nearest Irishmen, fabricate evidence and beat confessions out of the suspects. This seems all the more poignant when various 'experts' in the media point out that intelligence on the IRA was, generally, far greater than anything the police or MI5 have on this new threat.

After 7th July much was made of one of the suspected bombers trip to Pakistan...unfortunately it was not to be. It later turned out that a Hasib Hussain had visited Pakistan...but alas not the same Hasib Hussain as was pictured in CCTV footage but a 16 year old of the same name.

Beginning to look worrying like kindergarten cops...

Ottogono

Quick tip (has to be quick as parents arriving in a minute and house is a tip)...went to see flatmate's boyfriend' band in Nowhereville, West London (West Ken).

Unsurprisingly it took two hours home on the nightbus...

Perhaps more surprisingly - they were really really good ! Not just them but all the bands on, way better than half the stuff I've heard in Camden over the last few weeks.

So try and catch one of their gigs...they're called Ottogono and here's a link to their website. They're playing Rock Garden on 11th Sept. You can also liten/download tracks here.




Bumblefuck is moving ever closer...

Bye Bye London...

Hello Bumblefuck; definied in the dictionary as "a location inconveniently far away" or alternatively "an imaginary place where all the residents are hicks, rednecks, or otherwise backwards" (well we haven't had a Tory MP in Winchester since 97 so maybe I'm being a bit unfair)

Yes, three years have passed and Spindoctor is moving out of the city...moving house is not the best thing - imagine the combined inconvenience of :

a) having to sort out your stuff into two categories 'shit to be thrown away now', 'shit to be thrown away by your mum in a few months time'.
b) having to leave the land of 24 hour transport to take you to theatres, bars and clubs etc
c) having to move back into the parental home; as the old saying goes there's no such thing as a free lunch. Just as, to get IMF grants, developing countries have to generally prastrate themselves at the knees of US capitalism, so too, to get free food at home I have to submit to being constantly interrogated about where I'm going, coming back etc...

But all is not lost - have a part time job lined up to pay for India trip this December so won't be too bored...then off to Oxford for a year to do masters...on that subject read something in The Guardian recently about animal rights activists planting a bomb in the Oxford University boathouse.

Thats the thing about England - when you leave London even the terrorism is second rate !
In the words of the Governor of California - 'I'll be back'.

London

Memo to Al-Qaeda - assuming that's who's been trying very hard to kill me during the recent days/weeks.

I live in Turnpike Lane - before 7/7/2005 I took thr Piccadilly Line into central London from my humble abode; up until today I took the 29 bus plus Victoria and Northern lines; tomorrow, assuming the tube isn';t running I'll take the 341 and 29 buses...

If you wanna have another go - try all you like - call it third time lucky !

You'll find London in 2005 isn't New York in 2001 - Londoners won't run around firebombing Mosques or chanting 'UK, UK UK'; our government won't declare war wholesale on the Middle East...to be honest we've had terrorism before. During the 1940s it was the Nazi blitz and later, during the 1970s, it was the IRA (yes, I know funded significantly by our shoulder-to-shoulder friends across the pond). So fanatics peddling a political message in blood is nothing new here, we're not impressed.

Yes I know we sold/gave you all those weapons when you were fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan - but we all make mistakes. Over 2 million people rallied in Hyde Park against the Iraq war - some of those people may well have been caught up in the events of 7/7 or today. The atrocity in Spain did not in itself change the election result - the Spanish government's inepitude in pre-maturely blaming ETA did that.

So do me and us a favour - piss offf - you're strategy won't work. By the way what is your aim; UK withdrawal from Iraq ? I was an opponent of the original illegal invasion but the imposition of a theocratic Islamic state against the democratic will of the Iraqi people I cannot tolerate. To split Islamic Britons from British society ? I hope to God (whichever) you do not and cannot succeed...

I for one will be catching the tube as soon as it bloody well works properly - which it wasn't before by the way...

I look forward to your reply - specifically I'm looking for an example in which killing/threatening the lives of innocent people has worked in the past in promoting a political message...Ican't think of any - least of all against what I believe to be the greatest city in the World...

Spindoctor is back in business.