Not a lot going on here, but sometime it gets interesting.

Tales of woe and going slow

2010-07-07T11:06:00.001-07:00

Five years ago this very day, I got on the last Northbound train that day headed for my dayjob - then near Farringdon. 'Power surge', so they said. Turned out that London was under seige, and our Capital was closing down to save itself. I remember the hoardes of people streaming home towards The Angel after work whilst I sat in a cafe with my brother, like most people trying to fathom out what was happening to our home. Extraordinary.In a related thought, after the usual delays to #firstcapitalconnect trains this morning and afternoon (some idiot leant on the off switch again) it suddenly occured to me that the scary & tragic events of 7/7 were quite possibly the last time I heard a good excuse from those running the #thameslink line. Though #firstcapitalconnect is quite possibly the worst transport service since the invention of the wheel. Thanks to http://www.firstcrapitalconnect.co.uk for the image btw. Will delete if I've been naughty!

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Brainstorming, the art of bullshit and Ed Balls' big gay eyes

2010-06-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

My day job is Communications Manager for Supporters Direct, and we're just finishing off a rebranding and comms strategy exercise (scuse the website; still old 'brand' - soft launch was at our Better Vision for Football [Twitter: #sdvision] last weekend.)

Given the circumstances, I've been pondering of late; Have you ever wondered quite what 'strategy' and 'tactics' actually are? Being someone who's come up on the outside into PR/Communications half the time I have to confess I don't think even the best consultants do (especially I hear you murmur). Strategy, so it goes, is the plan; tactics are the things you do to achieve the aims of your plan. But let's face it, strategy doesn't stand alone and dictate to the tactics; the tactics inform likewise - it's a two-way process. But all that aside strategy is, when compared to doing, about as exciting as watching paint dry. Yes, I know that it's supposed to (and does if it's done properly) create certainty and make the doing possible, in essence. But it's also a bit of an excuse to navel-gaze, and gives people some suitable long-grass to kick things into.

I want to do - not strategise; achieve stuff; promote things; get people excited about the potential they have. Here's a few people my mate Dutch Paul and me have been talking about today (the top three, obviously). And as for Ed Balls (and what is he shouting in that pic on his site - 'on me 'ead' or 'Oi, c*nt'?), have you seen him lately?

Amazon and the art of censorship

2009-04-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

So Amazon has decided to join the ranks of the cyberbullies, alongside Microsoft and Google. They've decided to stop including vast amounts of gay literature in their rankings, which have a tremendous impact on what sells. It even includes the classic 'Oranges are not the only fruit' by Jeanette Winterson, dramatised to great effect on the BBC in the 1980's.

Author Mark R Probst writes in his blog about the frankly scandalous behaviour of the bookselling giant, here (which includes Amazon's frankly shitty response).

If you want to do something about this, then try this advice from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books - and follow their directions to link to this: Amazon Rank

Don't let them do this. And I'll leave you with this thought; Playboy's classic centerfolds (sic) book doesn't get banned in a similar fashion. Even if they aren't being homophobic by intention, that's the effect.

Looking back at the black dog...

2009-03-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

It just struck me, as I put on an album I haven't heard for a while, just what depression actually means.

Let me tell you that I suffered from it, except, thank God, in some ways, that it didn't take me a campaign to realise it (a fantastic campaign nonetheless). Depression and anxiety are two pretty tasteless things, when that's all that seems to go on. You see, it affected everything. The black dog, the black cloud, a feeling not so much hideous, but just, well, depressing. Being depressed depressed me, and so I got, well, more depressed. It would affect everything; relationships, work, friendships - to a degree (but thank God for friends; they made it bearable).

What prompted this post? I met someone today who clearly struggles with life in many of the ways I do, and in fact I've spent some time recently in the company of someone who clearly gets beaten down with life sometimes. I'm also going to the funeral of someone this week who people have said to me lived life in the lower reaches of the human mood. And I would have said to her, as I've told the other two I mentioned, to stop doing whatever it is that makes life so tough for them. And I'd advise you to do the same. Not in some terribly quasi-consumerist-opt-out way that we were encouraged to do for years by people who thought that thinking about yourself meant making decisions only with you in mind; being selfish. What I mean is, if something is hurting, depressing you that much, then look at it again, manipulate it, talk to it, and work out whether in fact that way you approach 'it', whatever 'it' is, is the right way, or whether it's what you should be doing at all. You might leave it behind, you might just deal with it in a different way, but rest assured, realising that you don't have to be under the thumb of whatever it is that causes your depression, is one of the most liberating acts.

What's interesting though is how alert having been depressed makes me to other people's moods and states of mind.

You might read this post and wonder what the fuck I was talking about, but if you've been in the lower reaches of the human mood for any sustained period of time, you'll know what I'm saying.

Boris Thatcher the defender of minority interests

2009-02-06T04:57:00.000-08:00

'Not a racist shit?', Johnson (bottom row)

Hats off to Boris, Mayor of Bromley and Bexley, for standing up for minorities. I have to say I admire his willingness to stand in the way of the persecutors to protect the victims, especially siblings of former *PM's.

I mean, if a girl can't use a phrase like 'gollywog' when they fancy it, especially in front of a load of onlookers, when can she? Waheey for Ol' Boris the twizzle-haired, half asleep bloke-in-charge-of-airport-expansion (but only in the Thames Estuary). Oh, and jolly hats off to the splendid Daily Mail and the super Daily Torygraph for sticking up for poor ol' Carol!!

Old Bags - lots of them (above)

*Cough!

Boris, Mayor of Bromley and Bexley, tells us not to skive, whilst forgetting to check the forecast.

2009-02-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

Kent's favourite, Johnson (bottom row)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7865169.stm - here he is, suspending the CC (yeah, cheers Boris; another masterstroke of doing very little except making meaningless headline-chasing gestures), then asking us to get out with out shovels to clear the roads like we're going to make up for his incompetence (and then he has the gall to tell us that there's 'no excuse for a mass skive'). I know it might be seen as unnecessary sticking the boot in, but Ken Livingstone does have a point when he says that Johnson must take some responsibility for not preparing the Capital last week. Or was he too busy off visiting rehashed Tory airport plans? This is how Boris Watch has it.

Plonker (not) in disguise? Baker (above)

Even more irritatingly - and naive as hell (but I don't think unsurprisingly given their almost total lack of impact of late), the Lib Dems Transport spokesman Norman Baker idiotically blamed Central Government for the lack of preparation! Have_you_forgotten_you_dimwits?

The champions of devolution and localism opting to ignore who actually runs the capital. Talk about a lost opportunity. Maybe they know their hopes of winning London are nil, and so they'd rather keep Boris, Mayor of Bromley & Bexley in charge - the electoral equivalent of a three-year-old with a blindfold being in charge of rewiring a house.

Progressive London Conference

2009-01-25T09:31:00.001-08:00

Yesterday's Ken Livingstone inspired Progressive London conference was eventful at times - thanks for instance to the sex worker who reared his head with a list of five questions to Harriet Harman at the post-lunch plenary. Unfortunately, chair Jon Cruddas MP couldn't shut him up. Along with the small collection of delegates in the hall who seemed to want to spend the session raising issues like the events Gaza - important, but not the subject of the debate - this bloke somewhat spoiled what could have been a fascinating session, with Bonnie Greer, Eric Hobsbawm, our Ken and Harriet Harman herself. Then again, Harman did what you expect a government minister to do and spent her slot defending their record on the recession.

Anyhoo, though me and my brother Danny swerved the closing plenary for fear of more of the same, the sessions themselves - I went to one on transport and then on blogging - were pretty interesting. Good stuff from Tory Troll, Mayor Watch and Boris Watch bloggers.

The point of this event was a way of beginning the process towards developing a coherent and progressive approach to London issues. As Ken said when tidying up the aforementioned plenary, remarking that (very paraphrased) he "didn't think he'd be criticising delegates, but that this isn't about examining the past, but coming up with an agenda for the future." I'm going to see if I can get involved in future transport-related things as part of this, as not being a party loyalist of any description, but a centre-left type (progressive I suppose), this is my bag - especially, being slightly nerdy, transport.