Question 8. The finalw

What is the goal of your life?

Stoney Littleton

Skreeworld are in the process of raising funds to purchase part of a viaduct, a quater of an acre of land, some suitable for pasture, some with mature trees. There is also a barrow dating back to, who knows when though records suggest it predates Stonehenge. This plot of land needs saving. Skreeworld have raised half the funds to protect our cultural heritage, we need a and. We have offers but would prefer someone who sees the importance of preserving this rare spot.  Please contacr skreeworld if you can help with loans or parrallel interest.

come and have a go if you think you're hard enough

Who has the balls

We have half the costs. Who dares enter skreeworld for a mere  £5000

View from viaduct on to 3 quater acre of land

Describing this opportunity is difficult. It is 7 miles from Bath, a town whose property prices are comparable to london. The two remaining viaduct arches sahow that magnificent brickwork where a straight line tunnel is cut through sat an angle, the brick work is magnificent. The plot leads out to a bunch of hidden woodland, estimate 40 years old. Thiere is a barrow, the equal of those near stonehenge, never touched by invasive archeologists.  A brook flows through. This wont happen again. Skreeworld have raised half the costs. Anyone with moral responsibillity should match us. Otherwise skreeworld aim to make it our headquaters in our war against the burglars ofbculture.

Viaduct 2

A barrow dating back to times before the construction of Stonehenge is in the plot of land. Come in with Skree for the adventure of a lifetime.

Viaduct and pasture land and sacred barrow

Skreeworld is looking for financial help to purchase these remaining 2 arches from a viaduct, 7 miles from Bath that was used for rail transport of quarried Bath stone. The piece of land is up for auction for an estimated £10000 though there is no reserve. A brook runs through, trees over 40 years old. Opportunities like this come up very rarely.

Question 7 (the penultimate)

The middle weight boxing scene of the late 80s and early 90s was one of the most exciting times for british boxing. a; in Michael Watson and Nigel Benns first clash, who was the victor? b; In a particularly brutal though legendary fight, which American did Nigel Benn nearly lose to then permanently incapacitate. c; Chris Eubank caused permanent damage to Michael Watson, which recently retired boxer beat Eubank in to retitrement?

Hawkwind

All Hawkwind followers know of the rift between Nik Turner and Dave Brock. The  result is Hawkwind, Brocks band and Space Ritual, Niks band. Hawkwind play a sound similar to the Levitation, Quark Strangeness and Charm period sound. Space Ritual, a more free for all, Space Ritual come Astounding Sounds Amazing Music set. More of an underground feel. I took Ron Tree , who I know from Leeds and who also lives in Frome, to play thier first gig after the BBC4 documentary. They played a blinder. Last years Hawklords do has caused a further rift. Now there is a third band, Hawklords Zoo who play Frome in a week or 2. We will report.Everyone knows the mess that was the Hawkestra event at Brixton Academy.

It is a tragedy that one of Britains greatest bands cant agree on anything. Before Acid House, before ecstasy we were there, off our heads on acid, watching, listening, dancing to Hawkwind at illegal festivals like Stonehenge, the only major band brave enough to play. A movement bigger than Punk. A movement written out of history.

The Twin Towers

This is going to take some bottle. Two chimneys, 200 feet high, just a ladder strapped to the side. Probably put there for maintenance and never used. Our plan is to make a banner and me and Kip climb up leaving our message for thge morning. Even the walk around the top pathway of Bath gas silos pales in to insignificance compared to this bastard. Torn between dutch courage and the tiny error that would result in our deaths. I'm thinking best carrabina and safety rope off every 6 feet or so. Off on a reconaisance mission to measure up banner length then the usual argument over statement. Kips always political, mine always fuck thier heads up with some wierd shit.

Sorry

Apologies to all skreeworld blog readers. I made recent postings regarding work, something I swore to never do. There is a trade forum of an extreme conservative nature and flitting from one to the other confused me. The Furniture Bonfire will take place though. Firstly I have plans to burn a piece of my own and am working on the pyrotechnic sides of the project. Also there will be a furniture tower fire which anyone can take part in. We have mainstream media interest for this. The forum I menmtioned is opposed to creativity and humour. Skreeworld blog is committed to humour and creativity.

Window of Opportunity

A nice pipe

Tired and busy today so just a quick pipe

Arbieht Macht Frie

As skreeworld readers will know, around the time the sign from the gates from Auschwitz was stolen, so was the Wurzels poster stolen from the Frome gig poster board. The culprits have now been dealt with. packed in to the back of a van, driven to the Lizard peninsular, stripped of clothes and shoes and left to make thier own way homer. The Wurzels poster is reinstated. You may also notice the poster for Hawklords Zoo featuring Terry Ollis, original Hawkwind drummer, other Hawkwind greats and Ron Tree on vocals.

Trespassers will be prosecuted

A mesage to all young folk who may be inspired by the adventures of Skree and Kipper. This is no game and should you follow the noble path, trouble from the law, danger of losing your life may result

Art thoughts

It is not the sort of idea that takes a considered view of standard commercial practice yet my poaition lies thus. The idea of making Art and listening to the way art is talked about, the highly pretentious explanations of most artists work is not only expected but the orthodoxy. An art work has failed where words are necessary. This orthodoxy is counter creative allowing little hope for original work that doesn't follow these rules. Art has consequently become one of the least experimental areas of human endeavour. Even the least cerebral fine art requires the artist to submit some theory. Conceptual Art collapsed because, if the idea is the work, and an idea by it's nature is a linguistic construct, then a book is the correct vehicle. What resulted was outdated, basic philosophy with a handfull of uninteresting milestones. Since it's occurance, however, it has become necessary, to be taken seriously, to tag an idea on to the work, a sort of conceptual 'lite' with objects. In pure creative state, when drawing or making the subconscious overrides any self conscious appropriation of concept. Furniture can be a great vehicle for self expression, it quietly sits in the room, no shouting of 'me, me, me' The artworld is rife with myth and lie that always overrides truth.. Artists who are clearly very poor succeed. Once enough money is invested in thier work the collectors cannot afford for the emporer to be wearing no clothes. The artists have trapped themselves in a web of words yet few have much to offer. The saddest thing I saw was a fantastically skilled draughtsman, spent the first 18 years of his life perfecting his skills at looking at form and reproducing it. When he reached college he was told that all this work counted for nothing. Not that he was equiped to learn to use these skills to articulate idea but that idea was all and skill worth nought. His teachers, failed artists, were all wrong. The idea is of utmost importance but it is the ability to articulate the idea to others is what is important, lay the sheet work for Beethoven in front of me, a non musician and I'll make an unholy racket. Sadly he rejected art. Dada, Duchamp have a lot to answer for and it is only very recently that artists are daring to reject thier dogma. Not that they were wrong, just that they had only grasped part of the story. The resultant orthodoxy has led to a situation where the experimental is now conventional and the conventional now experimental. The most shocking and daring work is now decorative, even figurative. This years Turner Prize was won by a wonderful work of craftsmanship in goldleaf and bore little relation to Duchamps readymade urinal or a century that saw Tracy Emin repeating the idea with her bed.. To dare to step away from the mundane reapproapriation of a chunk of reality and its submission as art in the gallery setting is the action of a brave individual. In many ways, 20th century art became like the horse in the age of the motorcar, pure self indulgence. Art once was at the cutting edge of human endeavour. Da Vinci, Michelangelo produced work at the pinnacle of what man could achieve Today the true avant guarde lays in other areas, computer technolgy, science, it is difficult for artists to compete. I believe an art will develope to re take the lead. Steps in to the true nature of humanity can only be a short distance off.

Eels

As a child my favourite food was eel. The incredible fight they put up for thier size is a marvel of nature. Yet I havnt caught one in years. Eels can travel across land, distances of 15 miles in damp grass and have often been mistaken for snakes. Sadly the Zoological Society of London have seen a 98% drop in eels in the Thames, an iconic cockney staple. Other rivers have seen a similar decline. The Eel originates from the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean and can spend 3 years travelling from Sargasso to European rivers. 20 years or so spent in our rivers leads up to thier epic 4000 mile return  journey to the Sargasso to spawn and die. Little is known about these fascinating creatures and no one seems to know why they are disappearing. It is with some sadness that I consider the thought that should I have children they may never taste this delicacy.

Michael Landy - Art Bin

One of Britains best artists working today whos' most famous piece 'Break down' saw him destroy all 7226 of his wordly posessions, just the thought feels liberating.
Art Bin, a 600 cubic metre galvanised steel bin at South London Gallery, a depositry for art to be thrown art. He set the ball rolling by asking a few well known names to throw away work, Tracy Emin, Damien Hirst, Julian Opie, Gary Hume but the general public are free to bring thier own work along. The final decision if a work can be binned is Michaels, people have tried making new work just to be binned, not in keeping with the idea at all. What is even worse is aspirant artists using it as a vehicle to have thier work alongside Damiens three skull paintings or Tacys rubbish. Of course, he has presented the press with that very headline, modern art being rubbish. However, so far, I havn't seen a poor enough jpournalist drop  to that level.

Crap Terrorists 2

An earlier posting about popular crap terrorists, I argued that Fromes' Richard Reid [not a great name for a terrorist] with his crap shoe bomb antics was far crapper than the underpants bomber. Well, readers, I've found a supreme crap terrorist to trump them all. Often referred to as the 'bum bomber' a man packed his anus with gelignite and detonated himself close to the Saudi prince. No one was hurt other than this legend of crap terrorism the bum bomber who died in an explosion of shit and blood.

Leads skreeworld on to Chris Morris' directorial debut 'Four Lions' . He runs the risk of Fatwah through joking about Jihad. Just the other week one of the Danish cartoonists was nearly murdered along with his grandaughter by a mad axeman in the fortress he has been forced to live in. Some terrorists just don't have a sense of humour.
The film was shown at the Sundance festival. Banksys new film and Howl, about Allan Ginsbergs seminal poem. The four Jihadis' of Morris' film explode themselves during the London marathon in graphic detail. All Morris' work is hugely well researched, never ironic even puritanical. He is a genius working in the field of comedy asking questions few dare to. This nations greatest commedian who knows that the object of comedy is not primarily to make you laugh.

Joy Rider 2

Homelessness

It is easy to forget how cruel the world can be.
Went to see Kip who is living in an untaxed, uninsured car, tucked away behind Baths opulence.
Two men and a dog and all thier posessions.
We chatted as condensation blurred the outside world then went down for the free soup canteen provided by good people.
There bed for the nigfht is thier illegal car
Drugs and alcohol make it bearable
I will steal Kipper for an adventure over the next day or 2, it is all I can offer
A man whos' morallity has taken him to such depth whilst rich folk laugh
There will be vengeance

Question 6

Nazareth

one of the greatest unsung bands of all time had one of thier songs sampled by Girls Aloud

a; name the Girls Aloud song
b; name the Nazareth song from which it was taken

Question 5

You've all given up you lazy bastards. Genuine skree artwork at stake here valued £10,000. If you all prove to be numbskulls, the work will be burned at the summit of Clay Hill, filmed and blogged. Deeply saddened by the weak, ponderous followers. Prove yourselves worthy.

Question 5; Which were the two highest works of industrial architecture scaled by Skree and Kipper last year?

Joyrider

Cuprinol chemical factory

When one finds oneself in times of trouble a swift escalation of industrial buildings is always a good way to lighten the load. A chequer fence, 7 feet tall topped with barbed wire, such a relief after all the cuts from razor wire over the last year. Daylight trespass always has a certain worry but never quite the thrill of a nighttime job. The undergrowth we worked our way through and up the steep railway embankment was all worth this little beauty. Were they on tea break, heads down on job , who knows. In up down out in ten minutes.

Casper RIP

When I first began daily pick up from my local chemist whilst recovering from heroin addiction, some years ago, a cat called Casper would come in, sometimes spending all day there. The customers got to know the charismatic cat.
Last year, rtevisitting the old chemist I saw news articles cut out from papers across the world. Caspers owners had moved to Devon. He would quietly queue with passengers waiting for the bus riding around Plymouth. He became a global superstar.
Yesterday, sadly skreeworld heard and has to report that Casper was killed by a hit and run driver.
Caspers life on the buses came to international attention last year when it turned out that, for 4 years, he had been riding Devons' city bus no.3 , passing the dockyard and naval base en route. The drivers grew to know him and let him off at his correct stop.

Rhyming slang for artists and furniture makers

Knives and forks - Johnny Hawkes
Coughing up mucus - Sarah Lucas
Piss poor - Anish Kapour
Hair dryer - Paul Fryer
Salt Seller - Jeremy Deller
Cheddar Gorge - Gilbert and George
Long snowdrift - John Makeshift
Start to bleed - Martin Creed
Racy Women - Tracy Emin
Polished spoons - Jeff Koons
Upper class winger - Mark Wallinger
Irritating puff - Brian Clough
Right up your snatch you know - Anya Gallachio
Fit to burst - Damien Hirst
Threadbare [eddy mayer] - Fred Baier
Orange peal - Gareth Neal
Bicycle brain shite - Michael Wainwright
Dull and formless - Anthony Gormless
Livid Cockney - David Hockney
Gunpowder plot - Barnaby Scott
Over the moon - Jez Broun


All additions welcome

Boxing - Yorkshire Dales

In reply to a private e mail relating to my blog. I returned to Leeds after living for a time in the Yorkshire Dales. I had damaged my knuckles in boxing on my left hand. At the time I was just discovering woodwork, my painting and sculpture had become irrelevant in this cultural backwater, boxing inspired me to pactice toward excellence. I wasn't great, I won 9 lost 2. My left hand damaged, I thought I'd best leave this be if I wanted to make great things.
I returned to Leeds where I began training to be a joiner. Once qualified I went to work. It was dull. I went off travelling to Kent, Norway, Portugal. It became apparent that little could be achieved within the traveller scene though I have continued to maintain connections and friends in that world. In Ireland I met a guy who told me about Shrewsbury college where art and joinery met. I went there.
Still enjoy a good fight though

Competition question 4

What music did Ronnie O'Sullivan walk out to at todays masters final and who did the albums cover artwork?

Is Tex Gay?

Took Tex out for a walk and a healthy saturday afternoon drinking session with my good friend Garrick, a blacksmith, farrier and like minded craftsman. He has a year old rottwieller puppy. Tex raped then attempted more male domionance rape on the poor pup. Tex was castrated by the rescue home and never seems interested in on heat bitches. However he often rapes male dogs. There is a huge bull mastiff, much bigger than him he regularly rapes. Now I don't agree with all that jailhouse shit but is Tex a bull queer?

Snooker

Since the days of Alex Higgins, who can forget the sad footage of him sat, drunk, alone, the crowd gone, players, refs, commentaters too. Just Alex sat alone as if waiting to take his next shot. Perhaps the most upsetting sports footage of all time. Ronnie O'Sullivan now has the weight of the entire sport on his frgile shoulders. Once he is knocked out of a competition more than half the viewers stop following. So rare in sport, Ali, Gascoigne, Higgins, George Best, that mix of nonchalant natural genius aligned with serious personality disorder. O'Sullivan was even better when he was 16 than he is now. He made a 147 break sged 15 in the English Amateur Championship. The rock in his life was taken away when his father was given an 18 year jail sentence for murder. Ronnie developed bi polar disorder. Personal problems took his eye off the ball. Even in this shattered state he won 3 world, 4 uk, and 4 masters titles. The organiseres of the game docked him ranking points for disrespecting an opponent when he beat him playing the whole game left handed. I can't help but wonder, knowing that you are so much more gifted than any one else, if the pressure of holding the weight of an entire sports success is too much for one man.
Perhaps he will walk away as he frequently suggests he might.
I pray not.

Competition question 3

Clue 1. So far no one has got everything right though some have bits right.
Glam Rock Question
The Fall are the band I have seen most live. Difficult to articulate ones love of the Fall and not something I often talk about, some parts of ones life must be kept private. Perhaps of more current interest, due to the massive Glam Rock revival  sweeping the nation since Gary Glitters execution, well, throughout Skreeworld anyway, it seems poignant to say a few words about Slade.
Many see the Sex Pistols as the creators of punk, of course this was really The Ramones. With thier football chant anthems, the compressed synthesis of sound in to a nucleus of power, thier use of the visual, emphasis on clothing and appearance, thier slow, 12 bar riffs, to me, they were the last great Glam Rock band. The focus on the single format and relative disregard of the album, preferred by the prog rock bands such as Led Zeppelin and Yes who seldom managed anything worthy of a single. [the only great heavy rock band are of course Black Sabbath who stand alone in this genre which is other wise of comparative interest as brass band music, Jeremy Deller excepted]
Sorry, I'm supposed to be talking about Slade. Often overlooked is the fact that Slade could really play, all musicians had worked the circuit in the sixties along with thier period stranded in the west indies, a formative stage comparable to the Beatles Hamburg learning period. Recent research suggests genius is the combination of aptitude and pactice and Slade were both musical and visual genius.
Listening to 'How Does it Feel', the first song Jim Lee ever wrote though not used until the film 'Flame' came out, is a symphony the equal of any band. Dave Hill takes over bass duties as Jim plays keyboards though plays it like lead. There is footage from the Russel Harty show of them playing this live, faultless though slightly doctored for the time slot.
'Whe the Chips are Down', a personal favourite sees them at thier peak. Just a B side but a four minute burst of machine gun fire.
In Slade in Flame, a film that blew the lid of music industry corruption in a way the Pistols never quite managed they even scale Shivering Sands [see earlier postings]. It is, without a doubt, the greatest brit rock film ever though it virtually killed there career. The public were expecting a joky Beatles type crap slapstick thogh Slade delivered a brutally honest time piece. Some of the shots of 70s Wolverhampton are pure poetry, closer to 'Kes' than A hard days night'.
Slade continued long after this though were no longer fashionable.
In all Slade histories Reading 1980 figures as the last great Slade moment. They wiped the floor with the entire british heavy metal scene. I was fortunatly there with backstage pass. I met Dave briefly. Later we saw Noddy and Jim having a celebratory beer so I went up to congratulate them.


At this point, which snooker related Alwoodley rock fan name, when upon asking Noddy for an autograph, had an ejaculating penis drawn on to his jeans by the legendry frontman?

a; Jim White
b; Jack Black
c; Black Francis
d; Jack White

Teddy Pendergrass RIP

The god of all Mr Love'a'Lovermen has sadly died aged 59. The voice of Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes. 'The Love I lost', 'Don't Leave me this way'. Whilst in his prime his career suffered a huge setback after his car hit a tree he was paralised from the waste down in 1982. But did he succumb to self pity? Did he fuck. He carried on singing from his wheelchair though with less power than he once had. Surgery from colon cancer failed to stop the disease so with tears in our eyes, all at Skreeworld are blasting out 'The Love I Lost' today for Teddy. If you don't know me by now, you will never never know me. No one could express the whole spectrum of romantic emotion from sexual hunger to love lost.

Kick Football out of Hooliganism

The' Kick hooliganism out of football' campaign overlooks the true origins of football. Whole villages of menfolk would play a version of all in, no rules football where the massed crowds tried to score by any meens. Over 100 per side would battle for supremacy in a 100% violent game. There are occasional reenactments of this version of the game where any male could take part, far closer to a full on 'swedge' than to the modern game where male femininity is celebrated with exhibitions of child like tantrums and faking hurt akin to the actions of a 3 year old. Other historians talk of an even more upsetting game where the heads of the decapitated enemy were kicked around by nasty englishmen hence the frequent public house names of 'The Saracens Head' and 'The Turks Head'. The reality is not that hooliganism has attached itself to football, quite the opposite, football has attached itself to the much older pactice of hooliganism.

Competition

Fuck me! due to the high number of correct entries, there will be 7 more questions relating to skreeworld blog

Question 2 Glam Rock

Which Sweet single sold most copies worldwide?

a. Blockbuster
b. Hellraiser
c. Wigwam bang
d. Fox on the run
e. Ballroom Blitz
f. Teenage Rampage
g. The Six Teens
h. Love is like Oxygen
i. Turn it down
j. Action
k. Little Willy

And which was banned by the BBC?

The Shades

Leeds 1984. Quiz question for all skreewold followers. In the band The Shades, who only played two gigs, one at Harehills social club, one at Woodhouse community centre, lead guitarist, the now deceased Shaun Fletcher who made me vomit on the morning after my 21st, the day Madonna played Roundhay Park, died in ice climbing tragedy,  Pig on bass guitar, star of skreeworld legend and Ignit Ploaeg fame. Which two characters from the skreeworld blog acted as frontman, extra points and a real skree artwork, worth £10,000 for who can say which was dressed as a woman. No members or former members of The Shades can take part in this quiz

Jason Feddy back in England

Jasonfeddy.com
Jason is back this month to play a couple of gigs up North. Check out his site. A true undiscovered national treasure. America gets him, why don't you? I'll be off up for one, no question.

King of the Snow Dogs

Power Lines 2

A lightness of touch

I had felt, until this last year that an object was the milestone of total necessity I must leave to mark the thought journey. It struck me now that the construction of the Water Tower in Moortown was a complete irrelevance. The journey up and the reenactment of the journeys of my teens was as far as it need go. Rather like Richard Longs walks or Jeremy Dellers reenactments of the Battle of Orgreave the art lay in the activity. This also has the benefit of depriving any leach gallery or artworld commerce disturbing the purity. Having a product, in the current climate, both political and environmental seems an increasing irrelevance. To have breathed the air atop the mighty structure once more was enough, to see the world from a standpoint from a different time in my life was the conclusion off a timecycle. There is the you tube clip, the photographs should I forget. Who knows, if I have the fortune to live another 30 years I may go up again. There is something fundamental about time that few get, I seldom get it. Through the reenactment of traumatic adventures from earlier 'you's' it is possible to open a window, you can time travel, perhaps not forward though.

Sundays' stolen thoughts

Too many laws, too few examples.


What I have learned is two things; one, that the facts have no power over the mythology. Two, that if you are going to stand up for things, you have to accept that you will be reviled for it.


Freedom of speech is fine but freedom of thought is absolutely forbidden. stand a wee bit outside it, like we do, and you see how pathetic it all is. There's nothing there. No rigour, no standards, no nothing.


The English character is not always attractive. The preference for irony over honesty can become wearisome, while the occassional escapes in to drunkenness justifiably appall foriegners. Worse than both, however, is English puritanism, whose first priority has always been to prevent pleasure rather than relieve pain.

Brick Chair - Back in the magazines

Looks like the Brick Chair number 2 is going to be back in the magazines. Hope they get at least some degree of it's meening this time. The generic chair form is used to invert or turn terraced housing of my teens inside out. A wrap around of the exterior, a house pulled through infinity. Much of historic furniture is based on architecture, David Linley uses the architecture of his youth to colour his work. I am doing the same here, the terraced housing of inner city Leeds is used to express feelings about class, housing and culture. Scale was a major influence, some people lose thier sense of perspective, I have lost my sense of scale. As many builders seal newspapers and messages inside walls I have sealed a message written on paper, sealed inside this piece. So much went in to the making that my starting point became lost at times. The outside pulled through infinity and inverted and returned to an interior setting. There was, at the start, a part of me wanting to admit my voirism. Walking home through streets of suburban stasis it is impossible not to be caught by an open lit up window. Like a television set you are drawn to watch the family doing thier normal stuff. Outside is dark, you are hidden, thier front window is like a television set. You can watch families just doing normal stuff. Only a numbskull could not be drawn in to being a peeping Tom. Outside you are safe, hidden, they are comnpletely unaware of you yet they feel a sense of security, a sheet of 6mm glass is all between you and them. You can walk right up to the window undetected and watch.

Woodwork

A decade or more ago I vowed to never let my art be put in a 'Woodwork' magazine again. My pallet of possibility is heavily influenced by the trade I took. Sadly, at times, the media see no further than the media an artist uses to express an idea. To help out a friend I have agreed to once again to let my work appear in a woodwork magazine. I hope they understand that the media I use is merely a vehicle to express feelings and not the object. I am very worried how the article will be percieved. I gave up all this over a decade ago and it feels like a step backwards. Let's see what happenms on wednesday and hope that the profile projected is accurate.

New Puritans

The self righteous new temperance movement hides itself behind a whole bundle of lies. The suggested move to put 50p tax on each unit drunk has brought to light the flaws in thier arguments. The tax brought in from the alcohol industry provides £15 billion a year which is far greater than the cost of the NHS. The temperance movement calculates a figure of £2.7 billion as the cost to the NHS along with the impact on family life, crime and roughly 500 road annual road deaths. The 50p a unit measure would push the cost of all bottles of wine up to £4.50, the current mode average is around £3. The poorest 10% of society spend an average of £5 a week on booze, the richest 10% £28. This is effectively a tax on the poor. The smoking ban has already seen pubs closing down at the rate of 4 a week in Leeds alone. Once the hub of a community where fathers would discuss the actions of thier youths and thgis info leading to appropriate clips round the ear kept society self policed. Now chaos is the order of the day with no one responsible for the actions of thier wild teenage offspring.
The Temperance movement of the 19th century was quashed by an alliance of the working class and the Wigs. In 1859 the commons rejected the religiously inspired proposal, alcohol was deemed to incur costs 'which society can afford to bear, for the sake of the greater good of human freedom'. The current proposals are likely to push alcohol in to different atreas, a rise in home brewing, home distillation. Is this better than all the benefits, rarely admitted, of the visible alcohol culture at present? The damage of the illegality of street drugs is imeasurably high. If alcohol follows suit the repurcussions wouldbe hideous. A huge rise in shop lifting. As all alcoholic shoplifters know, the half bottle of Martell is of perfect design, the neck of the bottle sculpts gradually upward to allow easy removal of thewire security tag. The lower bottle shape, flat yet with a slightly rounded cross section allows for a perfect and invisible trouser front shove that even tight summer clothing can coceal. Effectively, the shop lifting alcoholic is more likely to use spirits than weaker fluids.
Without the social glue of alcohol society would be like a brick wall without mortar, teetering on the brink of collapse. I needn't mention the recent research that proves drinking heavily is the best protection against heart disease Britains biggest killer, that the liver is the only organ capable of regeneration, the depressing dip in form of our ages most successful artist since he became tee total, the voice from the shy and withdrawn that alcohol can summon up, the joy, merriment and happiness that all but a small pocket of alcohol use creates. The history of our entire culture is built on a foundation of our love of drinking. Is all this worth destroying for the actions of a small minority? I think not.

Horizon

Science has only recentl started to take dogs seriously. 'Horizon; The Secret Life of Dogs' was an amazing programme. An American Border Collie understands about 500 words, maybe 1000. Betsy can even read a drawing, a 2 dimensional representation of a 3 dimensional object and go collect it. Tex must know about 30 or 40 words though I have been reluctant to train him too much as I have always found it a bit humiliating for dogs to be taught to beg, roll over, all that shit. I don't want him to be too well trained. A wolf cub won't train too well and Tex is pretty close to being a wolf than my first dog Pavlov who understood pointing very early on. Tex does get pointing now rather than coming to lick your finger as most dogs do. I have always wanted to preserve his self determination rather than over train him. Chimps don't understand pointing. They now reckon an adult dog is about the intelectual equivalent of a 3 year old child. Not only pointing they can understand the direction we are looking in, they can read our emotions from our faces, our supposed closest primate can do none of these things. Of course, it depends how you measure intelligence. I put Tex as a superior being to myself in many ways, the recent snow has rendered me a virtual invalid where as Tex moves with sleek fluid beauty in a world he was bred for. The programme didn't get in to  all the recent research that proves dogs can lengthen your life, cure you of depression even cancer. We have been together maybe closer to 100 000 years than the 10 000 some have suggested. That is a very close bond. Dogs wouldn't be what they are were it not for us but equally we wouldn't be what we are were it not for dogs. Most dog owners knew all this already but as ever it takes scientists a long time to catch up.

Snow Dog

Lines of Power 1

Knighthood for a bully and child assaulter

Sir Ian McGeechan. The establishment sport bugry union. Only posh people watch that shit yet a game that 3000 attend gets a 2 page spread in broadsheet sports pages. A Rugby League game attracting a crowd of 25000 gets no mention because it is the outcast sport. McGeechan was given a knighthood in the new years honours list. Did any readers go to Fir Tree Middle school during the 1970s? He was my games teacher so I can say I have been in a team of the inferior codes greatest coach. He used to force kids whose parents were too poor to buy proper kit to wear ridiculous sized cast offs in order to ridicule them. He hit kids repeatedly on the buttocks with a rubber soled plymsole pump. If you didnt try hard enough in his lessons you would be ordered to do press ups in a 6 inch deep puddle He knew I was a league fan so always played me as a flanker, the player the more advanced game has abolished.

Fortunately the mighty Quo got deserved OBEs to compensate.

Blogs of old

With the start of the new year it seems a fitting time to relook at what the bloggers of old were up to, this january 6th posting on Samuel Pepys blog captures those early days of the blogosphere

Friday 6 january 1660
This morning Mr Sheply and I did eat our breakfast at Mrs Harpers, [my brother John being with me] upon a COLD TURKEY pieand a goose. From thence I went to my office, where we paid money to the soldiers till 1 o'clock, at which time we made an end and went home to my cosen, Thomas Pepys, and found them just sat down to dinner, which was very good; only the venison pasty was palpable beef, which was not handsome. After dinner I took my leave, leaving my wife with cozen Strandwick, and went to Westminster to Mr Vines, where George and I fiddled a good while, Dick and his wife [who was lately brought to bed] and her sister being there, but Mr Hudson not coming according to his promise, I went away, and calling at my house on the wench, I took her and the lanthorn with me to my  cozen Stradwick, where after a good supper, there being there my father, mother, brothers, and sister my cosen Scott and his wife, Mr Drawwater and his wife and her brother, Mr Stradwick, we had a brave cake brought us and in the choosing, Pall was queen and Mr Stradwick was king. After that my wife and I bid adieu and came home, it being a great frost.

Manchester united 0 Leeds United 1

The world of football was shaken to its roots yesterday as the mighty Leeds made history and showed that it isn't a sport worth watching withou Leeds

Winch

Manchester United versus Leeds

Tommorrow we meet the old foe. In the year of my birth 1965 we were both on for the double. An FA cup semi at Hillsborough was a rough fought draw. Nobby Stiles started the violence with an evil tackle on Albert Johanneson, the first black top flight player, warmly heald in the hearts of the Leeds faithful.
The fighting on the field spread to the terraces. The violence continued 4 days later at the replay which we won with a last minute goal by Billy Bremner. This was Leeds first season in the first division and the scum, sadly, won the title and Leeds lost the cup final. Leeds, however, under the inspired and way ahead of his time Don Revie went on to dominate football until 1975. In 25 games we lost 3 until the holy year of 1974 when the scum were relegated.
The Leeds United story is a tragedy that has inspired bitterness from virtually all angles. Leeds clearly should have won the eoropean cup final in 1975 were it not for a clear conspiracy of referee and linesmen. The Leeds fans vented thier frustration on Paris that night.
Revie has been maligned by most football historians as having a dirty cynical team. A more accurate assesment is that he did in the '60s what it took the rest of football till the '80's to mimic.
In 1994 Matt Busby died and where every ground in the country heald a minutes silence and impecably observed it was at all but Eward Park where the Leeds fans sang 'theres only one Don Revie'. All the pundits were disgusted. There was a serious point though. Revies genius has never been recognised, when people refer to the scum as United it sticks in the craw. Which United? Manchester United are the Coca Cola, the McDonalds of football. They are not the team of the true Mancunion even, every northerner knows City are.
We take 9000 tommorrow and though divided by 42 league places and outnumbered in the streets and terraces 5 to 1, we will fight and whether we win or lose we will be Leeds.
Come On!

Dad and the Crow

After leaving home and school on the same day as an easter leaver taking no qualifications, I didn't see my Dad for 5 years. I came back to the semi derelict family home where my Dad still lived with some home brewed beer to have a drink with him. I knocked but no reply. Having nothing better to do I sat on the doorstep, it was warm with sun flooding a place I had grown up. The upstairs windows had panels smashed and the glass fragments lay chaotically in front of me. Two long spiked shards suggested the beak of a crow. I spent the next 4 hours arranging the shards and fragments into the shape of a crow, a complex mosaic about 3 feet by 3 in size. The headstate of timelessness I fell into made the hours minutes and the random shapes an obvious jigsaw. I decided to knock again, in case he had been pretending to be out or was sleeping. He opened the door, let me in. We drank the beer and have got on well since.

Gallows Tree 2010

The Street

Seems others in this town hold similar views to the destruction of authenticity the town centre is becoming subjected to

Science seems increasingly victorian

'Artistic minds primal and direct commumnication with the nature of things is still seen as an alternative and more genuine path of human creativity, opposing the analytical cold and cynical scientific approach. Frequently we find that artists believe, at least in private, that they are fundamentally opposed to this science, to mimical science which is designed to endanger thier minds, thier aims and way of life'
Miroslav Holub

Holub was a scientist, a distinguished imunologist as well as a poet, he felt no conflict between his two areas of endeavour. Further, he believed that a scientific idea , reduced to its components, verified and sieved, critisized and revised by observation was very much the same as what the creative fraternity engaged in

'Both the scientific and poetic communications are a function of condensation of meanings, of the net weight of meaning per word, of inner and immanent intensity. Opposed to other written communications they are, at thier best, concentrates, time saving devices'

Holub spent his life trying to breach this 'romantic disjunction'

I see his point and in the pieces where chunks of real life are gilded or offered up for examination I hope to ascend to that purity. The symbol of the first third of my previous years work used the cooling towers as icons of an attitude to our understanding of our relative morality regarding the environment as well as referencing a man made environment disappearing before our eyes

Fat Boy

Jools Holland why? Last night you had Boy George prancing about to Karma Chameleon. Now no one likes to see a fat old man dancing around. How can Boy George still claim to be a man without conviction? I remember his heroin arrest and subsequent grass up of his dealer. The New York coke bust and he's just got out from his conviction for a violent sex offence. If he had to appear, he should have sung ,'Do you really want to hurt me', to which we all would have answered 'yes' you kidnapping , torturing bastard.
I turned off in disgust after that. Gary Glitter wasn't on later, was he?

Sex and Violence, Death and Silence

I got a very special book for christmas, one that really mattered, a very special book that chronicles a period I remember. Published posthumously, Gordon Burn had written many pieces, primarily on that stale phrase that bands together to deindividualise, The Young British Artists. The essays read chronologically from punk to global importance. The line seems so clear, hindsight blinds us, nostalgia deafens. Yet read sequentially you recall how tatty, how small it all began now history has made it all seem so big.
Gordon Burn did the same for the Yorkshire Ripper 'Someones husband, someones son'.I lived through that too yet even to those of us who walked those streets as children where the bodies were found, the Ripper tag gave it a mystique that was neither deserved nor real. Gordon went to live and talk to those at the heart of the mess and drew out just how ordinary, how obvious how senseless it all was. As the phrase goes the banality of evil. Through the combination of living through that period in Leeds and Gordons book I learned so much. I finally understood Hitler, Auschwitz. Ordinary, even boring people who did strange things that taken out of historical and cultural context make no sense at all. Yet in that bubble of time were just like the pavement, the lino, the tool shed.
The sum of the two books make me see anything can happen if you want it to, it just depends what you want to be your legacy.
God bless you Gordon and rest in peace