Before the 3AM catfight could break out that night, I got myself out of bed and Googled "asthma home remedies."  Most of them involved drinking hot coffee or black tea, or making some kind of crazy concoction of spicy vegetables.  The closest thing I had was Chai tea, a cup of which equaled about an hour of sleep.

On the rare occasions when my sleep schedule gets messed up like that, I always have crazy vivid dreams the next night, usually based on a mish-mosh of the things that have happened to me most recently, usually if I've been watching TV or movies.  Because over the weekend I 1) watched three episodes of Season 4 of "The Wire," 2) Watched "Nova: To the Moon" (Netflix suggested I would like it) 3) got in a small tiff with Birmingham after spending a lovely afternoon with him and 4) saw "Religulous" at the movies, my dream went like this:

Birmingham and I got into a fight, so I went back to school, only the school was an inner-city Baltimore elementary school.  It turned out that I was a brilliant mathematician, the smartest one in the class, and during the math lesson I figured out how to make space ships rendezvous inside the moon's orbit.  That meant that I got to skip to the head of the class, and I got to be a part of the moon expidition.  When we arrived at the moon's surface, we found a lovely grove of trees, and we also found out that we were all able to breathe properly, even without an atmosphere.  While we were all collecting rocks and stuff, the lunar lander took off without us.  And then a voice came down from the heavens and said we were being punished by God for not believing in him.  And then he read to us from the book of Genesis.  And damn if his voice didn't sound a lot like Birmingham.

And then I woke up wondering how that trip to Mars was coming along.  I plan to sleep like a log tonight, after this cup of strong black coffee wears off.

"Mott MacDonald has been appointed, as part of the design team led by architects Denton Corker Marshall, by Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS) to help design new magistrates courts for Birmingham.

The new 20,000m2, 14 storey building, with a capital value of around £70 million, will house 24 magistrates courts and associated facilities, including waiting areas, meeting rooms, a custody area, offices and car parking. The building will be located close to Birmingham city centre and is due for completion by the end of 2012.

Mott MacDonald will provide structural, building services, façade and fire engineering. The brief includes a requirement for the building to achieve BREEAM excellence and the team will be building on their experience with the recently completed Manchester Civil Justice Centre.

Mark Facer, Mott MacDonald’s project leader said, “We are thrilled to be working with Denton Corker Marshall and HMCS again on another prestigious project. We are aiming to take a further step forward in delivering energy efficiency and best practice in sustainability.”

Speaking about the appointment of the design team, Alan Eccles, HMCS Midlands Regional Director commented, “The project to provide a new building for Birmingham Magistrates Court is a key element of the Regional Estates Strategy which will provide much needed, significantly improved facilities for court users. The appointment of the design team is a significant step in the procurement process: given their experience, expertise and initial ideas they will undoubtedly deliver a building that will be functional whilst being distinctive and one that we will be proud of.”

Denton Corker Marshall Director Stephen Quinlan added, “We are delighted to be working on another court project. We very much look forward to working with the HMCS again, following our successful working relationship on the Manchester Civil Justice Centre.”"

It was so much fun to sit in on the Rick and Bubba show. Even if you disagree with their politics, you have to admit that they are master entertainers and so good at what they do. I also admire Rick's strong faith in light of the accidental death of his young son. They were hospitable hosts, and it was fascinating to watch the behind-the-scenes proceedings of a radio broadcast. Visit their Web site, http://www.rickandbubba.com/, to learn more about their show. I think they were tickled about getting their sign back, although they assured us that we really didn't have to go to all that trouble!

The idea was initially planted following the announcement of the radical shake-up at TrinityMirror's titles in the Midlands and the prospect of 60+ experienced, skilled journalists - writers, subs, photographers and graphic artists - needing to find work in the region.

Rather than setting up a formal agency, a couple of us chatted about setting up an informal and loose network.

Quite how it would work is unclear, but there is interest in the opportunities it might generate.

Although the original post is still comment free, I also emailed about a dozen people at the same time and have received a dozen very positive and enthusiastic responses. Some of them have also contacted others, who also seem enthused by the potential of the idea of a new freelancing network.

As the situation at the TM titles is still a bit fuzzy, with many unsure about what their future holds, a lot of those who have responded are a bit guarded about going public at this stage. But there seems sufficient interest to start talking about organising a get-together of anyone interested in joining.

All those who have responded agree that a web-based network offers potential to develop in many different directions. Although there will inevitably be competition for work, sharing skills and experiences and offering recommendations for projects that come across your radar which might well suit others, does appeal to most.

And as many of us are still coming to terms with new technology and new ways of working, then a loose network offering guidance on the various issues we will all be facing also makes sense.

Some of the comments, so far, include:

...the idea of a web-based collective seems like it could go in all manner of directions and succeed at some or all of them....

...all sounds interesting. I'm not going to pretend I can second guess how you see this working, but my first reaction is it'd be cool to recommend each other rather than just compete; though I can't see how we wouldn't also be competing against each other...

...there would be strength in numbers. I'm not sure any of us would want to set up a formal agency, but a chance to network on-line and off-line regularly would appeal...

...one of my worries about freelancing is feeling isolated and not having the newsroom environment to bounce ideas off, get some advice on a particular story, or simply switch off and talk crap for half an hour. I haven't got a clue about most of these changes that are happening, so being able to sit down and talk to others who do understand would be brilliant...

That idea of maintaining a newsroom-style link and environment is something that I do find appealing.

Over the last two years the main thing I've missed is the newsroom atmosphere. Although it has changed considerably in the 20 years I've been a journalist, the opportunity to "bounce ideas around" and "gather advice on a story" or simply "talk crap" shouldn't be underestimated.

Creating that sort of environment, both physically and virtually, could be one of the biggest initial draws to this type of network.

So the next stage is to think about setting up an informal gathering.

I'll be emailing everyone who has responded so far and asking them to contact others who might be interested.

It is still very early days, but networking about networking to set up a new network for freelancers seems to have gone well so far.

The BBC has received 107 complaints - I'm guessing primarily from Muslims - about an episode of 'Eastenders' that was broadcast in September. In the episode, Albert Square resident, Masood Ahmed (played by Nitin Ganatra) who is also a Muslim was seen eating during the day by Ian and Jane Beale in the month of Ramadan (for those who don't know what this means, a short explanation about Ramadan is included at the end of this post).

As the BBC reported on their website (click here to read):

The BBC said the scene was supposed to show Massod's "fallibilities" and did not "represent the entire British-Asian or British Muslim experience".

"Although Masood is a practising Muslim, he has his own fallibilities as a human being," it said in a statement.

"He's a fictional character with flaws who realises he has let himself down in a moment of weakness.

"We would like to assure viewers it was not our intention to insult Muslim or Islamic values."

First, well done to the BBC for not 'apologising'. As the BBC put it, the show is about 'his own fallibilities as a human being'. This is what all soaps are about. If those complaining were to be realistic, without human fallibilities, soaps wouldn't have story-lines. If you want to complain about fallibilities, then why not complain about the Beales, the Mitchells etc...?

Second, do these complainants really believe that ALL Muslims fast during Ramadan? Walking through the Bull Ring Centre in Birmingham during Ramadan, I stood behind a young Muslim hijabi on the escalator who was eating a bag of Walkers crisps. Whilst the hijab provided an interesting juxtaposition with the crisp during Ramadan, I didn't see anyone suddenly rushing up to the young hijabi to reprimand her or complain about her behaviour. And quite rightly so. She wasn't the only Muslim during Ramadan - in the Bull Ring or indeed elsewhere - that didn't fast. Unsurprisingly, not all Muslims are perfect and indeed, not all of them aspire to be.

Finally, complaining about Muslims being represented as 'real' people is a massive faux pas. For years, Muslim groups and various researchers - both Muslim and non - have been trying to construct a clear picture and coherent argument about how the media unfairly and stereotypically represent Muslims and Islam. When the media do then represent what some Muslims do in reality - that they are indeed human - the media are inundated with complaints wanting something else. Suggesting that ALL Muslims fast throughout Ramadan is as inaccurate as suggesting that ALL Muslims are supportive of terrorism.

This raises a handful of questions...

Does this type of representation really distort the religion and practice of Islam?

No.

Does it undermine or negate Islam?

No.

Is it, after many years of negative stereotyping and denigratory representations, a fair and reflective presentation of Muslims being as human as you and I?

Yes. Of course it is.

Since the publication of the Runnymede Trust's report into Islamophobia in 1997, the reality of Islamophobia has been contested by those that suggest that it is little more than a shield against which fair and accurate criticism is deflected.

Suggesting that Eastenders' representation is negative, stereotypical or even Islamophobic is farcical and completely unfounded. Continuing to do so will merely provide the detractors and critics of Islamophobia with further evidence against which they will try and undermine the valuable work that those who advocate and champion the addressing of Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination and racism.

Let's be real. Because for once, the media have.

About Ramadan (reproduced courtesy of Wikipedia)

Ramadan or Ramazan is a Muslim religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar: the month in which the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. It is the Islamic month of fasting (sawm), in which participating Muslims do not eat or drink anything from true dawn until sunset.

This work by Chris Allen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Based on a work at www.chris-allen.co.uk.

Hey, so the first thing I wanted to ask you about was your dynamic as a 3 piece and the way that works for you and how it came about. Were you influenced by any of the epic three pieces of history like Hendrix or Nirvana etc?

Alexei: It wasn’t really a reference to any other bands, it was more just convenience, it was just the minimum amount of people that you can make a big noise with and it’s easy for arguments and shit like that, you know, having an odd number, so that’s cool.

Do you find it’s a fairly easy democracy within the band or do you have huge arguments and then everything’s ok?

(Laughter) Junior: Oh I think when we were more worried about money., well, we still are, but when we were more stressed about money we used to have a few arguments, but never serious.

So how do you guys get on with the phenomenon of touring? How has this tour been so far?

A: Well this tour has been amazing . This tour has been great because we’ve had stage divers and…I went crowd surfing to my own band which was the most emo thing I’ve ever done ever! It’s been a pretty  good buzz the whole way through.

Do you find that people are really getting into the stuff off the album or are people really into stuff off the EPs which they’ve known longer?

J: Album
Kelly: I don’t know because things like ‘Sofacore’ always gets a really good reaction.
A: Yeah I guess , but I also think there’s that thing, like if I like a band and they play a song that’s a little more obscure or not as well know it means more.

That’s true, because you put out that collection of demos, ‘I Like You Mostly At Never’, do you still slip some of those more obscure songs into the set?

K: Well some of that stuff actually made it to the album and EP so there is stuff off there.
A: It’s weird, because that was like a collection of every song we had ever written to that point, which was just sitting on our computers not doing anything so we just wanted to put that put there.

Cool, and was the intention just to draw a line under that, to document everything up to that point and then start fresh?

K: Probably.
A: Well there’s about 3 different versions of that cd with different track listings on it, so it was just a collection of songs that we were like, “these are the songs we’ve recorded that we aren’t embarrassed by”, and so we just made it so that as many people as possible could hear it. It’s not like, well we’re not really making money now, but it’s not like there was anything to hold us back from giving them away free to people.

Ok, so has that changed , as in when you look at some bands, bigger bands like Radiohead who are giving away their music for whatever people are willing to pay for it. Is that something you agree with or you feel like as artists just starting out , “this is something I created so it has to have a worth on it”?

A: I think, everyone steals music off the internet and everyone loves music, there’s nothing you can do about it. I’d rather people downloaded our songs than didn’t hear of us you know what I mean? I think like, I mean personally if I like something enough then I will go out and buy it or you go to the show , buy a shirt or something but that way the money goes back into the band, that’s how they succeed. I think that 10 or 15 years ago teenagers would tape stuff off the radio and you’d have your compilation tapes. ..

J: …and Minidiscs!

A: Now it’s just like you download 70 million bands and the ones that stick in your head are the ones that pass the test as it were. I mean it’s a nice level playing field. Obviously if you spoke to our record label you’d  get a completely different answer!

(Laughter)

But it’s hard to see how it affects us really. I mean there are people at the front of the show singing every single word.

K: And that’s what we want so…

Cool. So you feel like it benefits you?

All: Yeah, completely.

Ok, so do you set list shows or do you just feel the energy?

J: Well we will tonight I think.
A: Yeah if there’s a few more people there we can’t really be as amateurish. But like this tour we have three songs that we open with and then we see where we go. We like people to shout songs at us and then argue with them as to how much they want us to play them.

What are the three openers?

A: Oh like a new song and then ‘Hennings Favourite’ and then ‘Salt, Pepa and Spindarella’.
J: Opening with a new song though.

How is that working? How’s that feel kicking off with  a new song, has there been a good song?

J: Amazing yea.
A: Yea, it’s been brilliant. I mean we’ve had the same set pretty much since we signed the deal so now we can change it up it’s really fun.

In terms of new material, obviously you’re feeding it into the set but how far along are you? Do you have enough to be thinking about new releases when you get off touring?

A: Yea we were talking about this today actually. We might re-record one of the songs of the album, In a completely new style, and then put it together with some new songs and have it as a bridge between the two albums. The plan at the moment is to go in in February to start on the next one. We’ve written about half of it already and it’s been going very well.

…and subject wise is there anything new that you’re exploring with the new material?

A: Yeah, weirdly I was thinking about this the other day. Like when we started all our songs were just about Birmingham and getting fucked around Birmingham and living in Birmingham or whatever, and now it’s about getting fucked and destroyed all over the world. So there will probably be a lot more references to airport lounges and our tour bus.

Cool, and do you find a tangible difference between Birmingham and the rest of the world, when you’re getting fucked?

Laughter.
A: Well I’d rather be fucked in a strange place…
Pregnant pause.
K: Did you really just say that?
Obscene laughter.
J: Oh god I have to put that on the Myspace.

Ahem, sooo. Where’s the favourite, ‘strangest’ place you’ve been so far?

J: Japan.
K: Tokyo, probably, Tokyo was amazing.
A: Yea, we played a mini festival out there.
J: Reading as well, playing Reading was awesome.

Was that the fulfilment of childhood dreams? Did you go to Reading as punters growing up?

J: Yea, definitely.
A: Yea, but before the band. It’s weird the last couple of years I’ve really wanted to go but because we’ve been doing gigs or  just can’t afford it I haven’t been able to go. Because it’s like if you have a spare couple of hundred quid or whatever  then it goes into sorting guitars out not festival tickets. So the fact that we got to play there. It felt like quite a moral victory.

Cool, In terms of playing in Tokyo how did the Japanese audiences take to you , there’s this kind of opinion that they are a very intense audience?

A: We were told that, god it sounds a little bit racist. But our tour manager told us that the audience likes a signal that it’s ok to let go , so  if they see you letting go then that’s when they go off.

Well it’s the same in other places as well. I’ve been to gigs in Scandinavia where the crowd is almost still, just really intensely watching the band when they play. Then as soon as they finish the song they go nuts.

A: Cool…well I think we kind of cheated as we came on to ‘Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe’ by Whale, so everyone was in the best mood from the off and then everyone just went nuts right from the start. It was very cool. Also the door staff had to crouch down between the monitors to stop people spilling into the stage so it kind of felt like being in the Beatles.

Nice. So in terms of playing London how do you find that? It seems like the great divider, some bands love it and some bands hate it.

J: I don’t really like it. I mean we’ve played some shows at the Camden barfly, they were good shows.
K: Yeah, the Camden Crawl was really cool too.
J: Yeah that was a great show. It’s just that some shows you get the folded arms types.
A: I can see why it happens though. I mean London’s just like any other major city just more so. You could probably go out every single night in London and  see a band that you really like. So I wouldn’t say spoiled but I think that you build up a tolerance to it, so we could take our show to some small town in the middle of crapsville and the whole place will go mental because we’re the first band to pass through there in two years.
K: Although saying that I think to say that the crowd don’t get into it is a really apathetic statement, if you look at a band like Dananananaykroyd they take on the audience and make them do ridiculous things to get them in the mood, you know what I mean?
J: Yeah, but even they …like in Brighton they got everyone to do this hugging thing and afterwards they were just standing there again like gormless people even when they’d just been running around hugging each other.
A: I think with London though I’m going to say that a lot of people make up their mind about the show before they even go, though that’s probably a gross generalisation, but you do get the feeling that people will go to the show  and they’ve already decided that it will be the best show ever or that the band is shit and so…and what actually happens at the show is pretty much irrelevant unless someone gets naked or dies.
But having said that I mean the first Camden Crawl show that we played was amazing.

So in terms of tour mates, other than who you have on this tour is there anyone that you want to tour with in the future?

J: Calories, I definitely want to tour with Calories. They’re from Birmingham and the guys used to be in Distophia and are now one of our favourite bands so  it would be nice to take them, well take them on tour basically and see where they go from there.
A: Yeah, because there are a few local bands that are just as good as us that are a little further down the ladder for whatever crappy reason and we’ve had so many bands, not take pity on us but be really kind to us and taken us out with them and built us up and it’s made such a difference to us and now we’re in a position to reciprocate that.
K: Absolutely, yeah it’s quite a nice little change to be able to pull bands up and help us like we were helped.
A: Yea, so there’s Copy Haho, Fight Like Apes, Tubelord, William who we have got tonight are fucking incredible. So yea…
J: …I’d be happy to just tour with Dananananaykroyd forever you know.
All: Definitely.

So would you ever do like a Fantomas superband?

All: Oh absolutely.
J: Johnnynonnyakaroyd!

OK, so a final couple of questions. In terms of the hometown show when you go back to Birmingham, how are you finding the reaction, are people really getting behind you as you get bigger or is there that thing where like you’ve almost become too cool for school?

J: Ah well it’s Birmingham isn’t it.
A: Yea so you get a lot “Wankers! What are you doing, you ponce, going to London, with your band.”
J: But we’ve started to get a lot of the students coming to gigs, so actually a lot of our biggest fans in Birmingham will be students from London. We had the wicked  show with los Campesinos at Academy 2 though  and that was like, well that might have been the only thing going on. (Laughs)…and we’ve got one in a small venue so it’s going to be good. But we purposely play the small venues  to get the vibe.

Cool, because you played with them (Los Campesinos) in the States didn’t you? Is that somewhere that you see yourselves really devoting the chunk of time that it takes to crack it. Is that something that interests you?

A: We’ve already done the pre-nups, “Do you promise to come over and tour your album for…”

…the next 7 years?

A: Yea that’s totally what it’s like.

Ok, so finally whilst you’re abusing your rider is there anything that you don’t have or maybe can’t command yet on your rider that you’d like?

A: That girl from last night!
Riotous Laughter
J: We ask for sandwhich materials right, and what we get is pitta bread and homous, now I’m not being funny but that’s not a sandwich! Meat, cheese, butter, baguettes and it’s all cheap that’s what I don’t get, it’s not like we’re asking for Tescos finest.
K: I want black olives, sliced black olives!
J: We’ve yet to get what we want on the rider but even when we do get it there’s usually some industry cunt who comes in and eats it all.
A: It’s usually the people who works for someone who works for someone who works for someone who works for someone who works at our label, it’s just like, “Oh Johnny Foreigner’s in town!” And you’re thinking I’ve got no food in my fridge at home, I’m going to make just enough money from the tour to get a weeks shopping, but it’s ok because I’ll get off stage and there’s this amazing platter of meats, and you get there and there’s some fat  pointy shoed cunt going “phwoar this is delicious”, and it’s like so what do you do?
J: I mean I’ve even asked people to leave some beer for me after one show and they didn’t.
A: Yea, it’s like help yourself just don’t touch my gin and I come back and there’s like…
K:…half a bottle left.
J: We went mental though.
K: Aww god we sound so precious don’t we, “Don’t touch my shit!”
A: Everyone there was from a record company not directly attached to our band.
J: Parma ham though, buffalo mozarella, it weren’t no joke, and we got nothing.
A: We took a photo of it was so good.

Join a band…eat mozarella.

K: Seriously I was so impressed though it was so good. It was like “look mum…” It was such a nice platter.
A: then you get some places though, like the last time we were in London we played at Proud Gallery and they wouldn’t even give us a rider. They were “sorry we’re not really a venue,” and we were like, “no it’s just the way that you’ve sold tickets based on our band and everyone’s coming to see our band play here.”
J: Tonight we’ve got loads of beer and loads of vodka, better bring it in here though or all the industry types will get it.
K: Form a human shield around it. Shall we empty it and fill it up with water and spit? Be like, “you want some, sure here you go, help yourself.” Aww god, that’s so gross, I’m sorry.
A: We’ve been wringing out our tshirts into cups after shows.
K: No lex has, wringing it out into a cup and, where was it, after Derby, you gave it to someone, some girl.
A: Apple juice?

So you Like to maintain an intimate relationship with your fans.

All: Oh Yeah. We like to share everything on tour.

- This is only a small race, no bells no whistles, in fact barely any organization whatsoever. So don't expect anything more than a really fast ride on a cold, dark, possibly wet Friday night in Birmingham. Ok so ideally it would be a warm, dry summer evening, but come on, it'll be fun, represent the Birmingham fix-up massive!

- Bring a camera, bring lights, bring warm clothes and gloves, and bring a couple of (warm) beers.

- Wear a scary costume. Whoever wears the best costume wins a prize of some sort.

- So far there are a couple of small prizes from Bagaboo.

- Some prizes from House of Pistard and Archie's Gro Bags might be coming too. Watch this space.

- Events planned are: devil takes the hindmost race, trackstand comp, and a sprint comp. No skid comp cos I don't want to encourage tyre wasteage.

- Adrian from Sprocket Cycles (who provided the alleycat prizes) says he is going to enter. On his badass Corima track bike with super-wide handlebars, which I'll post a picture of soon.

- Don't worry if you live far away; you should be able to get the last train back from Birmingham New Street after the race.

- IT'S GONNA BE FUN!!!

- This is only a small race, no bells no whistles, in fact barely any organization whatsoever. So don't expect anything more than a really fast ride on a cold, dark, possibly wet Friday night in Birmingham. Ok so ideally it would be a warm, dry summer evening, but come on, it'll be fun, represent the Birmingham fix-up massive!

- Bring a camera, bring lights, bring warm clothes and gloves, and bring a couple of (warm) beers.

- Wear a scary costume. Whoever wears the best costume wins a prize of some sort.

- So far there are a couple of small prizes from Bagaboo.

- Some prizes from House of Pistard and Archie's Gro Bags might be coming too. Watch this space.

- Events planned are: devil takes the hindmost race, trackstand comp, and a sprint comp. No skid comp cos I don't want to encourage tyre wasteage.

- Adrian from Sprocket Cycles (who provided the alleycat prizes) says he is going to enter. On his badass Corima track bike with super-wide handlebars, which I'll post a picture of soon.

- Don't worry if you live far away; you should be able to get the last train back from Birmingham New Street after the race.

- IT'S GONNA BE FUN!!!

(I didn't take this)

Ok so there are only 4 in the picture but there were at least 7 fixed wheelers on the ride - Fin, Helen, Shamim, Ben, Dave, Mike from Lichfield, Duncan. I don't know if any other fixers were there, because I wasn't actually there... but ya know, It's slowly growing.

Also... I saw a blue 3Rensho locked up in Brum the other day, can't remember where. And a guy on a cream-coloured thing with bare chrome drops. Fix UP!!! That is if we get to ride again until next summer. Bare coldness and wetness is coming.

This is about the Tory Party.

Hí hí! Hôm nay Birmingham lại thắng, tuần trước thằng rồi tuần này lại thắng. Một chiến thắng trên sân nhà St Andrews. Chiến thắng đã giúp Birmingham vươn lên dầu bảng, dù chỉ là tạm thời.

Bảng xếp hạng tạm thời: Birmingham đầu bảng có 25 điểm - 10 trận, hơn Wolves một điểm nhưng đấu nhiều hơn một trận; Reading có 17 điểm sau 9 trận đang đứng ở vị trí thứ 3, ngay sau đó là Cadiff với 15 điểm sau 10 trận đấu.

PLAN for a STRONGER ECONOMY

 PLAN for a BETTER NHS

 PLAN for SOCIAL REFORM

PLAN for CHANGE

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1621977&w=425&h=350&fv=videoLocation%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fmedia.conservatives.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fvideoflv%2Fconservativestv%2Fvideo-planforchange-2008.flv%26%26imageLocation%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservatives.com%2F%7E%2Fmedia%2FImages%2FContent+Images%2FVideo+stills%2Fvideothumb-planforchange-2008.ashx]

Neil Benson, editorial director - regionals, at Trinity Mirror, describes how his organisation is reducing the traditional five-step copy flow process (reporter, news desk, designer, subeditor, final check) to just three, centred on a multimedia desk.

If any of us were still wondering about the future direction of journalism education, read the article and note the focus on "multimedia journalists".  This is the definition given:

"The multimedia journalists (sic) role now involves shooting video, taking picture (sic), and so forth, as well as being equipped to file from anywhere with the new web-based publishing platform." (Literacy obviously not a priority at Editors Weblog)

Interesting to note that reporters at Trinity Mirror are issued with Nokia N95 multimedia phones - just like the ones students are using at Whitireia J School.

Then on thursday, I went to see the doctor, who sent me away with a diagnostic questionnaire and tells me to come back asap to set up a treatment plan. She also made me an appointment with the mental health worker for that afternoon.

I went to see him, and it was a form of assessment, and I got to air my problems with eating (or not as the case may be), which I'm pleased about because it's something that's getting worse and I'd say is one of the main things keeping me like this (I think, anyway). He told me about some good places in Birmingham, like parks and museums I might like, which was really good. They're all really nice at the medical centre which is good! He does CBT type stuff, so that's what I'm going to be doing! He sent me away with a weekly activity schedule to meter my mood. I'm seeing him again on tuesday.

Then today (friday): I went to see the doctor again, and we went through the questionnaire she'd given me, and I now have a packet of prozac sitting in front of me. I don't really know how I feel in relation to this, but I guess I've tried a lot of stuff and it's not really worked. I'm slightly worried about the potential side effect of increased suicidal ideation, because I'm already pretty bad, and if it gets worse, bad things could happen. I am being closely monitored, though, so hopefully nothing bad can happen... emphasis on the word hopefully!

Right, now I need to don my clown costume and go to my last freshers week event: a 118 ball. Quel joy...

For any of you reading this that have taken prozac/fluoxetine, when is it best to take it? Thank you!

Profitable Companies Find Solution To Growing Problem Of Anger Among Employees

Anger is a very common obstacle within many companies, governmental agencies, prisons and schools. Studies show that aggression and violence in the workplace increases absenteeism, reduces productivity, lowers morale and increases a company’s liability.

Environments where anger does not dominate are pleasant for employees, students, etc., increasing productivity, return on investment and overall morale. Anderson & Anderson, founded by George Anderson, announce the release of the new executive coaching client workbook, The Practice of Control, Executive Coaching/Anger Management for Physicians. This new client workbook is available to the general public and provides anger management tips for “disruptive physicians”, H.R. Staff, work groups and persons who manage others.

The Anderson & Anderson Executive Coaching and Anger Management Curriculum is the most widely used anger management model in the world. This curriculum was recently the focus of a two episode BBC documentary on anger management by Griff Rhys Jones entitled "Losing It".

George Anderson has authored several books such as “Tips for Managing Anger”, “Gaining Control of Ourselves”, “Controlling Ourselves” and “Parenting in A Troubled World”. He was technical consultant on the popular Jack Nicholson/Adam Sandler Movie “Anger Management”.

Mr. Anderson assists companies, “disruptive physicians” and executives all around the world with executive coaching and anger management intervention. He was the keynote speaker at the 30th anniversary of the Philippine Psychiatric Association meeting in Manila.

The new Anderson & Anderson anger management client workbook for physicians uses emotional intelligence to teach skills in empathy, communication, stress management, anger management and emotional self-motivation. Anger is seen as a secondary emotion often as a result of stress, fear, depression or anxiety.

The Anderson & Anderson model of anger management is the most widely used intervention/self-help guide in the world. It is approved for use in the United States, U.K., Canada, Italy, Bermuda, Mexico, Philippines and Guam.

The National Center for Employee Development of the United States Postal Service has selected this model for use in it’s employee training. Details about the new Executive Coaching/Anger Management text for “disruptive physicians” is available at the Anderson & Anderson website: http://www.andersonservices.com. A demonstration of this model can be seen by clicking on the 6 videos on the Home Page of the Anderson & Anderson website.

For more information or to request an interview, please contact George Anderson by phone at 310-207-3591 or email at: georgeanderson@aol.com.

About Us: Anderson & Anderson is the first global provider of anger management, stress management, communication and emotional intelligence. It is the Industry Standard for Executive Coaching/Anger Management worldwide.

Contact Info: Contact George Anderson
Address: 12301 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 418, Los Angeles, CA 90025.
Phone: 310-207-3591
U.S.A.

(Oasis kommer till Köpenhamn den 8 November. Vilka är sugna på att följa med? Skriv i kommentarsfältet.)

How wrong could I be? After trawling my way round the Tory website (not a happy experience at the best of times), the sum total of available information on the vast policy proposal is this 200-word press release. Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villier's speech is no longer deemed important enough to appear on the Conservative website, but luckily is available here so we can get another 700 or so words of 'detail'. From the information available, the HS2 plan seems to be a back-of-the-envelope operation of the highest order. I've said before that this is a back-of-the-envelope sort of blog, so there is a danger of pots seeking to describe the colour of kettles here, but then again, I'm not Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. I don't get in excess of £4.6m of state funding per year to assist me in policy formulation, although I am open to offers (leave them in the comments, please). So I think I'll stick with my description.

So, without anything more detailed than a list of five locations that HS2 will serve, a highly optimistic overall budget figure and some estimated journey times, a proper analysis of the scheme is going to be tricky. However, we can start to identify a few of the specific issues that are going to cause the scheme to run into difficulties and also consider whether this is the best use of money for the railways. Let's start with a few specific problems, working south to north on the Google Map above (train symbols mark issues with stations, markers are route issues and the aeroplane is...well you work it out).

London St Pancras: despite the rest of the route being sketchy at best, the Tories have apparently already plumped for which London terminus to use, presumably for reasons of name recognition and association with Britain's existing high speed line. Problem is, it's an incredibly bad choice, because there simply isn't room at St Pancras for another major service. Take a look at this aerial photograph taken when the conversion to its new international status was still underway. The huge curved structure at bottom centre is the original trainshed which now houses Eurostar services. Whilst these platforms aren't yet at capacity, we can safely assume that an increase in demand for international rail travel as oil prices remain high, plus the possibility of rival operators seeking to run European services, mean that there certainly won't be any capacity there by 2027. The international platforms extend under the new roof (the huge rectangular structure). On either side of this are sets of domestic platforms: on the left serving St Pancras' original customers - services to the East Midlands. The right hand platforms are not currently in use, but will be at full capacity from December 2009 when high speed services to Kent start operating. There is no other space at St Pancras. OK, this is probably nit-picking, and if Tory Rail is ever built it would probably go from down the road at Euston, which will have plenty of spare capacity if high speed services replace most of the current Birmingham and Manchester services, but it is a clear example of just how un-thought-through this proposal is.

Heathrow: The big boast of this scheme is that it will mean there is no need for a third runway at Heathrow. Now, I'm strongly opposed to any expansion of Heathrow (and unlike the Tories, not just because I get a lot of votes from under the flight paths) and would welcome any scheme that would make a third runway unnecessary. This isn't such a scheme. According to Ms Villiers

A high speed link from St Pancras to Heathrow, connecting to the north, could replace up to 66,500 flights a year.

This figure is, not to put it too strongly, codswallop. The table below gives the number of flights (in both directions) from Heathrow to locations to be served by or within the catchment area of the new line, using timetables from BAA - note that the annual figures are probably over generous because I have multiplied today's departure numbers by 365, therefore not taking into account the lower number of flights at weekends.

Some way short of 66,500, I think you'll agree. Now, whilst you can make the case that flights to these destinations from other London airports might be cut with the advent of HS2 (although as these are mainly budget airlines they are likely to be competitive with the high fares needed to fund a high speed line), these will have no impact on Heathrow capacity. The removal of the small number of flights detailed above is not going to make the argument about the size of Heathrow go away if it happened today, let alone in two decades' time. If Ms Villiers were to be actually concerned about cutting the number of flights operating out of London, she might like to ask her colleague Mayor Johnson to re-consider his approval for a 50% increase in flights from City Airport - adding 40,000 flights a year to London's airspace by 2010, mainly to destinations already served by high-speed rail. And as for building a new airport in the Thames estuary - well, the less said about that the better.

Getting out of London: How? The traditional European method of dealing with the problem of getting high-speed trains out of heavily built-up metropoli is for them to run along existing railways until they enter more sparsely populated areas where building a dedicated high-speed lane is feasible. Of course, this means that the trains must travel at 'conventional' speeds and fit in alongside existing commuter and long-distance traffic. Both of these lengthen journey times, particularly if it is over a significant distance. If HS2 is to leave from St Pancras then it makes sense for the trains to use the Midland Mainline route that heads north from there at least as far as Elstree, where the north London sprawl begins to thin out, a distance of 13 miles on congested lines. Following the completion of the Thameslink Programme in 2015, the fast lines will be carrying at least 12 trains per hour, many with a top speed of just 100mph, leaving little room for the number of high-speed services necessary to make HS2 worthwhile, at least without cutting already crowded commuter services. The alternative to this would be a tunnel, which whilst faster, would be phenomenally expensive. Given that the Crossrail project, which involves a 13mph tunnel under London, is estimated to cost around £16bn (and the bulk of that cost will be for the tunnel), a similar tunnel for HS2 wouldn't leave much change from the Tory's £20bn budget for the route to complete the remaining 300 miles or so. On the other hand, some money could be saved by running the line in the open across the green spaces of Ms Villiers' Chipping Barnet constituency, but she may not be that keen... 

The South Midlands: The same problem occurs throughout the route of a high-speed line: where does it actually serve? After all, for the trains to enter major towns and serve existing centrally-located stations, the only economically feasible method is for the high-speed route to end on the outskirts and for the trains to use the slower and congested existing routes into the town centres, thus increasing journey time. It would make little sense for HS2 not to serve huge South Midlands towns like Milton Keynes, nor are the shire counties through which the line will cut be too happy if they see a swathe of their countryside damaged by a high-speed line with no pay-back in the form of a station. The alternative to the trains joining existing lines is to build brand new stations in the outskirts or rural hinterland of the town - a favourite tactic of the French with their high speed lines, where such stations are known as gares des betteraves ('beetroot stations') thanks to their location in the middle of arable fields. Such stations have rarely been successful and tend to have pitiful train services. Situating the station some distance from the town they are serving not only increases the city centre-city centre journey time, thus limiting the value of the high-speed line, but also encourage people to drive to the station, increasing carbon emissions and suburban congestion.

London - Birmingham: Villiers claims that HS2 could deliver a London - Birmingham journey time of 40 minutes. Now, I'm not hugely convinced that without any detail on routings, how much of the journey will be on conventional lines or trains' stopping patterns that such a claim could be made at this stage. Given that I am certain that significant sections of the route at either end will be on lines with a 125mph maximum speed and that it will be hard to economically justify more than a couple of trains per day which don't make at least one stop en-route, a 150mph average would be very hard to maintain. The 06:16 TGV running between Paris and Marseille, making one stop and with only very short sections on non high-speed track averages 144mph. I would therefore expect something much more like a 50min journey time to Birmingham via HS2. Given that from December of this year, the standard journey time from London Euston to Birmingham New Street will be 1hr 23 mins (including 3 intermediate stops), following completion of most of the southern West Coast Mainline upgrade, then the value from HS2 for this journey begins to look a little questionable. As there is no air competition between London and Birmingham and the RAC estimates a driving time of 2hrs 17 minutes, it is hard to see how HS2 will attract many more passengers to rail, especially at higher fares. If rail travel will not actually be increased on the London-Birmingham section, or if HS2 simply increases unnecessary travel and longer distance commuting, then the high-speed line becomes an environmental negative. Beyond the energy and resources used in the line's construction and the ecological disruption that it will produce in the rural areas it must cross, we would simply be shifting passengers to a more polluting form of transport: the existing rolling stock, 125mph-capable Pendolinos, consume 14.17 kWh/km, whereas for French TGV and German ICE high-speed trains the consumption can be as high as 24 kWh/km. Calculations which show a lower per passenger carbon footprint for TGVs than for UK trains such as Pendolinos are based on France's electricity supply being primarily from nuclear power rather than fossil fuels, as in the UK, and on higher load factors for their trains.

West Midlands: the same problem arises as with London - the West Midlands is a vast, built up area, with well-established stations in the city centres at Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton. To reach these stations, there is unlikely to be any alternative to high-speed trains joining congested conventional lines - unless yet more highly expensive tunnelling is to be envisaged. The alternative is again for out-of-town stations to serve the cities, with the additional journey time and inconvenience of changing modes that arises from that negating many of the benefits of high-speed rail.

North Midlands: The same problems as arose to the south of Birmingham arise again to the north - how would HS2 interact with major towns such as Stafford, the Potteries conurbation and Crewe, all of which currently have fast and frequent rail services direct to London (and Birmingham) from their town centre stations. If towns like these are by-passed by HS2, they could well share a similar fate to French towns such as Chalon-sur-Saône, a similar size to Stafford and Crewe, which once benefited from being on the main Paris - Lyon line. Since this was reduced to a secondary line for passenger purposes by the opening of the first TGV route, Chalon and similar towns lost most of their through trains to the capital and other major cities, with those that remained being slower, stopping services. Such a fate would be economically detrimental to the towns by-passed - and few of the north midlands towns need any detriment to their economies.

London - Manchester: The Tories claim that London to Manchester timings would be reduced to 1 hour 20 minutes, which seems a somewhat more realistic claim than their Birmingham journey time, as it only requires an average speed of about 122mph. But once again the saving doesn't really look that impressive compared to the 2 hour 4 minute journey time that will become standard from this December. With this latter timing easily beating air on a city centre to city centre basis (with a generous air timing being: 1 hour central London - airport + 40 mins check in + 55 minutes flight time + 30 mins to Manchester city centre = 3 hours 5 minutes) and with car travel (3 hours 52 minutes) being out of the time equation, the main factor on which airlines will be able to compete is price - and HS2 would be a step backwards in this respect. Network Rail claims that the upgrades to the West Coast Mainline have already resulted in a 40% shift from air to rail in the London to Manchester market, and this at a time when rail has been hamstrung by near constant disruption due to the upgrade engineering works and before the increased journey times and frequencies launching in December. This suggests that with the correct pricing structure and increased capacity, conventional rail is more than capable of taking out airlines from Manchester, without the vast cost or increased emissions of HS2.

Into and out of Manchester: For which, see West Midlands. Precisely the same problems arise here: how will HS2 cope with the huge Manchester conurbation. In particular, will high-speed trains have to trundle along the existing lines for the last twenty minutes of their journey from Stockport, given that any other option would mean mass demolition of homes and blighting numerous communities?

The Pennines: England's backbone presents a pretty formidable obstacle which will be a lot more complex and costly for HS2 to cross than the straight line on the map suggests. By heading for Leeds, the Tory proposal rejects probably the most cost-effective trans-pennine route, using the trackbed and tunnels of the abandoned Woodhead line, which once linked Manchester and Sheffield, but which would be too far south for this route's purposes. Whilst gradients are not too much of a problem for high-speed electric trains, difficult topography makes for expensive construction. The obvious solution, a long base tunnel, would be prohibitively costly within the £20bn budget set, yet any surface route would run into formidable environmental problems, most particularly how it would pick a path avoiding or minimising damage to the South Pennine Moors and Dark Peak Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

London - Leeds: No-one is really trumpeting the time savings on this one, preferring instead to talk about the, admittedly impressive, 17 minute journey time between Leeds and Manchester. So, to do the maths ourselves, 1 hour 20 London to Manchester + 17 minutes to Leeds, giving us 1 hour 37, and also giving us the reason why this isn't being touted too much: its just not a very impressive timing, thanks to the roundabout route via Birmingham and Manchester. The fastest timing on the Leeds to London route is already just 2 hours 6 minutes (and until a few years ago was 1 hour 59, before an extra stop was added). The trains in use on this service are 140mph capable and some limited investment in existing infrastructure to allow them to reach this speed would make a sub-2 hour journey possible. Even with existing timings, air travel between Leeds and London is minimal and the train service has had to be doubled to half-hourly to cope with demand.

The North and Scotland: Doesn't exist. At least not in this plan. The routes where high-speed rail really could make a dent in air use - London to Edinburgh and Glasgow - are completely ignored, admittedly for good reason. Any such line would be completely uneconomic thanks to the fast dropping population density once you get north of Leeds. Whilst high-speed trains could obviously continue north from Leeds to Scotland using existing lines, given how limited the time savings are between London and Leeds, this would be unlikely to save more than 15-20 minutes on the Anglo-Scottish journey time. Whilst rail is already more competitive on time than many people think for such journeys, the only way that a major modal shift is going to occur would be through the removal of hidden subsidies for airlines and a genuine environmental-impact based tax system for domestic air tickets. And the Tories sure aren't going to go down that road. The curtailment of HS2 at Leeds raises a real political problem however: David Cameron claimed in his conference speech (Is it me, or did he just read out a Daily Mail leader column, complete with rubbish about "'elf and safety gawn mad" and "the prizes for everyone culture"?) that he was fiercely proud of the Union. Well, stopping the investment in high-speed rail half way between London and Edinburgh, however financially sensible, is going to be seen as pretty symbolic by a Scottish population who won't have voted for the Tory government. Who can't see Alex Salmond making vast quantities of political capital out of that?

As hopefully you will have gathered from the above, I believe that the Tory plan for HS2 is financially irresponsible, under-costed (by 2008 standards, heaven knows what the price would be by 2027), over-simplified, represents poor value for money and is at best environmentally neutral. It will tie up all investment in the railways for the next two decades before it brings forward any real benefits, and the last Conservative government demonstrated what happens when the rail network goes unfunded for twenty years or so. I'm pretty certain that HS2 (in this form) will never be built, but I worry that the next government will use it as greenwash for at least a couple of electoral terms before finally shelving the idea. If it is built, I hereby promise to buy Theresa Villiers a hot beverage of her choice from the buffet car of the first 180mph train from St Pancras to Manchester.

Now the obvious response to all this is 'Ah, but at least the Tories are thinking about major rail investment and trying to shift passengers from air to trains'. Indeed - there is some truth in that, although I'm a long way from believing in any genuine Conservative conversion to the merits of public transport. What I would point out, however, is the following extract from then Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly's speech to Labour conference, forgotten in all the hoo-har over her bungled departure:

So Labour will develop options for a rolling programme of electrification of our railways – potentially the largest programme of electrification in our history. I have asked Network Rail to consider the case for new lines if passenger numbers continue to grow in the future. And if we need new lines, of course we should be asking whether they should be high speed.

I hope we will hear more from this in the near future from Kelly's successor Geoff Hoon: electrification, hopefully coupled with works to increase capacity, is a far more sensible and achievable way of modernising the railways, increasing the capacity for passengers and freight, and cutting still further the environmental impact of rail travel. And such a programme would deliver real benefits within a decade, not two. We need more of that sort of thinking and less pie-in-the-sky dreaming about travelling the long way round to Leeds, quite fast.

At some point I will put together a list of how I think a hypothetical £20bn could be better spent on Britain's public transport network, but as I've already written nearly four times as much on HS2 as the Tories have every published, that's for another day. All change please, all change.

Following my earlier post on the new Birmingham Magistrates' Court are some colour images of the design taken from the planning application.

The siting of the court in relation to the developments in Eastside is shown below.

The following images are reproduced from the planning application C/04964/08/RES

Fire and Ice is a new restaurant in Birmingham, Ala., and some friends and I checked it out a couple nights ago. It's in Five Points in the building where a Gap was several years ago -- and it sure doesn't look like the place where we used to buy blue jeans. Fire and Ice is a sort of do-it-yourself stir fry/grill restaurant. You don't cook it yourself, but you create your own bowl of ingredients from a well-stocked buffet and then take it to a huge round grill where cooks sizzle your creation to perfection. That's the "Fire" part. The "Ice" part is the bar, which is decorated in cool shades of blue to contrast with the red decor of the food part. Here's how it works: When the waitress seats you, you get a complimentary bowl of chips and salsa and you order drinks while she explains the process and even takes you on a tour. The buffet has a salad bar with the usual items and then a section with ingredients for your entree, although you can mix and match. The entree bar has a wider variety of vegetables such as bok choy and sweet potatoes -- some cooked and some not cooked -- along with uncooked meats such as scallops, salmon, shrimp, BBQ chicken and tenderloin plus tofu. You can do your salad first and then go back for your entree, which you build in a bowl as high as you wish. Of course, we five experienced moms sort of cringed at the thought of adding raw meat to a pile of vegetables and letting it set for a few minutes, but our waitress assured us it would be OK, and of course it was. The really fun part, though, is figuring our your sauce. There are about 1o or 12 to choose from, with flavors such as Cajun, Asian and Southwestern. I really liked the Roasted Garlic with Honey and then a pineapple-ginger one. You can stick with one or mix some together. So you put your sauce in little cups and take your bowl of ingredients plus your sauce over to the grill, where the cooks deftly arrange your ingredients in a line, do their magic, add your sauce and in a few minutes you've got a hot and yummy personalized stir fry. You can take your drinks to the grill while you watch and go back as often as you like. It was lots of fun, but it can be a little intimidating if you feel pressured by the thought that a good meal is up to your own skill at combining ingredients. After all, relying on somebody else's expertise is one of the reasons we go out to eat. But there are no bad choices, and the sauce redeems all. If you're uneasy at first, start out small with only a few ingredients -- although if it's crowded and there's a line at the grill, this approach might slow down your evening. And if you don't want a stir fry at all, do a hamburger or veggie burger at the grill and get a big basket of fries to go with. Yum! The salad/entree bar is $15.95 for dinner and $9.9 for lunch. There are also appetizers and a dessert, including a fondue for more do-it-yourself eating, but these are extra. As long as you've got folks along who are willing to try something new, this is a great place. It's also good for families like mine, where everybody likes different things. According to the Web site, http://www.fire-ice.com/, Fire and Ice is a chain that started in 1997 in Cambridge, Mass., and now is all over the world. It's fun and different, so try it.

But we still don't really know too much about what Dave's plan entails.

In all honesty I was expecting a lot more style than substance from the Conservative's annual conference at the ICC in Birmingham. But possibly because the shindig was somewhat overshadowed by global financial news, I'm not sure we even got too much in the way of style either.

Champagne flutes were banned, apparently, and triumphalism was shunned as the conference attempted to portray a sober, serious and considered image.

I'm not sure it entirely worked.

What did work, for me at least, was Birmingham as a political conference host. I thought it was all marvellous, even if I didn't actually attend any of the conference itself.

When I did have to go into the city for business, I wasn't hindered in any way by the security ring of steel. I did have my bag checked at New Street station and a police spaniel sniffed my shoes as he/she busied himself/herself along the platform.

I was also asked by an enthusiastic TV researcher who I trusted more with my money - Labour or the Tories? When I answered "Neither" he looked deflated. When he asked who I did trust and I said: "Plaid Cymru", he looked confused - I wasn't asked to take part in the televised vox pop taking place further down the street.

One of my conference highlights actually came at New Street. The monotone, disinterested and frankly narked sounding "Welcome to Birmingham" message over the loudspeakers for delegates arriving for the conference by train was a thing of rare beauty.

Elsewhere those who actually attended some or all of the conference have given their own version of events.

Over on The Birmingham Post, Paul Dale believes David Cameron successfully shaped the Tory party in his own image during the Birmingham conference.

I'm still struggling with the realisation that Cameron is only a year older than me. Surely that is too young to be PM?

Jon Bounds gives us a useful ten things we've learned as a result of the Tories coming to Birmingham over on BiNS.

Nick Booth was charmed by the Tory get-together and his choice of photograph to accompany his thoughts certainly adds an intriguing new slant on political conferences.

It also seemed to spark a mini-discussion on the Post's live blog feed about whether Conservative women are the most glamorous when compared to their political opponents - I'd hazard a guess that they probably are, but that the Sarah Palin-effect comes into force.

And local blogger Danny Smith was so inspired by his day at the Tory conference he went home and did this.

Another view from within the heart and soul of the conference itself provides a useful suggestion about the good and the bad of the Tories' time in Brum.

The bad, according to Blaney's Blarney, includes the ICC as a conference venue.

Others, it seems, were also less than enthused by the ICC - although criticism that the main auditorium was too small should be directed to the Tories themselves, they apparently opted for the smaller hall as they were scared about not getting enough bums on seats.

So Birmingham, generally speaking, seems to have got a thumbs up.

That's good, isn't it?

[Thoughts on the Fleet Foxes/Frank Fairfield show at the Bottletree in Birmingham, Monday, September 29, 2008.]

You wait, and the crowd waits with you, eager for some music, crammed into the bar, their aluminum cans turned just right so everyone else can see the blue-ribbon label, eager for some music, not this too-loud prerecorded pacifier stuff, the real live music, they’re ready, you’re ready, here you go.

The curtain goes up and you see Frank Fairfield, he’s sitting there in a chair, an old wooden dining room table chair, he’s surrounded by instruments, some of which are his, some of which will be played later by other men, he’s sitting in the chair holding a violin or a fiddle, you don’t know the difference, he’s wearing a plain white shirt with the neck button buttoned, rough plain brown pants, heavy shoes, heavy buckled belt, he might as well be sepia toned, he might even be sepia toned, he’s sitting there in a chair with his hair neatly combed like an old photograph, the faintest beard on his jawbone and cheeks, two whole days’ worth of it. Fairfield is quiet and quite possibly shy, though he’s sitting on stage in front of two hundred fine folks and he knew they’d all be here. He begins to play his violin on the length of his thigh, not anywhere near the neck like you thought a violin was to be played, no, Fairfield lays the thing out on his leg and draws his bow and pulls a mournful howl and a feline sigh from his chosen instrument, he begins to play his violin, his violin begins to play him, they dance, they were made for each other. They dance a dirge and a jig both at once. From Fairfield’s soul escapes a wail, by way of his mouth, a confession, a long lost tale, a prayer, something you remember, something you have never heard, his voice older than his body, weary, strained. His face is contorted and pained, for this song is a wound that must be bled, this song is in the people’s blood, in Fairfield’s blood, a hymn, a spiritual song. His voice is so, his mannerisms are so, his face twists, his body moves, his feet seem to want to run away as his boots slide and twitch to and from, right foot heavy with primitive rhythm, stomping the floor, his feet have a mind different from his fingers, a mind different from yours and mine, his voice is so, his mannerisms are so, that you wonder if he is some sort of musical autistic, if perhaps he is catatonic when he plays, if he may be some savant, if he remembers where he is. The song is king. Fairfield has put down the violin or the fiddle or both, he’s picked up a well-worn banjo now, and the same thing happens, he sits in the chair, hair still neatly parted on the left side despite the spasms, but now sweat has begun to slide down his quivering face, dropping from his nose and chin on to his shirt and his dirty white banjo, but he doesn’t notice, the banjo certainly does not notice, the song must go on, and Fairfield’s fingers don’t notice either as they dance along the banjo’s slender black neck. Fairfield looks as though he may cry, and who knows, it may be that he is crying, crying for these long-dead arts in which he deals, weeping for the beauty of the music popping from these tightly turned strings, crying because he lost Her, that girl who died or ran away or was run away from, you don’t know which, it may be that he is crying, salt from eyes and pores mixing and cleansing that face impossibly pained. He says very little, plays more though not enough, he’s standing now, he’s taking his guitar and banjo and violin, he’s standing with all three in his arms, he says thank you very much, he does not advertise his merchandise or pander to the hipsters or praise drink or bar or venue or city, there is too much at stake to ruin things now with cheap words. The song is king, yes it is, and these songs came from the hills, from the blue grasses, from over the sea, from bare backs in the cotton fields, from the hymn books of the faithful, from that great dusty depression, from the last century and the one before that. Fairfield seems a man at home with constant sorrow, yet all too happy to share the joys of the song, the rambling stories of yesteryear, never more present nor important. You pay a visit to his table of merchandise and discover of course, of course, there are only vinyl records for sale here: the compact disc has not yet been invented.

You wait, and the crowd presses in closer for a better view when the time comes, and you wait.

The curtain comes up again and there are the Fleet Foxes, you count four young men and one much younger man, Fleet Foxes, this is what they have chosen to call themselves, they stand surprised at the gathered enthusiasm, they stand ready to play, pleased smiles on five faces, not those self-important smiles that men smile who’re smug and important, but smiles that are pleased that you yourself enjoy the talents and words of Fleet Foxes, a name wherein you take “fleet” to mean “fast and nimble in movement,” an idea often evoked when one thinks of a fox, and images of dank green forests and hunts and hounds are often brought up as well, this is surely what they intended you to think, they’re standing there, well the drummer sits but just the same, they’re taken aback, they laugh, they say Let’s Get Started. The Fleet are, as self-described, a thin “bunch of hairy Sasquatch mother” lovers, untrimmed beards and tangled masses of shoulder-length hair, or some variation on the theme, for all involved, for all except the smooth-faced youngest with his shaggy blond, shirts and jackets snug at all hundred and twenty ribs, and from these facts you can deduce that they care solely for their music, they obviously care nothing for getting haircuts or attracting women, since women, those Delilahs, would surely require that they cut hairs of all kinds to acceptable lengths, and this would be unacceptable, their strength would be robbed, notes soured, throats closed, lyric books empty. The crowd you are standing in had no taste for Frank Fairfield, their laughter and conversations floated in the air and mingled with his words unashamedly, and for that you are sorry, but now they are quiet, now they will listen, the Fleet begin. When the band stops playing they are joking young men, full of wry, genuine humor and dry wit, jokes that appeal to you and the others, observational comedy on the day’s events, unrehearsed, unplanned until it comes from their beards and you all laugh, the independent gas scene, soup cans, the Muppets, in-jokes formed onstage less than ten minutes ago, and when they stop playing all of this is bantered about, when they stop playing, but, but, but when they start playing you are all silent immediately, from the first note, the first drumbeat, you’ve not heard anything like the Fleet’s four-part harmonies in popular music for some time, and that, in fact, is why you are here. Their voices ring out entwined together, one sound with its layers like the anthem of a train whistle, like hundred-year-old echoes bouncing around the trees and whited tops and blue ridges of the Blue Ridge mountains, the echoes are still there, they’ve never died, faint songs of agony and ecstasy still wander the purple mountaintops, and the Fleet have captured their spirit. Mountain music from mountain men. They sing of wanderers in the morning light, tall forest grasses, women of the woods, the songs of meadowlarks and sparrows and hummingbirds, the sound of ancient voices ringing soft upon your ear, shivering dogs, strawberries in the summertime, rugged hands and a silver knife, the yellow moon and the morning light, and, of course, the Blue Ridge mountains over near Tennessee, and you can almost see these things as they sing them into being, dust motes in pale shafts of sunlight stabbing into weeded glens, thousands of raindrops pockmarking the stony surface of a blue-gray river that once ran red with Confederate blood, you can almost see these things as they sing them into being, and like Fairfield’s songs, these songs have come from a forgotten corner of both time and place, the past and the distance, the foothills and the log cabin porches and the deep, silent souls who’ve been replaced with eight-second ringtones and high-definition dementia by a society deemed wiser. You have both at hand, on stage, somehow, and you see the laughing jokesters you love transformed into the sad minstrels that you also love as they play their songs for you, and, as they say, this bunch of hairy Sasquatch mother lovers, sweat soaking their matted hair, are your kind of people, and you are theirs.

Photos here.
Video here (Fairfield). And here (Fairfield). And here (Fairfield). And here (Fleet). More soon.

In the second and final film of the series, Griff Rhys Jones continues his investigation of anger in himself and others. Anger is an increasing problem in our lives. In homes and offices and on the road frustration and rage are all around us. Griff tries Buddhist meditation with a monk in Scotland and boxing at a gym in Sheffield, but finally he heads to Los Angeles to meet the man who invented anger management and to sign up for a course. (George Anderson) at Anderson & Anderson.

George Anderson, MSW, BCD, CAMF, CEAP
Diplomate, American Association of Anger Management Providers
Anderson & Anderson®, The Trusted Name in Anger Management
http://www.andersonservices.com/
http://www.aaamp.org
http://www.linkedin.com/in/geoanderson
www.anger-management-resources.org

All very good and laudable I am sure, but - if we might be allowed to proceed to the abstract from the concrete for a moment – what is it? What would I, Johnny Punter, actually be buying a ticket for? The first year it was a bunch of free gigs from (mostly) local artistes, which I understood as a theme. Last year (which I didn’t attend) and this time around (we’ll see) it seems to just be a randomly chosen assortment of gigs, featuring a mix of both local and touring/’big’ bands. I really cannot figure out what the common thread is meant to be. The lack of identity resulted in abounding confusion, last year: I recall folk on the (now defunct) old Communion messageboard being horrified about the fact that they could buy a ticket ‘for’ the Capsule night and still not be guaranteed entry, completely unaware of the fact that the ticket they were buying wasn’t just for that gig but instead for a larger series of events.

There is a conference-type-thing, which may or may not be of worth (I have no idea. I know nothing of the world of musicbizznizz conferences; this one might well be a super-duper example of its type), but beyond that is the plan to ‘put Birmingham on the musical map’ by having some gigs there? Just like there are every other week of the year? Is the fact that they’re grouped together as ‘Gigbeth’ supposed to gather more attention? Could be; I’ve always said that what Birmingham needs is a series of events joined together as a ‘festival’. It’s a unique concept.

Baffled am we. Still, the line-up features The Destroyers, Einstellung, Anathema, The Sugarhill Gang (no, really), Guillemots, and plenty more to be confirmed. The actual constituent gigs should be good, whether held under a vague banner or not.

(Also: why do the permalinks and comment links on the Gigbeth Blog redirect back to their main page? Cock-up or something else I simply don’t understand about the whole affair?)