Commander Dizaei – his fall and the fallacy behind it

So, it’s goodbye Commander Ali Dizaei of the Met and hello Prisoner #whateverthefucknumber he is.

Judging from his entry on Wikipedia, it seems Dizeai has been no stranger to controversy of many kinds, involving criminal charges and internal police investigations – none of which have revealed any wrongdoing, although one case from 2008 involving the Metroplitan Police Authority appears to be pending future investigation.

Reading between the lines, it would seem that whilst Dizaei’s various and rapid promotions bred resentment amongst his colleagues, past inquiries into his conduct might have drawn different conclusions had there been less attempt to shield him from closer scrutiny. I say this because the timeframe within which he rose to prominence within the Met ties in nicely with Labour’s last three governments, with Dizaei entering the police in 1999, a mere two years after Labour came to power.

A combination of our government’s predeliction for ‘positive discrimination’ and also minorities inclusivity, meant that Dizaei was a bit of a ‘poster boy’ for them and it seems logical to me that it would have been in their interests to keep him in post and also advance his career. Indeed, it was widely believed very early on in his ascendancy that he would be this country’s first Asian chief constable. It would also explain the resentment amongst fellow officers that I’ve mentioned above but which, at the time, were interpreted as discrimination and, indeed, racism.

My best guess is that we’ll never really know the full facts behind Dizaei’s rapid rise to prominence, crticism of him by fellow officers and his teflon-like resistance to accusations of wrong-doing. However, it does throw into stark relief all the perils of quota-filling, positive discrimination, equality of opportunity and inclusivity as exercised by this government.

The bottom line is that if you have to call on the police – or any other public servants that you pay for if you’re a taxpayer – then you’d like to think that the people you’re dealing with are the best at what they do and not recruited just to follow some ideological dream or conform to a theoretical model.

I really couldn’t give a fuck who takes over from Dizaei or anyone else who has been shown to be corrupt in their job. All I hope if that his replacement will be chosen for their ability to do their job well and behave with professionalism and honesty.

The issue of race relations seems to me to be a red herring and that’s not what this case was all about – although it may suit certain people to think so. What it demonstrates quite simply is that integrity and honesty are not racial traits but simply human qualities and this means that anyone of any colour or nationality can be corrupt.

Above all, it exposes the fundamental fallacy of this government that people can be selected for public positions on the criteria of the qualities they share with others of whichever minority group they belong to first and their ability to do the job second.

Quite simply, the taxpayer deserves better.

Wanted: 21st century Luddites

I freely admit to having a very low opinion of  the vast majority of UK TV programs and have often expressed my distaste for soaps, reality TV shows and the like in this blog, so why was I underwhelmed by this news about a new series from Sir David Attenborough?

Having thought about it for a while, I think it’s a combination of two reasons: we’ve seen it all before and it’s all gone a bit ‘coffee table‘.

There have been plenty of series about the evolution of life on earth and also one-off programs made for series such as ‘Horizon’ and although Sir David’s a very skilled and enthusiastic presenter I can’t help but wonder what he’s going to bring to the subject that hasn’t been covered before. Yes, it’s good that there are such programs amidst the dross, but they seem to have acquired an air of novelty and I’m sure some people will simply watch because it’s ‘good for them’ – although that seems a little like existing on a diet of burgers, chips and Mars bars and feeling all virtuous when you have an occasional salad. If you’re that serious about your intellectual diet then why not make ’salad’ part of your routine and read a fucking book or two on the subject?

Yes, read.

There are some really informative but entertaining books on most subjects and it’s never been easier to find them, sample them and buy them cheaply – always assuming that libraries are out of the equation.

I view such ‘epic’ series as the Attenborough ones as the TV equivalent of coffee table books. You get some lovely colourful pictures but very little text and – at the end of the day – you might have seen some great stuff, what have you really learned about it? Not that all TV documentaries should be dry and worthy and only intended to ‘improve’ the mind but they’re no substitute for an in-depth investigation of a subject.

I think what lies at the heart of all this is a protracted failure on the part of our education system – over the past 20 years or so – to allow children to learn for the sake of learning. Not only are they now required to study specific aspects of the humanities and sciences but the method of study is now prescribed and it all seems to hinge on what you’re probably reading this post with now – the computer.

I really have no idea how we’re going to do it, but we urgently need to make learning via study and research a lot more attractive. To be honest, I really don’t think it matters what children learn – within reason. As long as they emerge from education with good basic skills then whether they know a lot about dinosaurs, diesel engines or dogs is immaterial. What they should have a handle on is how to research and study with such skills being readily transferable into whatever sphere of work they choose to enter and whatever outside interests they pursue.

It’s planned to give 270 000 ‘poor’ families £500 to buy a computer so that their children can have ‘personalised’ learning. That’s £135 000 000 that could be used to expand, restock and reinvigorate our library system and benefit everyone.

The internet and other technological conduits are fantastic in many ways, but they’re no substitute for a good library system staffed by people who have the skills to organise resources which cover the whole sum of human knowledge at all levels.

Libraries and individual learning are also far less easy to control than computer networks and specifically subject-based learning.

It’s feasible that a certain item of knowledge could be removed or altered on the internet by a central agency at a single keystroke, but knowledge in books is far less easy to suppress with many copies in a wide variety of locations. Furthermore, when you research in a library you can make your own ‘hyperlinks’ and not just slavishly proceed to where you’re told to go next with a mouse click.

Sure we want our children to be literate and numerate but we also want them to be able to think for themselves and not just view the world around them through the eyes of TV program makers, educational software writers and amateur wiki authors and if that means going back to paper and print, so be it.

But I don’t really need to point out the massive snag in all this, do I?

Thought not…

My favourite albums – 51–60

I’ve realised that time is of the essence here as my time with a reliable internet connection gradually peters out before our move, so here’s another 10 albums for your perusal…

#60 Hedningarna – Kaksi: The breakthrough album for this Swedish/Finnish folk band, ‘Kaksi’ combines electronics, ethnic instruments and strange high pitched female vocals in an extremely effective way. You wouldn’t think this combination could rock, but it does and ‘Ful Valsen’ has a pagan joy about it that doesn’t need electric guitars to make it ‘heavy’. It’s not just heavy, it’s super-massive.

#59 Robin Trower – Bridge of Sighs: Almost the perfect guitar album from the ex-Procol Harum player and only let down by a couple of weak tracks. The title track is long on ambience with some gorgeous Univibe guitar and ‘Day of the Eagle’ is a Hendrixy rocker. ‘Too Rolling Stoned’ and ‘Little Bit of Sympathy’ are great too. Sure, Trower wears his influences on his sleeve, but although Jimi’s spirit never seems far away, Trower has his own style and it cuts through on this breakthrough album.

#58 PIL – Compact Disc: John Lydon’s attempt at a more commercial sound, for which he gathered a strange group of people – Cream’s drummer Ginger Baker, shred guitarist Steve Vai and multi-talented Ryuichi Sakamoto amongst others – to produce quite a glossy album but still full of his trademark roughness. ‘Bags’ is my favourite track here with its techno groove and disturbing lyrics.

#57 Funkadelic – Maggotbrain: Phew…this was a hard one to choose. Funkadelic have made a fair few albums and all good in their own way. The title track is a long guitar instrumental by Eddie Hazel who was Jimi’s true heir. The rest of the album’s great, but you should hear it for ‘Maggotbrain’ alone. It’s possibly the most mournful guitar instrumental you’ll ever hear and if you’re a guitarist, this is as much soul as you’ll ever want from one player.

#56 Guns ‘n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction: GnR were the curate’s egg of hard rock. Everyone in the band was OK at what they did but together on this album they sounded like rock gods. You can stick ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ where the sun don’t shine, but I’ll keep the rest, thanks. Not too sure which of the rest is my favourite track but ‘Rocket Queen’ will do for today…

#55 Free – Tons of Sobs: The first Free album and still their best. Everything that made this band great was already there. No-one in British rock before or since ‘loped’ the beat quite like Free did. Kossof’s guitar has sublime sparseness and idiosyncratic vibrato, Roger’s vocals are raw to say the least, Fraser’s bass is constantly inventive but rock solid and Kirke’s drumming is in the pocket all the time. Not a duff track!

#54 Green on Red – This Time Around: Tales from the Paisley Underground with an alt-country band that were alt-country before the term was invented. It’s depressing stuff in the main, with Dan Stuart’s stoned vocals over Chuck Prophet’s Keef’ish guitar in tracks that cover suicide, religion, paranoia and despair but somehow end up strangely invigorating. Not one bad track to be found in its knowing downer perfection. Highly recommended if you think the Eagles lost it after ‘Desperado’ and the Stones blanded out after ‘Exile on Main Street’.

#53 Iggy Pop – Lust for Life: Iggy and Bowie with a perfect album. Like all the best Iggy material, guitar-based but never gratuitously ‘rawk’. Everything comes together for this one – massive drum sound, wry lyrics, typical OTT iggy vocals, Carlos Alomar on guitar and Hunt and Tony Sales on drums and bass. Bowie never dominates – yes, you’ll hear him on backing vox and keyboards but this is very much Iggy’s album. I really can’t single out a track – it’s all very good shit indeed.

#52 Hoven Droven – Grov: Insane Swedish folkrock which sounds like Motorhead meeting a fiddler and a sax player who are equally as badly behaved. ‘Slentbjenn’ is an adrenalin-fuelled gallop showing the band at their rockingest with manic playing from the whole band. ‘Grovhalling’ is impressive too and leaves you wondering whether the bass player’s speakers actually survived the recording. Best heard live – ‘Jumping at the Cedar’ is the album to get really – Hoven Droven rock…that is all.

#51 Richard Thompson – Across a Crowded Room: Maybe not his best-known solo album but to me it’s very consistent and the songwriting, whilst still bitter, manages to show a little optimism. Yes, he’s a miserable curmudgeon, but he plays guitar like a god in a style that is uniquely his own and – believe me – very hard to copy. The opening track – ‘When the Spell is Broken’ – is a good taste of the overall sound – quite dense with layered guitars courtesy of Thompson and Simon Nicol on a Rick 12 and more care taken on the vocals than on his previous releases. Collister and Gregson on backing vox are a really good addition and sweeten the austere lyrics very nicely. I saw him tour with this band and they gelled really well – shame they aren’t still together.

Simon must think we’re simple

The capacity of the human animal to behave like a total cunt – bereft of all moral values and arrogant in the extreme – never ceases to amaze me.

Ladeez and Gen’lemen…I give you Sion Simon MP, who not only corruptly enabled his sister to trouser £40 000 of taxpayers’ money by renting his ’second home’ from her but has also pledged to pay only £20 000 back.

He’s not standing in this year’s General Election.

Hoorah, I hear you say. That’s another cunt less bleeding us dry.

But, alas, possibly not.

Having been such a shining exemplar of integrity and honesty, Simon now wants to become Birmingham’s first elected mayor:

Mr Simon, who was elected in 2001, will now campaign for Birmingham to hold a referendum on whether it should adopt an elected mayoral system similar to London’s. If successful he will launch a campaign to be mayor.

He said: “The answer to Birmingham’s problems simply don’t lie in London … The current electoral system is aimed at running the country, and not specifically aimed at what’s best for Birmingham.

“What we have is out of date 19th Century municipal structures,” he told the BBC. “I’m certainly committed to putting myself forward and becoming the Labour candidate”.

How the fucking fuck has he got the nerve to seek yet another public office having shown that he took advantage of his present one and swindled £40 000 of taxpayers’ money to pay his sister?

I pray to whatever gods might be out there that Simon fails utterly and miserably, that the people of Birmingham are all made very aware of what a troughing cocksniffer Sion motherfucking Simon is and that he ends up licking out public toilets for a living

Arrogant fucking cunt.

My favourite albums – 61–70

Well, here goes with another batch of my 100 favourite albums…

#70 Al diMeola – Scenario: Forget his recent albums – you might as well listen to Kenny fucking G – but when Al had some fire in his belly he was pretty bloody good! This album is a particular favourite of mine with a good variety of material ranging from Beckish jazz rock to flamenco-style acoustic pieces and not a duff track to be found. I used to listen to a lot of jazz fusion when I was younger and this album from 1983 has stuck with me.

#69 Bob Marley and the Wailers – Natty Dread: Again, I’m going for early material and this appeared just as the buzz about Bob was really building. It contains the original version of ‘No Woman No Cry’, which beats the better-known live version into a cocked Rastafarian hat. Hardly a bad track to be heard and ‘Lively Up Yourself’ and ‘Rebel Music’ sparkle as brightly now as they did 36 years ago.

#68 ELO – Out of the Blue: ELO used to be a very good pop band, which a lot of people seem to have forgotten. Jeff Lynne was clearly a Beatles fan and my favourite track on this rather bloated double album is the very Beatlish ‘Mr Blue Sky’ which has one of the best bass lines ever. It’s the last track of ‘Concerto for a Rainy Day’ which took up a whole side on the original vinyl release. It still holds up today – have a listen!

#67 Amadou and Mariam – Dimanche a Bamako: World music from Mali that has a relentless groove with simple but effective guitar work. Joyous stuff which always has an uplifting effect on me. ‘La Realite’ is a great track with lovely guitar, whilst other tracks have a sort of John Lee Hookerish boogie feel to them. Their other albums are worth checking out, but this one is the most consistent and a little more rock than the others.

#66 Davey Graham – Folk, Blues & Beyond: The late DG was possibly the most influential folk guitarist that there’s ever been. He cut across jazz, classical, traditional and world music at a time when you just didn’t do that kind of thing. Bless him, he couldn’t sing but his stellar guitar work makes up for it. He popularised DADGAD tuning and established a school of British acoustic guitar playing that had a wide ranging influence on, amongst many others, one James Page of Led Zep. Get the expanded version for the extra tracks which include the original version of ‘Anji’ – now a folk guitar standard.

#65 David Lindley and El Rayo-X – Win This Record: Another relatively unknown artist although if you’ve ever heard Jackson Brown’s version of ‘Stay’ you’ll have heard Lindley – singing in a very high voice. It’s as a guitarist that he excels though and his talent sprawls right across this album. Combine this with a great band and an inspired choice of material and you have a great ‘fun’ album. New Orleans meets reggae meets rock…’Make it on Time’ is a good track to start with – a high octane rush boogie with great distorted lap steel guitar.

#64 ZZ Top – Eliminator: Yes, they made some great records before this mainstream breakthrough album but nothing quite so relentlessly shiny and downright nasty. Gibbons has a monster tone and is on top form and the tracks are all good, with the usual quirky subject matter such as ‘TV Dinners’. It contains all the singles you liked at the time, but check out the lesser-known tracks such as ‘Under Pressure’.

#63 The Faces – Long Player: I’ve only just recently got back into the Faces and it’s a pleasure to become reacquainted with their sloppy tightness. Rod and the band was a marriage made in heaven and they were second only to the Stones with that certain style of rock ’strut’. Ronnie Wood impresses on lead, but everyone else isn’t too shabby, with the late Ronnie Lane a forgotten bass hero. ‘Had Me a Real Good Time’ just about sums the band up.

#62 Sir Millard Mulch – How To Sell The Whole F#@!ing Universe To Everybody, Once And For All!: Totally uncategorisable…it’s chamber rock, heavy metal, Zappa-style satire…It’s available here FREE! How can you not admire a guy who records a song called ‘The Boy With The Perfectly Square Butthole Strikes Back’? His YouTube videos are pretty funny, too. Seriously, check this guy out – a neglected genius!

#61 Focus – Moving Waves: I just keep coming back to this album and it still seems as fresh as when I first heard it. Jan Akkerman’s guitar and Thijs van Leer’s keyboards, flute and yodelling predominate and at times it veers towards the artsy-fartsy but it has some balls-out rock, ethereal textures and great ensemble playing that mostly lifts it out of the self-indulgent. They seemed to like the title ‘Focus’ for their compositions and ‘II’ here doesn’t disappoint. Focus are still around, but without Akkerman who’s still a phenomenal player.

Overdose fun!

We were in France last week, checking out places to rent whilst we look for a permanent home there, and had to buy some Paracetamol. We should have taken some with us as it cost over a quid to buy a pack of 16 tablets as opposed to the usual Tesco generic ones at 16p per pack. Thinking this might be good stuff to stock up on – along with Ibuprophen – I popped into Tesco earlier this morning and stuck two 16-tablet packs of each in my basket.

When I got to the checkout I was told I could only buy two packs. I queried this and was told it was the law and it was in case I was contemplating topping myself via an overdose of proprietary painkillers. Indeed, it is the law, which restricts sales to 1 pack of 32 tablets in pharmacies and 1 pack of 16 tablets in other outlets.

ODing on Paracetamol seems a risky business to me. Liver failure isn’t a great thing to have and it’s what’s likely if you don’t neck enough tablets to ‘bite the big one’.

Personally, I’d go for slashing my wrists – properly…none of this straight across nonsense, you need to go at a bit of an angle to do the job properly I’ve discovered – in a nice hot bath with a bottle of a good single malt or an aged Calvados.

But, no matter how you do it, if you want to ‘end it all’ then just make sure you do it properly. To quote Frank Zappa:

You say there ain’t no use in livin’; it’s all a waste of time
And you wanna throw your life away, well people that’s just fine
Go ahead on ‘n get it over with then, find you a bridge and take a jump
Just make sure you do it right the first time, ’cause nothin’s worse than a Suicide Chump

Well, Tesco surely saved my life today – although, as I understand the legislation they may have sold me double my government allowance of suicide pills – so I suppose that’s a bonus.

Next time I think about a Paracetamol OD I’ll just have to go through the check out twice before I ‘check out’, as it were.

What a fucking stupid law…any poxy supermarket can sell me a nice sharp knife, a length of clothesline, glue, booze and some other neat shit I could use to in order to shuffle off this mortal coil, but not a few tablets…

Why not simply stop selling dangerous stuff to people just in case they’re going to get a hankering to see if there really is an afterlife? And if people want to commit suicide then why not put all pills on prescription?

I suppose the legislation seeks to stop the ‘impulse’ pill buyer from popping into Asda or wherever and then going home and doing the business although, as this site points out:

The initial success of these measures appears to have waned, and hospital admissions and deaths from Paracetamol related overdoses are on the increase once more.

It’s a law that isn’t working then – what a fucking surprise. And even less of a surprise that it still hangs around like a fart in a lift.

There’s no problem ODing on homeopathic remedies though.

A protest against Boots selling homeopathic remedies culminated in mass overdoses outside their stores.

No matter how many pills you neck, you’ll be lucky if you actually ingest a single molecule of the ‘active’ ingredient, because, you know, in homeopathy ‘less is more’ and the weaker a medicine is, the better it is at curing your ills!

The homeopaths’ response:

The Society of Homeopaths said treatments were “person specific” and based on taking a series of small doses, so it did not expect any reaction in the protesters unless one already had symptoms matched to their remedy.

Yeah, right…got any snake oil you can sell me?

All of which forces me to conclude that what we really need is a pill to cure stupid.

That’s a long way off though.

Maybe, in the meantime, perhaps if we stop treating people as if they are stupid then maybe they’ll stop being stupid?

Who knows? It might even fucking work…

A Liddle goes a long way…

I had Rod Liddle down as just a mouthy, blustering, self-important tit, but it seems I was wrong.

He is, in fact a cunt – by his own admission.

Rod – currently (or is he?) the hot tip to take over the helm of the rapidly-sinking Independent (readership down over 14% according to the last available figures) – has ‘come out’ after it was shown that his posts on a Millwall FC fan forum revealed a keyboard persona that might put him out of the running for the top job of tea boy editor at the Indy.

You can read some of his posts – some which he admits to writing and some that he does not - here and here.

Our Rod claims that someone ‘hacked’ into his account on the forum by using his screen name – Monkeymfc – and his password – millwall.

millwall? How many femtoseconds did it take him to come up with that password?

He has since changed his password – probably to something no-one would ever guess like rodliddle? – but has allowed all his previous posts, dating back to last October – to remain.

The words of a Millwall forum admin are interesting:

“We’ve checked re: hacking and our passwords when sent out are multi letters and numbers 10 characters long. Impossible to guess and the site hasn’t been hacked.

I have communicated today with monkeymfc that if someone else guessed his password – and if it was re-set to what the press are saying it was easy enough to guess!! – then he was more than entitled to get in touch with the site ed or us to remove them. It was his choice not to and whether right or wrong, his choice alone.”

Certainly the poster Monkeymfc has been a busy bunny, managing to offend many groups of people ranging from Somalis, through Jews to women.

Here’s what he wrote to someone he assumed was a woman – never do that on yr internetz, Rod, otherwise you might end up skewered on the business end of a ladyboy’s cock – and his explanation of it:

Monkeymfc on blogger Jo Owen. He wrongly assumes he is a woman: “Stupid bitch. A year eight sociology lecture from someone who knows fck all … Someone kick her in the cnt”. Liddle [in reply to a blogger]: “I don’t remember saying it and it certainly doesn’t read like me, but it’s quite possible that at some point I might use that terminology to make a certain point, perhaps the opposite to the one you imagine.”

Hmm…maybe Rod should be in politics…

It’s easy to read Liddle’s posts and start to play the outraged liberal – as many Guardianistas people are now doing even as I type this – but, as far as I’m concerned, that’s not the point here.

What is crystal clear is that if Liddle is stupid enough to choose ‘millwall’ as a password on an internet forum for Millwall fans and then make comments some might construe as ‘racist’ then he’s not necessarily a racist cunt…

He told the Guardian: “All of these things are twisted out of context to make me look like a cunt. I may be a cunt but I’m not a racist cunt.”

…but he certainly is an extremely stupid one.

So, whilst the Independent might be getting a controversial new editor to revive its flagging fortunes, can it really afford to hire a foolish one?

My favourite albums – 71–80

And so it continues…here’s #71 to 80 in reverse order as always.

#80 The Yardbirds – Roger the Engineer: In many ways one of the most influential bands this country has ever produced, if only for the triumvirate of guitarists – Clapton, Beck and Page – that passed through its ranks. This is their most sophisticated album and sees Beck nailing himself a place in rock history with some excellent guitar work. It’s basically blues with psychedelic touches. The expanded version is worth getting as it has some nice extras including Beck and Page’s only recordings together.

#79 The Band – The Band: Who needed Dylan during his sabbatical when you had the Band? In many ways the most perfect example of Rock Americana ever produced and the yardstick by which I measure many other acts. It moves between aching poignancy and hedonistic joy touching all points in between and the musicianship is stunningly good. More talent than one band should ever have with several lead vocalists and multi-instrumentalists. We shall not see their like again.

#78 Kate Bush – Never For Ever: Every so often rock throws up a real oddball who refuses to compromise and our Kate is surely one of these. This was a hard choice but it clinched inclusion because of the combination of the weird and the poppiness. The then new Fairlight CMI was heavily featured along with drum machines but this didn’t make the sound sterile because of the otherwise largely ethnic instrumentation and Kate’s own vocal dynamics. ‘Delius’ is a perfect song to play on a hot summer’s day – try it!

#77 Bebop Deluxe – Sunburst Finish: This really sounds self-indulgent today but I still love it. Bill Nelson never sounded as good again, with lead guitar to the fore and some amazing songs.  ‘Blazing Apostles’ still has lyrics applicable to today and other songs feature dystopian future worlds, mental turmoil and groupie homages. But it’s the guitar that really makes this album with ‘Crying to the Sky’ a stand out in a Hendrixy way.

#76 Patto – Roll ‘em Smoke ‘em Put Another Line Out: Patto’s guitarist, Ollie Halsall, is probably the best guitarist that no-one’s ever heard of. Playing amazing legato lines that would take another 15 years to become part of every wannabee shredder’s musical vocabulary, he was a true original. However, this is a deeply-flawed album with some attempts at humour that fail dismally. Despite this there are glimpses of Ollie’s majesty and he plays some neat piano too. In a  fairer world, Ollie would still be alive and very, very famous.

#75 Cardiacs – Sing to God: How do you start to describe this band? They’re a bit punky, a bit psychedelic and a bit prog rock…plus they’re bloody barking, with James Joyce style lyrics. File under quirky, and if Jon Poole’s cut-up solo on ‘Fiery Gun Hand’ doesn’t float your boat then you have no musical taste whatsoever.  Now on hold due to leader Tim Smith’s heart attack – almost fatally ironic – they could still return. We live in hopes…

#74 Toto – Isolation: Often dismissed as bland US AOR, Toto are a bit more than that. On this album, the band is almost entirely composed of its original members but still having problems finding a lead singer. But it’s the instrumental aspect of Toto that appeals to me. Steve Lukather, in particular, shines on guitar with some monster riffs and soloing. ‘Stranger in Town’ and ‘Change of Heart’ are my favourites here but – along with most of their albums – there’s also too much schmaltz in the form of lugubrious ballads. So, another flawed album but the gems make the trip worth it.

#73 Poco – Rose of Cimarron: The title track is worth getting the album for. It’s Byrdsish with some nice electric 12 string underpinning the sort of song that only Usanians could write with a certain grandeur and love of the wide open spaces. The rest of the album manages to steer clear of Eagles blandness and Rusty Young impresses with his virtuoso playing of anything with strings and frets. Can’t say any of the other of their 20-odd albums does much for me, though.

#72 La Bottine Souriante – La Mistrine: As my self-imposed ‘no live albums’ rule excludes their amazing ‘En Spectacle’ from this list, this album will have to do. Formerly a Quebecois folk band, once they acquired a pianist and a brass section they mutated into a sort of salsa-celtic hybrid which just simply fucking rocked and became the best live band I’ve ever seen. They have no percussion as such but the violinist sits and taps with his feet – but this is no ordinary tapping. You can’t hear this band anymore live. The two frontmen – including the tapper – left and the band is now a shadow of its former self. But buy ‘En Spectacle’ – it is truly music for the heart and feet and would have been the #1 album in this list.

#71 Neu – Neu2: Krautrock! Beauty through repetition, the opening track ‘Fur Immer’ has a relentless beat and hypnotic vibe that pre-empted Stereolab  and has to be played loud through headphones and in the dark – trust me. Although the other tracks are OK – some are simply speeded up or slowed down versions of the same track – it’s Fur Immer that guarantees them a place in my musical heart. It lasts 11 minutes but I could listen to it if it was 11 hours long.

How long till IPCC meltdown?

Fucking oops…

No, fucking MEGA oops!

Please read this – it catalogs an amazing series of errors, shoddy research and an astounding lack of even the most basic scientific thought.

Then ask yourself, how else might we been misled in the great AGW debate?

No debate – it’s not just the government that’s authoritarian

Health and Safety.

Say these three words to most people and you may well be ‘rewarded’ with mutterings about hanging baskets being banned in high streets and  poles being banned in fire stations or some such shite.

Don’t get me wrong – I dislike excessive bureaucracy and State interference in everyday life as much as any other concerned individual of a Libertarian bent, but the two examples I’ve given above are just myths that have grown out of misreported and isolated incidents.

The reality is bad enough without the press or special interest groups making it sound worse than it already is.

However, it appears that private businesses are determined to carry on where the already over-zealous Health & Safety Executive has left off:

Thousands of workers have been told they must reverse into parking spaces at their offices under a ‘draconian’ health and safety regime imposed by Britain’s second-largest power supplier.

The decree is the top ‘golden rule’ that the 20,000 staff of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) must follow under threat of disciplinary action.

This seems to me to be setting a very dangerous precedent when an already over-regulated society imposes further regulations on itself over and above those required by law.

Indeed, two of the main bodies concerned with safety – including the H&S Executive itself – don’t even acknowledge the need for reversing into parking spaces:

The measures have angered some employees, who say they are absurdly stringent. The Government’s Health and Safety Executive sets no guidelines about parking, while the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: ‘In general it is preferable to allow the driver a choice depending on the car park layout or circumstance.’

And SSE’s response?

Reversing into a static parking bay is safer than reversing out into a road or car park, which may have traffic and pedestrian movement which you cannot easily see.

Yes, it’s their property and they have a perfect right to impose what regulations they like on their employees as long as they’re within the law, but where does this end?

It’s not just our government that is becoming increasingly authoritarian, but now, it seems, other organizations that impact on everyday life are following suit.

Just the first two words of the last line on one of SSE’s safety notices say it all, really:

No debate…

Just accept what you’re told and don’t bloody argue.

However, to appreciate the real impact of the last decade or so of creeping authoritarianism, read some of the comments on the story below it, many of which see nothing wrong in SSE’s actions.

Not only are we losing our basic freedoms and individual sense of responsibility but there seem to be many people who welcome this gross infringement of their liberties and unsolicited intrusion into their lives.

Reversing to park is mandatory in military establishments. In event of emergency the parking area can be cleared far more quickly and it makes good sense.

- John, Axminster, 17/1/2010 12:39

I always reverse into parking spaces for the simple reason that it’s easier to see what’s around you when you’re driving back out again. I think there is some sort of instinct with pedestrians that compels them to walk behind a reversing vehicle. That rule makes perfect sense to me!

- Rose, Ireland, 17/1/2010 1:28

When I was taught to drive, over 60 years ago, I was told never to reverse out onto a road into the path of oncoming traffic, but always reverse into a driveway or parking area so you could drive forward when you departed. It is a good driving habit I employ today by always reversing into a parking space. Perhaps some ‘draconian’ rules are just common sense!

- Mike, St. Merryn, Cornwall, 17/1/2010 9:37

I’m afraid my reaction to these drones is that if you can’t reverse out of a parking space quickly and safely then you shouldn’t be fucking driving in the first place…

But, back to the SSE.

Look at that poster again…

See that last ‘golden rule’?

Accept challenges

That’s exactly what people are being conditioned not to do.

Very soon, we’ll no longer be able to think for ourselves because we’ll either have forgotten how to or we’ll be too scared to. Personal choice, decision-making and judgment will disappear in a flood of rules, regulations, laws and guidelines and then there’ll be no challenges left.

And no debate.