arrrrrr!

A horde of pirates needed, as ships crew and boarding parties to loot and pillage Camden lock on Saturday 9th June.

You will need:

Your own pirate outfit

Grog

A sense of fun

To be able to reliably commit to the event.

The climate pirates intend to highlight the injustices of the rich nations plundering the poor. While developed nations (like the UK) emit huge amounts of CO2 the developing nations suffer the consequences (famine, drought, flooding etc).

The climate pirates will be sailing under a WDM flag, but it will be so much fun that everyone should come. See http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaigns/climate/

Camden lock is entirely supportive of the event and so (looting and pillaging) aside the day will be a legal and colourful way to make your voice heard. Please come along.

If you can commit to help out on the day please email Richard:
emptyhand17 at yahoo.com by Sunday 3rd June.

If you can’t commit but would like to find out more, then please email me to say you’re interested and we will email round final details nearer the time.

Tell friends; bring your mum, parrots, pirate songs, people you meet in the street, your own plank, and yourself.

It’s going to be good!

more from climate camp

(click on the poster to see the full size pdf)

you are the generation that bought more shoes and you get what you deserve

a friend put this song on a cd for me a couple of years back, and i've only just dug it out after a *long* time... it's brilliant.

and there's a video too. not so ace, but worth it for the singer/frock combo (want.)

so. yes. johnny boy, and you are the generation....

seduction tips for serial hangoverists

Do:
talk delighted rubbish at your intended target
invite them to help tackle putting the duvet cover on
invest in considerable quantities of wine, chocolate and strawberries, and possibly have fridge magnet letters at your disposal
have an evening of sparkling wit and hilarious misunderstandings

Don't:
throw your drink over them
tell them that you've loved them from afar for years
make it immediately clear that you're a complete mentalist
ask, when half awake, if you can 'have a huggle'. (there are no adequate words to describe the 'sink through the floor' feeling)

the national - the astoria - 22nd may

(ir)regular readers will be cheered to note that my rubbish camera has come out of the woodwork again. sadly not in its usual capacity - there aren't any gig photos, and my scanner's broken.....



support was from the annuals, who were okay-ish. the national's set is as above... and as ever they didn't disappoint.

shedloads of fan reviews available here.

the rest of the night went a bit wonky.
we got offered aftershow passes, and seeing as last time i didn't go, i couldn't really turn it down.... taking into account that i was fairly drunk, brimming with hormones (mother nature decided to inexplicably delay my period by nearly a week and i'd already been hysterical at coronation street the day before) and harboring bad grudges against something that was done without malice or bad intent, i then proceeded to begin to royally fuck things up.

had a shouty/stroppy/accusatory rant at one of the people i love most in the world, really upset them*, walked off and then sobbed hysterically at my friends for half an hour in the bar.

then i decided it was time to blow my nose, order a whisky and, fuck it, start drinking with my favourite band in the world.

tall violinist dude padma newsome (birrova long time hero) has not only cut all his hair off but also got himself married to someone lovely. i spent most of the night talking his ear off, buying him tequila and trying to persuade them all to play a gig in leeds (to no avail).

i also managed to acquire matt (the singer)'s autograph on my diary....

.... i think it's about this point that things start getting a little hazy.....

pocket and me merrily distributed fake empire stickers to all and sundry, i've got a mysterious entry scrawled in my diary (james alderman at live nation, who are you and why are you there?), i had a ball (as far as i remember), got called special (in a non-inverted-comma-way) and apparently threw me beverage all over mr newsome as i was leaving.

sorry bout that, dude.

the next morning included very hungover frock shopping, ill advised haircuts and seeing random royston vaseyers on the escalator at kings cross. relatively painless journey home.... and then time for the ridiculousness to start up again....


* merrick, i'm very very very very very sorry.

spot the difference

camp for climate action announced yesterday that this year's camp's going to be at heathrow. this is their press release:

"This summer thousands of people will gather near Heathrow Airport at this year's Camp for Climate Action for eight days of education, sustainable living and direct action against the root causes of climate change.

Last year's camp was in the shadow of Drax power station, the UK's largest single emitter of carbon dioxide. This year's target is the largest emitter full stop. The effect of Heathrow's planes on the climate is equivalent to 31 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year - more than most countries.

Aviation is the fastest growing source of UK emissions. The camp at Heathrow will oppose the lunacy of the government's airport expansion plans, target industry giants profiteering from the climate crisis, and raise awareness of the need to fly less.

'All our efforts to tackle climate change are undone by operations like Heathrow. It's time to get serious. Instead of expanding airports, we should be talking about closing them,' said Lindsey Harris of the Camp for Climate Action.

Mass direct action will disrupt the activities of the airport and the aviation industry, but in the interests of public safety there will be no attempt to blockade runways.

Ben Davis of the Camp for Climate Action said: 'Governments and corporations are doing the very opposite of what climate science demands. Instead of reducing aviation, they are forcing massive expansion, locking us into increasing emissions. With the camp, we are moving debate and action about climate change away from what's good for growth and the economy to what's good for people and our fragile ecosystems. '

The camp will be a catalyst for the burgeoning network of people who want to take action on climate change and the huge impact of aviation. It is forging links with local residents resisting the building of a third runway and the destruction of their communities and other aviation campaign groups.

The Camp will take place from 14-21 August, near Heathrow airport. The exact location of the site will be announced nearer the time."

the daily hate've taken it upon themselves to, um, translate this....

"Thousands of green campaigners are planning to cause massive disruption at Heathrow airport.
"Eco-warriors" say they will set up a Greenham Common-style protest camp near the perimeter fence.
They intend to use it as a base to disrupt flights at the peak of the tourist season in an attempt to focus attention on climate change and global warming.

At a secret meeting in London at the weekend, protesters said they would occupy land around Heathrow between 14 to 21 August.
From there they will threaten the boundary and attempt to cause havoc inside the airport - or at least tie up hundreds of police.

Protesters at the Camp for Climate Action say they are planning:
• To infiltrate the terminal buildings by posing as passengers and then cause chaos once inside.
• Blockade roads and railways into Heathrow.
• Occupy airline offices and take "direct action" against freight companies and firms that supply food for passengers.

Up to three million passengers could be affected. One anarchist said: "There will be thousands of us there and they will need thousands of police to stop us.
"The police will be in a no-win situation. If they allow us to reach our targets at the airport there will be massive disruption and if they try to stop us, there will also be massive disruption."

The activists, who include veterans of May Day riots and the Reclaim the Streets campaign, were behind a "climate camp" at the Drax power station in North Yorkshire last summer.
More than 650 people took part in that protest, leading to 41 arrests and an estimated policing bill of £4 million.
Details of the Heathrow action will be circulated to anarchist groups at next month's G8 meeting in Germany.
Campaign organisers are understood to be trying to rent land near the airport for the camp from residents who are opposed to the Heathrow expansion plans."


nice journalism.

latitude

ok, so i crumbled.

the ticket is booked, and i guess i just have to start looking for a job four days earlier :)

the book club's choice of book, stella duffy, bill bailey, dylan moran, john hegley*, thick richard, simon armitage....

and then you get to the music lineup :)

info on the whole thing is here.

i'm going with a whisky-drinking national-loving mentalist. fifty times worse than me. god help me.

a mars a day

...helps you ingest calves' stomachs :)

mars are making an interesting move by using rennet in their products. not only does this lose the veggie market, but hindu's as well...

anyway.
the vegetarian society are encouraging people to contact Masterfoods Customer Services on 0845 045 0042 to express their concern.

and so am i.

apt

stupid

i woke up at ridiculous o'clock this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. i was also still a *tiny* bit drunk. so it made perfect sense to decide to go take pictures of the sun rising...

as soon as i shut the door, i realised my keys were still on the sofa.

thank you very much, mr man-in-boxer-shorts-in-flat-c, for buzzing me in half an hour ago. and thank you me, for forgetting to lock the internal door (but i MUST remember to lock it in future!).

i did make friends with some squirrels in the park, a very spangled girl on her way home and a gang of four people who debated whether they could fit through the catflap to get me back in...

what's wrong with this picture?

plenty of things here