The People's Democratic Republic of Birmingham

So as usual, when it snows in England everyone predicts doom and apocalypse.. but you just know that they would also be the first to complain about the cost if we paid enough to get blanket coverage from snow ploughs and gritters. As it is we get such little snow that there’s no way we can afford enough of them… but hey, try telling that to the People Of Restricted Cognition….

Anyway; I now cycle to work as it is probably the only exercise I can get nowadays and also because if you don’t live your beliefs then you’re just a pathetic wimp in my opinion. And I have to say that cycling in when it was snowing was just IMMENSE fun! – the old saying is so right: “there’s no such thing as bad weather: there’s only the wrong clothes.”

Also, I am lucky enough that my route runs along a disused railway line, and this morning it was Christmas card perfect!

Check out this blog on why not to wear a suit; one point I really love is where he says that certain people probably need a suit to get confidence and stature in their company – and he states: “Well let me be the first to tell you that if you feel like you need a suit to gain that confidence, you got problems.” Genius!!

Then there is the flip side; if you stopped requiring everyone in your business to wear a suit then it is the equivalent of giving them a tax free pay raise. Let’s all do this!! – it is now the Official Policy of the Peoples Democratic Republic of Birmingham to ban all suits in business! Wear what the hell you want! – and judge people on their competence, not what they wear….

If like me you have found the blatant racism on Celebrity Big Brother to be nauseating and revolting to watch then the solution is simple; stop watching it!

I gave up on this show some years ago when I came to the conclusion that to watch it was to consume it – and also therefore to endorse it. Even worse; watching it meant that they got ratings which meant that they made more money from their advertisers and that the show would continue.

Just stop watching it! They deliberately create controversy in order to boost ratings – and unlike other artificially created controversies real people get hurt in this one!

Then after the show, demonstrate your disapproval for racist twats like Jade Goody and Danielle Lloyd by refusing to consume anything they produce and wreaking their fucking careers; these people depend on us the viewing public for their livelihood! Show them that we stand against racism in ALL forms by not watching them and not listening to them. Make them do real work out of the public eye; they do not deserve our attention if they do not subscribe to the basic decencies that the rest of us insist on.

The single good thing to come out of this has been (as far as I can tell without wathcing it) – the quiet dignity of Shilpa Shetty – and the fact that she might now be a household name in Britain! – Yay! Go Bollywood!!

This is just unbeleiveable; some religious, creationist bigot in the US is refusing to allow his kids to watch “An Inconvenient Trust” at school because – get this – he insists that an opposing view be presented as well.

THE CLUE IS IN THE FREAKING TITLE OF THE MOVIE!!! – It is called “An Inconvenient TRUTH” – these are facts! – they are evidence that has been taken from measuring reality; they are not open to debate or argument! Scientists have gone out, looked at a thermometer and written down these numbers! – photos taken ten years apart of the same glacier retreating 500 meters are not made up!

I can see why oil company executives insist on trying to deny climate change; their careers, companies and self esteem are bound up in doing so… but what possible reason does a religious idiot have for doing so?

This is yet another example of the failings of capitalism; immature men with insecurity complexes will always demand fast cars to make up for their many physical and scial failings… and if they are demanded then they will be built.

But where is it in the interests of society to allow cars on the road that can do double or triple the legal speed limit? Just what is the point?

Maybe there is an argument for increasing the speed limit on motorways to 80 mph; maybe we should allow cars to go slightly faster than that to allow for overtaking… but why the hell should anyone be allowed to drice a car that goes faster than 85 miles per hour?

And YES this is state intervention!! – because I simply do not trust the competence of these drivers! There is no need for such powerful cars to be allowed!

And of course, the side issue of greater fuel efficiency is just an added bonus!

I cannot believe it; yet another young kid is savaged by the family pet. Even more unbelievable is the fact that the family takes no responsibility for their actions, and allowed a drug dealing thug of a relative to keep a vicious dog in the house. When someone is keeping a dog for it’s intimidation value then don’t let kids anywhere near it.

And everyone bleats about how legislation is needed, without taking responsibility themselves. This will always fail so long as dangerous dogs are identified by breed. This is total crap; the only dangerous dogs are those that have had their tails docked by petty minded twats who are more interested in how a dog looks than in keeping kids alive.

Let me explain; a dog’s tail pretty much serves one function alone; to tell other dogs (and incidentally humans) the dogs mood. I have never heard of a dog with a tail savaging a person! You can tell when those dogs are angry and back off. If it was made illegal to dock a dogs tail for the petty vanity of the owners and breeders then we would all be left with the single best signpost to the dogs mood ….

… and the number of deaths by dog attack would drop like a stone.

I just saw the trailer for the new movie "300" based on Frank Millers graphic novel….
… and then watched it again, and again…

… and then watched all of the features on the production of the movie….

… and then wateched it again…

… and every single time I watched it I got goose-pimples… – you know the kind that you get when you feel profound awe in the prescence of greatness? – yup: those.

The story itself is just amazing; 300 Spartans defended the pass at Thermopylae and held off an army of an estimated quarter of a million Persians for three days whilst the rest of Greece mobilised.

But this movie rendition just instilled awe in me time and again; I really cannot wait to see this movie! – it’s like waiting for Lord of the Rings to come out all over again! Hence the title of this blog entry: the trailer was so good that it raised goose pimples on my arm every single time I saw it – and so in response I need to shave the hairs off my arm to stop them raising every time; so this trailer alone is arm shavingly good!!

So; I am working away at the dayjob, editing the list of exhibitions we will be at over the coming months. Part of this naturally requires me to link to the exhibitors websites; usually a quick way of doing this is to go to the venue, look at their event listings and then click on the link to the relevant exhibitions website to get the address to place onto our site.

And then ExCel in London (apparently they thought it’d be a really cool idea to name their venue after a spreadsheet… this should tell you all you need to know about them..) decided to open the links to the advertising sites in a new window (oh; JOY UNBOUNDED: a new freaking window to deal with?!) – and after a warning sign telling you that you are leaving their site (no fecking shite Sherlock; that’s what usually happens when I click on a freaking link!!!!) and then to just make absolutely, positively sure you eternally hate their company for life – they do it in a window with no controls, no address bar, no menus and no buttons.

How can anyone be so incompetent? Do they have no idea at all that this pisses off people to the point of blogging about it? – and avoiding their site as if it was ten day old medical waste that had been left in the hot sun?!?!

Check it out at their utterly incompetent site – click on the link to the Pro2Pack site and enjoy the rancidness.

The vile murders in Ipswich have got me thinking. Surely these women don’t want to have to walk the streets and sell their bodies.. aren’t they forced into it by being addicted to an illegal substance – and it’s the very illegality of it that forces them to such extreme measures.

What if the only place they could get a fix was at a doctors… where they got clean needles and works and support and encouragement to give up… what if the drugs were free and all you had to do to get them was to register as an addict… what if prostitutes were tolerated and not persecuted. (and before any loudmouth bigots jump all over this, notice what I am saying and not saying here: we TOLERATE prostitutes; we make their lives easier whilst at the same time removing the reason that over 90% of them became street walkers; the drugs ARE NOT FREELY AVAILABLE AT THE FECKING SCHOOL GATES – in fact whilst making addicts less of a target for prosecution we continue to target the dealers; in fact, drugs become a taxed government monopoly. Overall we make drugs harder to get into and easier to get out of)

So – suddenly we remove the reason for the vast majority of women to solicit on the streets; and those women that still do want to work as prostitutes (as if anyone ever really wants to do that; maybe that should be “those women compelled to work as prostitutes because they have no other way to earn money”) can do so in safety in a brothel or massage parlour.

So tell me; if we made these changes, how could that sick fuck have murdered 5 women? – and how would these changes affect you reading this? Unless you are a drug addict or a prostitute I fail to see how you can stand against a change that would make their lives better,