A Minor Detail About Food

I am not sure whether anyone will have noticed, but yesterday I decided to add a bit to the entry I posted on Thursday. It was only a couple of sentences which didn’t change the entry much overall, but I thought it was a good idea. I wanted to explain why I chose not to accept anything to eat when the staff at the station offered to get me some food. Of course, by about seven on Thursday evening I was growing rather hungry so I would have gladly eaten something. But the problem was there were no tables around for me to put any food on, so a sandwich or something would just have disintegrated, and I didn’t want to get myself too messy, especially given that I didn’t know how long a night lay ahead.

This was obviously a fairly minor point. I thought it was worth making though, as it explained the difficulties which I as a disabled person face. On my blog I think it is important that I present my perspective as much as possible, which includes elaborating on things like why I might need to go hungry in such situations. After all, not many people will ever experience being stuck in the entrance hall of a tube station for two or three hours. I think that, at least in part, is the point of my blog. My only other option was to ask one of the staff to feed me something, which I naturally felt pretty awkward doing as it wouldn’t have been in their job description. That is why, as famished as I was, I felt compelled to decline their offers and stay hungry. I don’t think many people would realise how such things might be an issue though, which is why I went back to specifically add that detail to the entry.

Trump Must Pay For This Betrayal

Returning to international affairs, I turned on the news this morning to see that Trump is essentially trying to appease Russia by selling out Ukraine so he can claim to have made peace. I’m sure I won’t be the only person to find this gut-wrenchingly abhorrent: Trump is so arrogant and self-important that he thinks he can bypass the precious progress made towards peace, and just capitulate to Russia to get what he wants. Trump will then presumably do his big man act and brag about having made peace and ended the conflict, while not giving a fuck about the suffering he has caused or the fact that he would have sold an entire sovereign nation to it’s conqueror just to suit his own personal image. Surely we in Europe cannot stand back and let this happen. It’s like Chamberlain allowing Hitler to sweep through Poland and wherever else he fancied, before claiming to be a hero for avoiding a war. It is a vile, vile act of betrayal by a man who deserves to be rotting in jail.

Frankly, it is time the world treated trump and America as the egotistical bully it is now behaving as, before it causes more damage and suffering just to look good. We are perfectly capable of resolving conflicts on our own, without criminal moronic charlatans ruining things to suit their own vanity.

An Unpleasant – Yet Very Lucky – Evening

I think it’s fair to say that I had a very lucky escape yesterday. To be honest I was in two minds about recording what happened yesterday afternoon here as it’s just too depressing, but I suppose a blog entry is a blog entry. I was out and about once again, this time on quite a long trundle through Bexleyheath heading up towards the river. Spring is coming, so I’m becoming eager to go out and explore a bit more.

The thing is, I have gone on quite a few long trundles recently , and it has probably had an impact on my powerchair battery. I was heading for Abbey Wood in order to get the Elizabeth line back to Woolwich and then a bus home, when I noticed my battery dropping quite rapidly. Of course I knew I needed to get back as swiftly as possible, but to be honest I felt a tingle of panic.

It took me ages to find the Elizabeth Line station, but luckily I managed to get onto a train. I traveled the single stop to Woolwich and got off the train. I was heading along the platform towards the lift, when suddenly my powerchair cut out completely: it turned off and wouldn’t turn on again.

I was obviously in deep shit. Luckily there was a member of TfL staff nearby so I got her attention and explained the problem. The staff took my chair out of drive and pushed me up to the station entrance hall. The staff were very, very kind, doing what they could to help. First they tried calling a taxi to take me home, but rather ridiculously my powerchair wouldn’t fit.

What followed was a very long, stressful evening spent in the Woolwich Elizabeth Line station. The staff did what they could to help me, giving me drinks of water and offering to get me things to eat. As hungry as I was by then however, I didn’t want to risk getting myself too messy, and as there wasn’t a table nearby to put any food on I thought I better not try to eat anything. I tried contacting people like Dom on my iPad without luck. Eventually they dialled 111 for an ambulance to take me back to Eltham.

By the time it came I had spent about two hours at the station, unable to go anywhere. To be honest watching the evening commuters go in and out was fairly interesting, and I think it’s fair to say that London’s newest tube line is being well used. Even so, it was a highly stressful, unpleasant couple of hours waiting for the ambulance.

Thank fuck it eventually arrived. By then it was half past eight and I had spent about three hours at the station. I felt tired and irritable. Luckily the trip home was swift, but when I got back here the zarking chair refused to charge. Who knows what is up with it, but I have emailed my usual wheelchair maintenance guy.

In short yesterday was a horrible day; the kind of day I would rather just forget. At the same time I was incredibly lucky: if my chair had conked out anywhere else things would have been a thousand times worse. At the station there were people around who could help. If I had been, say, in a park or going along the path by the river, I would have been in serious, serious trouble. In all, then, I had a bloody lucky escape, and so it is worth recording. Even so, some days rule and some days suck: yesterday was emphatically the latter.

Go Home Vance

I was watching the news again this morning, this time about the awesome AI Summit in Paris. Artificial Intelligence is obviously very exciting indeed, and obviously holds vast prospects. What I couldn’t help being irritated by, though, was the fact that they let US vice president JD Vance speak.

Now, I don’t want to seem crazy or deranged here: there is no denying that America is still one of the world’s foremost movers and shakers in the science and technology sector, no matter who it elects as it’s president. Yet with so many earnest, intelligent people gathered in Paris to discuss something so important, the sight of a representative of a country fast descending into a deranged fascist dictatorship felt jarring. Let’s face it: since last year the USA is not what it was; since the re-election of Trump, the respect it once enjoyed has drained away. One can only be sickened by his recent comments regarding Gaza. Thus to see a representative of America appear at such a conference, speaking as if he still warranted the esteem his country once enjoyed while clearly trying to bend proceedings towards his perverse America First worldview, was sickening.

If you ask me, America and it’s representatives should not be welcome at such events any more. That is the only way the world will be able to show it’s contempt and disgust at what is currently unfolding there. After all, it adds nothing. Despite it’s delusions about being so technologically advanced, going to the moon and all that, the only reason why America got to where it is is by hijacking the work of other people! There is nothing which America brags about doing which other countries can’t do better, and the vast majority of NASA scientists were born in other countries.

Again, I know how unhinged this might sound, but at the moment I cannot look at America without feeling a deep, scathing contempt. The arrogance and brashness with which it conducts itself, talking about invading sovereign nations and renaming gulfs after itself, turns my stomach. Frankly, I still feel that the 2028 Olympic games should be reallocated. Of course, I know not all Americans side with Trump, and that some will be as appalled by him as I am. Nonetheless, Donald Trump is American president, and as such America needs to be taken down a peg or two. It no longer deserves it’s position as the world’s foremost global superpower, and we’d all be far better off without such an immature, arrogant nation interfering in matters of critical global importance.

More Evidence of Fail Bias

I just saw on the lunchtime news that a second Labour MP has been made to apologise for offensive comments he made on WhatsApp, as a consequence of being reported in the Sunday Fail. “Burnley MP Oliver Ryan said in a statement that comments he made in the group “were completely unacceptable” and he regretted “not speaking out at the time”.” Of course a Member of Parliament should not offend or make disparaging comments about anyone, but what triggers me about this story is the fact that the Fail is clearly going after Labour MPs. It is blatantly obvious that the writers of that rag are digging around in the personal and private messages of Labour MPs in an effort to find something they can smear them with, probably breaching their privacy, while letting more right-wing politicians go unchecked. What more grotesque example of right-wing bias in the Tabloid media could there be? Thus if you ask me, it should be the Fail and it’s writers who ought to be under investigation.

When James Bond Becomes Public Domain

I just came across something very, very interesting indeed regarding James Bond. I know I shouldn’t just blog about the first video I come across on Youtube on a given day, but I think this one is worth a watch. In it, the dude explains that the Bond franchise is due to enter the public domain in about ten years: that means that, rather than being confined to EON and the official Bond films, just about anyone will be able to make a film based around the character. Whereas we currently have to wait for official Bond films, other studios and directors will be able to use the character. Obviously, the danger of that is that a lot of crap will be made, but I must admit part of me finds the prospect intriguing.

I suppose over the last sixty years James Bond has become part of our culture and a bit of a tradition. As I wrote here, we’re used to going to see a new Bond film at the cinema every few years before discussing it with our friends. But could it be time for that to change? ‘All good things’ and all that. Opening the Bond character out gives rise to endless possibilities: Black Bonds; gay Bonds; even Bonds with disabilities. Naturally, a lot of crap stands to be made, lacking a shred of the quality or professionalism of the ‘official’ Bond films; yet I must admit the concept of seeing a franchise and character we’re all so used to taken in a plethora of new directions intrigues me. After all, keeping any intellectual or artistic property in the hands of a select few people means it will inevitably eventually stagnate; but opening it up to as many creative minds as possible will inject it with fresh creative vigour.

More Bus Ramp Woes

Pretty much exactly the same thing that I recorded here a few days ago happened again today, uncannily in exactly the same place! I was getting off the bus outside Tesco again, and the bus ramp refused to come out. Fortunately it was a different driver, so he let me reverse off the bus with the ramp only half way out rather than making everyone else get off the bus; but even so it is still a clear sign that bus ramps aren’t maintained as well as they might be. I still think mechanical bus ramps are awesome, and far better than manual ones where bus drivers need to get out of their cabs to unfold the ramps to let you on and off the bus; but I must admit there is something to be said for the older, simpler way of doing things. At least I never got stuck on a zarking bus!

We Have To Do Something About Trump

We all know how valuable democracy is, and how important it is to respect another country’s sovereignty; but surely there comes a point at which other countries are forced to interfere in the political affairs of another. When a state is putting another in jeopardy, or when a government is unfairly persecuting an ethnic or social minority, for example. This is especially the case when the country in question happens to hold a significant amount of power.

I now firmly believe that we have reached that point with regard to the United States. Donald Trump is now tearing up decades of policy and progress in the Middle East, based on nothing but his vast ignorance. Every day it seems I am met with another report of his utter stupidity: he is now putting the peace of the world in danger, openly advocating the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. How can we stand back and let this Luddite, who knows as much about geopolitics as a turd, run roughshod over values like having equal respect for a people’s links to an area, irrespective of who they are? Surely  it is time that the wider world puts whatever pressure it can on America to replace Trump with someone who knows what they are doing.

When Political Caps Go Wrong

I think I’ve mentioned before how I currently roll around town wearing a red baseball cap with the words ”Make America Think Again” written on it. It’s just my way of showing my disgust at what is unfolding on the other side of the Atlantic. I have been rather surprised at how many people have noticed it: when I’m out and about, I get complemented on it fairly regularly, often by people with American accents. Once or twice, though, people have misread it. The problem is, if they only catch a glimpse of my cap, they can think that I actually back Trump! I then have a massive problem trying to get them to look at my hat again in an effort to make it clear that I am not, in fact, a MAGA-supporting imbecile. It happened earlier today: I was up in Camden, believe it or not, when a guy passed me on a bike coming the other way. He must have caught sight of my cap and shouted something like “Get Trump out!” Before I could turn around and explain that I fully agreed with him, he was too far away. I suppose it’s a risk of wearing such a cap: people think it means exactly the opposite of what you are trying to express to them.

Thanks Artur

For the last few weeks since Christmas, I have had a very nice guy called Artor as my Personal Assistant. Dominik was in Sri Lanka so Artur was covering for him. To be honest I was uncertain about the situation at first, but it very quickly became clear that Artur is a PA of the highest order: he’s a first class chef, excellent at shaving me, and above all is a great laugh. The fact that he was willing to do things like lug my Imac all the way to Stratford and back blew my mind. I’m very lucky indeed to have had him helping me.

However, Dom is now back so today is Artur’s last day working with me – for now at least. I just want to record how fond I have already grown of him. It’s strange how such friendships can sometimes spring up so rapidly; yet when you see someone day in, day out for just a few weeks you can often grow very close very quickly. I certainly feel that I have made a very good new friend, one to whom I’d like to express my enormous thanks and hope that it isn’t too long before we see one another again.

VIVAs and VOCAs

I saw my big brother Mark yesterday, for the first time in quite a while. He’s over briefly from France to help conduct a PhD viva, staying at the old family house in Harlesden with my parents. Mum thought it would be nice if I went over so we could all have dinner together. Needless to say, it was a wonderful meal: I hadn’t seen Mark in such a long time it felt absolutely fantastic to catch up with him. My niece and nephew, Oliver and Elise, are apparently doing well at school, and Mark seemed as dazzlingly bright as he always has.

Mind you, all the talk of a PhD viva across the dinner table once again made me ruminate on whether I ever could have done one. Of course, my masters took me so long to write that I decided to call my academic career a day after I finally completed it. I’m still extremely proud of my MA, but the question remains: could I, as someone who uses a communication aid, have done a PhD Viva? A Viva is a sort of examination where the examiners ask the candidate questions about the thesis they have written directly, so there’s a lot of talking involved. That’s obviously usually verbal, but could it be done with a Voice Output Communication Aid? It would probably be a very slow process: having to type out an answer to any question put to me would have taken quite some time, especially if the answer required any detail or substance. I strongly suspect that, before long, I would have become very uncomfortable and needed a rest.

To tell the truth I don’t think I’ve come across a record of a person with my level of CP doing a PhD. My Australian friend Darryl has one, but he is able to speak normally. I’d be very interested to see if anyone who uses a communication aid has done a PhD. As for myself, my 40,000 word MA thesis still sits proudly on my shelf; yet that faint niggle of curiosity at what might have been and what I could have achieved is still there. Oh well, I suppose that, at the end of the day, I still have time.

A Step Down A Long Road

Kier Starmer is now talking about wanting to reset the relationship between the UK and the EU. That is obviously a good sign and a step in the right direction: it’s time we openly admitted the obvious truth that Brexit was a catastrophic mistake voted for based only on lies. More and more people are realising that, the polls show quite clearly. However, Starmer has ruled out rejoining the EU. Perhaps he knows he has to pander to Labour voters who voted Leave, but surely he will know what a mistake brexit was: it’s becoming clearer by the day. With the buffoon who the Americans now call their president currently trying to start a trade war, Starmer will also know that the only way that the only way that the only way the UK will be able to withstand the coming global turmoil is if we reunite with our neighbours. It is surely thus time for our government to get real, face reality, and start down the long path to undoing the idiocy of 2016.

Section 31? Err, no thanks

Given that I’m such a self-confessed Trekkie, you may be wondering why I haven’t said anything on here about Section 31. If you haven’t heard of it, Section 31 is the new Star Trek film starring Michelle Yeoh which was released a week or so ago on Paramount Plus. To be honest, though, as much as I usually love all things Trek, I can’t say I’m that enthusiastic: from the trailers, it doesn’t look like it has anything to do with the kind of Star Trek I grew up loving and want to see the return of. Rather than a thought-provoking drama about a starship crew going out and exploring the galaxy, this appears to be some kind of naff action film. The reviews I have seen don’t make me enthusiastic either. More to the point, rather than having a cinematic release, Section 31 is only watchable online. As I wrote here a few entries ago about the Bond films, I still firmly believe films like this should be enjoyed in cinemas; releasing films over the web reduces them down to mere distractions. I’m thus afraid that this is yet another instance of what was once a big cultural entity losing it’s way and being turned into yet another piece of generic streamable pap.

Bus Ramp Embarrassment

Trust me, you haven’t experienced true embarrassment until you’re coming home on a packed London bus: you’re reaching the stop you want to get off at, so you press the wheelchair user’s stop request button. The driver stops the bus and presses the button for the ramp, but instead of sliding out as usual the ramp gets stuck half way. The driver tries again but the same thing happens. He tries and tries but the ramp refuses to extend, no matter what he does. This goes on for ten, then twenty minutes, until eventually the driver is forced to ask all the other passengers to get off the zarking bus! Their angry, contemptuous looks burn into you as they walk past.

With everyone else off the bus, the driver radios for a mechanic. But then, about twenty minutes later, the bloody ramp suddenly extends properly. The driver opens the door and you can finally get off; and you’re left to trundle your way home, now in the dark, reflecting that as much as you admire London public transport, you wish they looked after their aging bus fleet a bit better.

We Don’t Need No Water

Cheeky and childish though it is, I’m pretty sure I won’t be the only person to think this. I just saw on the breakfast news that there has been a charity concert in California, to raise funds to repair the damage caused by the wildfires there. “Stars including Billie Eilish, Pink, Katy Perry, Nirvana and Dr Dre performed at FireAid on Thursday, a benefit concert in Los Angeles to help the area recover from two of the largest fires in its history.” It sounds pretty awesome, but I have to admit that the first thing which popped into my head was to wonder whether anyone played this, causing me to chuckle into my breakfast.

James Bond And Streaming

I just came across this Youtube video speculating about the future of the James Bond franchise. It’s quite interesting and fairly detailed, and worth a watch for anyone interested in the future of film’s greatest series. As many people are now noting, we’re into by far the longest gap ever between Bond films, and a new one is certainly overdue. As the video explains, the reasons for this depressing pause are quite complex, mostly having to do with tensions between Amazon and EON. Yet what it touches upon but doesn’t quite go into is the fact that Bond films are fundamentally cinematic, and these days, since the rise of online streaming, we don’t go to the cinema to watch films any more. The release of a new Bond film used to be a big cultural event: we used to watch royalty go to the premiere on the news; personally, I used to make an effort to arrange to go to see new Bond films with my friend Charlotte.

These days, though, we just watch films on our computers and mobile phones. Consuming film has become far more casual and less reverent. Instead of making an effort to go out to the cinema, now we just pop a film on our computer screens, often letting it run in the background. I have to wonder, can a phenomenon as fundamentally cinematic as Bond survive this new landscape? Imagine watching one of the awesome, classic James Bond action scenes or car chases on a tiny mobile phone screen – it just wouldn’t work! Thus, as loathe as I am to say it, I don’t see how something as quintessentially cinematic as Bond can survive in this new era, and think it might be time he is put to rest. As I wrote here a couple of weeks ago, rather than try to drag the franchise out and fit Bond into this new online, post-COVID media landscape, it may now be wiser to consign the character to history.

A Regular Visit I Once Never Expected

My mum and dad popped over this morning. It was a lovely little visit, spent chatting over some coffee and toasted sandwiches made with my brilliant new toastie maker. My parents visit every few weeks or so, and it’s always good to see them. I know I have probably said something like this on here before, but once again I can’t help reflecting that if someone had told my teenage self that I would one day be living independently in south east London, and that mum and dad would be periodically visiting for coffee, I wouldn’t have believed them. Back then I just assumed I would always be living with them, effectively never having grown up. Now, instead of being reliant on my parents, they now visit me for morning coffee just as they occasionally visit my brothers, and just as any other parents might drop in on their forty-something-batchelor-son.

I thus take great pride in having got to where I have, living on my own in one of the world’s greatest cities like any other Londoner. More to the point, by writing this, tapping it into my iPad sat in Greenwich Park, I hope I can tell young people in similar positions to the one I was in that it would be wrong of them to assume that their futures are somehow limited, and that they can achieve anything they put their mind to. It might have only been a fairly regular coffee morning with my parents, but at the same time, in the context of the timid young man I once was, it is in a way also rather significant.

My Thoughts On The Third Runway

As a Londoner who also loves to travel, I have of course been keeping an eye on whether or not Heathrow will get a third runway. Heathrow is the other side of London to where I live, so it won’t effect me on a day to day basis; yet I think I’m broadly in favour of the idea. London is a constantly expanding world city which perpetually needs new investment. Anything which could entice that investment here is surely a good thing, especially as we compete ever more vigorously with other European economic hubs like Paris and Berlin. However, I must also say that this is surely another example of London getting all the expensive new infrastructure while the rest of the country goes without. Looking at the plans, this new runway won’t be cheap. But this comes just two years or so after London got a brand-spanking-new tube line costing billions of pounds. To be honest the imbalance between London and the rest of the country seems to be getting ever more unfair, so before the new runway gets built at Heathrow, I’d like to see some equally bold projects unveiled for other UK cities and towns.

A Very Uneasy Commemoration

Today we mark the eightieth anniversary of history’s most horrific, horrifying crime. It is of course vitally important that we continue to commemorate it, lest we risk it happening again, although I’m not sure there’s that much I can say about it. However, I will say this: I’m sure that I’m not alone in feeling deeply unsettled by the fact that this commemoration comes during a time when the leaders of the homeland set up for the jewish people in the aftermath of the holocaust, seem to be acting towards the Palestinians with exactly the same venomous bigotry which the Nazis once showed to them. That now includes strongly backing Trump’s plan to forcibly resettle tens of thousands of people living in Gaza into other neighbouring Middle-Eastern states – if that isn’t ethnic cleansing, I don’t know what is.

Nor can I be the only person to feel great unease at the fact that this is also a time when the United States, one of the Allied Nations which fought so stridently to end the tyranny of fascism, is itself swiftly gliding towards that very darkness. As we watch the commemoration events on our televisions today then, it is very difficult not to reflect that, if we are truly serious about not repeating the depravities of eighty years ago, we must be ever more conscious of what is happening at the moment.

An Old Hot Dog Skin

Frankly, even after only his first week back in office, this is pretty much spot on.

Trump has already sank so low, it is sickening to contemplate the depths he might drag America down to over the next four years.

Jake: Traitor or Intruder?

Something rather interesting, and more than a little problematic, has just come to my attention. I didn’t watch The Traitors for the most part as that kind of reality TV doesn’t really appeal to me, but I caught glimpses of it. I watched the finale last night over a few beers. In the follow-up coverage this morning, though, it was mentioned that one of the finalists, a guy called Jake, claims to have Cerebral Palsy. That obviously immediately pricked my interest.

If he has CP, I didn’t notice it. Of course, not everyone’s CP is as obvious as mine; but he was clearly perfectly ambulant, as dexterous as anyone else and could speak perfectly clearly. Thus the way in which he seemed to be going out of his way to emphasise that he was disabled didn’t sit well with me. A disability should surely have a significant effect on one’s ability to perform day to day activities; otherwise, what’s the point of categorising yourself as disabled? If you can do anything which anyone else can, you’re not disabled. Admittedly, I didn’t get a clear, long view of the guy, but at a glance I’d have said he was perfectly normal.

I hope everyone can understand why this doesn’t sit well with me. My Cerebral Palsy has caused me to struggle all my life; I’ve known people even more profoundly effected by it, including Lyn. It isn’t my place to judge other people’s disabilities, but frankly this smacked of bandwagon jumping, or what I call Cultural Intrusion. Jake was claiming to have a disability which he doesn’t really have, or which effects him only very mildly; yet he was going out of his way to emphasise that he has it for social gain. That is like someone claiming to be gay, trans, jewish or even black when they have absolutely no experience of any of those minorities, but then trying to speak on behalf of all other members of that minority. Would you not feel offended by someone appearing on national television, claiming to be a member of the minority you belong to, speaking for you or as though they shared your life experience, when they clearly know nothing of the discrimination you face on an almost daily basis? Unfortunately this is a social phenomenon I’m now seeing more and more of; this simply makes me more certain that I’m not just imagining it.

When Patriotism Turns Dark

I just came across this especially interesting Girl Gone London video, in which she, a fairly young American woman who has lived in London for ten years, begins to outline the differences between nationalism and patriotism, and how the two differ depending on which side of the Atlantic you are on. What she says strikes me as increasingly relevant: in the States, kids are forced to recite the Oath of Allegiance every morning; a blind love of country is almost demanded, and any form of national criticism is deeply scorned.

I replied that I was born in the UK, in cheshire, but now live in South-East London. I think it’s fair to say that I love my country: I love things like cricket, british comedy and quaint little pubs. However, I also adore London as a city, the tube, the theatres, and what happened here in 2012 etc. I love that it’s so multicultural, inviting, and that you can meet people from all over the world here. I’m staunchly opposed to Brexit as I think working with our neighbours is the only way we can solve our problems. I don’t think these positions are incompatible: you can love your country and desire global unity at the same time. The problem is, in america, the notion of loving your country seems to mean rejecting all others; the blind belief in american exceptionalism. Patriotism there seems to have a far darker, sinister aspect to it. Frankly, particularly since last year, American patriotism has become particularly dangerous.

Whereas my love for the UK does not exclude an enthusiasm to experience and explore other other places and cultures, American patriotism seems to be becoming increasingly dogmatic and cult-like. The idea that one’s own culture supersedes all others again recalls the darkest chapters in history. This video is worth watching because it illuminates how perverse American patriotism is becoming, and especially since last year I think it is a real cause for concern.

That Salute Was No Accident

Going back to geopolitics, I really think this interview between James O’Brian and Dr. Nafeez Ahmed is worth watching. Ahmed is an expert in fascism, and he says that the recent deplorable behaviour we saw from Elon Musk was no accident: his nazi salute was clearly intentional, and a result of a covert resurgence which far right extremism has been making over the last two to three decades. Such people seek to end liberal democracy and return society to a sickening neo-Darwinian, elitist, discriminatory state where power resides only in the hands of a wealthy few. If that is true, then surely we must fight back. We cannot let ignorant, arrogant disgraces to humanity like Musk and Trump undo the precious steps towards equality and tolerance which we have made over the last sixty to seventy years. All thinking, intelligent people need to be aware of what is going on, in order to fight against it for the sake of humanity. If we don’t, there is a real risk we could return to history’s darkest days.

Infernal Imac Updates

Yesterday was a long, difficult, bitch of a day which I’d frankly rather just forget. It started on Tuesday evening when my Imac suggested I install an update to my IOS. I did so, and it seemed to go perfectly well so I thought nothing of it. The problem is, I idiotically forgot to note down the verification code, so yesterday morning when I came to turn my computer back on it wouldn’t let me into my system. My brilliant new PA Artur and I tried and tried, but no matter what we did the wretched machine wouldn’t cooperate.

In desperation, at around eleven I decided to go up to the Apple shop in Stratford to ask for help. Long story short, they agreed to get a technician to ring Artur at three to advise him on how to fix my computer. It was a long wait, but when they rang it quickly emerged that there was nothing they could do without the code I had neglected to note. When the call ended I was beginning to get really frustrated – without my computer I can’t really do anything.

I think Artur could see this, so he very kindly agreed to go with me back up to the Apple shop, carrying my Imac. By that time it was starting to get dark, but I was fast losing my patience. The tube was getting crowded so it took about an hour to get back up there. Another long story short, when we got to the shop we were told to wait about half an hour before we could be seen.

What followed was long and exasperating, but ultimately it emerged that my Imac would need to be wiped and rebooted if I was ever going to be able to use it again. At one point I had to text my mum to get her to send proof of purchase for my computer. We got back here at about nine last night, tired and irritable and dying for some beer. I had a computer to set back up, but that could wait for the morning: luckily my documents etc were safe on my Icloud, so I don’t seem to have lost much work. I had made a stupid mistake which it had taken an entire day to put right. I suppose I’m lucky that I got back to normal so quickly, but that is certainly the last time I update my IOS, or do so without taking a note of the zarking verification code.

Should LA28 Go Ahead?

I think I have said here before that what interests me about the Olympics is not so much the sport, but how it is ultimately a huge cultural festival: for two months or so every four years, the attention of the entire world is focussed on one city, giving it a unique chance to show off. Paris got it’s turn last year, and before that Tokyo, Rio and London. The problem is now, as I have been mulling over recently, an American city is next. Los Angeles is due to host the games in 2028, when Donald Trump will still be in power. It would frankly be sickening to see what is supposed to be a celebration of global unity and diversity being hosted by a country whose head is so xenophobic, arrogant and vainglorious, and who believes it’s rights come before all others’.

Of course, before now I had no problem with LA hosting the 2028 games, and in fact was looking forward to seeing what the Americans did with their opening and closing ceremonies. Hopefully by then they will have got over the horrific fires currently engulfing California. But now they have elected such an egotistical charlatan, I can’t help worrying that Trump will try to commandeer the games and make them all about him. After all, 2028 will be his last year in office: might he try to use the games to big himself up and feed his sickening ego? If so, the IOC could well have handed the world’s biggest cultural and political platform to the world’s biggest egomaniac, and I’m sure nobody wants to see that. People are already noting, for example here, the alarming fascist traits Trump and his cronies seem to be exhibiting – I can’t help worrying that LA28 could become another Berlin36. If so, I am starting to think it might be wise to reallocate the 2028 games.

A Very Dark Turn

A known liar, crook and charlatan is now in charge of the world’s most powerful country; a man who seems to think he should be in charge just because of who he is. Many respectable, authoritative figures are earnestly calling him a fascist. I honestly dread to think what the next four years might bring, both for America and the entire world. Rather than try to pass comment or analyse things, I think the best thing I can do here this evening is wish everyone luck. History may well have just taken a very dark turn.

A Deeply Worrying Social Trend

A couple of days ago I touched upon the bewildering phenomenon of flat earthism. Tomorrow we will see the second inauguration of a proven charlatan and criminal. Needless to say, I am dumbfounded by both. Yet I think it’s worth pointing out that I think they boil down to the same highly concerning social trend: both are about the knowing, deliberate rejection of mainstream knowledge and the shunning of what most people think is obvious. Both stem from a profound mistrust of society as a concept, and the belief that one’s own point of view outranks and overrules everyone else’s. I think we should find this trend very worrying indeed, as history shows us that it leads somewhere horrifyingly dark.

Streetview, Time and Change

I come from a town in Cheshire called Congleton: a small, quiet place where there is very little to see or do. As much as I love life in the sprawling metropolis, there is no denying that I come from Congleton, and that I was born there. Earlier, however, I was mucking around on Google Streetview, as I often do while waiting for the day to start proper. I was guiding my online avatar around my old home town, when I suddenly reflected to myself how much it had changed. There are now brand new roads there which I have never physically gone down; passing through housing estates on land I remember as fields.

It was quite an odd realisation. Once I came to think about it though, it occurred to me that I can only have gone back there three or four times in the last fifteen years. Naturally, there are quite a few reasons for this, but it was strange to reflect that I have fallen so out of touch with the place I grew up, to the extent that parts of it now look completely different to how I recall. Obviously, one of the advantages of websites like Google Maps is that it can remedy homesickness; but, at the same time, they can just remind you how quickly the places you once knew can change.

Steve Shives’ obituary of David Lynch

I know I shouldn’t just direct everyone to videos I find on Youtube, but I really think it would be negligent of me if I didn’t direct everyone here. It’s Steve Shives’ quite wonderful obituary of David Lynch. What interests me about it is that it clearly and overtly straddles the threshold between cinephilia and fandom: listen to what Shives says, and it obviously demonstrates the kind of highly knowledgable adoration of film which cinephillia is said to constitute. His veneration of Lynch clearly recalls auteurism and the passion which the writers of the Cahiers du Cinema had for specific directors. Yet the piece is delivered with a sense of fun, passion and vigour which we find in online fandom. His delivery is very punchy and he obviously has a lot of enthusiasm for what he is saying; yet, in terms of content, the ideas he is discussing are quite complex and at least degree level. Thus I think this is another intriguing example of the way the two discourses are coming together. More to the point though, what Shives says about Lynch is genuinely interesting and well worth a watch.

25 Films May Be Enough

This morning I thought I’d try to get up to speed on what is happening with James Bond. I’d heard there was some kind of spat between EON Productions and Amazon, but other than that I was at a loss. However, I think I need to flag this excellent Den Of Geek article which I just came across up. It looks into what is going on with arguably cinema’s greatest series, and if you ask me it isn’t pretty. Amazon execs apparently want to turn Bond into a kind of Marvel franchise, with spin off film and TV series about characters like Miss Moneypenny and other Double-O agents. Now, as the article points out, there have always been Bond Spin offs in various media like novels, graphic novels (comics) and computer games; but arguably the phenomenal fifty year success of the Bond films boils down to the fact that they all centre around one character. That character, while retaining certain key aspects such as a liking for Martinis and his specific style of introducing himself, changes over time, acting as a kind of cultural barometer for over half a century. Any such spin-off media would probably distract or divert from that, missing the point entirely.

As much as I regret to say this, but I must admit that as I read this article it occurred to me that it may now be time to call an end to the Bond phenomenon: if this is indeed the way things are going, with disputes between film studios and the gradual abandonment of what has made James Bond James Bond, it may be wiser to consign it to history. After all, in this infuriating post-Brexit, Donald Trump era, we no longer live in the world either Ian Fleming or Cubby Broccoli placed Bond in. Many point to Bond’s misogyny, yet he is ultimately a character from a world in which Britain never lost it’s standing as a global imperial power – a delusion which will inevitably grow harder and harder to maintain. Especially after 2016, the over-simplified, good-vs—bad, Britannia rules the Waves world Bond inhabits does not exist any more, and both character and franchise will start to seem increasingly anachronistic and absurd.

Attempting to continue the franchise would surely just draw it out, exposing it to many contemporary sociopolitical pressures which I don’t think it could withstand. Such pressures would pull it in so many different artistic and commercial directions it would ultimately be torn apart. Thus rather than go through the rigmarole of selecting yet another actor, seeing that selection debated ad nauseam, and then waiting to see whether the resulting film lives up to the legacy, perhaps it would be best to consign these twenty-five films to history. After all, one of the greatest skills any artist can have is knowing when to finish a piece.

What Can We Really Learn From The Final Experiment?

I don’t know how many other people are keeping track of this rubbish, but I’ve recently been watching quite a few ‘Flat Earth’ videos on Youtube; or rather, I have been watching videos both debunking it and looking into it as a psychological and cultural phenomenon. As a rule, I try not to watch anything by people who actually claim that the world is flat, as it just gives them the attention they clearly crave. While this may at least be partially due to my search algorithms, there seems to have been a recent surge in interest in it, especially since the so-called ‘Final Experiment’, which apparently sent a group of people to Antartica to establish whether the sun was visible for twenty-four hours there.

I think you can call both my brothers scientists: Mark is a physicist and Luke is a bioinfomatician. They both have PhDs and conduct their own research. When I asked Luke whether he had heard of the Final Experiment over christmas however, he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. Thus I think it’s fair to assume that the scientific community proper is completely uninterested in such things, and you might as well be debating which kind of cheese the moon is made from.

Where academia might be interested, though, is in the psychology underpinning this phenomenon. As I touched upon a while ago here, a lot of this boils down to a general feeling of disenfranchisement: people are increasingly feeling sidelined and downtrodden, so they are more and more eager to find things which make them stand out from the mainstream – lone champions of free thought against the indoctrinated heards. The problem is, that seems to be forcing them to take more and more ridiculous positions, and seems to have now reached a point where people are trying to argue against the absolutely incontestable. Thus online we’re now seeing videos trying to debunk the final experiment, claiming it was all done against a green screen in a studio and so on.

As ludicrous as all this is, I really think this sociological phenomena needs to be looked at. Of course, plenty has already been written about the psychology of conspiracism; but I think there is a lot which can now be discerned from this particular (online) trend, it’s apparent surge in popularity, and the way in which it’s adherents seem to be going to more extreme, absurd lengths to maintain their position. Frankly it is becoming weirder and weirder, more and more astonishing, to the extent that I think it can be used to discern a lot about contemporary culture, politics, and the increasing rejection of the so called establishment. For one, I don’t think it is a coincidence that this nonsense has come alongside the rise of right wing populist figures like Donald Trump, who openly advocate rebelling against what they dismiss as ‘the establishment’. Whatever is being taught in schools, universities and through mainstream media is being deliberately and overtly rejected in favour of increasingly idiotic ideas, regardless of how little evidence there is to support them. The problem is, as it becomes more and more extreme, more and more ridiculous, you have to wonder where such phenomena may lead us socially, and whether that might be somewhere very dark indeed.

Learn The Difference America

Sorry to go on about this, but I grow more appalled by the news coming from over the pond every day. It’s now clear that Trumps primary reason for getting himself re-elected was to escape jail for the crimes he committed in 2020. Frankly, if I was American, I would be embarrassed to see my parliamentary system being used in such a sickeningly cynical way.

Space Exploration Is Not A Little Boy’s Game

I saw in the news this morning that Jeff Bezos was planning to launch a rocket today, furthering the millionaire rivalry between him and Elon Musk. The launch was apparently called off at the last moment, but even so it is another event in the space race the two men seem to have entered into. I’m sorry to say this, but does this strike anyone else as pathetically childish? As with all of science, the exploration of space is supposed to be about casting light on nature and the human condition; yet here we have two obscenely rich American men treating it like some sort of game, as if demonstrating who has the better rocket also demonstrates who has the bigger penis. Frankly, to see space exploration reduced down to this is galling, and to be honest only increases my current disdain for American culture in general. After all, what kind of community would actively encourage two obscenely rich men – who never actually earned their wealth in the first place – two spav all their wealth on what are, essentially, enormous fireworks? If humanity really is to explore space, surely we must do so together, as a community. What is either man basically doing other than showing off.

I can’t be alone in thinking this.

RuPaul’s DragCon 2025

Yesterday turned out to be a surprisingly interesting, rather cool day. I was out on my usual trundle, enjoying the sunshine, when I thought I’d pop into the Excel Centre to see if anything cool was happening there. I go there quite frequently, as I never know what kind of exhibition or conference I’ll find. Yesterday I was in for a treat though, as I happened upon Rupaul’s DragCon in full swing. I had not heard it was on this weekend, but as soon as I entered the exhibition hall I knew I was in for a treat – in fact, it made me wish I had gone to the effort and dressed up, as there were countless guys in drag and all kinds of exotic costumes. There were possibly even more than last time. To be honest it was rather awe-inspiring to see so much openness and playfulness around subjects like gender; I had never seen so many drag queens in one place. I couldn’t help thinking that Lyn would have adored it, and resolved to myself that I’ll have to go to the effort and attend it properly, possibly in a pink tutu, the next time such an event comes to town.

Concerns About California

The obvious subject for me to blog about today is what is currently happening in California. I turned the news on earlier to a scene of absolute horror. I’m sure most people will be just as concerned as I am; I dread to think how people with disabilities are coping amid such hellish devastation. However, I’m not sure there’s much I can say about it: I know about as much as anyone else with access to the news. I could speculate about the causes, but I’m no expert in global warming or climate change. Naturally I can express my profound hope that everyone currently at risk there is safe, but I somehow doubt that anyone in California at the moment is going to bother to read this blog entry.

Can Star Trek Be Saved?

I still count myself as a huge Star Trek fan, but if you want to understand why I, like so many other long-term Trekkies, have lost interest in the program over the last decade or so, then I thoroughly recommend watching this Dave Cullen vlog. Cullen is spot on: since the 2009 reboot, Star Trek has lost it’s way, getting bogged down with ‘alternative timelines’ and ‘mirror universes’, playing around with cannon, and rewriting fan-favourite characters like Spock to the extent that they become nearly unrecognisable. Frankly, the franchise is a mess, and apart from Picard I haven’t bothered watching the latest few series. However, it’s good to see that I’m not alone in this, as it would seem that most Trekkies want to see the return of the kind of star Trek most of us grew up with: Stories about a set of interesting, well written characters going out and exploring the final frontier.

The Entry I Didn’t Write!

This blog entry was not written by Matt. His parents told him about Chat GPT recently, and he tried it out with Dominick yesterday. He was so impressed that he decided to just let it write all his blog entries from now on. After all, what’s the point of going to the effort of typing a blog entry every day when you can just let a website do it and go out for a trundle instead?

Have a nice day.

A Much Better Solution

I was about to try to write something about Trump’s comments yesterday about America invading Greenland, which would frankly be hilarious if they weren’t so stupid or scary. I personally think that the time has come for the European powers to take back control of their former American colonies, the colonists having proven themselves completely unfit to govern themselves, although this might be an even better solution.