I was only half joking when I wrote that I wanted a revolution. Indeed, part of me wasn’t joking at all. It is quite clear to me that, under the new coalition government, the economy is not safe. They emphasise business over the individual, which means that they will protect the wealthy at the expense and poor. This is all very well and good if you are fit and able, but what about the rest of us? What about those oppressed by a system designed to keep the rich rich and the poor poor? What about those reliant on thee benefits system, public transport and things like direct payments? We will suffer! As long as George Osbourne is chancellor, hiding behind his nauseating lies about the previous government in order to drive through ideologically-inspired cuts, we will suffer. Alistair Darling must be reinstated immediately we need someone who actually understands economics at the helm, not some greed-motivated simpleton.Moreover, given that the proposed cuts constitute a betrayal of many British working class factories, it is unpatriotic to allow the Tories to run roughshod over our rights and freedoms.

We must therefore get rid of this government. I do not want a violent revolution; Gandhi teaches us that there are far better ways to achieve our goals than with fists, knives, guns or bombs. But I want a revolution nevertheless. Why should we have to put up with four more years of Tory oppression? Under them, we are headed for a depression. I therefore call upon whoever is reading this to rise up, revolt, and do whatever you can to make tour feelings known and boot these economic simpletons out.

I really do think Lyn is the most extraordinary person I have ever met; she is wonderful, kind and loving. We were in the garden the other day, and we came up with a very interesting idea: what if we were to write Lyn’s biography? My fiance has been through a hell of a lot, and her story is one worth telling. But what a story it would be: from London to Wales and back; from institutionalisation to independence; from male to female. At one and the same time, I can’t wait to start, yet haven’t the foggiest idea where to begin. It truly is an intriguing idea. I guess we just need to go into the garden with a decent red wine and start getting ideas down.

Dan, the disabled peoples’ Direct action Network was out in force yesterday in Manchester, protesting against the government’s plans for wealth fare reform. It looks as if most of my friends in Manchester Dan were there; to be honest I think it’s a taste of things to come as CaMoron and osbourne push through their moronic plans. I rather whish I could have been there.

As it happens, I think we could use some Dan activists here in Charlton. Apparently, the landlord of the local pub, the white swan, barred a lady for having an epileptic fit. To me, that is appalling, especially after the way in which he treated me and Lyn. He seems to be pissing off quite a few people around here. I whish there was something we could do about his discriminatory behaviour – perhaps get a gang of Danners to blockade the place.

Remember I said I was not a revolutionary? Forget it. I want a revolution. I was just watching PMQ’s, and found myself getting really pissed off by CaMoron’s lies.

He had the audacity to ask for an apology from labour for causing the deficit; he’s the one who should be apologising for propagating the lie that the recession was the fault of the previous government. Without the watchdogs set up by brown as chancellor, we would now be in a depression, but the Tories are either so blinded by ideology or just so fucking stupid that they can’t see this.

They need to be stripped of power now before we all start to suffer. Rather than raising taxes for those who can afford it, they would rather cut services such as those we cripples rely on. In other words, they would rather help out their rich friends than make sure the rest of us can live comfortably. How selfish? How anyone can support them and still have the affront to claim to be intelligent or civilised is beyond me. CaMoron and his band of self-centred assholes need to be stripped of power now. If you truly care about your fellow man, rise up, revolt, and kick these lying tossers out.

Today is my mum’s birthday. I dare not tell you how old she is, but I was just thinking: it’s been six months since I moved down to London. I haven’t visited my parent’s since coming down, so this is by far the longest time I’ve been away from my parents house. I think it’s quite an achievement, coming from a guy who once couldn’t bear to spend a night away from home. Even so, I think I’ll be arranging a visit soon. don’t get me wrong: I love life with Lyn, but I think it’s high time I visited my parents, especially given Dan an only make a rough approximation of my mum’s spaggy bog.

Anyway, happy birthday mum!

Luke just sent me this. I don’t know why, but the guy irritates me quite a bit, possibly because the idea of a disability themed travel-show rules and he got there first, possibly because he has far too much energy. On the other hand, I agree that cerebral palsies is indeed the sexiest palsy to have. Anyway, check it out; me and Lyn have a party to go to.

If there is something I have noticed living here in London over the past six months, it is the number of four wheel drives around. For some reason, it really pisses me off. People use big, heavy-duty machines, originally intended for exploring the Canadian wildernesses or the Australian outback, for the school run or daily commute. It’s silly: I know that they probably feel safer being so high up, but lord knows what impact such machines are having on the environment or the state of the roads. If you need a bigger vehicle for, say, lugging a wheelchair or two about, I can understand that; but surely not everyone needs one.

Just a quick one tonight. It’s hardly worth blogging about, but since Eastenders was just on TV, I thought I’d just draw your attention to a few quirky details about this area of south-east London that I’ve noticed: firstly, in nearby Woolwich, there’s a large square that could well be a basis for Albert square. Also, on my way there, I’ve noticed a pub called the Queen Victoria. But perhaps coolest of all is the laundry nearby called Dot’s Laundry. Somebody certainly has a sense of humour. Obviously the laundry was a clear reference to the program, but whether the program was inspired by the other two I know not. Fortunately, though, nothing overly dramatic seems to happen around here, although some of the things Dan tells me could be straight out of a soap opera.

Oh yeah, you can also see where we live on the map aat tthe start of the programme.

I must say that I am very impressed with the SL40, Lyn’s lightwriter that I’m now using. Its almost as impressive as her Ipad. Not only can it send texts, but I am very impressed with the new voices: they’re more natural sounding and somehow more eloquent, so much so that Dan christened it Egbert. So much so that one of the first things I did when I began using it was to type in the first paragraph of the Hobbit, just to see how it sounded. It was awesome! I’m also impressed with the new vocabulary, and the fact that it can learn to predict words you commonly use. I’ll give you guys a more thorough review once I get to know it a bit more, as they’ve changed a lot of the settings and controls so I’m still finding my way around it.

I do worry, though, about funding for things like lightwriters these days. CaMoron has promised massive cuts, only safeguarding funding for things which will get him votes. So, for example, his plans for super-fast broadband are safe, as the people who’ll benefit most from that are the middle classes and thus possible Tory voters. But what about things like communication aids? I was lucky: I was given mine by my wonderful fiance. But, at a time when money is tight, the last thing folk like us need is a government like this.

I have no idea why we’re only hearing about this story now, but the fact, in 2006, that a disabled man suffocated after getting his head trapped in the rails of his hospital bed appals me. According to channel four news, he was twenty, had CP, and had just had his 24-hour care taken away. Makes you sad, doesn’t it? I mean, don’t the lives of us crips matter as much as others? Why weren’t people watching him?

Pretty much everywhere, I suppose, will have some sort of history behind it. I find the history of where I’m currently living rather interesting, if a little ominous. I now live in a close which was named after a church which once stood on this site. The church was called saint Paul’s, and it’s main distinguishing feature was that it was the first church to be destroyed in the second world war. Pictures of this church still exist, and are online; interestingly, I think there are features which you could still make out.

Slightly more gruesome is the fact that we live near a wood where they used to hang highwaymen; I’ve been trying to look for the sight of the gallows for a while. Other details include the fact that they used to hold a month-long masked orgy in this area, and the fact that the last private owner of Charlton house lost it in a card game, a fact that amuses me greatly. I love such details; I find them fascinating, but I’ve only just started finding out about this area.

This may be nothing to do with anything, but I have come to the conclusion that sky is essentially a fascist organisation, and don’t give me any of that ‘Godwin’s Law’ bull. We all know there’s a cricket match on, and yesterday I decided I wanted to watch some of it. I went to a nice quiet pub down the hill, and asked the landlord to put the cricket on. I sat there quite happily, watching the end of the morning session, when I realised something: you have to pay hundreds for sky, yet there are still adverts, and the commentary was pathetic. You got very little of the analysis that cricket lovers get when channel four or five.

So, for sky to claim that they love cricket is galling. They are, in fact,, ruining the sport by making sure very few people are able to watch it, and offering a substandard service to boot. By pumping so much money into the system, sky has a virtual monopoly; sport should be pure and fun, but Rupert Murdoch has turned it into something elitist, and which excludes people. This is why I say sky is fascist. It is wrong, and Murdoch should be stopped.

Something happened yesterday afternoon which quite shook me up. I had just popped to the shop round the corner when I passed a guy. He asked me if I had a pound to spare. I don’t like saying ‘no’ to beggars; I come from a rather privileged background, so I feel sort of duty-bound to try to help. So I got out my wallet and tried to open the zip, but it stuck. I tried a few times. Then the guy offered to help. Idiot that I am, I handed the guy the wallet; the guy opened it and proceeded to take a pound, trying to palm a tenner as he went. I saw him, made him put it back, and ran home as swiftly a possible.

I told Dan what happened. He pointed out that I was lucky to still have my wallet, but he went out to talk to the guy. I was a bit taken aback and shaken up, not least at my own stupidity. I think it’s a lesson not to be so trusting.

I am almost constantly amazed at the sheer array of people there are here in London. There are people from all four corners of the world. I make the short trip to Woolwich two or three times a week; just as I used to go to Crewe, simply for a change of scenery. Even there, the array of cultures represented and languages spoken staggers me. I see people from India in saris; people from China; as I wrote recently to my parents, the other day I was on a bus with some African ladies wearing full traditional African dress. They spoke a language I didn’t recognise. It is quite wonderful.

What’s more, people around here are getting to know me. Dan seems to know just about everyone south of the Thames, so people know me through him. Folk are starting to say ‘hi’ to me in the street, people from all over the place. It’s interesting how quickly that has happened. I love it.

Me and Lyn have a main PA called Dan. He’s a good guy, very laid back and a bit of a joker. Yesterday, though, he excelled himself – Dan astounded me with his ingenuity: he fitted Lyn’s ipad to her wheelchair. Using a very hot screwdriver to make holes in the case, some card to stiffen it, and some glue, Dan fitted Lyn’s lightwriter mounting to the back of her new ipad so it can attach to her chair. The one downside to this is that you can’t rotate the ipad, but that wasn’t something Lyn particularly needed to do. Lyn now has a very classy, professional-looking attachment on her chair. We plan to post a video on youtube soon with the details, but I couldn’t wait to blog about how impressed I am with Dan’s handywork.

I suppose you have to give credit where it is due, and some of what CaMoron has done in regard to cleaning up politics doesn’t seem too bad. For example, his intention to make government more open by giving the public access to more information appeals to me. We all know that we have to hold government to account, which means having as much access to information as possible. I truly believe in the old saying that ‘knowledge is power’. However. Some of what he intends to do disturbs me: his intention to overhaul the benefit system and try to force people back into work seems frankly draconian. I fear it will cause a shift in attitude towards those of us on benefit, and people will be more likely to look at us as mere work-shy scroungers. That would be exactly what we do not need; nor do we need any social workers coming to call trying to tell us we can do stuff we can’t.

I would just like to express my sadness at the passing of Dennis Hopper. He was a true Hollywood legend. As an undergraduate, I had the good fortune of making a presentation about ‘Easy Rider’ with Steve Metcalfe; I caught a glimpse of what an unusual kind of guy Hopper was. One story goes that he had a fistfight in the cutting room with the director. Hopper will be missed greatly.

link

Lyn got her new Ipad on Thursday, and I must admit it really is an impressive piece of technology. Although I have a natural dislike of macs, having been brought up onn real computers*, the ipad has a tendency to make my jaw drop. I find myself asking, how did they get so much technology into something so small? The graphics are amazing, yet it has an incredible touch screen. One must take your hat off o Steve jobs and his team.

For Lyn, however, the ipad is something even more important. It has a text-to-speech ‘app’, so Lyn can use it as a communication aid. Of course, she has only just started to use the thing, but she’s already quite effective. I don’t know what it’s got in terms of word prediction etc; I’ll ask her later. The cool part is, though, this means I can now use her old SL40 lightwriter, which is quite cool as it can text! We’re both very happy with things now; I actually can’t wait for Lyn to let me have a go on the ipad myself!

*A real computer is one you can customise, tinker with, actually open up and so on.

I am, of course, quite concerned by what Michael Gove, our new education secutary, has planned. I think Tory plans for ‘free schools’ add up to a two-tier system, where rich families, who have the time and the inclination, can set up nice new schools, creaming off the best teachers. Meanwhile, those who can’t afford it are left in schools which will get worse and worse due to the fact that recourses are being diverted away from ordinary schools. In effect, not only will we have segregation in terms of disability, but segregation in terms of class. It takes us all the way back to the mid nineteenth century, to systems which reinforced the class divide. It was wrong then, and it’s wrong today. Why should some people get a better education than others, simply because their parents are richer than others? And why should we sit back while a party which did not get half the vote imposes their backwards, elitist, intolerant views on all of us?

My brother just sent me this fascinating link. Mark Twain’s autobiography is to be released. Apparently, he worked on it in the last ten years of his life, but stipulated in his will that it was not to be published until a century after his death. Twain died in 1910, sio here we are, with this remarkable voice from the past. The first question I find myself asking is, how did twain know that he’d still be remembered after all this time? More intriguing, though, are questions about what this book can teach us about life a century ago. Its as if the words are still freshly written, as very few people will have seen them; words from another age – one before the horrors of the twentieth century. I can’t wait until the first volume comes out.

George Osborne published his budget thing today. All the pundits are saying it’s the tip of the iceberg, and how there are more, deeper cuts to come. It really pisses me off how the Tories are, by cutting services, punishing us all for a problem caused by the financial sector making riskier investments, while, by doing away with the proposed tax, those investors get away Scot free. I also hate how they lie about the state of the economy they inherited: it wasn’t a mess; it was doing okay. The fact is, as I was discussing with one of Lyn’s friends the other day, most people felt that they could trust brown economically; you felt he knew what he was doing. You can’t say that of Osborne – I even have my doubts about whether he can count. Almost everyone I talk to holds a similar opinion: nobody trusts this government economically.

Anyway, the sun is shining. Time to go enjoy it with my fiance while it lasts.

I am not sure if this is the best place to announce this; I haven’t even told my parents yet. I suppose blogging about it is the best way to let everyone who needs to know know. Yesterday was Lyn’s birthday, so last night I dropped the big question. I love her utterly and can’t imagine not living with her. I recently realised that I want to spend the rest of my life with her, so last night I asked her to marry me. She said yes, so I’m now very happy.

This morning I want to address something which has been playing on my mind for a few days. I recently got into an argument with a couple of Tories. In the course of the debate, the matter of privilege came up. Apparently, we liberals are hypocrites because we are biased against privilege.

This argument really, really irritates me, mostly because it’s so stupid. As I understand it, liberalism means tolerance – the belief that no one person is better than anyone else. Hence one asks: ‘why should a disproportionate number of old etonions become prime minister?’ Yet, according to certain people, this means I have a bias against the upper class.

In other words, they’re accusing me of discrimination in order to defend a system which discriminates. We all know that the things the Tories promote – lower taxation for the rich, a reduced wealth fare state, less regulation in business – is designed to perpetuate the class divide. They are the ones discriminating in terms of wealth; liberals like me see everyone as of equal worth, and hence we need to redress the balance so everyone has a fair chance. The class system is unjust as, no matter how brilliant you are, if you are born into a working class family it will be very hard to succeed. Yet Tories would just describe it as their own fault. They’re the hypocrites, not us liberals. It is not discrimination to point out the inequalities in the system.

I have something more positive to write here today. Congratulations are in order for England’s cricket team after they beat Australia in the twenty20 cup final in Barbados. I cheered out loud when I heard that on the news. However, it must be noted that the bbc reported it after the other sports news, and spent only a few seconds on it. It’s a magnificent feat, yet football always goes first, even though it’s a winter sport. I have also yet to see any actual footage of the game – I presume sky have it and refuse to let anyone else broadcast it. It sickens me how sky have pumped so much money into sport, ruining it for those who refuse to pay their extortionate prices. I’m also fed up of football always taking precedence.

Anyway, well done England!

I cannot help it. I know I said yesterday that I’d try to avoid writing about politics on my blog, but politics seems to be the subject most on my mind these days. I was listening to David Milliband’s speech to the labour party earlier, and I was impressed: under labour we all did very well. After 13 years, it’s natural that people wanted a change and thus bought the hollow promises of the Tories; yet people forgot, it seems, what a dire state we were in before 97, and just how better things got under new Labour: working parents tax credit; more civil liberties; more people going to university than ever before. Their ethos was communal, so things became fairer. People also forget that it’s only because of brown’s actions that this recession isn’t a depression. I’m now very concerned that, because of their individualist ethos, the Tories will now put this at risk. I know I can’t do too much – I believe in democracy after all – so the best I can do is to continue stating my opinion to whoever will listen, in the hope that public opinion will force an election sooner rather than later. I’m no revolutionary, but I firmly believe that the current government must go before it’s too late.

My blog has probably become too political of late. Its supposed to be about other things too, like life here in south London, but the truth is I’m shit scared at what CaMoron will do. I’m angry that, ass soon as they got in, they gave themselves a 5 year fixed term, as if it was their right to rule. They don’t even have a proper mandate. I get very wound up about it, probably partly because I feel so powerless. I probably go back to writing about things more specific to me soon – we still haven’t resolved the issue with the pub – but the odd political tirade will be unavoidable.

I am very concerned indeed about the future and the implications of this new Tory ‘government’ for disabled people. Under labour, of course, I think it fair to say we flourished: we could employ our own staff, public transport became accessible, and more disabled kids were included in mainstream education than ever. Of course, it wasn’t perfect, and there was a long way still to go, but I honestly fear that the Tories will now undo the progress we made. We know they’re planning to reverse the trend towards inclusion under the euphemism of choice. They’re also planning cuts in spending deeper than ever before: all it would take is for one of them to look at the direct payments scheme and to think: ‘it would be cheaper to put these cripples back into homes. That way, we can tax less, and we won’t have to look at them, too.’ Mark my words: under the Tories, given a choice between our freedom and higher taxes, it’s our freedom which will be at risk.

I am very concerned at our current state: the people now holding power keep describing society as broken; a notion that, when you think about it, reveals some very dark attitudes, how can society be broken? If something is broken, it means that it is not in it’s original state: hence, a toy can be broken, a light-bulb can be broken, a cup can be broken and so on. But society is something organic; it evolves constantly. New trends come and go, people take up new attitudes, and so on. Society has no original state, and therefore cannot be broken.

The only way you can say society is broken is if you take a rigid view of what society should be. That is to say if you subscribe to a set of values against which society can be judged. Any such set of values will be both narrow and artificial. The Tories cling to just such a set of values, derived mostly from the JudaeoChristian tradition. Hence, for instance, they see marriage as superior to other kinds of relationship, despite the fact that that many people prefer other kinds of relationship. But, to the Tory, this doesn’t mean that marriage is an outdated institution, but that society is wrong and needs fixing. Thus the Tories intend to impose their views upon us all, making sure we conform to their values, trying to suppress anything that does not fit their schema. Some may think I am exaggerating or being reactionary, but CaMoron’s words are quite plain, and I’ve only taken them to their logical conclusion. This talk of broken societies reveals much about the true attitudes of the Tory party.

I like to think that I am a pretty liberal, tolerant kind of guy, not often given to political extremism. Yet it would now appear that talks between the lib dems and labour have broken down, and, as such, the Tories will now almost certainly take power. While they are the biggest party, the fact remains that they did not win the election. Therefore I refuse to recognise them as the ruling party, and I refuse to recognise David CaMoron as prime minister. As far as I am concerned, this country is now leaderless, and I plan to do whatever I can to remove that squatter from number ten. His is a party of segregation, elitism and class division, and I will not tolerate it. His attitudes to Europe, immigration and the wealth fare state ran counter to my beliefs of tolerance and cooperation; moreover his plans to slash services so he doesn’t have to tax his friends will make us all suffer while the rich prosper. It is time I stood up for what I believe. I view this government as if it were a force off occupation, and I plan to resist it however I can using only non-violent means..

I do not have much to report tonight – you guys will have certainly learned what’s going on nationally for yourselves – but, having lived in south east London for several months, I’m beginning to see what a sense of humour the people around here have. I keep seeing cool little things which just make me smile. The other day, for instance, I saw a yellow reliant robin marked ‘trotters independent traders’; whenever I go over to Woolwich, I pass the queen Victoria Pub; there’s even a ‘Dot’s Laundry’. I love these little details, these little references – they just make one smile. People here are very proud of who they are, but it’s good to see that they’re not afraid to take the piss out of themselves.

Two days on and we still have no idea who will be the in next government. Although the reporters keep saying coalitions are the norm for Europe, I can’t help feeling it’s a bit of a train wreck.

Anyway, to lighter matters: we were watching tv last night, going through all the channels, when Lyn and I stumbled upon something rather odd. It was called FOBO – Films of black Origin. It was showing some very strange stuff indeed. Not strange in terms of plot, but the shooting style was completely alien to me. You could tell that these films were made recently, but the films appeared to be made using cameras from the sixties or seventies. To eyes used to Hollywood, it was something totally foreign. Mind you, I let out a few rather guilty laughs: one film had a kid running around the jungle with a bloody great knife, winning a wrestling match and attempting to marry a girl twice his age. I hope the fact I found this funny doesn’t make me racist. Oh well, I suppose it broadened our horisons anyway.

Poor David CaMoron must be gutted this morning. Okay, he may have got the most seats, but not enough to form a government. Even against an opponent as popular as brown, he didn’t get the absolute majority he so desperately needed. And I think he needed one badly, for now he’ll have to form a coalition with the lib dems. This is rather good news for labour supporters: if the Tories get in with liberal help, I think several things will happen: A) the liberals will prevent CaMoron from doing too much damage; B) we’ll have electoral reform, and, most crucially, C) we’ll have another election quite soon, meaning that if the Tories do implement the cuts they promise, they’ll be out of power by 2012, so unpopular that they never return. So, in a way, I’m quite happy with how this election went, although that doesn’t mean that I will be anything but highly critical of a Tory government. Of course, this relies on brown conceding defeat, but I don’t think he’ll try to hang on, will he? I hope he sees the bigger picture.

I really do not know what to write here tonight. I could launch in to yet one more diatribe against the Tories, but you know what I’ll say, and anyone reading this will probably have already voted, so whatever I write will be moot. I’m genuinely fearful of what tomorrow might bring – come the morning, CaMoron might be in number 10, and all that I hope for will be gone; but tonight I just want to settle down, give Lyn frequent cuddles, and hope for the best.

It has been a while since I had occasion to write a ‘what I did last night’ type blog, but this is just such an entry. We went over to see Hugh and his new band – the oddly named Saltwater Samurai – play in a pub in new cross. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect; I didn’t even know what type of music they played, butt nights out are nights out, so I went anyway.

I was worried that we’d not see Hugh at all the entire evening, except for on stage, but as soon as we went into the main part of the pub we heard ‘Matt and Lyn!’ It was good to see him, and the four of us went over to a table and got chatting. Predictably, pretty soon Lyn and Hugh got into a conversation about music which went over my head, but that was what I wanted. Then, after a while Hugh had to go play his set.

The music was cool, but hard to describe. Fairly jazzy, but with odd sounds and beats. I think I like it.

We left about half eleven. Hugh came back to talk to us after his set, and another guy I knew from Chester – Tom – came to say hi. It was a cool night, and it reminded me how long its been since I went to such a gig, but I rather suspect we’ll be going to a few more.

I am not completely sure what’s going on with regard to the pub. Lyn and I are still pretty angry about it, as are Dan and Paula, our neighbours and friends. Lyn emailed some of the local press yesterday, and at one point I was all ready to go over there to sort all this out, but Lyn reminded me that there are far better, more subtle ways of solving this problem. I know some may think we’re making a mountain out of a molehill, and that we should let this drop, but it is the principle. We have as much right to drink as much as we want as anyone else; we should not be dictated to. What the guy in the pub was highly patronising and discriminatory., and I refuse to get him get away with it lest it happens again to someone else.

I cannot recall ever feeling this pissed off. We were in the swan earlier; we got the first round and all was well. We then sent our PA up for another round, but the bartender refused to serve her. Apparently, when we get drunk we ‘make a mess’, so we couldn’t have a second drink. We have never left that place in anything but an orderly fashion; we have never caused any trouble or hastle there. According to our PA, he alluded to our dribble as a factor in the ‘mess’.

In short, I think this a case of plain discrimination. Me and Lyn are adults, dammit, and we will not be treated like this.

I heard quite an interesting proposition yesterday: I was watching Dateline London on bbc news 24, and someone made the point that, whoever won on Thursday, the cuts they would inevitably have to make would be so deep and harsh that it would render them unelectable for decades. This I do not doubt: the greed of a few bankers has put the economy into a dire situation. But it made me think: what if thee Tories did win? We know they’re planning cuts the like of which we haven’t seen since the end of the second world war. They would be so unpopular that, in four or five years, they’d be booted out of office and we wouldn’t have to worry about the fuckers for fifty years. We should all vote Tory, blame the ensuing depression on them, then boot them out and get on with rebuilding the economy.

It has been a truly magnificent day. Today was the day of communication works – a type of exhibition hosted by the school I work at, based around communication. There were all sorts of cool things there: there were stands by toby churchil, Dynovox, tellus, and so on, as well as a load of new things like music systems controlled by moving your hands below a sensor. Most of it was geared towards the LD market, but that was still pretty damn cool.

My job was to make sure the students were doing their assigned tasks, like manning the sign-in desk, but that was simple enough. I had great fun looking at all the stands, talking to the exhibitors, learning all kinds of interesting stuff. I was frequently fascinated At one point Lyn came along with Dan, and they had a great time talking to a guy about music technology. Lyn met a couple of teachers and a rough plan was hatched to get her teaching music at school, which, frankly, would be the coolest thing ever.

I got home about 3 30, tired, feeling very pleased with how things went, and in need of a cold beer. I found the books I ordered waiting for me on the living room table. All told, it’s been a great day.

I love London. To be honest I never thought I would. I’ve always lived in a small town, on an estate backing onto fields, where I rarely saw a face a colour other than white. But here I’m surrounded by peoples and cultures from all over the world: around the corner there is a shop owned by two guys from turkey; a little bit on from that is a pub run by an Italian with a woolly hat, and so on. I love the feeling of being surrounded by such diversity.

But I’m concerned that it’s becoming increasingly acceptable to question immigration. We know the economy relies, in large part, on the flow of people in and out of the country, yet the right is stirring up fear. Almost every day, I hear tosh about migrants taking British jobs. Well, perhaps they are, but that’s only because there are just as many people leaving the country as there are coming in.

The Tories want a cap on immigration, but why? There have always been immigrants into this country, be they Jews fleeing persecution, Irish fleeing famine,

Jamacans aboard the MV Empire Windrush, or Polish people seeking a better life. The people who were already here have never suffered due to their presence, but our culture has been enriched by it. Thus, given too that the number of people coming in is roughly matched by the number going out, the fear of immigrants can be expressed simply in one word: xenophobia.

Of course, the Tories don’t like this: they fool themselves that, as Iain Duncan-smith put it, ”it isn’t racist to worry about immigration”. IDS was wrong, as both are born of the fear of the Other, of difference. They worry that our culture will somehow be diluted by immigration, but instead it is enriched. Brown got into seriously hot water for calling a woman a bigot when he thought his mic was off;* while it shows him to be a bit of a hypocrite, in the car brown was speaking the truth. That woman is a bigot, for her fear is irrational and panders to the most base of instincts.

I hope the tide changes back. I hope people realise sometime soon that immigration is good, and diversity is something to be cherished. I hope they realise that to utter the words ”I’m not racist, but…’ is a hypocrisy. And I hope middle class Tories stop talking about the immigration ‘problem’ around their dining tables while fooling themselves that they are still progressive and tolerant.

*I bet you any money Sky deliberately left that microphone on to frame him, by the way.

In Woolwich today I popped into a charity shop and picked up a book on Mesoamerica for a few quid. I’m not sure why, but my bibliophilic tendencies have returned recently. It could be connected with having to return to work on my thesis, but I have been thinking about books and wanting to read. Yet it has effected me in the oddest of ways: the other day, I decided to look up the biggest book I could find on one subject. This turned out to be Martin Gilbert’s biography of Winston

Churchill, with 8 main volumes (each about 800 pages) and 16 companion volumes, each containing thousands of pages of source material. Now, I have no intention of buying this gigantic book – at the rate I read, I’d be dead before I finish it – but it impressed me anyway.

Churchill aside, this morning I ordered a couple of (somewhat shorter) texts I need to work on for my thesis off the net. Not having a decent library or book store around rather sucks, but it was about time that I, as a cinephile, bought my own copy of Keathley’s The wind In The Trees anyway. They should come in a few days, so to keep my thirst for the written word satisfied, I bought an interesting-looking tome on the Americas before Columbus. When I got home, I settled down to read. It’s written in a chatty style common in populist American history books, and partly reads like a travelogue, but I was instantly fascinated. Far from being just a realm of hunter-gatherer, the Americas before Columbus may have been far more populated and complex than previously thought. I spent a good couple of hours just reading.

I think I need to re-engage with art and literature; to start reading again, thinking again. I’m not sure why I feel like this – it’s not as if I stopped thinking, and perhaps I’m being too pretentiously self-critical – but I have missed the feel of a book in my hands.