A review of a review of William Orbit's "Pieces in a Modern Style"

I have quite liked some of William Orbit's previous work in spite of thinking of myself as a long term folk/rock/punk/dub head.

I loved this review of Orbit's recent album Pieces in a Modern Style on iTunes by "The Illustrator".

If you ever want that feeling of being in a lift, in the comfort of your own home, then put your ipod on, get into a wardrobe and play this album.

It was enough to put me off buying it for now, despite Optical Illusions being the background turn to having an out of mind few hours during the Highland Fling Race in 2009.

Quite taken with Flaws by Bombay Bicycle Club at the moment.

Daft me, I have just downloaded the 2011 entry form for the Highland Fling with a view to entering.

A very rare feeling

It is rare I feel sorry for a Tory M.P., but William Hague does seem to have been getting a rough ride from the media (print or blog). I don't care if he is straight, gay, having a experiment during his mid life crisis, provided he is effective in representing the nations interests abroad. If actions or events impact on that the Mr C. should consider Bill's suitability for the position of Foreign Secretary further.

Mis-carriages are a 1 in 4 event, but very distressing for a couple at the time and the aftermath. Once a full on little person does arrive, the memory remains, but it ceases to be distressing. Been there, have much sympathy on a personal level for something that is only the business of the couple and the friends and family they wish to share it with.

This just adds weight to my evolving case that the UK is not a democracy (really Clive) and that media reform needs to precede political reform.

The rest of us(media, bloggers, etc) should just **** off and spend our time drawing attention to the wide and deep cesspit of the wrong and suboptimal and the many great and hopeful aspects which makes up 21st century UK.

The offence of wasting public money

My new found liking for lycra while running may be the start of a slippery slope, but I choose to ware clothes in public. I have yet to feel the need to strip off and run the way nature intended. I shall admit to stripping off once in the open air and going for a very quick swim while running one of the more remote parts of the Ceredigion Coast Path a few months ago. If there was any one around, I would have kept running and skipped the dip.

There are many of gods creatures on this earth that I don't want to see naked, but it does not offend me. Provided someone is not "getting the horn" by being naked I am hugely indifferent to it. For me the boundary on nakedness in public is if the person chooses to be naked for reasons of sexual gratification, then it becomes a problem.

It would appear that Stephen Gough does not get "the horn" while being naked. Indeed, with snow on the ground it is doubtful anyone would be able to see enough to be offended.

What does offend me is that I am paying for this man to be kept in prison. I am paying for his time in court and for the time for the police to rearrest him. As a society the prison place is being used for someone who has hurt no one which could be used for someone like a mugger who really has hurt an other person, so there is an opportunity cost to keeping the naked rambler in prison. Babies turn up on with world with no clothes on, while I don't wish to look at Mr Gough, he should not be in prison.

The use of contempt of court judgment is a mis-use of public money and both the CPS and the judge/sheriff should be held accountable for this misuse of public money. I have seen estimates of over 200k and that was over 6 months ago. Time for the judges in this case to wake up. I am sure they see addicts who would say anything to stay out of jail so they can get their next fix, at the expense of their next victim of a burglary or mugging. There are areas not far from the court where you can't walk through at night. The judgements are the real problem, not walking the length of the UK in socks, boots and a sun hat.

RAF Cosford Cold War Museum and C.N.D.

I have often stood at the train station at Cosford waiting to go to London at 6.17am and thought "I must make some time to take the kids to the Cold War Museum".

The Cold War Museum is the 1st place in my life I have ever actively wanted to pay for parking. They don't charge for entry, but they do charge for parking which I thought was very reasonable indeed.

I would really recommend it as a day out for any age. Aircraft that I had only heard about were on display and it really kept a 4 and 6 year olds interest, got them asking lots of questions and was a fun day. Even on a bank holiday weekend it was not heaving.

While this has been funded in part by the RAF, one of the exhibitions about the Cuban Missile Crisis makes it clear how lucky was are to be here at all and more significant why a civilian head of state has the ultimate decision on the use of weapons. The exhibition made it very clear that the U.S. military were spoiling for a fight and would have started bombing if given the chance. Made we wonder how many people would join C.N.D. if they had an enrollment campaign outside this exhibition.

Sir Humphrey: With Trident we could obliterate the whole of Eastern Europe.

Jim Hacker: I don't want to obliterate the whole of Eastern Europe.

Sir Humphrey: It's a deterrent.

Jim Hacker: It's a bluff. I probably wouldn't use it.

Sir Humphrey: Yes, but they don't know that you probably wouldn't.

Jim Hacker: They probably do.

Sir Humphrey: Yes, they probably know that you probably wouldn't. But they can't certainly know.

Jim Hacker: They probably certainly know that I probably wouldn't.

Sir Humphrey: Yes, but even though they probably certainly know that you probably wouldn't, they don't certainly know that, although you probably wouldn't, there is no probability that you certainly would.

It did make me think that an M.P. who wants to vote on the Trident replacement should visit the Cold War Museum. In part to get a sense of the history of M.A.D., but also to see how relatively small some of the bombs which carried 1970's nuclear warheads and ask the question "why do we need such big and expensive submarines to deliver such small warheads". The decision to have a nuclear deterrent or not and what form it takes are 2 very different questions which should be considered in isolation. History can't give us a definitive answer to the 1st question, but it does help with the 2nd.