Gaza besieged

Covers to smother

One of my favourite funk tracks is the Tower of Power's 'There's Only so Much Oil in the Ground' from 1974 (its where Jamiroquai lifted his style from). Here is an awful cover version. There are plenty of great Japanese bands who know their funk, but this one...it arguably needs a new singer.

A poem loosely based on reality

‘Namco’
23rd June 2010

Their first date.
To him, she was simply stunning.
He – the same as always.
They had great fun,
dancingbowlingshootingkarate-choppin’,
their joy heightened
when they united to target
the slow-moving fat kid
on the dodgems.

How they all smiled.

Policy Wonkitis

'How China and India Really Operate in Africa', in the Globalist. Also, 'Afghanistan and the World's Resource War' in OpenDemocracy.

Listening to: Konono No. 1 'Assume Crash Position' and Mulatu Astatke's 'Mulatu Steps Ahead'

Dogs in Novels

In Slate.

Ascherson on de Gaulle

Nice little piece on 'the long-nosed elephant in the sitting room of the possible' by Neal Ascherson in OpenDemocracy.

The Stowa Flieger has Landed!

My friend and colleague D has recently acquired a CW C6 and a Sea-Gull auto. It was time for a response...

BP check

118/64

D's got a funky camera app for his iPhone

Taken During Lunch at Woody's

Snowdon, 11-13th June

An Ineffective Girlfriend Substitute

Our North Wales Idyll

Yes, he Looks Odd

Dr. Doolittle's Foreplay Session

They can Smell the Alcohol

'Must...Focus on the Beer'

My Forbidden Lover

Hoofin' it to the White Horse Inn

On Miners' Track

Shiny Domed on the Summit

On Pyg Track

Back at the Cottage

Up to No Good in Caernarfon

I Don't Recognize that Expression

Sleepy Bye-Byes

Detroit

I leave home at 5am to start my lil jaunt to Detroit. To get myself in the mood I watched 'Blue Collar', 'Roger and Me' and 'Requiem for Detroit'.

Back on Thursday. Hopefully.

The Ridgeway

Looking for a break from the Goring stage of the Ridgeway, the Cistern Kid and I decided to trek from Watlington towards Wendover. We managed about 17 miles - not a bad result in the heat and with backpacks. Places of interest? Easy - the Lions of Bledlow and Home Sweet Home in Roke. I think the next time we 'do' the Ridgeway, we'll start at Bledlow and trek past Wendover.

What's he smoking?

His reality distortion field persists. You don't need to be an industrial psychologist to know that if you are cooped up within a plant (no matter the shops and other facilities on offer - designed to keep you on-site) working long shifts performing repetitive work, you will likely freak out. Retiring to your dorm (that you share with several others) will hardly give you respite.

A phrase...

As Heath raised the question 'Who governs Britain?', the people's response came: 'Not you, mate!'

So went the battle between Heath and the unions in the early 1970s.

Who runs Britain now - the Government or the financial sector? It's kinda ironic that after the government bailed out the banks (putting private sector debt on the public books), the banks are now repaying the favour (along with credit rating agencies) by giving several European countries a good kicking in.

In his farewell address, President Eisenhower warned about the 'military-industrial complex'.

As former Clinton advisor James Carville once remarked, 'I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or as a .400 baseball hitter. But now I would like to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.'

But nobody writes about the consultants-financiers complex. That's a shame.