Two wrongs do make something right

The ‘occupation’ of St Pauls throws up a wodge of questions.

One of the most basic tenets of British Democracy is the right to peaceful protest and the protest in the City of London has been peaceful.
But another is the right of every Briton to go about their business without hindrance or let and the Cathedral authorities claim that the protesters are causing a hindrance to their trade and the ability of their parishioners to access the cathedral for prayer and sightseeing was based on that.

Then there is the question of ownership of the land they are protesting upon. The protesters would not have been allowed to pitch their tents outside the Stock Exchange or the Bank of England so they found a convenient open space nearby, asked permission to set up camp and put up their tents. If they hadn’t asked permission they would be trespassing but they did ask and that permission was granted by a cleric who had the right to do so. Therefore they aren’t trespassing but they have outstayed their welcome and the Church decided to go to the courts to get them removed. (Kind of the same as offering to put someone up on the couch for a couple of nights and then finding they’ve moved in). That they have now decided that forcible removal of the protesters is ‘unChristian’ seems to be more about saving face than anything else.

At which point should the protesters go?
At the moment they are the ones in control, the ones with the power.
The church authorities are putting up with them for a while but I cannot see that lasting if, as expected, the numbers start to grow. If the authorities do manage to get an injunction to move them on will they move before the bailiffs arrive?
Being dragged away will be good for the ego and the revolutionary credentials but moving out under their own steam will do a lot more for the public perception of the protest.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out but my money is on ego and internationalrevolutionaryzeal points.

By the way, where is Church treatment of the homeless in all this – the average ‘tramp’ is still not given a bed in Westminster Cathedral or St Pauls unless the press are there. When will they decide to join the protest do you think?

The fallout from this and from other ‘occupations’ such as this or the peace camp in Parliament Square or even the Greenham Common Peace Camp of the eighties could be a dangerous interference in civil liberties.
Listening to the rhetoric of the last few days there are:

·         A number of the usual idiots calling for a blanket ban on ‘mass’ protests:
How many constitutes a Mass – more than 1? Is two a mass or is twenty two or is it only a mass when it is in three figures?  

·         A few very rational sounding proposals to ban camping in London:
Does that include camping out for Wimbledon tickets or the Harrods Sale – how about Hyde Park festivals?

·         Another few rational ideas around zoning areas for temporary occupation where you would have to obtain a license:
Who obtains the license? If there are a hundred protesters do they all have to hold a license? How about a few thousand? Can you only get a license if you are part of an organisation of some kind? Who issues these licences – local council? What if the protest sits on the border of two councils? Who pays for policing of the licenses?

·         Quite a few calls for all protest to be limited to a designated place in London:
What happens if I don’t want to be tucked away in Trafalgar Square – how will the bankers see my placards if I am miles away from the city? Is anyone happy about the idea of losing one of the London parks for permanent protests?

·         A fair few suggesting that protests should be time limited:
Are we licensing again?

Every one of them has a fatal flaw – or two or three or more but at least it shows that the great British public is thinking and talking about the issues, which kind of proves the point of the protest in the first place.
If a protest can stimulate rational argument it is a good thing.

I personally think that the protesters argument is so fatally flawed it collapses but that isn’t the point. The fact that they are there and that they have an argument forced me to think about my own views and that is definitely a good thing.

One other thing to think about though.

There is a saying that if you poke a sleeping bear once it will roll over but if you continue to poke it, it will roll over you.

Ken Livingstone found this out many years back when he put a banner counting the number of unemployed in London on the roof of County Hall directly opposite parliament. It was a bit of an annoyance for a few days but after it had been there for months and updated weekly it so aggravated the PM (Maggie Thatcher) that she abolished the GLC, sold off County Hall and all to screw Ken Livingstone.

It took years to get a London Mayor and the GLA in place and look at what an appalling mess that is. County Hall (originally a gift to the people of London) is now a Marriot, a Premier Inn, a few presentation rooms and an aquarium (as well as a whole load of unused rooms) and the replacement building cost many millions of taxpayers money to build.

The protesters have made a point and got people talking and thinking but now it is time to move on before the bear rolls back over and we all have to suffer the consequences.

This time I'm angry

OK, here’s a question for you guys and gals – what is the point of having a managing team for the London Underground if the drivers and engineers can over-ride any policy from the top and do the exact opposite it they want?

The RMT members have just decided on ‘Industrial Action short of a strike’ because they are dissatisfied with Management plans to reduce delays through engineering overruns and the like. Will this affect their safety? Or their hours of work? Or their pay? Frankly, if these are not affected then what right have they got to threaten disruption to the network – yet again?

Silly me – they are threatening to disrupt my journeys around London and to cause me even more grief than I currently put up with because they are concerned for MY safety and conditions. I should be grateful that the true experts in running a railway care only for my safety and not the actual running of the service.

When the despised Management proposed, a while back, that the virtually redundant ticket office staff should be brought out from their booths and used as platform guards and the like the union threw its hands up in shock and concern for MY safety. Apparently the 1% of users that buy tickets from the booth completely outweighed the needs of the 99% who use Oyster cards or buy their tickets from the machines that are available even when the ticket office is on a break (nothing to do with being readily available for union duties at the end of a phone line or instant access to warm cups of tea) and it was only by throwing money at the aggrieved Union members that their concerns were eased. 

We, the taxpayers and users of the ‘services’, pay a lot of money for the wages of the management of London Underground and we expect them to manage the lines, minimise the disruption of weekend works etc. etc. etc.
But if they set a policy and the members of the RMT don’t like it then they cannot implement the policy and the world stands still.

I repeat, what is the point of having a management team that isn’t able to manage?

There is a general rule in business:
Management manages and the workers do what they are told. If it all goes to pot you know who to point the finger at. (doesn’t always work out that way but I did say general rule).
In a well managed organisation the people doing the work advise their managers if they see trouble brewing and their advice is considered. The decision comes from the manager and the buck is supposed to stop there.
If the managed are making the decisions who are you going to blame? And more to the point – as I said at the start – “what is the point of having a managing team for the London Underground if the drivers and engineers can over-ride any policy from the top and do the exact opposite it they want?”

Now here is a thought - If the RMT members are better than the (highly) paid professional managers at running the railroad then maybe we need to get rid of the management team, save ourselves a fortune and leave running the railroad to the leaders of the RMT? Oh, except that would piss off the members of ASLEF or the members of TSSA or any of the other Unions that control a piece of the business. OK, invite all the union leaders to give up their plush jobs and actually do a stint as the management of London Underground. No that won’t  work either because they might not be available to call their members out if they manage to transgress one of the rules that the members hold so dear – now the unions need to elect new leaders to deal with the Union leaders who are now the management of the London Underground.
Oh – “what is the point of having a managing team for the London Underground if the drivers and engineers can over-ride any policy from the top and do the exact opposite it they want?”

Next tiome you see a union member on the Underground (They all are actually) thank them kindly for their attention to your safety - they are only thinking of you, you know.

Point 2 Kretin Ken Livingstone has just discovered that Bumbling Boris Johnson has a huge sum of money sitting in a desk drawer somewhere – yet was still proposing to hike Fare prices. His response is to spend it all on a cut in fare prices of 5% - yes the average fare will go down from £1:60 to £1:52. Staggering reduction and I’ll be sure to spend my 16p per day savings carefully – damn, won’t quite stretch to the ‘i’.
If there isn’t a reserve then the next unexpected problem to hit the system will have to be paid for from borrowed money – at an interest rate that will not be beneficial to the commuters of London but to the bank that supplied the money. If the money isn’t invested somewhere that it will at least make the rate of inflation (India maybe) in profit then it will gradually be pissed away
As usual, a spat of two bald men struggling for control of the scissors.
What we want is a system that is cheap and efficient - not a political pawn for the amusement of two idiots. When the next election comes around - Don't Vote Idiot

Point 3 Can anyone explain to me how this isn’t discrimination against the disabled?
I have been for an interview with a company - the company concerned has the most impeccable credentials as regards workers rights and treatment of individuals - that is located in a brilliantly designed business park in West London.. No effort has been spared to ensure that the buildings are green and spacious with the most brilliant use of recyclable materials and reclaimed and salvaged materials where possible. 13 buildings in all around a central park and quite delightfully appointed with a campus area for the workers to gather and gad about. It is so green that the number of parking spots in the park is kept to a bare minimum and it is the responsibility of all of the companies that rent space in the park to rent parking spaces for their people – however, there are very few of them in comparison to the number of individuals who work in the park. It is approx 15 minutes walk from the nearest tube station and the same from the nearest bus stop to the middle of the park.
There is no (Zero, nada, nil, fuckall, notalot) provision for disabled workers to park anywhere except as part of their companies provision. (There is even less provision for contractors who are necessarily classed as ‘visitors’ even if they work there 5 days a week and there are no visitors spaces.) No shuttle service and “it is the responsibility of London Transport to route a bus through the park” – now doesn’t this just shout out “go away you nasty cripples – no space for you here”?
Oh, and before anyone wastes their time looking it up – they have met the letter of the law.

   

Sometimes it isn't a rant

Every now and again I just feel the need to post just to tell how absolutely bloody wonderful it is to be - the alternative ain't so great I guess.

I am at that point in my life where I like the familiar, relish those things that I know will be 'just so' and while I have never fought against change it isn't always the great driving force it maybe used to be.
Of course, it means that my expectations are normally easy to meet but it also means that I view unexpected change as unwelcome and maybe a little exasperating. (Don't we all!)

Wednesday last my wife decided we would have an Indian take away - nothing unusual you may think but harken to this.
When we first moved to Edgware around 25 years or more ago we found a simply delightful little Indian takeaway called 'The Curry Centre' - no marks for originality but plenty for friendly and fab food.
Over the last 25 years we have been to other takeaways but the Curry Centre just seems to hit the spot - in fact Russell has taken to using it and they are much taken with Leeanne to the extent that she gets freebies the rest of us don't!
So imagine my horror as I pull up outside to collect my order only to find that the familiar frontage and warm glow from the window has been replaced with an all glass frontage, pink lighting and stark simplicityin its style - oh, the horrors!
I girded my loins and ventured inside to be regaled with the smell of paint and the sight of the bare tables. 
I collected the order and hotfooted it home, worried that the intense flavours and excellent cooking had gone the way of the warm (dim) lighting.
Peeps, the food was positively fabulous! The kitchen has obviously had a makeover as well because the flavours were more rich and intense than ever before, the subtlety of the spicing was 'just so' and the whole meal was simply glorious.
Sometines change ain't a bad thing, when it is done for the right reasons and to improve something rather than just to turn a few more bucks. Well done Curry Centre - just right guys and I'll be back!

The other remarkable joy in my life was in seeing Jimmy Cliff in concert last night at Indigo2. I am not now and probably never will be a fan of the O2 - I hate the corporate natuire of the place, its location is ridiculous - it is easier to get to Milton bloody Keynes than Greenwich - but Dr Jimmy Cliff was simply sensational. The crowd was dancing from the first notes to the last - I couldn't see the stage most of the time but my horizontal dancing kept me amused and his band were bloody fine - the sound overall was great.
Sometimes not changing is a good thing too: 'The Harder They Come' is sheer perfection and doesn't need to be reinterpreted and Dr Jimmy simply did it right. His version of 'Rivers Of Babylon' almost had me converted and 'Vietnam' morphing into 'Afghanistan' worked a treat.
I may have gout and pain just about everywhere but the smile on my fizzog this evening is a wide as it has been in yonks.

I promise normal service will be resumed in blogs to come but right now - happy happy happy!
    

Nice isn't weak

Did you ever think about the term ‘civilization’ – the beginning of the word says a lot – Civil: the dictionary describes it as” Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous; complaisant; affable” – do you get the feeling that a lot of that is missing from today’s society?

If you know me well – and I hope you all do know me – you will know that one of my pettest hates is the “Me first and sod you” attitude of many people today. I know it was ever thus but it feels as though the attitude is pervading many levels of our society to a greater and more entrenched manner then it has for years.

I know that most of you will be shaking your heads and saying “This man calls himself an anarchist but when the effects of anarchy rear their heads he runs away like a little liberal” but I have always believed that it is necessary for us all to find ways to live together, fiercely independent but considerate of ‘the other guy’s’ needs as well as our own: it isn’t necessary  to be a doormat for every damaged and sad individual on the planet but what I cannot abide is the lack of consideration for any other party.

The recent riots are an example of the problem – extreme but valid – as large numbers of people from all strata of society took to the streets to get the things that they felt they were ‘entitled to’ whether they had any claim to them or not.

I don’t think it makes sense to put it down to ‘Capitalism’ because a lot of the culture of “I Know my rights” has come from liberal and socialist traits of worshipping the individual and the dichotomy of the ‘Big State’ versus the ‘Cult of the individual’ is that all individuals feel that they are apart from the lumpen masses and so rules that apply to the masses don’t apply to them.  

There are many little but noticeable examples as well and a large number of them found on the roads. The person who shoots on to the roundabout and forces you to slam on the brakes because they are far more important than you are – generally if you flash them to tell them you are there you will receive one finger or two as a reward – or the car that holds up a stream of traffic waiting for someone top ‘pop into the shop’ because they can’t be bothered to go and park – word to the wise chaps, those flashing hazard lights don’t help: when the passenger gets back you will find an incensed stream of traffic behind you! You could cite the cyclist who swings up on to the pavement to avoid red lights or simply ignores the traffic and shoots through oblivious to, or uncaring of, the traffic they are crossing in front of and who will inevitably blame the driver that hits them for the accident. Often the worst examples are of the pedestrian who wanders into the road, intent on their mobile phone, giving a mouthful to any hapless driver/motorcyclist/cyclist who has to take avoiding action.

Ever been waiting patiently in a queue only to find someone barging in or been in a train carriage with a chap/ette eating an extremely garlicky kebab or with a bloke shouting into a mobile, warning he is going to lose signal any second? Not one of these people would have the common decency to be ashamed at their actions if you were to tell them off for it – more likely you will be instructed where to get off and be offered the suggestion that you are of questionable parentage or habits.

I really am asking the question “Why can’t we just consider each other before we do something offensive?”

Another example of this breakdown in politeness and the friction as we rub against each other is the abuse of and ignoring of disabled badges – for obvious reasons something that is close to my heart.

The number of people who have no right to a blue badge of their own yet have one as a carer for another person that is disabled is commendable but the abuse is simply incredible. I cite a few examples:

East Finchley tube has three disabled bays – the only three bays out of approx. 300 bays in the car park and the three bays closest to the station, at the foot of a relatively steep slope. Every morning the same gold Mercedes is parked in one of the bays, displaying a badge, and every morning one can see the proprietor of the sweet shop running back and forth to bring stock across to his shop – one third of a very scarce commodity misused and if you ask him about it, as I have, his only response is “I’m bloody entitled”. The response of the car park attendant is no more helpful “He’s got a badge – it’s not my job to check” – whose job is it do you think (answers on a postcard to TFL but don’t hold your breath waiting).

Another example – how many disabled people do you know who could get in and out of a Lotus Elise? Yet there is one that is regularly parked in Edgware with a blue badge in the window.

Mind, these pale into insignificance behind the disabled bay near Leicester Square that is reserved for a particular resident of the area and that is instantly leapt on by the wardens should anyone actually park there with a badge – the driver in question has been dead for eight years! Not only is the system abused by an uncaring local council but it is cited as an available bay in the area and so makes up part of the quota for the area – that and the bays that have skips parked on them or are in side streets that are blocked off due to Crossrail or other roadworks.

We don’t all have to be nicey-nicey to one another but if the readers of this blog pass the message out that a little consideration for others is a good thing, then maybe we can get a little movement towards a society that actually does try to avoid conflict – it is the only way that civil-ization actually works!  

Lessons having been learnt .... I wonder

So here we are in the aftermath. The smoke has drifted away and the bodies have been counted. Communities are beginning to see the residue of a few night’s madness and the campaigns to reclaim the streets from the evil hoodies have kicked off in the newspapers and daytime TV programs.

Unfortunately we are also hearing the dread term “Lessons will be learned” from our politicians and if anything, this should worry us more than the riots themselves.

‘Call Me’ Cameron cut short his holiday and recalled parliament so now we have 600+ pissed off people with no agenda but to look into the random actions of some mindless thugs. You can already hear the battle lines being drawn up and the points being scored while Cameron and ‘Milliband the Younger’ spout empty rhetoric at each other while both are wishing they were somewhere else. They will set up a ‘wide-ranging all-party committee’ to look into the origins of the troubles and to make recommendations for new laws and tactics and that is fine – it will take years to achieve nothing except to put a lot of middle-England’s minds at ease by the fact of its existence.

Unfortunately the leaders feel that they are expected show that they ‘have a grip on things’ and this means that they will make short term policy changes to cope with what has already ended and they will forget the principle that single actions do not make a trend and put even more draconian policies in place to deal with a an isolated case that has been and is unlikely to be repeated for many years.

The calls have already gone up to ban hoodies and any form of facial coverings while in public – are you going to include beards and glasses in this, people, and how about bandages or baseball caps with long peaks? Are you going to make it like the passport office - no smiling, no glasses, always be against a white background and of a closely limited facial size?

The home secretary has even called for curfews in some areas and the banning of any gatherings of more than a dozen people – so that will outlaw midnight mass and street parties then!

The blame has been variously placed on immigrants, single mothers, the feckless, various racial groups and even, well done Guardian for this one, Hassidic Jews! You name the prejudice and someone has cast their bile at it. As usual the idiots have crawled out of the woodwork – we can only hope that the politicians don’t listen to them.   

Anyone with any sense can see that the police were in a more than tricky situation and did a fantastic job, eventually, by understanding that this was different from the G20 or the student riots. But the trigger for all the pain was the unfortunate death of a Tottenham drug dealer at the hands of the police. As usual in these matters the cock-ups and lies came thick and fast – “He shot at the police”, “His bullet struck a copper”, in fact, as we now know, he was shot with a single bullet (marksman?), never fired a shot and was no threat to the the Police. The bullet that struck the policeman’s radio was fired from a police weapon (itchy trigger-finger?). Then the Police investigated and sheepishly admitted the truth in little segments, pulled like teeth (didn’t they learn anything from Menezes or Tomlinson?). Sometimes you just need to admit that you screwed up and learn the lessons (sorry) and DON’T DO IT AGAIN.

The other opportunity for officialdom to proclaim that they were learning lessons came from the practice bike ride on Sunday. 120 odd cyclists took part in a race on Sunday to test the readiness of the authorities for the real thing next summer and after causing gridlock throughout South and South-West London for most of the day the authorities have gone away to ‘Learn what lessons can be found’.

Lesson 1 – if you close the South Circular from 07:00  until 15:00 you will cause chaos! There, you have learned a lesson, now DON’T DO IT AGAIN.

Lesson 2 – If you man the route with a bunch of people who are not locals and who don’t know what the diversions are, people will chase around like headless chickens looking for an alternative route and take hours to get where they were planning to, getting righteously pissed off all the while. Now you have learned another lesson – train the Marshalls properly and signpost your routes clearly. Simples

Lesson 3 – If you close two of the most popular bridges over the Thames and Marshall them with people who don’t know the name of the next open bridge people will chase around like headless chickens looking for an alternative route and take hours to get where they were planning to, getting righteously pissed off all the while. Now you have learned another lesson – Give the Marshalls local maps and teach them to read them properly.

Lesson 4 – If you blithely think that sending out a bunch of emails to Oyster card holders (most of which will have ended up in the spam folder for unsolicited mail) and doing a mail drop within the area that the roads are going to be closed is enough, you really need to learn lessons about traffic flow and the effects of blocked arteries. The ripple effect of the South London road closures was felt in North London because people travel from North London to the South on a summer Sunday – sometimes to visit friends and sometimes just to go to the lovely areas in South London (and some to watch the cycle race after the radio announced it was happening).

Now you have learned yet another lesson – people are NOT TELEPATHIC and they ARE SOCIAL!

Please tell me which of these 4 lessons could not have been foreseen by anyone with two working brain cells and a vision wider than their own nose. The collective power of TFL, GLA, LOA, Minister for Transport et al failed to work out, in advance, the likely impact of their decisions.
I’ve learned a lesson and I suspect you all have as well – get rid of the bloody lot of them and employ a bunch of primary school students – they couldn’t have done any worse.

This was a ‘practice’ for the Olympics next year – only next year this will happen midweek while millions of people are trying very hard to go about their normal business as well as watch the races. Learn the lesson – have the road race at night, starting at 02:00 and finished by 04:00 and hope to hell that another ambulance, fire engine or nurse doesn’t get caught up in the mayhem LIKE THEY ALL DID ON SUNDAY.

     

Danders having risen ......

Hi people, its been a while but time for the ol’ Beatbeast to boom one out at you! You may not care about anything I have to say and that’s ok – you don’t have to read it – but if we meet and it gives us something to argue about then that is a good thing and if I put the grain of an idea in your mind then that is good to. These are my thoughts and I offer them for free – no need to answer back and no slight taken on either side.

First off, a question: what was the single biggest story of the weekend? The sad death of a pop star whose life was blighted by too many people trying to make a living off her fragile grip on reality? A lone right-wing saddo who was bright enough to work out where the most targets could be found for the least danger to himself? The rumblings of the fading echoes of parliamentary careers as politicians with too much hubris took on some genuinely tough businesspeeps and rolled over as they were lied to? (Getting Rebeka Brookes to admit she had a diary was not exactly a major win). All this as well as the total absorption by the press for weeks of the ‘Phone Hacking Scandal’ as though it meant a damn thing. But the head of the Metropolitan Police and the head of London’s counter-terrorism team have been forced to resign, leaving a gaping hole at the head of London’s police force and every other top-cop in the land defocusing from their real work in order to try and jockey into the role. Think about it - a few celebs had their phone messages listened to because they were too lazy or stupid to clear them down and the police, reasonably, considered it was of so little importance that they pretty well ignored it – mistake but not a crisis for crissakes. Messing with Milly Dowler’s voicemail was criminal because it interfered with the investigation but SHE WAS ALREADY DEAD!

SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE TIME GUYS – why are we surprised when we begin to dig into the dirt and guess what? A few coppers are guilty of taking bungs from lazy journos, a couple of political appointments have been made to mates and someone got a mate’s daughter a job for which she was well suited. What the hell would we expect? When the Macmillan government nearly fell in 1963 it was because the Minister for War denied, to the parliament, that he was shagging a prostitute shared with a spy of a country at which we were at war. This was a scandal – a proper scandal and it took some real journalistic digging to get to the bottom of it; and no doubt a few palms got greased along the way and a few favours got called in but that is was and is the way that news is got.  Rumour here and a bit of skulduggery there and you start to get a glimpse at the truth. Problem here is that the truth is so bloody insignificant as to be not worth hearing.

No, the real story, and the one that seems to have shown up almost nowhere in the last few weeks is that the US Economy is about to default on its debts . Proper scary time chaps and chapesses – the US Dollar backs up nearly every other currency in the world – if America defaults on its debts we could be deeper in the shitter than we have ever been – the recent ‘Credit Crunch’ and the recession that followed it could be as minor, in comparison, as a gnat bite in the middle of a stampede. And all this because a few US Republicans are angling for a short term deal that will raise itself up again next year just before the Presidential election. The US Economy is seriously in trouble, same as the UK and same as the Eurozone, but it is recoverable – only not if the politicians allow it to fall apart to score a few points – anyone bought into Gold lately? Anyone notice that today the price of gold went through the $1650 per ounce mark – once again congratulations to Chancellor/Prime Minister/Saviour of the worlds enconomies (in his mind at least) Gordon Brown, for selling the UK’s gold reserves at the bottom of the market and advertising the fact which forced the price down even further – the difference between what he sold it for and what it is now worth would pay off the debt that he and his government left us with FIVEFOLD! Give this man the peerage he so richly deserves – sorry, I mean make him work for us for nothing until it is all paid for – shouldn’t take more than a thousand years or so.

For those living in London here is something to consider: the last two London Mayors have been fanatically anti-car. Ken Livingstone tried to tax us all to pay for ridiculous buses that can’t even turn some of the corners in the centre of town (after promising to keep the Routemaster) and changed all the traffic light phasing to ensure that traffic couldn’t possibly flow along the main thoroughfares and he=is successor introduced ‘Cycle Superhighways’ that cut three lane roads to a single lane for the fastest moving traffic without reducing the amount of that traffic one jot. Between them they managed to introduce rules that say that cyclists can whizz unimpeded through red lights and travel the wrong way up any one way street they like. These same two idiots are standing for London Mayor again next year – do you think it will get any better? Look very carefully at the list of possible candidates (there will eventually be more than the two idiots) and ask them all the same question “What are you going to do to get the cars and vans moving again?”London needs a combination of Tubes, buses, cars, vans, cycles and motorbikes and pedestrians but it needs them in balance.

We don’t need a pro-car mayor or an anti-bike one but it does need one to understand that the Tube is pretty well at capacity and that the buses can’t get around when they have to leave the bus lanes to overtake cycles and that sometimes driving in and parking your car is the best option. When the election comes think about your choices and don’t just vote for an idiot!

Next summer there is going to be a city that could reasonably be described as hell on earth to its inhabitants. The transportation system is going to fail, the smog and pollution is going to be causing respiratory issues to millions of people, work will suffer as this particular city grinds to a halt and the city government and the organizing committee of the London Olympiad will declare these games the greatest in history.

There is a capacity problem on the tubes and buses NOW – if 10% more people take to using public transport it will collapse – not my words but those of the Mayors office. WE ARE AT CAPACITY. But next year we are going to see ‘Olympic’ travel lanes cutting down the capacity of the main thoroughfares, millions more tourists, Crossrail still causing massive disruption. If a single car breaks down in the wrong place the traffic jams will take days to clear. If you are a Londoner and you love your city BE SOMEWHERE ELSE for the two weeks of the Olympics. If 10% of Londoners go somewhere else for that two weeks maybe the city will have the space to absorb the influx. If 15% do then that should be enough to ensure that London actually does have the most successful games in history – do the patriotic thing and go away for the Olympics.

We can all remember the last gig we went to but what was the greatest?

Just about everyone I know has been to see live music at some time in their lives ad some of us are still active in watching live music.
The last gig that we went to should be memorable - in my case Mama Rosin in a cramped and noisy bar in Camden Town on Friday last; it was hot, loud and wonderful and the music was great - but over the years I would guess that we all have memories of a certain show or a festival or an event that is the one that is always there in our minds when we want to remember a special time and put us in a happy place.

The reason for remembering THAT gig is ging to be different for each of us but it is those differences that make it all fun - was it the music or the atmosphere or was it something intangible that makes the memory so special?

How about you all email me or comment me back with the top three gigs that you have been to and what made them so special.

I'll kick it off with these three:

• Van Morrison at the Rainbow - I would guess July 1973 - he had his full Caledonia Soul Orchestra with him and the atmosphere was past electric - he got called back twice, very reluctnatly, for encores
• Fania Allstars at the Lyceum - Stevie Winwood was guesting and I'll never forget seeing Celia Cruz in all her finery. The place was heaving and the temperature was hitting dangerouslyhigh levels but the band was awesome and the dancing was magnificent
• Grateful Dead at Wembley Arena - Halloween 1990. The band were past their best - musically not as good as I'd seen them either at th Rainbow or Alexander Palace - and they had Warren Zevon on piano but Jerry Garcia was steaming, just out of rehab I think, and they encored with 'Werewolves Of London' and the sight of 9000 deadheads all throwing their heads back on the chorus "Awoooooooh Yeah, Werewolves of London!" was electric. The look on the Wembley locals faces as all these freaks came out singing was wonderful.

I can think of hundreds of other great gigs in London but these three put the biggest smile in my memory - what about you?