atmosphere

Has anyone watch "Live From Space" on Channel Four recently? Or the film "Gravity"?

The over-riding impression gained from these features is how fragile and guarded our atmosphere is from the ravages of space. The air we breath is, roughly, only available up to 12km above sea level before we start running into problems.

I've expended much energy trying to convince people that our petty political borders and economic barriers are not visible from space. It would be interesting to get Nigel Farage or that dickhead from the BNP, Griffin, into a spacecraft and ask them where things start and stop.

The more pressing problem is our biosphere may protect us from the vacuum of space, but it also keeps in all our pollution and crap. It'd be interesting to measure how much rubbish we actually breath in now. We're all hypocrites. Some of us like to expound how we need to keep greenhouse gasses to a minimum, yet get in our cars, or run every possible electric appliance in our homes.

There's a fine line between the Earth's natural balance and the garbage the human pumps into its delicate atmosphere. Stuff an alien invasion destroying the planet, we're doing a damned good job of it ourselves.

frightening

As a change to our regular Saturday night viewing, we watched "Life And Death Row" on BBC3. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01tbfbg

It followed the lead-up to the execution of two convicted murderers in Texas - interviewing both their victims' families and own families.

This kind of television is a sobering lesson into the extremes of the human condition. The convicts were articulate, resigned to their fate but not necessarily remorseful for their actions. The outcome of the programme was that one guy was executed and the other was given a stay of execution pending a review of his trial.

I found the show utterly absorbing, yet frightening to watch.

I am against the death penalty. I believe taking the life of a convicted murderer makes the State (us who vote them in!) as bad as them. It's not an eye for an eye. That's simplistic bullshit. That's good ol'-fashioned Southern states crypto-bollocks, that only a backward judicial system in Texas can be.

Look at Moors Murderer, Ian Brady. He's been trying to do himself in for years now. I think he can't take it anymore because he's realised the horror of his actions. He lives with himself and his horrendous crimes each and every day. If he had been executed, we wouldn't have had the knowledge that this person is rightly suffering from an attack of conscience. It was the correct decision to keep him alive, and to continue to keep him and his ilk alive. Make him think of the consequences of his savagery.

Our understanding of death - beyond this world - is unknown, though there are plenty of suggestions of what may lie ahead. Maybe Brady will suffer an eternity of hell when he finally dies? Or death may just be a blackless void of nothingness? Who knows, but I guess one day we'll all find out.

poor

This blog generally doesn't have a policy of commenting on anything to do with Manchester United. But a cursory look at the trouble they're currently in is a little like deja vu. Because twenty years ago, Liverpool were in similar circumstances with a new Scottish manager who really didn't have a clue.

Yep, I know MUFC have won tonight against Olympiakos to progress in the year's European Cup. But the Greek side, though workmanlike and solid, aren't particularly great opposition, and again, a poor Liverpool side overturned a two goal lead against them on the way to our fifth European Cup  - you know, the real one that we keep forever!

United are a really poor shape, led by a manager who obviously hasn't commanded the respect of the players he's inherited from Ferguson. Same thing happened at Leeds in 1974, as champions then too, when Brian Clough took over for seven weeks.

Moyes hasn't garnered the same sort of revulsion in the present day. But a lot of us on Merseyside could tell our Manc friends that the Scot, to quote Monty Python, isn't the Messiah. His style of football verges on playing long balls - which Evertonians love. Not if you're used to getting results though.

Liverpool are at the other end of the spectrum this season. Things are going very well. Though, no matter what happens by the end of May, I will never be convinced by Brendan Rodgers. He must think he's been dipped in shit with a strike force like Sturridge and Suarez, yet it's a shame the defenders can't keep the goals out at the other end. If, and it's a very big IF, we go on and win the title this season it will be with a defence and goalkeeper who really aren't on the same wavelength. Not Mingolet's biggest fan either. And I've been calling for Martin Skrtel's resignation for years. Holding onto the title will be nigh on impossible. Reinforcements will be needed a.s.a.p!

celebrate

It's St.Patrick's Day once again.

I've made my feelings on the day when everyone not Irish celebrates being Irish well known through this blog. I can't be bothered putting a link to it, you'll have to find it yourselves!!

I really don't get it? Why isn't St.George's Day celebrated with the same veracity as "Paddy's Day"? We really are a weird country when it comes to what we like or not as the case may be. 

Being from Liverpool, I do feel the separate nature we have when compared to the rest of the country - we're not a very English city, the Celtic influence is just overwhelming. 

I've mellowed a lot to the fact that I'm English. The problems I had with crackpots like football hooliganism, the EDL, the BNP, UKIP, racism and "Little Englanders" in general is their problem - and not mine. And the fact that I can have a good time, while they cry, moan, bleat and fart is hugely satisfying.

So celebrate whatever day you want, but remember to give everyone a fair crack of the whip!

left-handed

There's been an absolutely ridiculous conversation on the radio this morning, claiming that left-handed people will suffer/ have suffered in their lives / careers as a result of being....well, left-handed!

I'm left-handed, and my failings in life are entirely my own misdoing, and not the machinations of the State or other people.

My Dad was left-handed too, but he could write with both. From what I can gather, I think he was forced to write with his right-hand as it was deemed improper not to back in the 1950s by educational people. Being left-handed didn't do him any harm. Or Paul McCartney. Or Jimi Hendrix.

The other side of the coin, I know right-handed people with abysmal handwriting who've done very well for themselves. It's all roundabouts and swings.

Just think - there's "experts" out there who have made an entire career peddling this left-handed / right-handed claptrap. Fair play, you've fooled some of them, but not all of us!!!

flat-lining

I went with Aaron to a bus rally in St.Helens today. I won't bore the reader too much with all the mundane details, but it was fairly crap, and I wondered why we went?

I'm flat-lining on my buses at the moment, in that I haven't much interest in them - either more or less.

It's me, obviously. I spent a bit of time last year helping out at the Merseyside Transport Trust, and what impressed me was members dedication to the cause, in ways I couldn't. I have responsibilities that mean I can't put in the time other people can. It did me in a little bit, but it also reaffirmed where my life lies - first and foremost Jayne, Aaron and Bethany.

Every Tuesday night, Jayne asks me do I want to go to "bus club" (that's what we call the MTT) and I don't. Usually, I'm too knackered to go, but the other reason is I really can't be arsed, and I have a much better time with my family.

My personal hobbies / interests, when I think about it, don't really involve other people, or interacting with other folk more so - they can all be done singularly. Maybe it's because I appreciate my free time to myself much more now, than before I became "family man" when I could please myself to be honest.

I've got various projects lined up. Garden requires urgent attention, and Jayne's always got a job up her sleeve for me!!!!!

Pillocks

Today, I had a slight mishap in a local branch of Tesco. I dropped a box of eggs on the floor. Egg yolk everywhere.

So a big "thank you" to my fellow customers who helped me clear up the mess. Not. They turned up their noses to my predicament, one bloke passed me and said, "shit happens, mate."

A young store assistant, bless her, brought out some wipes, and I helped her clear up my faux-pas. Now I'm not being wise after the event, but if that had happened to someone, I'd have offered to help. It's just in my nature, as a member of the human race, to help out another.

Sadly, so many of our compatriots are so wound-up in their own petty concerns and worlds, that they feel nothing for anyone but themselves. Just a simple little accident today, and they didn't want to know. I'd hate to see their reactions if anything bad ever happened. 

Pillocks.

watchable

A thoroughly deserved personal retrospective on one of the 60s much-maligned Beat groups - Manchester's own Freddie and the Dreamers.

Yes, they looked like bricklayers. And most of their music was lamer than the lamest lame thing in Lameland. 

And then there was singer Freddie Garrity. It's highly likely the the young Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and David Lee Roth took notes of bespectacled Garrity's highly energetic and manic stage persona.

Paul McCartney later admitted that the Beatles decision to concentrate on writing and performing their own material was largely of a result of singer Freddie Garrity "stealing" the Beatles arrangement  of "If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody", that the Dreamers made into a huge hit during 1963. There was a respect between the groups - the Beatles invited the Dreamers to support them on their Christmas UK tour in 1964, and rumours persist that Garrity was very close to being signed to Apple Records in 1968. 

Like a lot of the first-wave Beat groups, the hits dried up by 1966 and careers were extended by moving into the lucrative, but completely unfashionable, cabaret circuit. To a certain extent, the Dreamers fell into this "trap" but, aided by a high public profile in America, wisely moved into television work - hosting their own networked childrens' show on ITV called "Little Big Time" which lasted until the early 1970s. A regular segment of  "Little Big Time" was "Oliver In The Overworld" - which involved Garrity and bandmate Pete Birrell as his clock, Oliver, travelling to a land of machinery - much of this eventually took over the show and the band recorded a highly-collectable pysch-styled album of the same name.

I think Freddie and the boys deserve a lot more credit than they've been grudgingly permitted. There's millions of forgotten 60s groups who will remain forgotten, but Freddie and the Dreamers aren't one of them. Highly original, hugely entertaining and still, after half a century, compulsively watchable.

fascists

We sometimes do catering jobs to supplement our meagre income. We're called "Jayne's Catering". And, by and large, they're fun to do - bloody hard work, but mostly enjoyable.

We did one on Saturday. We set it up, left the clients to it, and came back later on to clear up. 

You know that feeling when you walk through a door, the room goes silent and all eyes are upon you? Well, that was what this was like when we went back to tidy.

I got a distinct impression from some of the patrons that we were gatecrashing their event. And even though I was lugging boxes, black bin bags and other assorted catering items, I definitely felt that I was "beneath" these people.

It took me back to our wedding reception. We did our own catering. Which also meant that even though we were the hosts, we also had to clear up too. I was going round, later on with bin bags, asking guests politely if I could have their used plates, cutlery, etc. Most folk were great, but some gave me the sort of looks like I'd farted on their mother!!!

I thought, "hang on, WE INVITED YOU!!!! You're here at our bequest, not the other way round."

I know that we're human and frequently caught out. But basic manners is something else. All I want to do is stamp on some people and set fire to their over-priced designer outfits. Fascists.

chilling

Continuing our series of "Bizarre and Despotic Dictators Of The 21st Century", our friend Kim-Jung Un is once again in the news.

Apparently, he won his seat in North Korea's Parliament with 100% of the vote, and there was a 100% voter turn-out.

I wonder if he voted for himself too?

Kim Jung-Un is a chip off the old block in a line of brutally-sadistic leaders of this poor country. The Kims are the living embodiment of Orwell's "1984" and I'm fairly sure they're very much aware of the book, and possibly deem it their Bible.

A lot of what we hear about the DPRK can be quite amusing in a backward-Stalinist state sort of way. The reality is a lot more chilling and disturbing. The people running the country are obviously terrified of the population gaining any knowledge of the outside world, and ruthlessly clamp down on any dissent. The DPRK have an almost pathological hatred of America, and although one can see their point of view to an extent, the real reasons for this mindset are blurred, obscured and tempered by over sixty-years of being on a war-footing with the U.S.

I don't believe the DPRK are nuclear-armed as they claim. If they were they'd use it, no doubts. Probably on Seoul. Or Japan. As if they haven't had enough.

One of my fondest wishes is to visit this weird country - which to all intents and purposes is a real-life version of "The Truman Show". One day, maybe, one day.......

kill

Today I was on a train. And one of the great things about trains in these enlightened days is their near-universal accessibility for everyone - regardless of ability / disability.

Even though they were aided by a ramp, it still took two members of staff to push an electric wheelchair user onto the train. This person had a face on him that said "kill". He didn't even say thank you to the train staff for their help.

His wheelchair, from what I could tell, was perfectly manoeuvrable. But instead, this grumpy balls remained where he was completely blocking the exit doors to the extent that no one could get on at that door, and no one could get off. He absolutely refused to move out of the way to let a guy with a bike off at a station. He merely sat there looking like a miserable Gollum - and that's pretty bad.

I thought maybe I was being too harsh on this bloke, his problems may have been more than physical. But bike guy, rightly, complained to the train guard, and only after train guard got Gollum's attention did he finally move. Not difficult was it?

I would never, ever abuse disabled people. But Gollum was a complete dickhead. My point being that disabled people can still be dickheads. 

I personally don't care what afflictions folk may have. Rightly or wrongly, I treat them all the same. There has been massive progress in bringing equality to the disabled, and I'm doing my bit.

co-co

I am knackered. Physically, mentally and whatever else goes on inside a human body to drag down the spirit and soul.

Nobody here's done me in or anything. Friends and family are fine. Jayne's brill and the kids are co-co.

I think that I think too much and for the first time in many years am acutely aware of what a huge mess the world is, yet I sit here, do bugger all about it except moan.

The reason I started the blog again was to work things out of my system without it becoming a diary. I read back through the blog and realise what a pompous knob I could be at times. I still am I suppose, but there's a time and a place and it's not on the Interweb anymore if I can help it.

My grammar and word-appropiate sentence structure used to be quite good. But I had an increasing tendency to waffle shite. Like I'm doing now.

Maybe this is my mid-life crisis? Adolescence was awful, how I got through that without too many mistakes was a miracle. At 43, I'm becoming slightly aware of my mortality and realise I've used much of the previous 42 years keeping my head down.

Rock still gets me. It will save the world. On saying that, I saw The Who last year and was utterly demoralised by their attitude. In a way, I couldn't blame them - Roger was 69 and Pete was 68. What have they got left to prove? The big screen behind the stage with the words "ROCK ON LIVERPOOL" left me in a state of melancholy I don't think I've experienced before or since. The Who are / were an ideal, this paragon of virtue, treating me like a cheap consumer.

I got over it, and appreciate their 60s / 70s excess is a gift we don't deserve. It's ours forever. I will take it to my grave.

BBC3

In an completely predictable and short-sighted way, the BBC are going to scrap BBC3, and give serious concerns to BBC4's future too.

Surely, surely, there are more worthy (or unworthy, depending on your point of view) candidates for the BBC to pick on in their never-ending quest to save money?

The thing with BBC3 is it's quite quirky - full of weird things that mainstream BBC1 would never, ever broadcast. Back in 1969, "Monty Python's Flying Circus" would have been a BBC3 programme if the channel were about.

What message does this give out to  budding writers and performers?

A pretty clear one actually. "We're not interested!"

As time passes, the BBC is becoming more commercially-driven, so utter drivel like "Strictly Come Dancing" and "The Voice" passes as acceptable output for the Corporation. And in a commercial sense, they're correct, but in a moral sense they're so, so wrong. I hate having my brains sucked out on a Saturday night. Entertain me, yes! But also educate and inform me too.

I thought that was the BBC's remit?

dangerous

Ukraine is a powder keg, waiting for someone to light the fuse. That someone is the above person.

Vladimir Putin is a very dangerous man. He is a complete contradiction in terms in a lot of ways. He loves his modern Russia with all its' gadgets, big business, flash cars, and money. He also yearns for the past too - he idolises the old Soviet Union and its' ways of controlling the population and media. Even so, I don't think cared much for Communism whichever way.

Just one man is manipulating a localised situation into a huge international flash point - because he can. Because he's a bully and does not trust rational human beings to determine their own future. 

The media coverage of the Ukrainian crisis has been interesting. Fox News is very anti-Russia, whilst Russia Today is very anti-America. Some things never change.

Putin is another of these lunatics who sees the world as a big, important place, whereas the reality of the our existence is we're really all living on a piece of rock in the arse end of nowhere. It would be nice if we could all get along, and failing that agree to disagree and let everyone live in some kind of peace.

religion

I like Jehovah's Witnesses. They come round to the door quoting their version of the Bible, tell me how awful things are and how, through organised religion, people can make a difference.

They're absolutely right. The Bible is a seriously good book - full of moral teachings one cannot argue against.

They're also absolutely wrong too. Because organised religion, whichever faith followed, sets one against the other, which would be good if the fine points argued are done in a rational and non-violent way. Generally, it can get out of hand very quickly, spreads like wildfire, and the next thing you know each believer is knocking ten kinds of shit out of the other. And vice-versa.

I told the lovely lady at my door that religion, God, Jesus, Satan, all of it MUST DIE!!! And be gone. Because I think people can be better off without it. There will be folk who will still do terrible things, but it won't be because of a faith in something bigger influencing them too. It will be on our terms. No heaven or hell at the end of it. Death is death. Maybe then we'll do more constructive things with our lives.