London

5 Minutes with Brian

events.provokator@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:56:32 -0500

Disturbing the British Conscience: Five Minutes with Brian

Brian Haw is a veteran protester. He has been camping outside the houses of Parliament in London in opposition to the British wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for 9 years now. I payed "Democracy Square" where he lives a visit when I was in London last weekend.

The square, located between the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Downing street is currently a thriving community. Tents fill the centre of this small traffic island, events are organised regularly, the protesters are polite and friendly. But this small, peaceful square has been causing huge embarrassment to the British parliament for nine years ( so much so that they have passed laws making it incredibly difficult to protest this close to parliament now) and the settlement's history has oft been less calm.

In fact, as I discover from Brian, just a couple of weeks ago police descended on the square to dismantle, once again, his display which depicts victims of the Iraq and Afganistahn wars and the numbers of civilians killed so far. This has happened before, in May 2006 after a long battle to actually pass new legislation that would allow the removal of Brian from the Square, the Home Office finally won a court battle to restrict his demonstration. In the early hours of May the 5th police came and started to load a container with all the placards and banners from the square, as well as most of Brian's personal possessions.

Photo from http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/05/340346.html

Its an utterly depressing picture of British democracy;free speech being unceremoniously shoved into the back of a van by the people employed, ostensibly, to protect us.

How does Brian feel? He seems somewhat resigned to the situation, he's been in and out of Court since his protest started, and he says he's fighting to get his material back, again. It must be a hard life, I venture. Brian looks ahead and then gestures to the remaining photos, one of a child so scarred and blistered it looks barely human. Life is hard for these people, the people we're bombing, he says unceremoniously.

It's actually quite difficult to talk to Haw. Mainly because, quite rightly, this is what he talks about; human rights atrocities, the break down of free speech, the fallacy of western democracy. He won't make small talk, he wont accept compliments; "I think you're doing something very important" I tell him. He shrugs, no one pays any attention to the war, he explains, its too far away, nothing's changing. I think the stand he has taken has made a huge difference, garnering front page media attention for his cause. Every tourist who comes to London will see him here, I explain. He remains impassive. The man is no typical martyr, he has no self pity and he won't talk about himself. "I looked at my self in he mirror one morning and I saw a hypocrite" he says. That's how the protest began.

A metamorphosis has occurred, Brian Haw is now the mirror, reflecting back, to those who take notice, a national hypocrisy, a willful disregard for the suffering of thousands ( estimated over 600,000 in Iraq ) in a war, we know, was never fair.

Article by Joanna Redwood

Brian's Blog; http://www.parliament-square.org.uk/about.html

Boozers Fight Off Armed Gang in London

editor.provokator@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:46:29 -0500

Cheers to a group of London Pub regulars who were able to fight off an armed gang at their neighborhood spot.Publishd by The Sun, written by Alex Peake

An armed gang raided a pub and were battered by regulars throwing ashtrays, glasses and bottles of bubbly. Thirty drinkers waded in after five masked thugs tried to rob them at gunpoint and demanded cash from the tills. And they kept up the onslaught until the would-be robbers fled – even though one of them fired a gun.

Read more at http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article336886.ece.

If the end of the world was coming what would you do?

editor.provokator@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:46:29 -0500

In an extreme case of future preparation someone has started to discuss the end of the world. LONDON, (Reuters)-- An asteroid is on a collision course with the earth and you have one hour left to live. What would you do in your last 60 minutes?

Not surprisingly, the majority of Britons questioned in a survey -- 54 percent -- said they would like to spend it either with or on the phone to their loved ones.

For more of the story visit http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_endoftheworld;_ylt=Av8m6C2Fuh5T1WrK0QMF9BKs0NUE.

Priscilla comes to London

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:43:33 -0500

The Australian musical Priscilla Queen of the desert has received some bad reviews and some glowing reviews, but because of them or despite of them the show has sold out night after night since it arrived in London. Luckily for us my baby sis was feeling generous and took my man and me to see the show last week.

What a show - an extravaganza just made for karaoke fans like me - all the cheesy classics jammed higgledy piggledy and all wrapped up in fabulous feather and sequin festooned costumes. While the boys in their frocks provided us with the action the vocal stars of the show were the lovely lady singers who spent much of the evening hanging from strings from the ceiling, who provided the voices for the lipsyncers. Their towering orange hair and fishtail gowns gave them the appearance of Ariel from Disney's little mermaid, as they imitated immaculately divas from Tina Turner to Cindi Lauper.

I was more than a little surprised looking around my fellow audience members to see such a mainstream crowd. I go to a lot of drag shows and am used to sharing the stalls with enthusiastic fag hags and their GBFs, but this crowd was what you'd expect at phantom of the opera not Trannyshack. The middle-aged builder sitting next to my sister and displaying his ample bum crack during the interval couldn't have been more of a surprise to us. Does this mean that the drag fans are now main stream and homophobia is a thing of the past? As homophobia is one of the central themes of the piece this would seem to be a case of job well done!

Jason Donovan was unrecognizable to me at the start, looking much older than he had on the posters, but his transformation into diva was amazing. Starting as a non-descript man in a beige suit he striped on stage to his undies, donned corset and heels and turning his back to the audience added a wig and turned back 30 second later in full glitter make-up. Now how did they do that? Later in the show in board shorts and Hawaiian shirt he was more recognisably Scott from Neighbours, and I'm pleased to announce he managed to play a Kylie fan without any visible bitterness - well done Jase! His fellow Queens gave stunning performances, the aria sang from the roof of the bus in a sequinned body suit while sat in a giant shoe particularly stands out.

Browsing the internet for reviews I came across these concerns about racism, inspired by the mail-order bride character, sadly though I sympathise, I love the ping pong firing hot head. I was fascinated to see how they would manage to make her fire her balls without crossing a line that would relegate the show into nearby porno theatres. I am confident that the writer was chasing the novelty of this scene, and is only guilty of lack of thought as to how this negatively stereotyped Asian women. Still I think that most of the world by now is educated enough to know that mail order brides with a penchant for ping-pong firing are anything, but common.

This show makes for a great night out, with a glitz and polish that'll take your breath away - if you can get tickets you just have to go!

Julia Emily

A granny on Ebay

editor.provokator@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:38:16 -0500

Original article by Daily Express

A schoolgirl took drastic action to deal with her “moaning” grandmother – she put her up for sale on eBay. Ten-year-old Zoe Pemberton described Marian Goodall, 61, as “rare and annoying and moaning a lot” but also “very cuddly and loves word searches”.

She expected to get offers of about 99 pence from bidders – but saw the price shoot up to £20,541 before the online auction site closed down the sale.

Zoe from Clacton, Essex, said: “I was sitting down watching TV and she kept asking me to do things like make her a drink. I was on the laptop and suddenly thought I’d put nan on eBay.

“I didn’t know how much we would get for her, maybe 99 pence. But she’s very good at word searches. She can finish them in 10 minutes.

“I wrote down that her favourite food was curry – she said could I change it to Chinese, apart from that she didn’t seem to mind.”

Zoe, a pupil at the Great Clacton Church of England Junior School, advertised her grandmother with no reserve price and started a bidding frenzy.

Bidders were soon competing to buy Marian and pushed her price tag over the £20,000 mark.

Zoe’s father Thomas, 31, said she put his mother up for auction after a minor fall-out but added: “They love each other really.

“We’ve had loads of inquiries asking if mum comes with a guarantee or MoT.

“Zoe said she didn’t want to sell her nan but wanted someone to look after her. It was really quite sweet. I didn’t tell her off. It bought a smile to mum’s face.”

Mr Pemberton, a single dad and carer for his disabled mother, added: “Within a day there were £1,000 bids, then it went over £2,000, I couldn’t believe it. Then when I checked last it was £20,541 – I was amazed. My mum wasn’t. She said she is worth millions.”

Despite a flurry of bids, eBay put a stop to the auction because it breached strict sales policies. They said the site does not allow humans to be bought and sold.

Jenny Thomas, of eBay, said: “The advert was light-hearted and had been done with the full knowledge of grandma. While no doubt Mrs Goodall would have fetched a princely sum, eBay does not allow the listing of any human. We were still impressed to see 27 bids for the lady in question.”

Man Killed in Row over Supermarket Queue

kate — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:37:29 -0500

introduction by Alex Jordan

England is capable of breeding a particularly fierce brand of old lady (see Monty Python), capable of resorting to violence if their supremacy in the shopping queue is questioned.

Sadly, one recent row over precedence in a London supermarket was no pythonic joke. Ken Tripp happened to be standing not far from Antonette Richardson, the girlfriend of a violent criminal, Tony Virasami. Unbeknownst to Mr Tripp, Richardson had recently been usurped in the line - the ultimate insult in a British shop. Somewhat clumsily Virasami, eager to maintain his girlfriend's honour, mistakenly attacked the innocent Mr Tripp, knocking him to the ground and killing him. As Mr Tripp collapsed to the floor the couple's only concern appeared to be that they'd got the victim wrong.

Read the full story at timesonline.

Fuck Canvas

marika — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:37:44 -0500

Have you always thought that the squat scene was mostly represented by crack heads, vandals and autonomous homeless people? Well, then, it’s time to change your mind!

Article and graphic by Alexander Venndt

Squatting culture is much more diverse and colourful than the stereotyped characters listed above. The scene is loaded with originality, committed DIY-people and eclectic artists. The Dove Row squat in Hackney, East London, is one of these creative hubs and here one thing is clear: the walls are for painting!

You don’t really notice the Dove Row squat at first if you don’t know it’s there. From the outside it looks just like another of those dodgy abandoned buildings, which are often seen in East London. It’s an old factory and the windows are dusty and covered by grating. But inside it’s completely different; you can tell by the vivid murals, spray cans, used brushes and the tins of paint that this is a lively and genuine place. Most people here have different interests and are involved in different projects such as activist workshops, DIY-classes, volunteer work, graphic artwork or street art; and because of this everyone has special skills and approaches, which they contribute to the house.

Bonnie Baker is a part of the Dove Row collective, currently working as a freelance illustrator, she graduated from Middlesex University. She moved into the squat with her boyfriend shortly after the place opened: “I love the free feeling of not having a landlord and the fact that you can paint whatever you want on the walls without anyone tell you not to! The artwork on the walls from the previous squatters is very inspiring to me compared to blank paper”.

Bonnie’s artwork circles about the subject of human and animal anatomy, and her works appreciate the melancholic beauty of bones and skulls. She actively explores the eternal subject of life and death in her art. This is reflected in one of the masks, which she painted on a wall in the house: “I was involved in a mask project for an exhibition in London so obviously I created a lot of masks at that time. In this case I was inspired by The Day of the Dead in Mexico”. The fact that she lives in a squat is definitely present and inspiring to her: “Living in a rent-free place has changed my mind on many subjects. I would like this place to be an open place where I can share my artwork and exchange ideas with as many new and interesting people as possible”.

Even though Dove Row is a unique art collective, artist squats and rent-free studios are not a particularly new phenomenon. For decades, squats have been a convenient solution for broke artists and mystics who have been in need of a place where they could make art and don’t worry about money. One of the most famous artist squats is probably the Tacheles Building in the old East Berlin. The graffiti-daubed house has been squatted and used as artists’ studios for more than 20 years and on the whole it has been in constant danger of eviction since the beginning. Eventually the squat has welcomed the wider community and now works as an accessible, rapidly changing gallery, an avant-garde cinema, an outrageous music venue and a hyped electro party scene. However, Berlin is not the only city with a diverse art squat scene. The Rivoli squat in the centre of Paris and the Lyndhurst Way squat in Peckham, South London, are no longer full squats, but are both open to the public and represent the same idea: occupying a house in order to use it for artwork. The fact that more and more squats are being shared with the general public, used as social centres, exhibition spaces, venues and even civic restaurants shows that squatting is neither vandalism or a crack heads’ escape from society but rather a free-space where all kinds of people can meet, exchange opinions and ideas, inspire, get inspired… and paint on the walls.

blockfix.wordpress.com

Londoners why so dark??

JuliaEmily — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:12:12 -0500

Earlier this month I arrived back in London after 3 months in India, came into kings cross station and went into culture shock. The huge shining, ultra modern building completely filled with silent fast moving beings dressed entirely in shades of grey, black and navy blue.