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Issue #98. March 4th - 17th, 2005 Isabel Losada - An
Interview
The Wedding Present -
Terry de Castro and Simon Cleave Interview
Here I Am
Bus Number 3
Seven Minutes from
Freedom
Equations
Prevention of Terrorism
Record review: Charlotte Hatherley - Bastardo Single
Live Review: Clayhill at Manchester Life Cafe
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An Interview with Isobel Losada “Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.” I laughed. It was funny, but in a way it wasn’t. Sometimes it is just easier not to try to do anything spectacular, and to lead a comfortable life rather than get knocked back. But where would that get us? Luckily not everybody subscribes to the Homer J. Simpson philosophy. Isabel Losada, author of several books including‘The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment’, and the fascinating ‘For Tibet with Love’, is one of these people who doesn’t see setbacks as a reason to stop trying. Her books detail her (sometimes amusing) experiments with various self-help and ‘happiness’ classes, as well as her travels to Tibet (partly by bus, on mountain roads across the Himalayas suffering altitude sickness) and interviews with Chinese and British government officials and Tibetan rights campaigners – as well as Tibetan exiles including the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile’s Prime Minister Samdong Ringpoche. She has since established Act For Tibet which campaigns for the rights of Tibetans who have been subject to occupation and repression by Chinese forces since the Chinese invasion in 1950. She also agreed to do an email interview for friends of the heroes… You’ve had at least three books published now – ‘New Habits’, ‘The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment’ and ‘For Tibet, With Love’. Well, one of my most favourite pieces of advice ever was given to J.K. Rowling it was… ‘You’ll never make any money writing children’s books.’ Having said that very few authors make enough money to live on. If you want to make lots of money you have to dumb down the books (just look at what is being pushed on the 3 for 2 table) – if you want to write anything that isn’t mass market then you probably won’t make money. Would be writers need to spend a lot of time in bookshops realising that it’s very like the music industry. Buy the Writers and Artists year book and read carefully. And if you really believe in your work and that it will sell (It’s more about money than quality) then don’t give up… Read the 18 rejections letters on www.isabellosada.com they make entertaining reading. You came up against quite a few obstacles and set-backs during the course of your campaigns in ‘For Tibet, with Love’. Well I wouldn’t call it ‘fighting’ as I was following the Buddhist principle of positive action. Compared to selling books… trying to get the Dalai Lama of Tibet back into Tibet is an easy project. But seriously – I said to my MP last week.. ‘If you can think of a cause more important than this one… (i.e. rewarding the Dalai Lama for his persistence and determination to stick to non-violent negotiation – as the most important move in the war on terror and on leading the way in the Middle East) then please let me know and I’ll follow it. Gandhi said about India and The British Government : ‘I am on the side of right against might’ Knowing that the alternative, which is that the Dalai Lama dies and everyone knows that peaceful negotiation is a waste of time – and that goes into the history book… well it’s just too awful to contemplate. What is the most positive thing you have gained from writing your books or the projects and meetings with people you wrote about? Every day I get emails from people saying that I’ve inspired them to do something to help Tibet or to take a course or to change their lives. Or simply letters that say that I’ve made people laugh. That makes it all worth while. What are your religious or philosophical beliefs? Have your journeys and your meeting with the Dalai Lama and talks with Chinese and Tibetan people around the world changed them? You are funny. This question would take a week to answer. I was raised atheist, became a Christian in my late 20s, was very influenced by what we could loosely call ‘New Age ideas’ in my 30s and now I’ve had a couple of years influenced by Buddhism. I don’t see any contradiction… the ideas are the same.. I tend to quote Jesus Christ and the Dalai Lama in equal measure. Christ talks about Love and calls it love… The Dalai Lama calls it Kindness and Compassion… they both say that we have to practise it universally, with everyone, 24 hours a day. That keeps me busy. The major shift that has happened for me is that I used to think that re-incarnation was a dubious belief. Now I’m not so sure. There is so much evidence… Your book ‘The Battersea Park Road to Enlightenment’ deals with the search for happiness. What do you think are the best ways to become happy with our lives? ‘Be at all people’ (J.C.) According to Amnesty International human rights abuses including torture and jailing or execution without trial are still common in China and the countries it occupies. What do you think is the most effective way for people in other countries to help the Chinese and Tibetan people? Another good question… well 2 answers here. The first is to know that one person CAN make a difference. We are encouraging people to go and befriend their MPs for Tibet and the Tibetan issue… there are only 659 MPs and there are thousands of Tibet supporters in the UK.. secondly I do think we need to write letters… but I think we need to go beyond what Amnesty have traditionally done. On the www.actfortibet website I am offering a £200 reward to anyone that gets any new information about one particular Tibetan political prisoner that has been imprisoned for over 20 years without trial. Tips I have given are: Make your letter Pro-China…. (China has an honourable system of Justice etc etc) Get the letter translated into Chinese (short form) – Get the letter posted in China by someone who is going there – or send the letter first, at least to someone who knows someone in Hong Kong and have them re-post it out there. So far no-one has come forward to claim the £200. There are lots more ideas on the website above. Will you go and visit your MP? If so – please email me. It’s very interesting and fun to play at influencing international politics and MPs are SO delighted when people are nice to them! ‘For Tibet, With Love’ is also more generally about whether individuals can make a difference. Do you believe individuals can make a difference? If so what do you think are the biggest or commonest obstacles to them doing so? Answer to question one: Yes. The biggest obstacle – their ears… listening to people who tell them that they can’t make a difference. Here are my top ten tips for making a difference… How to Change the World – Advice for Beginners – You will need: The initial idea behind your Act For Tibet campaign was to ask the UK Government to reward peaceful campaigns and negotiations like the Dalai Llama’s campaign for Tibetan rights to show that peaceful negotiation would be rewarded as an alternative to meeting violence with violence. What do you think about the war on terror in general? The thing about supporting the Dalai Lama is that it makes no difference what we think about the situation in Iraq and it makes no difference whether we agree with the way our MP voted… we don’t even need to ask them. This can be done AT THE SAME TIME. I’m a very simple bear with a limited amount of energy – I’ve thought a lot about what I can make a difference to and what I have to have some serenity and accept is outside my area of influence… So I don’t give much time to thinking about the war on terror ‘in general’ I concentrate on the positive and the very specific… I’m concentrating right now on influencing one man.. My MP. If everyone was doing that with their MP we’d have lift off! (My last visit to Martin Linton MP was my 4th visit – I like and admire him very much and I’m working with him on what he can and can’t do…) In the Dalai Lama’s autobiography ‘Freedom in Exile’ he describes the Chinese leadership of the 1970s as ‘not truly Marxist, dedicated to a better world for all, but really highly nationalistic...nothing but Chinese chauvinists posing as Communists’.
‘I can not form an opinion of the Chinese Government based on meeting one man. I believe that the major solution to the problem of international terrorism lies with China and within Chinese borders and that it would be in the best interests of China to solve ‘the Tibet problem’ before the 2008 Olympics. Ironically – it would make China the moral leaders of the world ahead of the US and Europe. I think everyone is interested in doing things that will benefit them.. the Foreign office haven’t worked out how to phrase this with China – they are afraid to use the word ‘Tibet’… but anyway – my opinion of the Chinese Government isn’t really relevant.. the important questions remain.. what can I do and what can you do? You’ve had some dealings with the media, for instance when you organised the event to publicise the Tibetan cause in London in 2003. What do you think of the British media? ‘Use everything for you learning, upliftment and growth’ See above. I think the media, like the government, is a group of individual people and our greatest need as people is to be appreciated! Do you have any projects planned for the future? (I notice you’re setting up some kind of informal dating network on your site. Is this going to be a new project covered in a new book – (the opposite of the nuns in New Habits?) - or is it just a side project?) Yes – I have some projects planned for the future. Ha ha. Thank you very much for your interest in my work and for sending me this questionnaire. May you live long and prosper. Xxx isabel Isabel Losada's wesbite is wwww.isabellosada.com You can email her at feedback@Isabellosada.com Her 'Act for Tibet' campaign's website is www.actfortibet.org
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Terry de Castro & Simon Cleave.
When The Wedding Present announced their current tour, Friends of The Heroes was determined to make sure that this momentous rock and roll moment did not go by un-noticed. With this as the plan the Friends of The Heroes rock and roll correspondent, Johnny Mac, was despatched to Manchester with his tape recorder and camera to grab a small insight into the band in it's current incarnation. In the bowels of Manchester University Students Union he did battle with the hopefuls in the queue for the Student Pop Idol competition to grab a few words with Terry de Castro (bass) and Simon Cleave (guitar) before they called security...here's what they had to say... Monday 21st February, 2005, Manchester:Terry de Castro, bass goddess with The Wedding Present, glances out of the window, and across the courtyard sees, in an adjacent stairwell an orderly queued column of young people all waiting eagerly, but for what… “It’s student Pop Idol” Simon Cleave informs us, “Stupid Pop Idol” enquires Terry, before realising her faux pas “oh, ‘student’, I thought you said ‘stupid’”, “Well, you weren’t too far off the mark the first time” “And they’ve got rag week soon” follows up Simon Cleave, with an unnerving understanding of the Mancunian student calendar. “What’s rag week?” Terry enquires in her warm Californian drawl, before Simon launches into a thorough description of possible charity fuelled escapades that may be undertaken by over enthusiastic undergraduates. And then down to business.
JM: “O.K, so the tour, how is it going?” SC: “Good, good, we’re five dates in and it’s going really quickly this time” JM: “Around Ireland, was that a plan to perhaps ease you into things a bit?” TdC: “It was actually, yeah, and it was good to do that too, we feel really relaxed now, definitely settled into it” JM: “I suppose the early dates make up for any limitations in rehearsal time” TdC: “Well, we do some preliminary rehearsing on our own, and then we had a week and a half of every day or so…” SC: “…but there is only so much that you can do in that, compared to actually going out and playing, and actually the people who see us at the start usually get the more interesting gigs” JM: “Yeah, I read about there being problems with ‘Perfect Blue’ in Dublin” TdC: “Oh, yes, it was because the guitar was tuned wrong” SC: “Was that Dublin, I thought that was Belfast” TdC: “You know, you’re right, Dublin was the amp, or was it Cork” SC: “Belfast was definitely the guitar, because it was the first time that Jessica had tuned it to that…and she did it wrong” JM: “Oh dear” SC: “It’s just one of those things, you have to make the mistake once, and then you’ll never make it again.” TdC: “and then the next gig, I did a terrible thing…you know the layering in Health and Efficiency….the really naked part of the song…and they’ll just razz me about it for the entire tour I know. But that’s all part of the fun” JM: “But don’t you think that in the live setting, the audience, not expects it, but quite enjoys it” TdC: “…the little mis-haps?” JM: “yeah, I remember in Bath last year, when David’s microphone stand was knocked over during ‘Brassneck’, and Jessica had to dash on to put it all back together” TdC: “Oh yeah, in Moles, I know…and there was this long, long pause, and some guy shouts “1,2,3,4” and David starts up again right on cue without missing a beat, oh that was really funny” JM: “There is always that great audience interaction?” TdC: “You know there is, on every Cinerama tour that we have done someone has always shouted for ‘My Favourite Dress’ and it’s really satisfying this time because we’re playing it and Simon will quite often just burst into it right after the request” JM: “I didn’t think I would ever hear that song live again” TdC: “Yeah, I used to play that song on my college radio show, back in like, 1987.” JM: “So when you were playing it, did you ever think that you would one day be onstage playing it with The Wedding Present?” TdC: “I often think of that, I have always been a music fan and I always said when I was a young kid that I was going to be a rock star – I mean, I’m not one, but I never thought that I would get this far for real, so I think that I would have been very pleased if someone had told me that I was going to be doing this in the future.” SC: “To be honest ‘My Favourite Dress’ is not my favourite, that’s the thing” JM: “we were talking earlier about the history of The Wedding Present, and in particular the writing of David Gedge, and you can see a clear progression right the way through his career how he has developed as a writer, certainly lyrically…he seems to write short stories that just happen to become songs…” TdC: “They are sort of a narrative, and that fitted so well with the ethos of Cinerama” SC: “…and I think the thing that has helped David along is the line up changes, he really needed to work with different people to get where he is today…” JM: “but saying that, you could certainly see ‘Take Fountain’ coming, with the radio sessions last year, those songs didn’t really sound too far removed from ‘Torino’” SC: “Oh certainly, but we just thought that it was a bridge too far, we just feel that it is a Wedding Present record, and we’ll go back to Cinerama for other projects that we have in mind” JM: “So Cinerama isn’t dead and buried then” SC: “Oh no no no, we could have almost done this with ‘Torino’, but it was not the right time to do it, we hadn’t even thought of it, and this record, we started it as a Cinerama record, and it was only when we started mixing it really that we said “What have we got here…?” and it was time to start a new project; but that was the line, we had struggled so hard with Cinerama, but it was worth the effort…” JM: “Simon, you were in The Wedding Present, Terry, you’ve been involved now for four or five years with these two, and then there was Kari, he’s on the record, but not the tour… SC: “Well basically he just couldn’t give the time, this is a big wodge (sic) of touring, it’s a huge tour…” TdC: “...and we’re going to the States after Europe, and then the festivals start and then a little French tour in November” JM: “So how do you find that affects you?” SC: “It’s what we chose to do isn’t it, I mean, I was gagging to get on this tour when we were booking it in November, I can’t wait. But ask me that in a months time and…” TdC: “Usually when you get settled into a tour, you sort of feel that you could do it forever, it’s kind of murky at the start and you kind of think ‘I don’t know if I can do this…’ but once you get stuck into it you can go on for quite a long time, you just get used to it.” JM: “Do you ever find that you’re just going through the motions?” SC: “Yeah, but not for the performance, but we are like a well oiled machine, where everybody knows what they have to do to make it all work…” TdC: “Yeah, it’s a good feeling, and when you stop you really, really want to get back on the road. It’s harder getting used to not touring that getting used to touring.” JM: “And when you are touring, I suppose you have one eye on the next record.” SC: “I always write, all the time, and I just send it to David, and he picks out what he thinks he can work with, that’s basically how it works. I write much more than he needs…” TdC: “It works well, the process.” JM: “And musically is there any other band than The Wedding Present that you’d like to be in?” SC: “Well, I wouldn’t like to be in them, but I really like Low, but I’m not disciplined enough to play that well…” TdC: “You know, I have this secret fantasy to be in a heavy metal band…” SC: “...I do as well…” TdC: “…it’s got to be so much fun playing that kind of music, just completely rocking out, with no holds barred, it’s got to be so much fun, but we can do that in some of the songs, it’s pretty satisfying.” SC: “You know, sometimes David and I get interviewed by these guitar magazines, and it’s really quite embarrassing, because it’s not really how we see ourselves, I mean, we’re competent musicians and I think we’re good at what we do, but if you can achieve the objective with three chords and a simple cello run then that’s fine.”
JM: “So what sort of things do you do on the road to stave off boredom?” SC: “Well, because we do everything ourselves there is very little time to get bored…” TdC: “We have these little chess tournaments…” JM: “Hang on, you can’t be in a heavy metal band and have chess tournaments…” TdC: “Ha ha, yeah, I didn’t think of that…No, really, if it’s a long tour we’ll find something that we like to do…we tend to work as we tour, a lot of reading gets done, and we write, we write letters and emails…” JM: “Yeah, the tour diaries that you have written for Orange Slices seem to have proved popular, do you do any other writing?” TdC: “I do yeah, I do some writing, but always a lot less than I intend, I have it in my head that I’ll be writing a lot more, but we’ll see if it materialises.” SC: “…and I always drive, and particularly in America you do get a buzz from driving across the country, the wide open spaces, and the Interstates and all that…”
JM: “We were glad to hear that we would be able to speak to you two, because it seems that everyone always talks to David, and whilst he is an interesting enough guy it was nice…” TdC: “…to get another angle, yeah.” JM: “Exactly” SC: “The interesting thing about David is that he feels that he is shielding us from all that, it’s not that he particularly wants to do it, it’s just that the four of us can be sat in a room and virtually every question will be directed at him, and he sort of says ‘You can be doing other things, you don’t have to sit here and listen to me answer these questions…' but it’s also very nice to be asked as well.” JM: “Well, you’re an integral part of the band, it’s not David Gedge and the Wedding Present, it’s just The Wedding Present” SC: “But lets face it, he is the figurehead…” TdC: “…and the revolving cast could change again and it would still be The Wedding Present.” SC: “...and that doesn’t bug me at all to be honest, it’s an important part of The Wedding Present, all those other guitarists, all those other musicians have brought something to the sound of the band, and David wouldn’t have been able to sustain that without such a big cast of people. I think it’s quite healthy.” TdC: “...and now with John in it’s great, he’s a really nice guy.” JM: “So with The Wedding Present and Cinerama, is there any song that you think is the defining moment of Terry in Cinerama, or Simon in Cinerama/The Wedding Present, or a song that when you write it down on the set list that is the one you’re looking forward to playing?” SC: “Well yeah, we’ve got ‘Crawl’ back in there now which is great…” TdC: “…there has been so much debate about that song, because it’s in a key that’s very difficult, but I think he sounds great, it’s very low.” SC: “Strangely enough, the song that really sums up Cinerama for me is ‘Pacific’ and I’m not even on that…” TdC: “…I was going to say that as well, it’s like a little oddity…” SC: “…that’s what I think Cinerama should be more like. ‘Torino’ was heading back this way…but…” TdC: “it could have gone off on that tangent, kind of trippy, a little bit weird, and nice and light. That was another aspect of Cinerama, but we just didn’t go down that road.” SC: “But I think that is something that David will explore more in the future.” TdC: “I suppose for live, my absolute favourite was ‘Octopussy’, and I love playing ‘Health and Efficiency; too…but ‘Dalliance’ and ‘Dare’, all the ‘Seamonsters’ stuff, I love playing them live…’ JM: “'Octopussy’ and ‘Health and Efficiency’, two very similar songs there, with the melodious openings…?” TdC: “Yeah, and then they both peak, come to a climax, they get pretty rocky, ‘Health and Efficiency’ is in the set tonight.” JM: “…any surprises in the set…” SC: “No, because all the set lists have been posted on the (Scopitones) Forum, but I suppose the furthest out there is ‘Anyone Can Make A Mistake’, which we alternate with ‘Once More’. There was a chance at one point that they would both be in the set, but it’s absolutely ball breaking. It’s an hour and a half the set, and we need to find a compromise between both The Wedding Present and Cinerama, and a balance of songs, I think there is at least one song from every album, it should appeal to everyone.” JM: “Well the fact that you’ve been moved into the bigger room tonight speaks volumes to me…” SC: “I’m surprised though, a lot of the people at the Irish gigs were people who had got into the new songs, younger people who weren’t around first time around.” JM: “But you’d still consider yourselves and underground band?” SC: “Yeah, definitely” TdC: “We’re certainly not mainstream.” JM: “Well, you’re not on that other stairwell waiting for pop idol” SC: “But that’s the thing with David, he has always had the courage to do whatever he wanted to do, with Cinerama, with the twelve singles, he even told RCA that the first record was going to be a collection of Ukrainian folk songs, and he pulled it off.” TdC: “Oh that was fantastic wasn’t it” JM: “I don’t think anyone has done so much for traditional folk music of Eastern Europe in this country as David Gedge…but there are no Ukrainian songs tonight?” SC: “No…but that’s what has kept the whole Wedding Present thing interesting…” TdC: “It’s a great thing to do, and it takes a lot of guts, if it hadn’t worked out he would never have been taken seriously again, that’s what he was putting on the line. You’ve got to admire that sort of bloody mindedness, you've got to admire it.”
With that our man with the walkman drags out the old 35mm SLR and fires off a few candids, Terry arranges for a press pit photo pass and they all part on good terms. Less than an hour later the two interviewees stroll onto the stage, and with a palpable crackle of electricity in the air the unmistakeable murmur of 'On Ramp' slowly, steadily, but forcefully fills the hall, the lights dim, and a warm roar greets the band. It's official, The Wedding Present are in town, and ready to blow your socks off.
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Here I Am What makes me cry? You asked me that once, one night when we hadn’t been together all that long. We were still getting used to sleeping with each other – so much so that we couldn’t sleep together at all, but lay awake for hours afterwards. This weekend we’d gone away together, camping, all by ourselves, and we were lying outside, naked and not ashamed on the cooling ground that smelt of pine-needles, looking at more stars than either of us had ever seen. There was a smallish meteor shower, and I remember you put your hand lightly on my stomach and I flinched. I tried to hide it by taking your hand in mine and kissing it. I thought at the time you hadn’t noticed, and then you asked that. What followed was a series of evasions, complicated maneuvers the greatest generals in history would have been jealous of. At first I said I didn’t cry – that I sometimes wanted to, but couldn’t, couldn’t remember how. This wasn’t quite true, but it was something more important – plausible, and you believed it. But you weren’t satisfied, and you asked again what then made me want to cry? I couldn’t answer you, and told you so. I said it was something different everytime, and that was true. Like? you merely said, and you didn’t look at me in all this time, and after pretending to think for a while I gave a list of spurious examples, ranging from the banal to the ridiculous: dolphins slaughtered by Japanese fishermen, two particular soppy movie-ending and one in a book, hearing about a girl I slightly knew whose mom was dying in a horrible way and seeing her shake. Etc. what you didn’t notice was that none of this was about me. “What makes you want to cry?” you’d asked, and what I told you was what it was about other people, friends, things that I felt merited crying. But perhaps you did. Notice. The evasion. The flinch. Maybe you never stopped noticing in all the time that’s passed since then, and I – sure you didn’t – never stopped doing it either. Perhaps that’s why you looked at me like that, this morning as I walked back into the bedroom from the shower… Perhaps that’s what you said while I was drying my hair with the towel and I couldn’t hear and when I said “Pardon?” you merely said “Nevermind”, not looking at me anymore. And when I came over to the bed and sat down next to you to hold you, because all of a sudden you looked so pale and fragile and like you wanted to cry you went stiff in my arms and I thought you were merely ill. But this evening you haven’t come home yet, and I’ve looked in your closet, perhaps because I know (because I’m not normally this paranoid) and now I’m thinking that you’re not ever coming home ever again. And now I’m also thinking that you weren’t ill at all this morning, but sick instead, sick of all this, and that what you asked while I couldn’t – or wouldn’t, which is the same thing really – hear you standing naked before you but for the towel around my face, was “Who are you?” Because you really don’t know – and how could you? This armour of “perhaps” and “maybe” that I spent so long patching and oiling and polishing until it shone like a second skin is finally complete – and I never thought to question why and whether… I think you did – for a long time now you haven’t done anything else, and this morning you finally recognized the answer, in an image standing before you in the morning sun streaming through the dusty windows. It was the right answer too, and one I didn’t know till now, and hadn’t wanted you to know, ever. And now I’m sorry about it, and it won’t do any good, and I want to tell you: This. This is what makes me want to cry. And I’m crying now, and it still won’t do any good, because you are gone, and with you gone – here I am. I hear a voice saying, and it isn’t mine, and it won’t be yours again: “Here I am, standing naked before you.” It’s far too late, and you are gone, and still – here I am, standing naked, finally, in the space where once you were, and I never could bring myself to be.
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Bus Number 3 On Sunday the buses are full of arguing,
I get up and shout to Jonnie who's down the front conversing wi' the bus driver on the finer points of the mobile phone. We're getting off at the bottom of John Finnie Street tae top up our new vodaphone. Jonnie met this junky pal he kens fae Tourhill up the street the other day and he was so desperate for a fix
that he sold us this sweet wee mobile and charger and
top up card for 15 pounds, I would have gave him 30 but he only asked for 15
- nothing like taking advantage a thought. He's never been quite right
anyway and he's getting a bit too old for not knowing any better and
thinkingng any better and thinking everyone owes him something.
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Seven Minutes from Freedom Seven minutes had passed since she had spoken. He'd been staring at his watch for most of that time. When it got to ten minutes he'd get up and leave the room. Then he'd leave the building and he'd jump on a train and leave the town. Eight minutes now and she was looking uncomfortable. Quite a change from the cool smart businesswoman who had called him into her office. "I'm afraid we have some bad news for your Andy", She had said studying his reactions. He already knew what was coming and focused on a calendar just behind her head. "Productivity is down and I'm sorry but we are going to have to let you go." She waited for him to react. He didn't give her the satisfaction. Nine minutes. He watched her nerves start to grow. Her left eye was twitching and she picking at the skin around her neatly manicured nails. The second hand ticked slowly around to the 12.00 position. Ten minutes was up. He got up steadily, shook her hand and left without looking back. Her eyes burnt into the back of his neck with an exhilarating intensity. The blast of air as he opened the door struck him right between the eyes. He blinked turned left and started to walk. His steps were even and measured and his head remained upright although his eyes were unfocused. He'd forgotten how the world looked at 11.24am on a Tuesday. People walked by slowly spending their time and money frivolously. Students emerged from doorways black eyed and blinking. Mothers pushed pushchairs, stopping to talk to other mothers with pushchairs. This world belonged to them. He meandered down the main street feeling the wallet in his pocket somehow already made heavier with the promise of redundancy pay. The station which was normally swarming with commuters, as he travelled to and from work, was quiet. The uniform of dark suits and brief cases were replaced with jeans and t-shirts and rucksacks. He stood looking at the information board. The train back to his small suburban town was late. It was always late. He sighed, and looked at his watch. 11.36am. "11.36 and I don't need to be anywhere." He mumbled to himself. A smile threatened to emerge from his lips. 22 minutes until his train arrived and it didn't matter. "The train now arrived at platform 6 is the 11.41 service to Edinburgh Waverley. This train will call at…" The tanoy crackled. The announcement hadn't finished before he found himself breathlessly purchasing a ticket. When the clock got to 11.41 he'd get on a jump on a train and leave the town. Then he'd leave the county and he'd and leave the country. +++Back to top+++ Back to current issue+++
Equations You are not 17 anymore. So why do you feel this way?
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Prevention of Terrorism “The real threat to the life of the nation…comes not from terrorism but from laws like these…. It is for parliament to decide whether to give the terrorists such a victory” Introduction"The Prevention of Terrorism Bill is a grave threat to human rights and the rule of law" Tony Blair and Charles Clarke claim it would be irresponsible not to pass their latest anti-terrorism bill – the ‘Prevention of Terrorism Bill’ to protect British citizens from the threat of terrorist attacks. Is this true ? The government claim the police need powers to disrupt terrorist attacks - but under existing legislation anyone suspected of terrorism can be held for up to 14 days without charge at a time. So why is the government asking for the right to hold anyone in Britain for any period up to life without trial, without showing them the evidence against them , without charging them and without even telling them what they're accused of doing ? The Prime Minister has already hinted that it isn't only Al Qa'ida suspects who could be put under house arrest - but protesters against the G8 summit in Scotland in June too. The law would allow any British citizen or any foreigner in Britain to be held in this way (All the evidence (I know the idea of needing evidence is a quaint idea to governments these days) suggests that Home Secretary Charles Clarke is in the process of bungling while asking everyone else to shut up and like it) ContentsWhat this bill means – you can be held for life without trial in Britain ‘House Arrest’ and ‘control orders’ - some examples from around the world Draconian ‘anti-terrorism’ laws - a propaganda victory for terrorists every time Abolishing Habeas Corpus : A right gained through centuries of struggle An Election campaign stunt that could end democracy in Britain Can we trust intelligence service ‘evidence’ ? Conclusion : A Police State and the Alternative What you can do - Email your MP or the PM or Home Secretary
What this bill will do if passed is allow this government, or any future government, to have any British citizen or foreigner – including you or me – placed under house arrest for any amount of time (it could be for life) if the intelligence services or the police suspect you of links to anything they consider terrorism – without evidence. This doesn’t just allow the government to hold suspected Al Qa’ida members without trial for any amount of time – they can hold anyone under this legislation. Anyone held will not be allowed to hear the evidence or the charges against them or allowed a fair trial. Any British citizen can be held on suspicion for any amount of time. In these circumstances whether the Home Secretary or a judge makes the initial decision is a fairly minor matter as David Trimble MP of the Ulster Unionist Party pointed out in the debate on the first reading of the bill. The government and some Labour MPs seem to have forgotten that many of them were under surveillance by the intelligence services in the 70s and 80s as suspected ‘Communists’. They will not be in government forever and a future hard-right government could arrest and hold them under their own law.
The fact that this house arrest rather than being held in jail is the plan in the new bill is an irrelevance. In China Zhao Ziyang, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party , who tried to prevent the Tianenmen square massacre , was punished by other party leaders by being held under house arrest for the rest of his life. He died last month after 15 years under House arrest. In Burma Aung Saan Suu Kyi , head of the National League for Democracy , has been held under House arrest on and off for decades along with over 1,000 others by the Burmese /Myanmar military government. In South Africa under apartheid many people were held under house arrest for years or decades for campaigning for rights for black people. Apartheid laws allowed ‘control orders’ remarkably similar to those in the bill now being proposed by the British government. Some were killed while being held. One was Richard Turner, put under House arrest in 1973 and killed in front of his daughters in 1978. Labour MP Barbara Follett was his wife. She is one of the MPs opposing the bill.
All the evidence suggests this bill will act as a recruitment programme for Muslim extremists and terrorists in exactly the same way that the 1974 and 1989 Prevention of Terrorism Acts led to miscarriages of justice against Irish Catholics such as the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six resulting in increased support for the in IRA and more terrorist attacks. The Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, among many others, were jailed by ‘Diplock’ courts exactly like those now proposed for the whole of Britain – with a single judge , no jury and the accused person not shown the evidence or charges against them More recently the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act (2001) ,which led to the jailing of Muslim foreigners without trial on dodgy intelligence service ‘evidence’, combined with our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to give a massive boost to terrorist groups like Al Qa’ida in Britain and globally (e.g IISS report , US State Department , Sir David Omand . As the Metropolitan Police force’s Assistant Commissioner Sir David Veness put it : “There have been successes in deterring and disrupting events. But are we winning the broad campaign to halt the spread of extremism? The answer is in the negative.” The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire police force, Colin Cramphorn , has warned that alienating ordinary Muslims will make it harder for the police to get information on actual terrorists in the same way that prejudice against Catholics in Northern Ireland made it harder to catch IRA terrorists You don’t prevent terrorism by acting as a recruiting sergeant for Al Qa’ida and alienating ordinary British muslims who otherwise could help stop terrorist attacks by warning the police.
When the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill was passed in 2001 it gave the government the right to jail foreigners in Britain indefinitely without trial. Many people warned this was the first step to the government taking the right of habeas corpus – not to be held without a fair trial by jury – from British citizens too. Sadly we were right. This is a right which took centuries of struggle before it was guaranteed to all British citizens. The Law Lords ruled that the 2001 act was incompatible not only with the Human Rights Act which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law – but also with English, Welsh and Scottish common law which from Magna Carta in 1215 on developed the principle of habeas corpus that no-one should be jailed without fair trial. This means the governments arguments about whether they have accorded with the European Convention on Human Rights or not irrelevant. Lord Hoffman noted in the Law Lords’ ruling against the 2001 Act that this is not just a matter of European law but much older British laws. Although detention without trial is a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights which was incorporated into British law in the 1998 Human Rights Act it is also contrary to English & Welsh as well as Scottish common law. He warned that extending the power of detention without trial used in the 2001 act to cover detention without trial of British citizens would make any future bill less compatible with UK law – not more. Guess what the government’s new bill does?
“there can be no justification for including such wide and unprecedented powers of executive detention in legislation which is being rushed through Parliament at a speed which prevents proper scrutiny” Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights Ninth Report session 2004-5 , paragraph 8 The ‘Prevention of Terrorism ‘ Bill is pure electioneering , for short term political gain , but if it is passed its effects could last years or decades. In the late 90s Labour moved to the right of the Conservatives on immigration. In this election campaign the Conservatives have copied the Australian Liberal party’s scare tactics on immigration and demanded a further ‘crack down’ on ‘bogus’ asylum seekers despite the fact that genuine asylum seekers – from Zimbabweans to Albanians – whose families have been killed for political reasons – are already being sent back to be killed. Having spent so long itself whipping up prejudice against asylum seekers the Labour government made no real attempt to defend them – instead deciding to pose as ‘tougher on terrorism’ than the Conservatives since the Conservatives are now seen by many voters as ‘tougher on immigration’. This bill – it’s first reading rushed through parliament in two days is entirely about winning the next election for Tony Blair. If it’s passed though we all lose rights that it took centuries of struggle to get. The laws being proposed by the government would do nothing to prevent terrorism. Detecting plots in advance and employing existing laws is an effective way of preventing terrorism. Draconian laws are counter-productive. No terrorist organisation has ever come close to destroying democracy in Britain. The only people who can do that currently are the government.
We now know that most of the ‘evidence’ against the foreigners held under the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act (which the new bill is meant to replace) was as dodgy as the ‘intelligence’ on Iraq’s mythical weapons of mass destruction presented by the British government. Here are a few examples from court documents reported by The Independent newspaper. Money which MI5 claimed had been sent to ‘fund terrorism’ in Afghanistan had actually been sent to orphanages run by a Canadian priest in the country. A visit to Dorset by a group of men getting away from their wives from the weekend was interpreted by MI5 as a meeting to elect a terrorist leader. Other ‘evidence’ included MI5’s belief that a group of muslims were ‘too security conscious’ when going out shopping. These people were jailed for 3 years on this ‘evidence’ – and would still be in jail if their lawyers hadn’t appealed to the law lords. This is the kind of evidence any of us could be put under house arrest on under the new bill. Don’t go away for the weekend. Don’t lock your door and check all the windows are closed when you go out. Don’t give to charities. Anything you do could put you under suspicion – and suspicion is guilt under the new law In the 1970s the intelligence services told Prime Minister Harold Wilson that they had solid evidence that Labour party MP Judith Hart was a Communist. When asked to produce this evidence they showed him a newspaper article about a Mrs. J. Hart attending a remembrance service as a representative of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The person named in the newspaper article was not Judith Hart MP – just someone with the same last name and first initial as her. Political manipulation of intelligence took place over Iraqi WMDs - and the crazy statements made by Home Secretary Charles Clarke MP now suggest its happening again now The Home Secretary says he won't need to use any of the powers in the Prevention of Terrorism Bill , so why , as the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights asked , is he asking for those powers if he doesn't need to use them? .If there's no emergency the committee asked , why are you asking for emergency powers ? - and emergency powers that will be permanent , even when there is no emergency? The Home Secretary says he can release all the 'terrorist suspects' previously held in Belmarsh Prison under the 2001 Act.If they're dangerous terrorists how can he release them ? Are they or aren't they? Stop playing games. If there's any real evidence these people are terrorists then try then under the existing law and jail them to keep the rest of us safe. If there's no such evidence then they probably aren't terrorists so stop jailing innocent people. Similarly with claims made by Sir John Stevens - the former head of the Metropolitan police. If he really has seen convincing evidence that there are 200 terrorists actively planning attacks in Britain then why wasn't that evidence taken to court to convict and jail them ? If , on the other hand , what made his 'hair stand on end' as he puts it was just wild claims by the intelligence services well we've heard those before and he should quit playing politics. The government's '45 minute' claim on Iraqi WMDs came from similar political manipulation of the presentation of intelligence and had parliament and the public's hair standing on end - and it was false. Yet all the tabloid newspapers printed it with the clear line that it referred to nuclear, chemical or biological attacks on Britain or British bases with long range missiles - a threat that never existed. Not one government minister attempted to correct this though they knew it to be false. Funnily enough Sir John Stevens only managed to get his claims published in 'The News of the World' - one of the least reliable tabloids. Judges recieving training courses in human rights law in Iraq are having trouble understanding how the British and American governments can on the one hand tell them that jailing people without a fair trial is wrong - and at the same time do the same themselves According to Professor Alan Miller of the International Bar Association team which is training Iraqi lawyers and judges: “I now have to spend the first two days of every training session trying to unravel the fury over Britain’s hypocrisy.” “They [the trainees] ask how likely it is that regimes like Libya are going to stop detaining political prisoners when the so-called shining lights have just effectively endorsed the practice” The Bush administration have similarly already attempted to take the power to jail both foreigners and US citizens without trial – and President Bush has even attempted to get the power to have people summarily executed on his orders. In the case of foreigners many have died as a result of torture by US forces in jails from Abu Ghraib to Bagram , and many more tortured in these jails , at Guantanamo bay , and elsewhere. An early draft of the USA Patriot Act shown to congress was rejected as it contained a section titled ‘Suspension of the writ of Habeas Corpus’. The Bush administration seems to be as keen as the British government on getting the right to hold its own citizens without trial , indefinitely and without evidence. If the US and Britain start putting their own citizens under indefinite arrest without any trial how can they possibly argue convincingly for human rights abroad? Other governments will laugh in the face of their hypocrisy. Our governments will have no credibility in spreading ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ abroad if they take it away from their own citizens at home. This is already happening. At a recent summit with President Putin the US President held back from criticising the Russian government’s human rights abuses and removal of democracy because Bush was afraid of being criticised over Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
No democracy in the 20th or 21st centuries has passed a law to go permanently on the statute books which allows any citizen to be jailed indefinitely without a proper trial. There have been temporary emergency measures, usually during war – and there have been anti-terrorism acts covering Northern Ireland such as the 1974 and 1989 PTAs(always ineffective in stopping terrorism, giving more support to the terrorists and resulting in innocent people being jailed). If this act is passed in its current form Britain will no longer be a democracy – it will be a police state. The powers may or may not be used by this government or the next government but sooner or later a government will abuse them- and democracy will be lost entirely. There are alternatives. The Chief of the Metroplitan Police Force wants to be able to use telephone intercept evidence in court saying "it would make my job much easier". Only the government and some in the intelligence services oppose this. Why ? Could it be that , as with their 'solid evidence' on Iraq's WMDs this is just an exercise in manipulating the electorate - this time to try to win an election by being supposedly 'tough on terrorism' ? There are existing laws under which the police can get emergency orders to hold people without charge for up to 14 days ? Why does the government need the power to hold anyone for the rest of their lives without trial and without releasing the charges or evidence against them ? If you’re a British citizen: You can email your MP to ask them to vote against the Prevention of Terrorism bill on its next reading in parliament This site lets you find out who your MP is if you put in your post code and lets you find out how any MP has voted in parliament. If you dont know who your MP is then search by putting in your postcode on the same site , then do a search engine search for their website or email to ‘their second name their first initial @ parliament.uk - e.g John Brown MP would usually be brownj@parliament.uk . Please include your postal address if emailing your MP to show you are one of their constituents If you live outside the UK and you’re not a British citizen You can write to Prime Minister Tony Blair MP or Home Secretary Charles Clarke MP at the email addresses or postal addresses below expressing concern that the government of one of the oldest democracies in the world is planning to scrap basic democratic rights. Please include your postal address so they know whether you're living in the UK or not. If you're a British citizen currently living abroad mention that you're a British citizen. You can email Prime Minister Tony Blair from this website or write to Prime Minister Tony Blair MP, 10 Downing Street , London , SW1A 2AA , UK. You can email Home Secretary Charles Clarke MP on smithce@parliament.uk or the Home Office on public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk Thanks for any help you can give. copyright©Duncan McFarlane 2005
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Clayhill at Manchester Life Cafe The room was bright. Sunlight fell through the plastic blinds casting patterns on the wooden floor. It felt good to return home from living in a small, pokey B&B.
In time I bought more copies of the album and gave them away to friends as Christmas presents, birthday presents, and "I'm in a record shop and have some money" presents. I listened to the swirling, laid back music again and again and thought to myself: "Why the hell are these lot not more famous?" Approximately 5 years later and I was standing in a dimly lit room in Manchester watching a slightly scruffy collection of people saunter on stage. Lead-singer Gavin Clark, ambled on and took up the slightly unusual position towards the far left of the stage. So far left, I that I thought he might do a runner at any second. Clayhill, the band onstage, began with "Rushes of Blonde" from their album "Small Circle". Gavin stood, arms crossed, almost cowering in the corner. Then he opened his mouth and out fell that deep gravely Sunhouse voice. The music filled the room and the audience stood transfixed, slowly melting into the gentle music. From then on the band veered from gentle acoustic numbers to intense rock driven songs. Laidback pizzicato double bass lines swooped into menacing soaring bowed notes and sharp flurries of colour were added by the trumpet. Guitarist Ted Barnes provided most of the between songs banter. The audience laughed at his tale of how his career on stage was cut short when his cloak got stuck in a gap in the stage whilst playing a wise man in a nativity play. He also showed his disdain for modern technology by advertising their new MP3 single with undisguised disgust. According to his poll only three members of the audience knew what an MP3 single was…hopefully friends of the heroes will be a bit more technology minded and will be shortly heading over to www.clayhillmusic.com to download the single. The band finished with "Grasscutter" the "big hit", it got one of the biggest cheers of the night, encouraged by this they returned for two encores of "Funny Thing" and "Northern Soul". Gavin was still not ready to leave. "We've time for one more haven't we?" he asked hopefully "It's the same every night. We have to drag you on stage, and then drag you off at the end" quipped Ted. Nevertheless the band co-operated and Clayhill finally finished with a brilliant cover of "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want". The sigh of happiness from the audience was almost audible. As I left I felt warm a glow despite the frosty air. I had just seen a band made up of good musicians, with an entertaining stage presence, playing brilliant songs and yet the venue had net been full to bursting point.
He shook his head and we drove home.
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