October 2010
1 post
TV Review: ‘Sex Trafficking in Cambodia: Stacey...
Earlier this month the BBC aired a show called Sex Trafficking in Cambodia: Stacey Dooley Investigates – an informative title, as the show was about sex trafficking in Cambodia, hosted by Stacey Dooley. Nope, I’d never heard of her either. I deduced that she must be a brilliant undercover reporter – so brilliant that nobody ever knew she existed until now. My deduction was wrong. She’s a 23 year...
Oct 23rd
1 note
August 2010
1 post
Notes on China 3
We didn’t find the midgets. Margaux had to go home for a few days, from Kunming, so I went to a place called Dali by myself. On the bus there I met an American guy, and we agreed to share a taxi to the guesthouse I’d booked - ‘The Dali Hump’, advertised with the slogan, ‘A place to be creative’. As it turned out, creativity wasn’t abundant. There were a...
Aug 18th
July 2010
2 posts
Notes on China 2
So, we were only in Urumqi, Northwest China, for a night (mainly to eat Pizza cooked by expats, and KFC; there was no McDonalds), as a connecting point before going on to Kashgar, which is full of an oppressed Muslim minority (the Uighurs), of Cental Asian ethnicity. I‘m not allowed to write anymore about this blatant violation of basic human rights,because apparently the Chinese government might...
Jul 26th
Notes on China 1 (half by me, half by Margaux, my...
We arrived in Beijing, and immediately went to book a train out. Not because we didn’t like Beijing - it was mega - but because apparently that’s what you’re meant to do around here. After an hour or so of queue switching and searching and pushing and being pushed, and finding that Beijing train people don’t take kindly to Chinese being spoken with a foreign accent, we gave...
Jul 11th
June 2010
4 posts
One last post before I leave
Right, I’m off to China soon - I’ve got a bus to London at 2:40 in the morning. That gives me 40 minutes to write something witty before I leave. Pressure. Unfortunately, I’m a bit buzzing from multiple coffees at the moment, which I’m using to keep myself awake. Thus, I can’t really think of any blog post with a sort of linear development, with a well-crafted...
Jun 29th
A ribbing
A friend, who likes this blog, was disappointed that he hasn’t yet been mentioned in it. However, he had a think and eventually came up with an ingenious solution; ask me to take the piss out of him on here. He ran up to me, and, jumping up and down, excitedly squealed, ‘Rib me! Rib me! Can you rib me on your blog please?’ ‘Erm, Ok’, I replied, mildly bemused by...
Jun 7th
What do you do if you see a rare bird in rural England? Run. Too soon?
Jun 6th
Cornwall
So, I’ve just got back from a few days in Cornwall with my family. We’ve been going to the same place for a week every May for the past 20 years. 20 years. This year, I dipped my toe into the possibility that they might want to perhaps spread their wings a bit for next year’s May holiday. My sister screamed, as if I’d torn a ligament in the very fabric of her soul; ...
Jun 6th
May 2010
14 posts
May 22nd
The only thing that's left to do is get another...
So, Frank Turner did a free gig at The Flowerpot last night, which was nice of him. He did it with only 3 and a half hours as well, which was even nicer. And, in his words, he ‘did this gig for free beer’. That comment was fine, and I don’t doubt accurate, and the songs were mega, as usual. But his banter between songs started to grate. Most of it was drink related: ...
May 20th
May 14th
An important petition against the new homophobic... →
Wow, the Tories have done well this time. After Chris Grayling was sacked as equalities minister for saying that B & B owners should have the right to ban gay couples, they’ve tried to smooth over that controversy by giving Theresa May the job; a woman who’s consistently voted against gay rights, such as voting against repealing section 28. You can read the history of Theresa...
May 13th
More politics
After a better than expected Hinduism exam today (or yesterday), in which I wrote extensively on varnasramadharma - not because it was relevant, because the word sounds ridiculous - I came back home to revise for my next exam and promptly started procrastinating. Effectively, apparently, as I haven’t got round to writing this blog entry until now. Some of my procrastinating was actually...
May 13th
Some brilliant political analysis
So, Cameron’s PM. In case you missed the news, that was it. While most normal people cried themselves to sleep, or just cut the suffering short and killed themselves, a Tory friend of mine skipped around, skipped his dinner (which was going to be at an Indian restaurant, but fuck the browns), and skipped to Downing Street. He declared that the Tories don’t want to fuck the poor, but...
May 12th
“If justice were king, neither female nor male would lose, but mostly, I am...”
May 11th
'The Internationale' in 40 different languages →
‘The Internationale’ is helping me through some dull and monotonous revision (currently on the concept of Dharma, for which I’m ably assisted by a children’s world history website). I played a Dutch version to my Dutch capitalist girlfriend. She got angry.
May 11th
“events moving at breakneck speed”
–  The Guardian, on coalition talks. Talks with Tories and Labour continue. No conclusions. What velocity.
May 10th
A couple of lines that I wrote - suggestions on...
All the hope that we invested In a government coalition Made the bourgeoisie get richer Put state funding in remission
May 10th
May 10th
May 10th
http://www.flowerpotlondon.com →
My new favourite and newly discovered musical drinking establishment
May 10th
ListenListen
May 10th