G20 Protest in the City, April 1st

I was down at Bank around 1230 to get some shots of the ‘four horses’ arriving. Stuck between police lines, I ended up with a small few decent pictures of the first surge forward, and the police response. A couple of these photos have been picked up by Indymedia for their coverage of the day.

Form 696 is a Bad Thing

The London police have apparently decided that Keeping Track of ‘Dangerous’ Music Scenes will be easier if they mandate the organisers of events to help them keep tabs on both performers and punters, via some new paperwork, Form 696. This is a Bad Thing, and smacks of past efforts to keep young people Firmly In Their Place when it comes to music and nightlife. We’re written about this in more detail over at BigShinyThing — have a read, check out some of the links (including petitions and FaceBook groups dedicated to stopping Form 696 in its tracks), and if you …

Zeitgeist – ‘New England’

There’s a generation now, here on the island, which grew up entre deux guerre, as there was in the 1930s: after the Cold War, and before the Pervasive War, looking for a new way out of the old years. Towards the end of the 20th century — sold New Labour, sold Cool Britannia. Pop culture. Y2K the biggest fear. Borrowed cool (and not just the Wallpaper* elite). But the Millennium didn’t end the 20th century, any more than January 1 1900 was the start of it. C20 got off to either a very early start (Alan Moore’s take on Jack …