Emma West 2.0 and the funny peculiar

Perhaps it's safe to assume that 42-year old Jacqueline Woodhouse of Romford is unfamiliar with the case of Emma West, the Croydon woman facing trial for a racially aggravated public order offence she allegedly committed late last year. West gained instant notoriety when her angry outburst, directed variously at immigrants and non-white Londoners, went vital on YouTube. Surely if Ms. Woodhouse had been aware of the West case she would have taken care not to be captured on video acting in a very similar manner, this time on a Central Line train between Mile End and St. Paul's at around 11pm on January 23rd.

Woodhouse now stands accused of the same offence as Ms. West and faces trial in May. In the meantime, she has been ordered to keep a daily curfew between 10pm and 6am and has been banned from the entire Tube network. It remains to be seen if the BNP and their ilk will offer their particular brand of support to Ms. Woodhouse as readily as they did to Emma West.

It will also be interesting to see if today's short piece here attracts the attention of the various visitors who  responded to this blog's several articles on the West case by warning this is my england readers of "white genocide" and the forces they imagine to be behind such a thing. These visitors, the two most argumentative being from Canada and Portland, Oregon, saw Ms. West not as a foul-mouthed pain in the backside committing a routine public order offence but as some kind of consciously determined warrior-heroine waging an ideological war. 

The wider ideas of our two friends from across the pond were discussed at some length back on 6th January. One further commenter is also worth a mention.

Last month, a certain Robert Argiz dropped in here to opine that "what truly remains and will always stay is the fact that [Emma West] acted like a true warrior, by telling the immigrants on the train and the world what most coward men of England are afraid of doing." Argiz reckons that  "Emma is now a symbol of struggle and a role model for every Briton to copy" and that "Britain needs men and women like Emma to survive."

So who is this dude? Well, he's certainly a prolific blogger. His TheTruthIsFreedom blog covers topics such as how child abduction is masterminded by a shadowy elite bent on scaring the general population into accepting the necessity of having their children implanted with microchips.

Child abduction is a topic close to Robert's heart. For quite a while he was particularly focused on the case of Madeleine McCann, the British child who famously disappeared in Portugal almost five years ago. Argiz contends that Madeleine's kidnap was ordered by Jose Manuel Barroso, the Portuguese President of the European Commission, that her parents are "controlled by the Illuminati" and that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was present at the Satanic rite during which Argiz imagines that the child was killed.

Writing about these sweary public transport ladies seems to draw and funny old crowd, then. Funny peculiar, that is. Not funny ha-ha.

Let's see which flies buzz around today's piece of shit, then.

twattery

What's not to like? Woefully jangly indie-lite shite; ill-fitting and cheap-looking suit, complemented by shoes from the sales bin at Clarks; the queasily familiar mug of failed politician-cum-inanely giggling jester. Utter, utter cuntishness, devoid of humour, purpose or dignity. Tempted to vote for the Conliberal Demotories ever again? Remember: this is what those fuckers are like; this is the man who would have liked to be Mayor of London:



Surely you'd sooner rather vote for the bumbling blonde fop (because "he's a legend") than soil your ballot paper by giving support to this tragic bell-end? For any elected position, however lowly?

piece

stay classy

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by the Channel Four Television Corporation, a public body established in 1990, coming into operation in 1993.

Channel 4 was established with, and continues to hold, a remit of public service obligations which it must fulfil. The remit changes periodically, as dictated by various broadcasting and communications acts, and is regulated by the various authorities Channel 4 has been answerable to; originally the IBA, then the ITC and now Ofcom. The preamble of the remit as per the Communications Act 2003 states that:

"The public service remit for Channel 4 is the provision of a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in particular:

• demonstrates innovation, experiment and creativity in the form and content of programmes;
• appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society;
• makes a significant contribution to meeting the need for the licensed public service channels to include programmes of an educational nature and other programmes of educative value; and
• exhibits a distinctive character.

bluebird

Seems to be Bukowski day. Having dug up what seems to be Hank's last ever poem, have now stumbled on an ode to the faces and places of California, with images thereof mixed over the words (not read by Bukowski) of his little piece called 'Bluebird':



if this causes tears to prick at the corners of your eyes, you won't be alone in that. it was made by Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari, the curators of a project designed to showcase the best of their beloved California. props to them for using the words of California's greatest writer.

fax from the dead

rare Bukowski stuff always floats the boat here. I love the DIRTY OLD MAN to distraction and his books fill great stretches of my shelves. it's a little sad each time another posthumous collection is dredged up and published. the quality declines as the digging uncovers bits probably not meant to see the light of day. but there are always a few of the old flashes of madness, gamble and simplicity among the relatively less wonderful words. 


today, out of nowhere, the pleasure of stumbling upon something rare, blogged almost a year ago by Los Angeles bookseller Stephen J. Gertz at Booktryst. 


Gertz presents what seems to be Bukowski's last ever poem, sent by fax to his publisher John Martin just eighteen days before Hank died:


oh, forgive me For Whom the Bell Tolls,
oh, forgive me Man who walked on water,
oh, forgive me little old woman who lived in a shoe,
oh, forgive me the mountain that roared at midnight,
oh, forgive me the dumb sounds of night and day and death,
oh, forgive me the death of the last beautiful panther,
oh, forgive me all the sunken ships and defeated armies,
this is my first FAX POEM.
It's too late:
I have been
smitten.


Gertz asked Martin for some background. The Black Sparrow founder explained: 

"On February 18, 1994 Hank had a fax machine installed at his home. He sent me his first fax message in the form of that poem. I'm sure he visualized sending me his future letters and poems via fax, but sadly 18 days later he was gone. I ran off nine photocopies of the fax, for a total of ten, and numbered and initialed them. Over the next few months and years I gave copies to individuals who were Bukowski collectors and regular customers of Black Sparrow. I think I gave away the last one more than 10 years ago."

so the heart strings tug here at the thought of the Old Man of San Pedro, asking for forgiveness, hitting the send button, close to breathing his last.

darkness falls on unlimited gallery

seen a few diverting sights at the Camden Town Unlimited gallery space which is tucked up a back alley in NW1. there were the London-based Chinese artists of ArtGap. there was the temporary and unstable stuff gathered by Caroline Soyez-Petithomme and Tom Trevatt. then last month it was all about pylons.


those days are over. the current offering, a film by Australian artist Peter Sant, will be the last before the Camden Town Unlimited space is handed over to make way for a new private gallery.

not sure what to make of Sant's film because on stumbling into the gallery, it was not clear what point had been reached in the narrative about the lives of a young middle-class Chinese family whose routines play out in the unlikely setting of a department store. the few minutes glimpsed were easy on the eye but more time is needed to explore the scenes and lives on the screen. Sant's film continues unwinding there until 12th Feb so you have a week to check it out and to take one last look at Camden Town Unlimited space in its current guise, albeit this time with the big windows blacked out to enable the showing of the film.

carry on at your convenience

EMPLOYERS: Has one of your most valued employees been accused of a criminal offence? Will some of your other key employees be required to come forward as witnesses during the trial? Could this inconvenience your business? Perhaps the trial looks likely to be scheduled for a busy time for your firm. The disruption could be quite severe.

Nothing you can do about it, right? The requirements of the criminal justice system must take precedence over the needs of individuals and businesses, right? So contingency planning for such circumstances is very challenging.

Not so! If one of your people is facing a trial and you'd like to delay the involvement of other team members, simply write a letter to inform the judge that your employees "would not be able to appear as witnesses" until a time more convenient for your business. It really is as simple as that!

Not convinced? Just ask Ron Gourlay, CEO of Chelsea Football Club. A delighted Gourlay explains: "We were facing a nightmare scenario. We had gambled by hiring an unproven coach whose only real achievement was winning the Portuguese league with a team that had won the title six out of the previous seven seasons anyway. The little Portugueezer just doesn't have the respect of the senior players. 'Lamps', 'Drogs' and 'JT' (Captain, Leader, LegendTM) just don't take the mouthy little bog brush seriously. Our league form was shaky and our squad was ageing fast. Then our club Captain (Leader, Legend) manages to get himself accused of racially abusing an opposing player in a heated derby match. So just imagine if our training schedule had been mildly disrupted by a couple of the team having to appear in court for an hour or so! Well, we weren't fucking having any of that. Training comes first. You can stick that appearing in court bollocks right up your arse. Luckily, District Judge Howard Riddle understood my point when I wrote to inform him that the trial would have to wait until the football season is over. We didn't even have to suggest that some of Roman's ex-KGB mates might have to come round to have a little word! Sweet as a nut!"

"So there you have it," smiled Gourlay. "JT can carry on putting in his professional performances for us. I reckon we're a shoo-in for fourth place and a Champions League qualifier next season. Result! Not only that, he even gets to captain England in the European Championships this summer. Nice one, Judge Riddle. You're on my Christmas card list, mate!"

You too can delay justice the Gourlay way. Perhaps you run a catering firm and your busiest time of year is in the spring and early summer wedding season. If one of your chefs is accused of committing a criminal offence in sight of his colleagues in the workplace, simply let the judge know that you need the trial put back to the autumn. Or perhaps you're a headteacher running a busy school. The autumn term is hectic, isn't it? Settling in the new intake. Dealing with the latest confusingly worded and contradictory requirements from the DfE. What a time for one of your teachers to be accused of racially abusing a pupil or a colleague in the playground! Don't worry, just write to the judge and you can have the trial put back until the summer. 

Private or public sector - whatever line of work you're in, do what Ron Gourlay did when the pesky inconvenience of a criminal trial threatened to affect his firm's business. Just write to the judge and say your people "would not be able to appear as witnesses." 

sad stuff

see this here... this...
this small mauveish glove discarded among twigs and bark
at the entrance to the park,
it's a sad thing and
a heart string
twinges, twangs and
some little girl's fingers
are frosty nipped
this crisp morning:
"that's it,
i'm not buying you another pair, you
keep losing them, it's
a waste of money,
i'm not made of money, am i? 
i don't care
if your hands are cold, you
have to learn."

not the first time that unhappy discarded objects have shown up hereabouts. we've had:

• another kid's glove
• a stripy scarf
• a fallen angel

... and many more... these gloomy things are at the heart of the aesthetic here.

a kindred spirit, then, is the excellently lachrymose Sad Stuff on the Street - go there and submit yours

faces on a train