davidm

what can you get for free in First Class lounges in train stations? And can you take as many free things as you want in both the lounge and on the train itself?

Going to see Take a Worm for a Walk Week's last gig tonight. They've been one of the best Scottish bands of the past few years, in my opinion, only just getting the appreciation they deserve in the last couple of years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/02/police-race-row-assault-claim "A policeman has been captured on tape allegedly assaulting a young black teenager just hours after a colleague of his was recorded abusing another man with a serious racial slur. PC Joe Harrington has been placed on restricted duties after he was allegedly seen kicking the 15-year-old to the ground and kneeing him, in the custody area of an east London police station. Part of the incident was recorded on CCTV." Placed on restricted duties. Fucking hell.

Do you honestly think that black people are 30 times more likely to be stopped by the police because they are more likely to commit crimes? If you do, then I think we might just end up going round in circles for a long time! Again, yeah, I can see where you're coming from. But although I kind of agree with what you're saying, we only get the chance to say those kinds of things because we're white. Non-white people get racial issues forced on them all the time, unfortunately.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jan/14/stop-search-racial-profiling-police?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 "Analysis shows that black people are now 30 times more likely to be stopped by the police than white people."

But the fact that this officer hasn't been charged and put in jail shows that it's a far more complex problem than that. It's an easy solution to say that if you get rid of individually racist officers then the problems will go away, but racism needs to be kicked out of the force as a whole, whereby if there are future incidents like this, then the racist officer in question will lose their job and be jailed.

i'm going to take a guess and say that he was exaggerating for effect. White people have obviously dominated Britain throughout history. Non-white people are subjected to far more forms of discrimination than white people are in everyday life. This translates to crime figures, where simply taking them at face value would give you the impression that non-white people commit far more crimes than their percentage of the population. you're right in saying that statistics don't cover everything, but I guess my point is that when you read about experiences that non-white people have with the police, coupled with stories like this one, you get a totally different story of what the police are like. ...sorry if that sounded patronising, I'm very tired.

but the police tend not to hide it. If you look at crime statistics, non-white people are considerably more likely to be arrested on a day-to-day basis. That's institutional racism. The police on the whole are arguably more fair than they were when, say, the Stephen Lawrence murder occurred, but it's still a racist organisation.

Are you being serious? Not every police officer is going to be as openly racist as the guy in the recording, but it's a pretty established fact that there is still a pretty big element of institutional racism in the police, across the country.

Watching Match of the Day with my Mum. Even she's shouting at Andy Carroll. Fuck off, Liverpool.

cheers for the responses! I'm torn between the idea of getting one bottle for £70~ and getting two bottles of, e.g. Balvenie DoubleWood. But I'll see what the budget is, I guess.

I finish the second term of classes at uni a week on Friday, and a group of us are planning on getting a really good bottle of whisky to celebrate - i.e. splitting it six ways or something. Budget would be about £50-70, I think. So, on that note - any recommendations for a really good single malt? I don't mind what part of the country it's from, as none of us are too picky!

Oh yeah, it can be a massive limitation as well, as I've found out in the past! But I do think that for a city of its size, Aberdeen has a pretty balanced and diverse music scene.

It was always good to go to gigs in Aberdeen, because I would know that several friends of mine would be guaranteed to be there. I do miss that aspect of Aberdeen, especially as I used to go to 10 gigs or so a month. The only things I really miss are the people and the countryside. And The Moorings, obviously.

This is ace. Indian techno from 1982. Predates this style of music by several years!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/19/iron-lady-margaret-thatcher-russian-version "Speaking to a crowd of supporters, Margaret Thatcher, as played by Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, explains what she would do as prime minister: "Crush the working class, crush the scum, the yobs." At least that is a scene from a pirated version of the film in Russia, which has been inadvertently reviewed by one of the country's top film critics without realising that some rather pointed changes to the script had been made. The pirated Russian translation of the film, voiced over in a monotone by one man, depicts Thatcher as a bloodthirsty, Hitler-admiring leader, whose fondest desire is to destroy the working class. While some of her critics might say this is an accurate representation of her plans, even her fiercest enemy would concede the Russian version takes it too far" Glad there's a more accurate version of this film out, even if it's in Russia.

I know! They're stupendously talented. I'm going to listen to this song 70,000 times today.

The kings of instrumental rock, LITE, have a new EP coming out in four days. This is the first song. I'm stupidly, stupidly excited to hear the rest of it. The last twenty seconds in particular of this song are just ridiculous. If you like your music to be as silly as possible, then this song/band/album are for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtdm3cuKCP4 It's ok. Watch this, and all will be ok again.

STV!

There's now the chance of Chelsea going out via a missed penalty from Terry though. That would make my life.

I thought you might have done. Zu are ridiculous. Gabe from The Locust is drumming for them now... in amongst playing with 1210928 other bands. yeah, Hit and Run is a tremendous album. They're playing Glasgow on Friday April 6th. The line-up is mindbogglingly good. http://www.facebook.com/events/148800878574226/

Child Abuse – Cut and Run Keys/bass/drums. Volcanic. When I listen to this, it feels like someone is standing on my brain. Kind of like later material by The Locust (Safety Second, Body Last/New Erections etc).

Good article! I've always wanted to examine the Zaire story a bit more. I guess it makes sense when you remember the fact that when you translate Zaire's dictator at the time's full name into English, it means: "The all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake."