Peelers lose the plot.

It's my habit these days to make an early morning cup of builders and, drifting in and out of sleep, listen to the farming news and Today program. At one stage this morning I woke to hear the news that the police had used CS gas to break up a disturbance at the Palace of Westminster. Blimey! I thought. Some of those rabid anarchists I've been reading about must have stormed parliament.

But no. The Bill had actually used CS gas to break up a drunken scuffle between a few journalists.

Have the peelers finally lost the plot? And what does tomorrow hold?

A Question of Royalty.

For those unable to attend the Wednesday festivities the BBC have laid on a suitable alternative.

Radio 4  Afternoon Theatre   "A Question of Royalty"  stars Ricky Tomlinson and Johnny Vegas as two plasterers who pinch the Queen's wedding certificate during a Public Records Office refurbishment. 

So much to learn - So little time.

Every day I learn something new and add to the wonderful mosaic that forms my knowledge of the world. Today I learnt that "additional services" is code for porn movies on subscription TV. I also learnt that if you are unfortunate enough to be shacked up with Jacqui Smith you had best pay cash for such services rather than try and wing it on parliamentary expenses. 

Win some - Lose some.

First the good news. I am indebted to the Wrestling Heritage site for alerting me to the return of boxing and wrestling to London's premier fight venue, The Albert Hall. There has been no boxing at the old Victorian monstrosity for the past decade and apparently some local residents are up in arms about the hall attracting a rather more rough and ready clientele than the flag waving punters who patronise the Proms. Oh dear!

And the bad news? Well today I dropped in to The Cafe on Vauxhall Bridge Road for a bacon sarni and tea only to find that it is now in it's last two weeks of trading. Another classic cafe bites the dust. The Cafe, a former Clash hang out, was never a  centre of gastronomic excellence but it was handy if you had been to the Tate for a cultural top-up. It also had a 1940s decor that could never be recreated by any set designer. The old folks collective who seemed to run the place are retiring. I wish then well.

Runway Runoff

Living in the Heathrow flight path I will obviously be effected by any expansion of the airport but at the same time am suspicious of the nimbyism that motivates a good deal of the anti-expansion protest. Regarding the environmental issues, it seems to me that it is pretty pointless talking about airport expansion outside of a general discussion about what kind of economy and society we would like to see in the future. Unless of course you think that we have somehow arrived at a situation where we have a number and frequency of flights that is "just right"; any more would lead to environmental disaster but any less would be economically and socially unsustainable. 

Having said this there is one very good reason for being wary of building new runways at Heathrow that seems to have had very little publicity, the increase in flood risk. I'm not going to get into the complex subject of hydrology in any depth, fascinating though it is, but will just point out that every road, roof, car park etc. increases what hydrologists call urban runoff. Rainwater, rather than soaking slowly into the ground, runs into the nearest watercourse at a rapid rate with the resultant increase in flood risk. A huge area such as a runway provides for massive runoff that in the case of Heathrow runs into the River Crane and in the case of Gatwick, the Mole. Both these rivers discharge into the Thames in West London. One of the many disturbing climate change predictions is an increase in the frequency of severe weather events, i.e. storms, very heavy rainfall. All in all more runways would seem to be a less than clever idea. 

Recuperation is the name of the game.

It would be foolish of course to doubt both the ability and willingness of the modern state to crush any form of rebellion by brute force if it feels the need. When push coming to shove becomes more than a pat expression and is an actual reality on the street, when that happens the full repertoire of repression from batons to tanks is available on request. It was ever thus. But the true achievement of modern capitalism is that as the number and diversity of challenges to authority has increased so to has the states talent for controlling us without putting tanks on the streets. Time after time we see how the system is able to absorb our dissent, commodify it and sell it back to us. This was a lesson learn the hard way by the Women's Movement as many women comrades will attest. It is also a lesson about to be learnt by the Greens as well. 

Meltdown Countdown

There is nothing like a bit of warm spring weather to put bounce back in your stride and generally encourage a more optimistic view of the world. The growing season will soon be upon us allotmenteers, the old rag Freedom is having a new lease of life and I am declaring the start of the MELTDOWN COUNTDOWN. That's right, eleven days to Meltdown. See you there.