this reaction

blog no. 5 (mini-ish blog)

2005-03-26T13:28:00.000Z

[politics/news/media] (music below)

Taiwan vs. China (again)

China has introduced another anti-secession law against Taiwan which allows China to use coercive force against any move the island may make towards independence. China sees Tawiwan as a breakaway province which still belongs to China. Taiwan sees itself as having the right to become a seperate state to China.

This whole situation has being going on since World War II (or perhaps it was WWI, or before, not entirely sure) but it is quite evident that Taiwan (formerly Formosa) really does not want to be part of China. Something to do with the way Taiwanese ancestors were treated by the Chinese I think.

Anyhow, this is about the law China has passed. The idea that they've given themselves the right to use "non-peaceful force" against Taiwan if they try to gain independence is just reckless. It basically means that if the Taiwanese so much as rally (peacefully) at Chinese government buildings in Taiwan the Chinese can potentially come in and slaughter them, or use whatever means they deem necessary to stifle such events. This is another footnote to put alongside China's horrendous human rights records. How do they ever expect to be respected by states around the world who do respect human rights if they continue to behave in this way?

[read about this story on: The BBC , comment, etc. on the message board]

Rapist's DNA

Unless you've been living in a hole, you can't have helped but to hear about this story.

Police are searching for any biological matter around the girl's home in order to be able to gather information about the attacker's DNA, and thus attempt to identify him.

I think this story highlights some important broad questions. Like, what kind of a society are we living in where someone could be brought up in such a way where they end up wanting to do something as unthinkable as this; breaking into a home and raping a girl who is not even ten years old whilst she slept. It really is something that doesn't bare thinking about, and it is another factor that really puts me off wanting to bring a child up in such a nasty world.

[read about this story on: The BBC , The Guardian , comment, etc. on the message board]

[music]

Stone Roses Reunion

Not a full reunion. If only. Ian Brown and Mani from the Stone Roses got it together in Blackpool and played several Roses tracks such as "Waterfall" and "I Wanna Be Adored". But this may be a sign that a full reunion is possible, but John Squire is still a complete bastard, talented musician though he may be. Manchester, the place to be.

ETID looking for new bassist

Every Time I Die are currently looking for a new bassist. If you live in the USA, preferably in New York and you're a very good bassist and know all of ETID's songs and are willing to give up your day job to record and tour for ten months per year then why not apply! I don't know why I've put this on here as no one who reads this fulfills any of those criteria. I'm just looking for any excuse to write about them really. Anyway, they've had many many many many applications and have hardly been able to sift through any of them so far. ETID to tha max!

[off to the message board now, I see.]

[images courtesy of bcc.co.uk, nme.co.uk and ferretstyle.com]

blog no. 4

2005-03-23T13:21:00.000Z

[politics/news/media] (music below)

Iraq Paper

The government has finally decided to make sure that intelligence actually has a degree of intelligence within it.

After the complete farse of the claim that Saddam could nuke us within a miniscule 45 minutes of readiness, the government encountered a whole load of problems, namely that of a civil servant ending up dead. It has taken a year to impose these new 'stricter' rules on intelligence which just makes me think that they still aren't really taking it that seriously. After all, it is only the security of the entire Western world at stake.

But again, the timing of the implementation of these new measures just seems like more Labour electioneering to me, appealing to the paranoid corps of right wing working class voters who believe that everyone wearing a turban has access to weapons grade plutonium and is intent on annihilating civilisation as we know it.

[read about this story on: The BBC , The Guardian , comment, etc. on the message board]

Sun Tans = Skin Cancer, Apparently

A report has been released saying that as many as 7,000 people are being diagnosed with skin camcer each year in the UK, and as many as 1,700 are dying from it. The experts are saying that global warming and increasing numbers of holidays being taken abroad by Britons are to blame.

Now, I'm always very sceptical about this kind of scaremongering, because that's usually what I think it is: scaremongering. Those figures are quite misleading because it doesn't say that all of the deaths are being caused by the sun, nor do they break down the actual different causes. It's generally accepted that sun beds cause many problems, and loads of people use them.

It just seems to be another case of "don't drink milk, you'll get cancer", "don't use mobile 'phones, you'll get cancer", "don't breathe, you'll get cancer". Obviously I do believe there's a fair bit of substance in this as the sun does cause problems, but as long as you use your common sense and use sun cream and don't bask 24/7, I'm sure you'll be just rosy (excuse the pun).

[read about this story on: The BBC , comment, etc. on the message board]

Monkey Testing

A study/review is being carried on the use of non-human primates for scientific use and testing in the UK.

This is a tough one, because as an ex-vegetarian I still feel quite a lot of support for animal rights, but I am also in favour of scientific advancement. The debate comes where we decide at what cost science should advance. Should it stop at a killing animals for testing or should it stop before then, by using consenting human test subjects or other means which don't involve the use of animals?

This really is a question that I find it hard to come to a conclusion on, but I think the animal rights side of my ever so slightly tips the balance, but because I am so divided on it, I shall say no more.

[read about this story on: The BBC , comment, etc. on the message board]

[music]

Radiohead start work on NEW ALBUM

A band very close to my heart, practically running through my veins, have started working on their new album. It's all very exciting and now I'll just be counting the days until it is in my CD player! Thom and Jonny are also doing some stuff for some London Orchestral group or other. Read all about it on The NME.

Nothing else of note has happened in the world of music today.

The only other thing I could find barely worth writing about was that The White Stripes have finished recording their new album, but I don't even like them, so that's that.

[you must now visit the message board. good thinking.]

[images courtesy of bbc.co.uk and nme.co.uk]

blog no. 3 (mini-blog)

2005-03-22T18:24:00.000Z

Yes, this is a slightly mini blog. There will be a proper full one with pictures and everything up tomorrow. Hold your balls. Again.

London Underground Fraud

Some people working on the extension to the Jubilee Line of the London Underground have apparently got away with £60 million obtained fraudulently. The case collapsed for various reasons including problems with the Jury.

What is the world coming to when middle class people can get away with obtaining vast somes of money through fraud by simply waiting eighteen months for their court case to collapse? And yet, conservative judges continue, as they always have, to sentence people using hard and soft druges, solely for personal use, sometimes to years in prison. It makes no sense that such a high profile and important case as this should just die after eighteen months at the Old Bailey. It just seems to be another case of a crime mostly associated with middle class businessmen being given the blind eye.

[read about this story on: The BBC , comment, etc. on the message board]

Music: The Leeds/Reading lineup

The lineup for the Leeds and Reading weekends, 2005, have been announced. Headliners are Pixies, Foo Fighters and Iron Maiden. Pretty poor headliners if you ask me, apart from the Pixies, who are awesome!

Other bands comfirmed so far include The Futureheads, Bloc Party, QOTSA, Elbow and The Killers.

This festival used to be pretty alternative, now it just seems like it's turning into another V Festival. I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, as I've been to V and it was fantastic, but I guess I just don't like change. The NME is taking over the world! Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

As noted, this is a 'mini-blog' and there will be a full one tomorrow. Please attend to the message board. That is all.

prologue to blog no. 3

2005-03-18T08:45:00.000Z

Sorry I didn't post a blog yesterday, as again, I didn't have time. But I promise there will be one timorrow but it probably won't be up until the evening. In the mean time, stay on the ol' message board if you will.

blog no. 2

2005-03-17T09:37:00.000Z

[politics/news/media] (music below)

The Budget 2005: Gordon Brown's Election Notebook

Again, a new fiscal year is upon us, and so the ever-boring and samey budget is released, but with a few twists as we're nearing a good old general election. So, Mr Brown has planted a few sweeteners in there for the electorate. He's come under criticism from the opposition today for making budget proposals that he won't be able to pay for, such as increasing the stamp duty threshold (the point at which you pay tax on a new property purchase) to £120,000, meaning £millions will be lost each year. Good news for first time buyers, though. But alas! I fear this is just an election-grabber, as with giving olds a £200 council tax rebate and free bus travel so they can moan about youngsters on the bus without worrying about the cost; we all saw the grannies protesting about council tax last year, this is sure to get the old dears on Labour's side.

And yet, amongst all this, we still see nothing for students. Grants as opposed to top-up fees would be nice, like in the olden days. If it was up to me, most things would be paid for by general taxation: stick income tax for the highest earners up to 55% (this may sound harsh, but it's 56% in Germany and higher than that in France), 75% tax on cigarettes and tobacco, 50% on alcohol, legalise cannabis and tax it at 80% - mucho revenue for the state. Easy to balance the books.

Is there any actual substance in this budget? I fear not. It's been toyed with as an election gimmick.

[read about this story on: The Guardian , The BBC , comment, etc. on the message board]

Top-Up Fees: A Novel Idea

It emerged today that nine out of ten universities in England will charge the maximum top-up fee of £3,000 when they come into place in 2007. This is going to make university an extremely expensive investment for a lot of people. It is true that students from famlilies with the lowest incomes will have most, or all, of their fees paid for, but for those who just about fall into the income brackets where they do have to be paid for personally, the fees are going to be just too expensive.

Many parents will simply not be able to afford these fees, and students will find it very hard to find a loan to cover them. But even then, they would be left with an even bigger debt after graduation that students have now. Although most universities will not require these fees to be paid until a graduate earning premium is reached, who wants to have to dole out a big portion of their monthly pay after having paid so much to be at uni for three or four years! It will also turn universities into Ivy-League types in the USA, with the better ones charging higher fees, and so the more well off students getting better degress. How rediculous, especially in a supposedly equal opportunity democratic state. See my ideas for taxation above. Protest against these fees if you will. Grr.

[read about this story on: The BBC , The Guardian , comment, etc. on the message board]

Michael Jackson and his pack of kids

I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty bored of hearing the same old crap about Michael Jackson's paedophile antics. The recent development in his court case is that the latest child to give evidence against him was "too vague" in what he said, leading more people to think that he's being set-up and incorrectly accused. I wish they'd just hurry up and decide whether he's a paedophile or not so we can stop hearing about it. If he does like children, he's sick and wrong, but it doesn't surprise me that the strange, strange, man would do something like that. If he doesn't, we still know that he's a complete freak who dangles (his own) babies off balconies by their legs. But then again, don't we all?

[read about this story on: The BBC , comment, etc. on the message board]

Iraq's New MPs: Is there any point at the moment?

Obviously it's all well and good that Iraq has now apparently got some degree of democracy within its borders, but can these MPs actually do anything to sort out the complete and utter mess the coalition has left behind?

The new MPs were recently sworn in as Iraq's first elected representatives in over fifty years, but they're just being trampled on by insurgents. Car bombs, suicide bombs, rugular attacks, crime and killings are rife in Iraq and there is nothing these MPs can do about it, they don't know how to deal with this stuff because they have no experience in doing so, nor do they have the manpower to impose the kind of strict law and order to clamp down on this mess. The Coalition Forces led by the Americans just ram raided Iraq, completely fucked everything over and now they're trying to leave the mess to this baby democracy. How kind.

Iraq's political and terrorist hot pot needs to cool off before any kind of real democracy can take place.

[read about this story on: The BBC , comment, etc. on the message board]

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[music]

Ian Brown smacks an American

Surprise, surprise! Ian Brown has found a reason to get arrested on his current tour of North America by sparking a fan. He was on stage at a gig in San Francisco, and according to people at the gig, the sound quality was shit and the band couldn't be heard properly. In protest, a member of the audience came on stage to have a moan about the issue. Ian Brown got tempered and punched him. He later got arrested in his hotel after the gig.

Why could he have not just got a fat security personnel to remove the fellow from the stage? It suppose it's more rock 'n' to do it yourself. But I think the golden days of Manchester indie controversy are dead and gone, and Ian Brown is just too old to be doing stuff like this. Although once again, he's managed to get some free publicity for his new album, "Solarised".

[comment on the message board]

Death by Bloc Party?

Let me start off by saying that I like Bloc Party, I think they're a talented bunch with a load of top notch tunes. However, I'm in fear of them being over-played, over-reported on, over-toured and over-rated. I feel that calling them saviours of music as the NME did is going too far. Those of you who know me will know that I despise the NME, mostly for the way it grasps control of bands. It gets a band in its grasp, and if lets go, the band dies. Or ultimately, it makes the band commit suicide by having it in every edition for very long periods of time and making people get sick of them, making the NME itself drop them.

In many ways, I feel sorry for bands like Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs and my current NME faves, The Futureheads as they are so in the NME's grasp. My advice is for upcoming bands like our beloved Fear of Music to beware the bastards.

[comment on the message board]

Festivals 2005

They're lookin' good! Leeds is getting the likes of Bloc Party, The Killers, The Kaiser Chiefs, Futureheads, and all the other NME loved ones. Glasto is getting the usual trendy independent band. Download is look spectacularrrrrrr from my point of view as they've just added the likes of EVERY TIME I DIE, Caliban, EVERY TIME I DIE, As I Lay Dying, EVERY TIME I DIE, Lamb Of God and loads more. Headliners include, of note, System of a Down and Slayer. Also, EVERY TIME I DIE will be playing.

There will be more and better music news than this in blogs to come. :)

[NOW YOU MUST GO TO THE MESSAGE BOARD]

[images courtesy of bbc.co.uk and nme.co.uk]

prologue

2005-03-14T11:16:00.000Z

- - please do your duty and register on the message board in time for thursday ; http://thisreaction.suddenlaunch3.com/

It all kicks off on Thursday, 17th March, 2005. Spread the word, this should be good. As many people as possible are needed to 'join the debate' (to use a coined phrase) and make this work. This is for the benefit of you all, this will inform you all, you will no longer need to read a newspaper, you can get a digest of the important daily news from here and get my opinions on it, and then comment on my opinions and challenge me or others if you disagree. Use the message board to comment, react, challenge and extend on my blog.

It's all gonna be short and concise, too. No hefty paragraphs and essays. Easy digestion.

This will be interesting.