oh my days, we are well short sighted, bio, ive just checked it for the first time as well…my girlfreind was livin in heaton in newcastle – is well funny place, pubs with nothin but extended families in em, from g’pa all the way down to twelve year old girls sippin coke..

on the other hand there are some nice venues up there- the cluney and world headquarters, and some lush pubs. good alternative clubnight scene full of freindly heads. that is the beggining and end of my enjoyment of newcastle i have to say. I think its the worst city ive been to that is a decent size. the looks you get are ridiculous.

Originally posted by General Lighting
LOL we’ve been invaded by loads of geordie lasses 😀

OTOH I do feel sorry for the guy whose been deployed to Iraq though – not everyone there realises what they are getting themselves into until its too late.. nor can they do anything about it.

You may not agree with the fact that the war is happening; but (if your in the UK or USA) face up to the harsh reality; half of our countries populations are prepared to accept the war – and it is a war being fought to protect the standard of living which enables us to have the free time and resources to travel hundreds of miles to party whilst others work long hours in sweatshops to produce the electronic equipment used at these events (or even to communicate on this board!)

Until we take our own actions to at least try and rectify that situation – we are all supporting the war whether we like it or not.

more than half of this country is against free parties- we live in a nation of idiots that belaive the press, so long as their rightwing. i cant belaive you feel sorry for the bloodthirsty idiots, who place such limited value on human life, that they will kill on command.

As for your suggestion that the war is fought for the benfit of the people, or that our standard of living is worth the lives of hundreds of thousands of iraqi’s….shame on you, general lighting, that is a disgustingly selfish and narrow minded way of looking at it.

does that mean if im having a smoke, i run out of weed and some matey goes out beats and rapes a old lady to death, robs her, buys me some more weed, and brings it to me so i can have a smoke, i should pat him on theback and say “cheers mate, i nearly realised what a stupid existance i lead, thank you for allowing me to continue”?

our lifestyle in the uk (flights around the world, sweatshop labour supplying our biggest brands [as IF it doesnt happen in this country], imported food, etc etc) is totallt out of sync with the riddims of nature, and we should not be allowed to continue raping and stealing form every one else on the planet, just to fill our glasses and plates with what ever we fancy.

Our goverment could have put money into renewable energy, the use of petrol as fuel is totally unneccessary, and is there only as a means of control, and an excuse to start wars which mean the Govt can take our civil liberties in the name of safety and stability.

Im not gonna bore you any more with the reams of stuff ive been doing to prevent tony getting away wit this illegal war, and makin sure he gets locked up, or tortured to show him what he has done to hundreds of thousand iraqi’s.

All this terrorist stuff is bollocks too… they are just soldiers who cant afford an uniform, and im sorry, but if there is anyone who would stand by and let their hometown be invaded by another country in an illegal war, watch your family all die around you, and then say “no” when the boys come round with a stash of AK47’s and RPG’s, you’re a better man than i.

Originally posted by General Lighting
its not something I am comfortable with myself – but I do realise in the USA in particular or some other areas people misguidely join the military and don’t realise what they have got themselves into. Not everyone has access to the enlightened alternative media that we do.

And I agree with what you say about the “other side” / “terrorists” – but what I am getting at is that I’m finally realising the views are so fucking entrenched there is perhaps is fuck all we can do about it – same with “free” parties. Activism can’t stop a bomb or a bullet…

TBH I can’t see those going on for more than about the next 5 years if that – they will either be licensed and some grudgingly tolerated (like in France) ; or stamped out altogether.

Its not just the govt -its the people who support them; and so many of the people are prepared to put up with the status quo its not getting to the stage where it perhaps not bothering anymore – let the idiots do what they fucking want, and just watch the final days of this sorry world from the sidelines as it destroys itself. Its gone beyond redemption. We’ve got about 20 years left if that…..

The veiws aren’t entrenched, they are constantly changing – the state of mind of your average british jo is definitely way different now from the ‘fifties. the public opinion is dictated by the papers, not the other way round, it is the fault of the mirror selling the sun to murdoch bak in the seventies.

activism has and does stop bombs and bullets. look at burma, or china where on the few occasions our media has had a glimpse, things have changed. look at the communist revolution at the beginning of the last century – its billed as a real blood bath, but NOONE was killed in the storming of the winter palace, because the kings fams knew they were shit and leggged it. Trotsky and Lenin were both amazing leaders of people, and could have created the closest thing to civilisation ever seen, if it weren’t for poor existing infestructure, and then Stalins Hijacking of communist ideals (which are now sold to us as communist!). Personally, if the state gets so appathetic and resitrictive, it will militarise our nation, and we will topple the out dated houses of parilament and imprison our mp’s. We cant take it up the arse from Govt. the whole time, and one day the penny will drop. My dad says, when i get on this subject, that once the dust settles after a revolution in this country, the flag that will be flying will be a fascist one. but ithink its a matter of how the revolution is conducted. as we all know, the revolution WILL be televised. and the world will sit in judgement.

They will never stop free parties, we will have them in fortified teritories if nessecary, but the state will not take that liberty from us. that i promise everyone.

OTOH, i hear what yo’re sayin about the end of days. i dont beleive in the bible, which is just as well, coz the apocalypse is materialising in front of us. Plus, if you look at it logically, the human race is nothing more than a parasitic virus that has infected the earth, depriving it of its natural beauty and function. The history of the human race is the history of the destruction of the planet. all this shit we’re so proud of is nothing compared to what is cost to make. We have stepped outside the cycle of nature. and we will pay for that. I better move to tibet, i recon.

Last night i had a crazy dream. i was chillin round a mate’s on the 46th storey of this block o flats, looking out over brighton, but it looked more like new york (coz of the sky scapers) and i was lookin out the window thinkin “where’s the pier gone? in fact, where has the peninsula gone?” but as i was considering this, the tide crept up and up, swallowing the town except for the tops of the tallest trees and buildings. as the panic grew, i could feel the building (which was submeged up til about 5 storey’s below) lean over from the weight of water flowing past. i knew that it would snap, so juumped out the window with the sofa and my mate and my girlfreind, and paddled out of the lee of the building, only to have it snap behind me and create so much surf, we were washed bou half a mile. there was a police boat offering assistance,my mate was like dont go near, and sure enough, they were shooting anyone who swam toward them. there werent that many people about, considering, i figured they’de all died in thier offices. we met up with this really sound couple in a boat they’de made (they knew the ice caps were about to flood the globe). we headed to the high land, the south downs, which was still actinga s a barrier to the water, only to see the horse riders and ramblers getting washed away as the tide swelled over the lower hills. then there were eight of us, another group had been hiding out of sight, an african family who said two of their number had been drowned by locals blaming them, scared out of their minds…
…we were just working out what to do, peered over the edge of the hill, and the dock workers seemed to be enslaving the paople they picked out of the water. we rescued them, but my mate lost his arm to a macete and died, and then my girl freind had a pusy infected cut. then the dream got REALLY weird.

anyway…..fuck nose

Originally posted by globalloon

my little sister joined the British army as a medic for two reasons… first she isn’t academically bright and would probably have been a waitress all her life and secondly cos she loves horses and would be able to ride them a lot in the regiment she joined.

next thing she new we declared war against iraq and she found herself treating the soliders who were guardng oil instillations and were dying from exhaustion because there CO’s refused them any downtime. those soliders were getting paid a lot less than the american engineering contractors who were coming in to work the instllations.

the war is bullshit, but where would we be getting the power to run our computers, our homes, our cars and trains and lorries, buses, tractors if we didn’t steal what we need from other countries?

it isn’t the fault of those who sign up and fight, it is all of our faults for using so much fossil fuel. IMO

Im sorry i cant feel sorry for anyone who values their career over human life.

My heart goes out to you, having had your sister manipulated like that, defending the indefensable. worrying if she’s gonna be blow up by people who would probably be her freinds in a different situation.

As for Having to steal resources, that is a media and government fabrication. the only reason we use oil (as a fuel) is because we choose to. we could run this country off wind energy in two years, if all the country folk stopped complaining that their veiw was spioled by wind farms, or if the government actually invested in renewable energy sources. I dont understand complaints about wind farms ….what about thise who have to live next to fossil fuel or nuclear facilities? they have health risks, and compared to a different veiw in the morning, that is way serious.

Hydrogen fuel cells produce NOTHING but water (they do have to be kept freezing) and numerous calls over the last decade for planes to legally HAVE to use them have been rejected because of the strangle hold that big buisness has on the govt.

Originally posted by General Lighting
We’ve got about 20 years left if that…..

funny

my mother was saying the same thing in the early 60’s

lighten the fuck up or we may as well top ourselves now

next year i’ll be a parent; i have plenty friends that say but if we hav kids, they’ll be fucked but the way i see it, people like me, that think about shit, have a duty to breed… so that the next generation has some good influences:D

well Mr Dubya would never let me in the USA (been in trouble a couple too many times, minor stuff but still causes problems with US visa) – but having been on the net since 1992 I’ve learnt a lot about US society and culture, either from Americans themselves directly or theire websites/blogs –

its easy in the UK or Europe to take stuff like welfare benefits, [relatively] tolerant and open societies for granted – these just do not exist in many parts of the USA – its a real “fend for yourself” mentality… including actually needing a gun for safety in some situations

as for families, I still never want to start one (I just don’t have the patience or responsibility to raise kids – the most I could do is rescue some homeless pets I suppose)

Many of the first generation of ravers now have kids – some of these kids are now teenagers and sadly a fair proportion end up as the feral kids from broken families growing up on sites and estates, often passed between parents who now hate one another – the lucky ones are making the grimy garage tunes with stories of hate, crime and destruction or dysfunctional relationships, the unlucky ones are already on the downward spiral of crime and hard drugs – the next generation of casualties, rather than saving future generations..

You will need to do a far better job than that lot if your family is gonna save this world (but maybe you will..)

its not the war in other countries I’m worried about – someone could blow the city up tomorrow and there’s fuck all we can do about it and that was the same in the 1970s-90s when the IRA were active.

Its the war on our own streets. When violence and hate is everywhere and people in their 20s and 30s grass up the parties in my city then its time to start worrying

incidentally if you want to see how cheap life really is in the UK, try riding a bicycle in the city at rush hour. watch the hate in everyones eyes, and how the drivers play mad games of brinkmanship with each others lives just to shave 5 seconds off their journey time ( I see this every day whenever I go out. That said I still enjoy cycling!)

although perhaps the reason USE and I seem “pessimistic” may be because of the areas we live in and the shit that goes down there? Then again I don’t believe in running away from stuff you need to face it head on..

a lot of what may seem like “pessimism” on my part is my way of facing up to shit and dealing with it. Too many people try to not discuss heavy stuff and hide it away; then it comes back out again and bites them in the behind when they least expect it.

My parents weren’t poor BTW but they had to leave their ancestral country because of racial tension and move to SE London in the 1970s (from the frying pan into the fire?) I grew up as a kid from an ethnic minority before political correctness; so I know what its like to be hated (virtually fought my way through some schools, nowadays though I always try to avoid violence!) – but the way I inherited both my parents culture and British lifestyles made me proud to be both British and Asian (and despite our govt there is still a lot to be proud of about Britain as a country and a community of people)

but if somethings going wrong I’ll say it – I don’t believe in saying “what people want to hear” – I will fight for whatever is right and using whatever tactics are required..

Last weekend I was at this private party in some building; amongst the tat I found a union flag badge [1](like the US flag dubya wears). I wore it proudly throughout that party – some hippy types said “isn’t that a bit jingoistic?” – I said “well its MY flag as well and MY country” – but the hidden message was I had deliberately worn this flag upside down. An upside down flag is a distress signal [2]- it was my way of saying “something needs to be done” about the shitty situation in this country…

[1] A UK flag, often incorrectly referred to as a Union Jack (this term only applies when it is flown on board a ship!)

[2] although old practice now and normally only done by UK and USA (and on a UK flag you have to look very closely at it to see if its inverted)!

Originally posted by globalloon
sorry if i got a bit heated there… i´ve been eating diclofenac for a bad pain in the neck (literally) and it makes me a bit mushy in the brain

but gl is right about them dirty drivers… i used to live in montpellier in france where the megalomaniac mayor had created europes biggest pedestrian area by building underground multi story car parks on the outskirts of the city and then running a tramway through the centre. for delivery drivers etc, he had installed bollards that could retract to ground level and were operated by remote contol… this could only be done before a certain time of day…

you just can´t imagine that being done in any british city…

sorry to hear you got neck pain, mate. ive got whiplash since april, and it’s pissinfg me right off- twenty two with a bad back -dunt bode well…

that pedestrianisation scheme sounds lush- my old housemate lives in montpellier, s.france (not bristol) as he is a native, been meaning to go down and smoke weed in the sun- youve just given me another excuse.

as for britain, i dont know whhat it is about tram companies being well dodge, but they always get to design the system (so get paid) and then the shceme never happens (bristol, newcastle etc) so they save funds. i used them a bit in manchester, seemed alright, and extensively in ‘dam, where they were brilliant.

if some one told me in ’95 that the centre of london would be pedestrianised, i wouldnt have beleived em, and thats what (nearly) we have. Quality ken is gonna make trafalger sq. no car zone soon. even phatter parties!

the park and ride biz seems like a goodun, although i recon they should have the same for bikes, closer to town, or with safer routes. oxford and cambridge may be two very shite citys imo, but their attituide to pushbikes is kingly.