Poor Manchester

Poor Manchester. Still at least they don't need to share a city with the ill tempered buffoons on a permanent basis. Mind you I blame 'How To Good Look Naked' for this. In my day an arse like that would have been concealed nowadays it's to be bared in the name of personal empowerment. If you know the tubby fool -tell him that arse is God's way of telling him to eat less lard not an invitation to imitate Blonde Ambition era Madonna in public. Diamond Dan must be black affronted.

They said we'd be artistically free, got to sign a bit of paper....

Hello,

I see there has been a minor hoo-hah about the 'Reggae Compassionate Act' with two of the the signatories claiming that they did not in fact sign it.

For those of you not familiar with the act. It is a document signed by various reggae artists who've been in hot water over violent anti-gay lyrics in their music.

Am I alone in wondering what the point of such a document is? The artists were facing boycotts, loss of contracts, protests and the cancellation of live performances, could it be that they would have signed anything to protect their lucrative careers?

I am certainly not against the right of people to protest against the artists concerned. If one is going to make inflammatory statements against a particular group then they should be ready to take the consequences, as indeed should the companies that sponsor them. Unless of course one is displaying hatred and aggression towards woman in which case they can be assured a of loyal female following and praise for their daring lyrics. Which is fine by me art is one thing, morality another. Unless someone is in breaching of existing laws regarding incitement to violence then I couldn't really care less what they get up to. Incidentally I'd be willing to bet that at least one anti-gay reggae artist is, if not a practicing homosexual, at least gay in their sexual orientation. One can protest too much.

There is something a little naive in the belief that by getting a few artists to sign a piece of paper under threat of boycotts and so on that attacks on homosexuals in Jamaica will stop or even be reduced. Peter Tatchell describes the artists concerned as '...unrepentant homophobic performers are the moral equivalent of neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan'. A fair point but would anyone take seriously neo-Nazis or Klan members signing a document renouncing their beliefs under threat of loss of earnings. Call me cynical but I'd suspect their motives.

Supporters of this campaign have quite rightly pointed to the anti-gay violence in Jamaica as part of the reason for this campaign. However it should be noted that homosexual acts are still illegal in Jamaica. Something that makes gays more vulnerable than anything any reggae artist could come up with. Would the time money and energy devoted to this not be better spent supporting J-Flag who are dedicated to transforming the attitudes of all of Jamaican society towards gays not just encouraging pragmatic self-censorship amongst Jamaican musicians?

It is also worth noting that Jamaican society as a whole is extremely violent. As I'm led to understand that all human life is considered to be of value, would it not be worthwhile for campaigners against anti-gay violence to offer their assistance to the wider campaigns against violence and gun culture? After all it is perfectly possible to dislike or even feel repelled by homosexuals without resorting to violence. Surely a campaign against violence as a means of furthering moral, political or personal aims would do more good than a few insincere musicians signing a bit of paper.

I don't claim to speak for my own country let alone Jamaica. It is idealistic but a world where when can go about one's business without fear of violence strikes me as a pretty universal and desirable aim and Jamaicans are as deserving of the quiet life as the rest of us. If hearing some repulsive, anti gay rant on a reggae record is the worst you have to contend with then you're comparatively lucky. 47% of Jamaican women describe their first sexual encounter as 'forced' or 'somewhat forced' or what about this poor woman who made the mistake of reporting an abduction and gang rape to the Jamaican authorities. Or is sexual violence against women just business as usual?

Cheerio

Whatever Next?

Hello,
The list of thing that can only happen to me has grown rather dramatically of late. First some tosser on Pickled Politics calls me a 'neo-con' and accuses me of owning an 'internment now' badge for no apparent reason then all hell breaks loose at The Scottish Idler's Guild.

For reasons which I fear will forever remain mysterious Wednesday's meeting was hijacked by a rather unpleasant and intimidating bunch who claimed to be 'a group of British Muslims'. They seemed to have a bee in their bonnet about supermarkets of all things. Lord knows what on earth we did to attract them but they claim to have come all the way from Edinburgh.

However all is not doom and gloom. The Britblog round up is here on Sunday and I'll be talking about it on Radio 5 at some stage next week so my English readers should prepare their side-splitting quips about being unable to understand me without delay.

Cheerio

We Have A Winner!

Hello,
Whilst I have been most entertained at your accusations, there can only be one winner. Ladies and gentleman I give you Councillor Terry Kelly;

'Clarewil is a twisted bitter person for some reason, I shudder to think what could make a person turn out like her.'

The cheeky fat bastard.

It would appear I am controversial......

'looks like some sort of wierdo undercover racist shit..braindead crap anyway thats for sure'- tim

'i can spot a nazi troll when i see you, with racist shit like this post your home address,and you will find out soon enough what happens to nazis' -af





Hello,
The people quoted above sound hopping mad don't they? Poor 'af' is so mad he's threatening to go round to a woman's house and assault her! But who can they be talking about? Well believe it or not -it's little me!

There is worse, in that people have tried to 'engage' with me to prevent me from invading Poland. You may well be wondering what could have provoked them. Well so am I really. Do you see why I'm no longer involved in politics? Stuff like this always happens.

My downfall began when I posted an article to popular Asian run blog Pickled Politics. We all had a jolly debate and that was that or so I thought. Someone without asking, stole my article and put it up on Indymedia as a post. The black arts will be employed in revenge.

Anyway if 'af' is reading. I'm not going to put my details up on a public forum but if you'd like to email me I'd be happy to meet up and show you in person exactly how I respond to misogynistic little creeps that get their jollies threatening women. Dressing it up as opposing racism doesn't make it any more acceptable.

Tim, please make use of your spellchecker. You're worse than the Stormfront nutters.

Oh and for the person who sent the 'nazi bitch' email, I'm about as scared of you as I am of 'af', though all things considered I'd prefer it if you kept your violent sexual fantasies to yourself. Do your chums on 'the frontline' realise you harbour such bizarre thoughts about 'shit dropping bnp slags' getting their 'wombs ripped out'?

Cheerio

Contemplating Forming A Vigilante Group

Hello,
There are times when I understand how readers of the Daily Mail feel. Take this morning for example, there I was enjoying the first fag of the day when the Scottish news came on with quite the most appalling tale I've heard in some time.

For those of you lucky enough to have been spared, prepare yourself because this is vile beyond words. A young woman was minding her own business, pushing her pram, when a group of...well how would you describe them?.. a sort of sub-breed of shit?....scum?, took exception to her presence and started hurling stones and abuse. It has been suggested that it was racially motivated, though in my view racism alone cannot account for what happened -the beginning of the end of human civilisation might be nearer the mark.

Personally I was sharpening my kitchen knives at that point but it gets worse. One of the group then decided to attempt a bit of sexual assault on the woman and her baby. In broad daylight. In front of his friends.

As I've said before I take a pretty bleak view of human nature. We're a bunch of animals but for the most part are restrained by civilisation and society. Even the worst criminals are secretive, they may choose to ignore law and morality but at least they are aware of them.

Exactly how depraved do you need to be to get together with your friends to verbally, physically and sexually assault a woman and a one year old child? I don't buy all this stuff that the police are coming out with about the other men possibly being disgusted by what the one who went on to attempt the sexual assault did and reporting him. They are as guilty as he is. There were three of them and one of him. They could have stopped it any time they wanted. They did not, which makes them complicit.

It's certainly uncivilised but I sincerely hope the lot of them are gang-raped, tortured and slaughtered by an angry mob. I'm sure if someone filmed it, they'd have a sure fire hit on their hands. Failing that could we have a bit of police brutality when they are arrested, please?


Cheers

Tony Blair Is Scared Of Me!

Hello,
I was somewhat surprised to be greeted by a baying mob on leaving the house this afternoon. Never one to flee from trouble I collared one of them to ask what the meaning of this extraordinary outburst was. You will imagine my surprise and delight when the chap advised me that they were waiting for 'that cunt Blair' who had dropped in to the City Halls.

Well I have always wanted to give Tony Blair a piece of my mind, so I abandoned my plans and waited and waited and waited. I noted that the assembled crowd seemed to be quite competitive about how much they each hate Blair. It was wonderful, people were purple with rage about a whole range of issues. Truly there was something for everyone, well apart from Blair fans.

Anyway it transpired that Tony had to sneak out of another exit because the crowd had got so irate. Ha ha ha! Ten years ago he would have been out grinning at us in his usual obsequious manner, now he's forced to flee like a common criminal.

Still his visit to Glasgow isn't over yet, let's hope he hasn't seen the last of the angry mob.

Cheers