Dutch Uncles - Nometo (Field Music Remix)
Here’s a nice little remix of a recent Dutch Uncles (pictured) album track, by label-mates and fellow art-rock crusaders Field Music. It’s an unexpectedly abstract affair, with the latter’s David Brewis adding bass, keyboards and backing vox.
Out of Touch in the Wild, Dutch Uncles’ highly acclaimed third album, is out now on Memphis Industries.
14 Feb 2013
Art: Guns, dolls and LOLs at the WW Gallery
Can contemporary art say anything new and interesting about guns?
Is there anything to be learnt by taking internet culture off the internet and putting it in a gallery?
Those are questions the WW Gallery is trying to answer in the affirmative with a double show, running until 2 March.
Jay Rechsteiner brings the guns.
Siobhan Barr brings the LOLs and the dolls.
I haven’t seen the show, but from the previews I think I like the LOLs better. Fake guns as a comment on real guns being an idea whose potency may well have passed.
Details here.
See also: Pigs ear bunting, sex-faced elephants and a ten foot high bra. Meet the art of Ayuko Sugiura
14 Feb 2013
How Australians view East Londoners
The brothers Van Vuuren visited London last year on holiday from Australia. Their video London Underground by “Cnife Krime” is their artistic representation of their experiences.
13 Feb 2013
Did the Olympics bring more or fewer tourists to London? At last we have the answer
Before the London Olympics there was a lot of chat about whether they would be amazing for tourism or appalling for tourism. Nobody seemed quite certain. Or rather, everybody seemed very certain, but of completely opposing results.
So who was right?
The increasingly indispensible London DataStore has just published the answer:
“The number of overseas visits decreased by 6%, and visitor nights by 2% in Q3 2012 (Jul-Sep) when compared with the same quarter in 2011. Total overseas visitor spend was up 11%.”
Fewer people came than the previous year. But those who did spent more money.
Everyone was right! Or wrong, depending how uncharitable you like to be to the people who make a living predicting this stuff.
13 Feb 2013
Letters reveal Church warnings to Boris Johnson over Ray Lewis
Boris Johnson was advised by the Church of England not to reappoint his former Deputy to a senior role, following his “unprofessional conduct” as a minister, The Scoop can reveal.
Letters obtained by this blog, reveal that the Bishop of Barking David Hawkins wrote to the Mayor in 2010, advising him not to give Ray Lewis “too high a responsibility.”
He advised Johnson that Lewis was a “controversial character” who should only be reappointed if he was given a “contained role” with a “good and supportive accountability structure” around him.
The correspondence followed claims that the church has a dossier of allegations against Lewis. He was struck off as a Church of England minister in the nineties.
The Bishop wrote:
“Dear Boris…. What I said to you was that because of issues related to his ministry when he was a Church of England minister he has not been allowed to have a Church of England licence. In my view this should not prevent you using him in the area of his expertise in mentoring young people. The problems which you encountered two years ago were due to appointing Ray to the high profile responsibility of Deputy Mayor. What I said to you in our conversation was that he should be given a second chance but should not be given too high a responsibility and he should be given a good and supportive accountability structure in which to work. Because Ray is a controversial character there may be some opposition even to this more contained role within City Hall.”
Lewis resigned as Boris’s Deputy Mayor for Young People in 2008 following allegations of financial and sexual misconduct and his admission that he had lied on his CV.
Lewis was also accused of using “racist and homophobic language” towards boys at the Eastside Academy, by The Guardian.
No official investigation was undertaken into the allegations. Last year the mayor reappointed Lewis to a paid position as his senior mentoring adviser.
Labour today said there remained unanswered questions about Lewis’s departure and subsequent return to City Hall. Labour Assembly Member Len Duvall said:
“There are still unanswered questions about Mr Lewis’ departure from City Hall. There was supposed to be an independent investigation into the original allegations, but this was stopped because he had left. Now that Mr Lewis is back at City Hall the London Assembly is considering asking the Mayor what plans he has to restart this investigation. We may also interview Mr Lewis on the issues that led to his departure.”
Asked about the allegations against Lewis on the Vanessa Feltz Show last month Johnson said:
“The upshot was that we did the maximum possible investigation into it and in the end it was exactly as everybody said. It was just a constant drip, drip, drip of innuendo and so on and so forth and look, we couldn’t really get to the bottom of it.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor said:
“As the Mayor has said numerous times before, he believes Ray Lewis has invaluable experience and is dedicated to supporting young people and no evidence has been presented to him to persuade him otherwise.”
The Ray Lewis Letters
13 May 2008:
“Dear Boris…. As you probably know your Deputy Mayor, Ray Lewis, was a Church of England Clergyman in my Episcopal Area in the 1990’s. He is no longer serving in authorised ministry in the Church of England. If at any point you wish to speak to me about this do be in touch…. The Bishop of Barking, Right Reverend David J L Hawkings “
08 July 2008:
“Dear Boris, I was hoping to speak to with you by telephone yesterday with regard to the events surrounding Ray Lewis. As you will remember we did not speak about Ray Lewis when you came to Millwall for the Global Day of Prayer event on 11th May, Pentecost Sunday. This was because at that point I did not know that Ray was a Church of England minister nor anything about his past ministry in my episcopal area. On Monday 12th May, I was informed of the fact that Ray was ordained and that on his resignation from St Matthew’s Stratdord a decade ago Ray has not been permitted to exercise authorised ministry in the Church of England because of allegations of unprofessional conduct.
“On 13th May I wrote to you by email and letter informing you that Ray was no longer serving in authorised ministry and inviting you to speak with me about this issue if you chose, copy attached. I felt it my duty to inform you immediately (even thought I had little detail of the facts at the time) in case you had not been alerted by anyone else following your decision to appoint Ray as Deputy Mayor. At the same time I informed the Diocesan Bishop of Chelmsford and Lambeth Palace that I had alerted you to this fact.”
08 July 2008
Dear Bishop,
Thanks for your letter and for your (eventual!) clarification. Let us make sure we put this episode behind us and work together on the issues that really matter to the people of London. We can make a huge difference to the lives of disadvantaged children, and we should not miss the chance. Best wishes, Boris Johnson.
15th June 2010:
“Dear Boris, Appointment of Ray Lewis: Young Peoples Mentoring,
“I appreciated your private conversation with me after we left the stage [at the global day of prayer] with respect to Ray Lewis. I did not know when we spoke that your wish to use Ray’s expertise in mentoring black young people was to be announced on Monday.
“What I said to you was that becasue of issues related to his ministry when he was a Church of England minister he has not been allowed to have a Church of England licence. In my view this should not prevent you using him in the area of his expertise in mentoring young people. The problems which you encountered two years ago were due to appointing Ray to the high profile responsibility of Deputy Mayor. What I said to you in our conversation was that he should be given a second chance but should not be given too high a responsibility and he should be given a good and supportive accountability structure in which to work. Because Ray is a controversial character there may be some opposition even to this more contained role within City Hall…”
12 Feb 2013
Suuns - 2020
A nausea inducing vid to accompany an eerily hypnotic track – gotta love that riff – from Suuns’ new Images Du Futur album, released March 4 through Secretly Canadian. Warning: Contains flashing images.
12 Feb 2013
Lilies on Mars - Oceanic Landscape (feat. Franco Battiato)
London-based Sardinian guitar bashers Lisa and Marina, aka Lilies on Mars, have been away for what seems like an age. Now they’re back with a new single, showing off their dreamier, softer side. Oceanic Landscape features guest vocals from frequent live collaborator and legendary Italian pop experimentalist Franco Battiato; Bella Union’s Simon Raymonde is already a fan, making it track of the week on his Amazing Radio show. Stream below.
11 Feb 2013
A responsible guide to dealing with urban foxes
Boris Johnson has called for a crackdown on foxes, after a horrible incident in Bromley Downham, South East London, where a fox reportedly bit off a baby’s finger.
Says the Mayor:
“They may appear cuddly and romantic, but foxes are also a pest and a menace, particularly in our cities. This must serve as a wake-up call to London’s borough leaders, who are responsible for pest control. They must come together, study the data, try to understand why this is becoming such a problem and act quickly to sort it out.”
Christian Wolmar, who will run for Mayor in 2016, is having none of it.
“This is just naked attention seeking. Urban foxes may injure half a dozen or so people a year (possibly less) but dogs are responsible for 6,000 hospitalisations annually. The fox issue is therefore trivial. The trouble with politicians like Boris is that they play on fears that statistically are insignificant, and when they end up in power, they take decisions on that basis.”
For anyone worried or curious about urban foxes, this leaflet from Bristol City Council is the best read around. It explains, calmly and without recourse to soundbites, what we know about foxes in cities, and how you should treat them in order to minimise the risks connected with their presence.
We’ve posted this before. And I’ll post it again the next time this comes up.
11 Feb 2013
Recommended: Welsh language play Saer Doliau at the Finborough Theatre
Saer Doliau, the play currently being performed in Welsh at the Finborough Theatre near Earl’s Court, is a novel experience for the English speaking viewer, and one I’d recommend.
The novelties are beguiling enough: the three actors trade their lines in a language whose sounds, let alone words, are utterly foreign to the English ear. Surtitles above the tiny performing area provide the translation. But the greatest pleasure of the watching is not in the novelties, diverting though they are, but in the dramatic force of the play itself. A rural Welsh craftsman fights against the forces of progress. Can he ever hope to win? It’s tightly constructed, well performed, and thoroughly satisfying. A rare welsh bit of theatre, all round.
Runs to 19 Feb 2013, details here.
And for more details on the background to the performance and the play, read our in depth interview with one of its actors Steffan Donnelly.
09 Feb 2013
For the first time in a decade, more Italians and Spaniards than Poles are coming to London to work
Here’s an interesting chart. In 2011/12, for the first time in a decade, fewer Poles than Italians or Spaniards registered to work in London.
What story does this tell? Clearly the number of Poles coming to London to work over the last decade has been significant. This cannot and should not be denied – although note that the chart above does not tell us anything about how many of the people who came have remained, and for how long.
But it also shows a tailing off of new Polish arrivals, and a recent increase in those coming from Italy and Spain. There were just over 17,000 from each country in 2011/12. A decade ago both figures were close to 4,000.
The same caveat, about whether and long these workers will stay, applies to the Spanish and Italian numbers as much it does to the Polish. But with Spain’s unemployment rate currently at 26%, and youth unemployment rate at a barely credible 56%, it’s not hard to draw some speculative conclusions about the forces behind these numbers.
There’s stuff to ponder about here for the thoughtful citizen. Like why some people seem more welcome than others.
The full data set including year by year, borough by borough, nationality by nationality breakdowns based on the number of people gaining National Insurance numbers and giving a London address, can be perused at the london.gov website.
08 Feb 2013
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Only 16 commuters touch in to Emirates Air Line, figures reveal
- The five spookiest abandoned London hospitals
- Margaret Thatcher statue rejected by public
- Nice Interactive timeline lets you follow Londoners' historic fight against racism
- Diary of the shy Londoner
- 9 poems about London: one for each of your moods
- London has chosen its mayor, but why can’t it choose its own media?
- Punk brewery just as sexist and homophobic as the industry they rail against
- An interview with Desiree Akhavan
- A unique collection of photos of Edwardian Londoners
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