Why - Sod In The Seed
Today’s MPfree is from WHY?, the Portland-based trio led by poet-rapper Yoni Wolf. “Sod In The Seed” is the percussion-heavy title track from the forthcoming six-track EP, due out on August 13th via City Slang. WHY? play the Electric Ballroom on October 10th.
03 Jul 2012
Malaysia Airlines' new Airbus route to London should make us query the "Heathrow in crisis" spin
The Evening Standard ran an editorial last week entitled London needs new runway space now. They’ve also knocked up a graphic for the print edition of the paper which announces “Heathrow in Crisis”. We should take this with a pinch of salt, and here’s why.
The Malaysian national news agency reports:
“SEPANG, July 1 (Bernama) — Malaysia Airlines (MAS) launched its maiden Airbus A380 flight to London tonight with Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin sending off the passengers on the flight at a glittering ceremony, here. The superjumbo will be on a thrice-weekly KL-London service before going daily in August.”
Why is this significant? It’s significant because, as it’s configured for Malaysia Airlines, the Airbus A380 can carry 494 passengers. The airline’s existing fleet of Boeings carry a maximum of 386 passengers. That’s an increase of 28% in the number of people who can fit on each flight.
Why am I boring you with the seating arrangements of far eastern airlines? Because if more passengers can be accomodated on the same number of planes, then a growth in capacity can be accomodated by the existing infrastructure. More people can land on the same number of runways.
Labour’s London Assembly member Murad Qureshi puts this under-argued case in a blog post entitled Heathrow is expanding but BAA don’t want Londoners to know it.
“At present Heathrow turnsover 69 million passengers annually and once the redevelopment and construction of the five terminals are complete, it will be able to cope with 90 million passengers a year…It would be helpful for both passengers and for the wider industry if BAA were a lot more truthful about what is actually happening at Heathrow. The discussion should cease to be one way traffic all about lack of capacity and should instead focus on what is happening on the ground right now. Larger planes, more passengers flying and room for more.”
It’s not flat-earthing to suggest that we should maximise current capacity before building more. Capacity can increase and is increasing without the need for more runways or airports. An argument can be fairly made that in time demand will still exceed capacity. But “Crisis? What crisis?” is a question we need to ask before swallowing the air lobby’s spin.
UPDATE: Please see the comments for a well-informed complication to the argument stated here.
02 Jul 2012
Boris Johnson faces £233 million hole in his police budget
The Metropolitan Police service face a massive hole in their budget which they have no developed plans to close, an independent report has found.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary report “Policing in Austerity One Year On” found that that the Met face a £233 million funding gap.
The rest of the country’s police forces put together face just a £69 million gap.
According to the report:
“It is important to note that the Metropolitan Police Service‟s (MPS‟s) residual funding gap represents £233m of the total £302m shortfall, and the force does not yet have a developed plan to resolve this. While £233m only represents around 6% of the MPS budget, it has to be found against a background of high crime rates and low victim satisfaction levels in the London area.”
The funding gap will need to be filled by 2015. The force already has plans to make £537 million of cuts to their budget.
The report found that the Met already plans to cut 3280 members of staff of which 1410 will be police officers. Staffing costs make up around 80% of the forces’ budget.
The cuts will need to be made in the face of rising levels of robberies and burglaries in the capital.
The Mayor Boris Johnson has committed to keeping police officer numbers “high.”
The new Deputy Mayor for Policing Stephen Greenhalgh has insisted that he has a “firm intention” to deal with the funding problem and is “currently developing” his approach.
02 Jul 2012
Five paranoid authority freakouts that could spoil the Olympics
A month from the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games, It’s worth gathering together some of the restrictions, bans, and don’t you dares which seem so essential to defining the modern Olympic spirit. While these controls have been reported individually, it’s only by stepping back and considering them together that we can hope to understand the mindset which has produced them. As we shall see, it’s a mindset governed by two impulses: greed and fear.
1. Brand exclusion zones
Brand exclusion zones will be in place around each of the Olympic venues. A map of each can be found on the Dept of Culture’s website here. Inside the zones, which in many cases extend beyond the venues and out into the public streets, advertising and general commerce will be policed. I use that word advisedly. These zones are a fine example of reason running unchecked into madness. It all began reasonably, in the late 1990s, as a sensible attempt to stop Nike buying all the billboard space around stadiums hosting events sponsored by Adidas. Fifteen years of brand greed and official fear later, what word is there but madness to describe the forced closure of any ATMs near the venues which are not branded by Visa? People inside the brand exclusion zone will have to queue for longer to get the money to spend on the brands which the IOC allows inside the exclusion zone. Everybody loses! Visa announced a net income of $3.5bn in 2011. What are they frightened of?
Diamond Geezer ran through some of the implications of the exclusion zone for the Olympic Park in Stratford here. An excellent post by Kosmograd alerted me to the maps and explains some of the background.
2. Copyrighting the words “London 2012”
The above video, via Big Smoke, shows a Camden market trader reacting to a leaflet telling him what he can’t sell. It’s a bit slow by internet standards, so let me quote him.
“We cannot have the word “London 2012” on any piece of merchandise…somehow LOCOG own the words London 2012 – the name of our capital city and the year. They suddenly own this. Does this not seem a little bit strange?”
Does it not?
3. Missiles on the roof
On Saturday local residents of Leytonstone and Bow gathered to protest against Starstreak missiles, like the one pictured above, being plonked on their roofs. Other batteries are planned for Blackheath, Eltham, Enfield and and Barn Hill. Missiles on homes in peacetime is just common sense, say the installers. Because what if…? Because what if…? The fear must be fed. One of the missiles’ minders, Col John Campbell, says he wants to “de-militarise this and let the sport do the talking.” But how do you demilitarise putting missiles on someone’s roof?
4. Controlling athletes’ tweets
From the IOC’s Social media, blogging and internet guidelines:
“any…postings, blogs or tweets must be in a first-person, diary-type
format and should not be in the role of a journalist – i.e. they must not report on competition or comment on the activities of other participants or accredited persons…”
The IOC, which you might think exists to organise an event which lets the finest athletes of the world express themselves, in fact seeks control over their words. It’s perverse.
5. Banning flags
From a BBC report:
“…a spokesman for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) confirmed the rules would mean the saltire could not be flown over Hampden, which is hosting some Olympic football matches.”
This is because Scotland is not an IOC-recognised country. If they let a Scottish flag fly, the logic goes, what about the flags of other non IOC-recognised countries? So reason runs to madness once again, and the Scottish flag is banned from the Scottish stadium. And Locog enforces it, and the government endorses it, because it’s in the Host City contract and don’t you see that everyone’s hands are tied? TIED BY FEAR!
Control. Restrict. Deny. Happy Olympics!
Images: Map from Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Pictures from Wikipedia
See also:
Vuvuzelas, pets and oversized hats: full list of items you’ll be banned from taking in to the Olympics
If the O2 had to be renamed for the Olympics, it should have been called the Millennium Dome
Follow Mike
Twitter: @MikPollitt
Email: michael.pollitt@snipelondon.com
02 Jul 2012
London agenda for 2 July 2012
1. Hear grime sensation Dot Rotten at Cargo [Le Cool]
2. Ask director Michele Mitchell, Haiti – where did the money go? [Run Riot]
3. Listen to Moscow-born, Bronx-dwelling anti-folk queen Regina Spektor [Time Out]
4. Delve into playwright Steven Berkoff, writers Stella Duffy, Stewart Home and Tom Vague thoughts on London’s urban sprawl [Ian Visits]
5. Explore the British Museum’s North American Landscape [Tired of London]
02 Jul 2012
London agenda for 29 June 2012
1. Spend some time outside, watching a film at Nomad Magical Cinema [Le Cool]
2. View the powerful images from the UK’s foremost sports photographer, Tom Jenkins [Run Riot]
3. Watch the Edinburgh previews of Bec Hill and Jim Campbell at the Hanbury [Don’t Panic]
4. Why bother about going to see something entitled The Pointless Universe [Ian Visits]
5. Drink beer at the People’s Supermarket [Tired of London]
29 Jun 2012
London agenda for Thursday 28 June 2012
1. Hear the sci-fi synths, jangling fuzz and Henry Cooper drum of Frankie Rose [Le Cool]
2. Talks with musicians and directors about the videos created for bands at the Book Club [Run Riot]
3. Party in a container for some serious after-work, free-entry, unlimited-free-beer, spill-out-onto-the-streets-type business at Kigu [Don’t Panic]
4. Dig deep into the legendary archives of St Bride Library to select some artefacts from the history of graphic design and printing at Out of the Box [Ian Visits]
5. Visit the Savoy Museum [Tired of London]
28 Jun 2012
Trust - Sulk
A new video from POSSIBLY Canada’s best S&M darkwave duo. This is the closing track from their debut album TRST, out now on Arts & Crafts.
27 Jun 2012
So close to Henry V, you can smell him
Henry V
Theatre Delicatessen
Until 30 June 30
Walking along Marylebone High Street you would never suspect that hidden away under the old BBC London building is the new hang out for immersive theatre group Theatre Delicatessen. Upon arrival, the audience is ushered down to a bunker by combat-clad cast members. With no pre-set seating area, we perched on sand bags, bunk beds and workbenches; we were on the stage, part of the set.
The small space was decked out as an army barracks complete with its own chapel. I was apprehensive. I didn’t want someone talking to me like I was a cast member; I couldn’t help but remember bad theme parks rides and I hoped they wouldn’t try and get me up and involved because more often than not it just doesn’t work. But Theatre Deli get it so spot on with their take on the, somewhat oversaturated, immersive theatre movement.
My worries were soon forgotten as I was blown away by the quality of acting. I could smell the actors sweat, hear their rapid breathing- I had never been this close to the action and it was thrilling. The overhead fire was rattling away and as we hid below waiting for it to subside I genuinely felt nervous. The audience was fully immersed in the unique atmosphere created by Theatre Deli; they didn’t force or push people in a certain direction, our role was still very much that of an observer, albeit a much more conscious one.
I felt as if I had been on a journey with these people, not just the actors but the other audience members too; we shared a closeness that is never achieved in conventional theatre, instead of passively watching I was actively seeking meaning in the words of Shakespeare. Amazingly, it caters for both the well hardened Shakespeare buff or the complete novice; both will find themselves immersed in the world that Theatre Deli so successfully create.
27 Jun 2012
My Own Mind by Pale Seas
The beautifully atmospheric second single from the Southampton/London four-piece, due physically in September available now as a free download. For another free download, click here. A band growing in confidence by the day, with the songs and presence to match.
27 Jun 2012
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
- A unique collection of photos of Edwardian Londoners
- Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
- 9 poems about London: one for each of your moods
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
- Silencing the Brick Lane curry touts could be fatal for the city's self-esteem
- Nice map of London's fruit trees shows you where to pick free food
- Diary of the shy Londoner
- Margaret Thatcher statue rejected by public
- The best church names in London, and where they come from
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