Council vote sends Walthamstow Dog Track one step closer to the knackers yard

Daniel Binns of the Walthamstow Guardian (as was) live blogged a fractious council meeting last night, in which Labour councillors outvoted Tories and Lib Dems 4-3 to approve development on the site of Walthamstow Stadium. Many locals want the stadium back as a greyhound track. Developers want to build nearly 300 homes.

The live blog tells you what you need to know, including that the final decision could now rest with the Mayor. Those who want the track back think they have his support…

New gallery alert: The Quadriga at Wellington Arch

English Heritage’s Quadriga Gallery opens to the public today. Entry is £4, and includes the chance to walk to the top of Wellington Arch and enjoy what BBC London News last night called “some of the best views of the capital.” A little optimistic, perhaps, seeing as it’s slap bang in the middle of Hyde Park Roundabout.

Make up your own mind by feasting your eyes on a picture of that view here.

The first exhibition is about Stonehenge, and takes in hippies, druggy solstices, and this gorgeous JMW Turner.

British Pathe’s 1948 footage of the arch in use as a police station, complete with a lovely post-war cat, can be watched here.

Painting of Stonehenge by JMW Turner from Wikimedia Commons

Jason Hawkes' aerial film of London at night makes the city look like Bladerunner

Has it ever looked so good?

Jason Hawkes has a website, is on Vimeo and on Twitter @jasonhawkesphot
Via Gizmodo

London agenda for Wednesday 9 May 2012

1. View a series of images both shocking and natural at Young British Naturists [Le Cool]

2. Watch the undead dance at Daniel Linehan Zombie Aporia [Run Riot]

3. Hear Brooklyn’s Friends at Scala [Don’t Panic] (Here’s an old Snipe Like)

4. Ask what has London wildlife ever done for us? [Ian Visits]

5. Book a London at Dawn Photography Tour [Tired of Life]

Fullfact beg for better stats from Mayor Johnson's second term. Good luck with that

Oh I know. There’s boring, damn boring, and local government statistics. But independent factcheckers Fullfact make an excellent point in their open letter* to Boris Johnson upon his re-election:

“…during the recent campaign candidates from the major parties were criticised – most often by one another – for their inaccurate use of statistics. The public was given contradictory information on crime levels, transport fares and house building in the capital, with few channels to sort the accurate claims from the inaccurate.”

They are absolutely right. The current situation is risible. Here’s the Guardian’s Dave Hill’s intro to a post trying to make sense of competing claims about the number of policemen in the Met:

“I’d sooner watch a Hadrian’s Wall’s worth of emulsion dry and a layer of moss form on top than join the interminable City Hall “police numbers” trench war. It is, nonetheless, my grim responsibility to salvage a few respectable facts from the fog of rhetoric and spin.”

Amen to that. Without accurate data, it’s impossible to make fair judgements.

The Mayor should want accurate statistics so that he can measure the success of his policies. But then this is a Mayor who gave misleading crime statistics to a Commons committee and then accused the scrupulously independent public servant Sir Michael Scholar of being a “Labour stooge” when he was called out on it.

Fullfact make the following heartfelt plea:

“It is within your power to provide Londoners with trustworthy statistics.”

The problem is, it’s not in his interests.

*Quoting from this open letter does not mean I am relenting in my continuing war against open letters. But this one at least makes a good point.

Fullfact – Londoners deserve better data: an open letter to Boris Johnson
Dave Hill at the Guardian – Boris Johnson and his falling police numbers
The Guardian – Boris Johnson says UK Statistics Authority chair is ‘Labour stooge’
Snipe – An open letter to the writers of open letters

Brainlove Festival: Andrew Paul Regan

Yesterday we brought you the first interview from the ever-impressive line-up at this year’s Brainlove Festival, and today we bring you another. Oh, we are kind.

You may recognise the fellow in the picture above as Pagan Wanderer Lu. But after unscrambling his moniker back to his birth name of Andrew Paul Regan, he’ll play what’s technically his first appearance at the event (ahem, under his given nom). That’s right, a BRNLV PREMIERE. So don’t miss out and get tickets now!

Here’s what Mr Regan had to say about the event.

Could you introduce a little about yourself first and foremost?
I’m Andrew Paul Regan and due to a typo I was previously known as Pagan Wanderer Lu.

For people who haven’t seen you live before, what can they expect?
They can expect songs about spy conspiracies, cargo cults, checker playing robots, and mankind’s search for meaning in the universe played a man with a beard who may or may not be wearing a hat.

Have you played or even been to the Brainlove Festival prior to this year?
I’ve played every year except once when I went on holiday by mistake.

How was it on these previous occasions?
It’s always been brilliant. From Tracey is Hot and the Clap’s legendary festival opener in year one which led the Windmill soundguy to comment ‘that was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen’, to other actually good stuff like Fuck Buttons, Agoskodo Teliverek’s crazy surf rock, David Thomas Broughton deconstructing everything and putting a massive smile on everyone’s face in the beer garden last year, to downright odd stuff like that band who just dressed as insects and acted like they’d never seen instruments before.

What do you think makes it unique?
It’s different, I’ll say that.

Looking at the line-up, who are you excited about seeing live?
This year probably Dad Rocks! whose album I’ve been enjoying. Been a while since I’ve seen a Mat Riviere show and I’m excited to hear his new album live.

How do you find festivals in general? Do you prefer smaller venue shows?
I think what I do suits small venues where I can get a bit of rapport going with the crowd. Plus it gets a bit stuffy onstage sometimes so it’s nice to be able to have a wander round. Can’t do that when there’s a big metal barrier between you and the crowd.

Do you enjoy the prospect of people that necessarily aren’t that familiar with your music getting the chance to stumble upon you?
Yeah, that’d be great. I think Brainlove festival regulars will know me, but anyone coming for the first time will definitely be pretty open minded and that’s good for what I do.

Could you tell us a little bit about the track you chose to give away as a free download?
It’s called ‘John Frum Will Return’. It’s the first track on the new record. It’s about the cargo cults – native tribes of islands that were used as bases during the second world war. They form superstitions around the idea that someday the western people will come back and bring back all the technology they had before. It becomes like a religion. No one knows who John Frum actually was. One of the tribes worships Prince Philip – even though some of them have met him.

What do you have going on at the moment?
My new album ‘The Signal and the Noise’ is released immediately after the festival, so I’ll be doing lots of gigs and stuff around that. People can pre-order it at my Bandcamp now though and probs get it the week before it comes out – we’ve made a really special handcut-sleeve edition with three possible covers. I’ve actually got quite a few brand new songs that I might start unveiling as well.

Tickets & Lineup Info at: www.brainloverecords.com/festival.