Middlesbrough Boro Ironopolis

Trying to free up space on my hard drive, found some old footage of Middlesbrough I shot before I left (yes, I used a potato – very funny.) Decided to stick it on YouTube with a Ghostbusters tune behind it.

The Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and don’t check pupil dilation. Paul Daniels is from Middlesbrough.

Every man, woman and child should try a Parmo before they give up the ghost.

I wish I’d filmed more; there’s another video a comrade and I made for Teeside University: it can be found here.

January 17, 2013 0

Our Rock is an Alcoholic and We Are Happy-Hour. Part Three

G.A.Harker. Don Quixote: Windmill — ‘Tis better to gasp one’s last breath twixt the unspoiled hill and valley than suffer the ignominy of the turbines!

Question Time. BBC One, 10.35 Thu, 17 Nov 2011

Against a more newsworthy day’s backdrop of the biggest strikes in 30 years and my own Senior Lecturer – a former journalist at the News of the World – being arrested in connection with the Leveson phonehacking enquiry (later bailed until March), I have a deadline. I should’ve written this a week ago but I’m shit and lazy and I think I might be losing it, again. Continue reading “Our Rock is an Alcoholic and We Are Happy-Hour. Part Three” →

December 1, 2011 3

TV Review: Hillsborough Disaster Debate

Inside Out, North West. BBC One, 19.30 Mon, 17 Oct 2011

There are a few news stories that I remember from my early childhood, events so huge that despite barely comprehending them I couldn’t fail to be moved by the public outcry.

There were the strikes and riots synonymous with Thatcher’s Britain, together with atrocities dealt out by murderous swine both foreign and domestic; the effects of these still resonate and define policy today.

I didn’t know a thing about the game itself, but the Hillsborough disaster of 15^th April 1989 that resulted in 96 Liverpool F.C. fans being crushed to death and some 766 more being injured created such a furore of attention that it would have been impossible to not get swept away by the anger and frustration at both the failings of the Police, and the deception of the media. Continue reading “TV Review: Hillsborough Disaster Debate” →

October 27, 2011 3