g7uk » state

CCTV is threat to freedom says House of Lords / Jail for photographing police?

GS — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:04:52 +0000

‘The steady expansion of the “surveillance society” risks undermining fundamental freedoms including the right to privacy,’ according to a House of Lords report published today.

Read more at The Guardian

Meanwhile the British Journal of Photography reports that a new law, due to be introduced this month, ‘is expected to increase the anti-terrorism powers used today by police officers to stop photographers, including press photographers, from taking pictures in public places.’

Photographers seen as ‘potential criminals’

GS — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:33:51 +0000

‘Photographers are increasingly being viewed as potential criminals by police, according to the Bureau of Freelance Photographers (BFP), which has reported a rise in complaints from members.’ Read more.

Help needed after the fire in Lever Street, Manchester on 30 April

GS — Sun, 13 May 2007 11:14:04 +0000

On 30 April, just four days after I wrote about the Basement Social Centre in Manchester city centre and said what a unique and absolutely spiffing place it was, a huge fire ripped through a building to the rear of it.
Read more...

The loss of more trees and historic buildings in Manchester city centre

GS — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:51:06 +0000

There has been a big drama lately about the area of land on the corner of Princess Street and Whitworth Street, which is just across the canal from the New Union pub in the gay village.

Low-paying employers

GS — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 05:09:51 +0000

The unemployed are a favourite target for government ministers and tabloid headline-writers. But, strangely, unscrupulous business-owners rarely get a mention.

A true story for Halloween

GS — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:00:16 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I made a final visit to the house where I grew up. My dad had decided to sell and I had to pick up a few remaining bits and pieces.

Though I was actually born in hospital, I spent my years from zero to 20 living in that 1950′s semi-detached. In a small cul-de-sac alongside the former A1 — the main London to Edinburgh road — and just a couple of miles from Newcastle city centre.

Questions that Manchester Pride, Marketing Manchester & the Manchester Evening News don’t want to answer

GS — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 13:14:40 +0000

On 18 August 2006 I wrote to Manchester Pride with the following questions. I received a reply from Marketing Manchester, saying that I would get a ‘prompt reply’ just as soon as Pride was over. More than two months later I am still waiting…

Here is my letter:

Alan Turing: the genius Britain betrayed

GS — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 13:13:56 +0000

In The Times, Ben Macintyre writes about Alan Turing, ‘The genius Britain betrayed’.

Also there is an excellent article from the New Yorker here which speculates that Alan Turing may have been murdered by the state, due to being a supposed security risk.

Advertising watchdog investigates Big Brother’s golden ticket draw

GS — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 14:37:33 +0000

The Advertising Standards Authority is to investigate the Big Brother golden ticket draw amid claims it was a fix, says The Guardian.

According to The Mail On Sunday:

‘It also emerged the clothes and cups used in the task The State of Susie, which have her face plastered on them, were made before all the golden tickets had been found.

The firm hired to make the items has admitted it knew all about Susie before Friday’s night’s live draw.’

Meanwhile, see photos of Sezer and Grace disgracing themselves on a night out. Sezer appears to be wearing his eviction outfit still and Grace seems to have forgotten something…

Bargain Hunters: baps

GS — Tue, 16 May 2006 15:51:47 +0000

UPDATE (October 2008): this video has ‘retired’ into the archives. I’ve left the production notes below.

Bargain Hunters is our reality shopping programme. Can we get some good last-minute deals at the local grocery stores? It’s a race against the clock!

This one was filmed at Easter but I only just got it edited. I think it turned out great — especially considering we had a few issues.

Five minutes into filming it started to rain (April was just SO wet here). Rain has to be extremely heavy to show up much on screen, but even light drizzle isn’t too good for the camcorder. Then my voice recorder seemed to stop working, so we abandoned one thing we had planned (it turned out later I had hit a ‘helpful’ switch which prevents recording and which I’d forgotten was there).

As usual, here are my thoughts on this episode and some of the ideas behind it…

I’m going to scream if I see another lazy PR person, estate agent or journalist refer to ‘vibrant Manchester city centre‘. It’s become a cliche and we need an organised campaign to take the piss out of the unimaginative people who do it. Even churches and the Arndale Centre (with its tacky new catchphrase ‘come together’) are ‘vibrant’ supposedly.

Big Brother starts here this coming Thursday. It was, of course, Big Brother contestant Michelle who famously offered Stuart the chance to squeeze her ‘baps’. As usual I expect to watch the start of the 13 weeks, get bored and stop tuning in, and then return for the last few days to see how it ends.

One of the things I love about editing video is the way all the different elements — picture, live sound and music — sometimes combine to create something unexpected. As I filmed Chris in the lift, in the background there was the sound of a rather emotional woman talking in a loud voice. During editing, when I added the music, I found it became almost like some weird operatic version of our regular theme music. Bizarre.

Chris makes me laugh an awful lot, with his enthusiasm and that slightly-eccentric British thing he has going on. Like a Kenneth Williams or Frankie Howerd, he can make the most innocent remark sound suggestive.

Memo to self: remember not to film broccoli or salad in front of a green screen.