Despairing at more Hackney teen-aged violence - and yet wondering if maybe, just maybe there might be some twisted justice in the world after all?

Wondering if your home’s going to be repossessed or you’re going to be able to put food on the table AND pay your bills?

I can’t fix it, but some people in the States think they know a guy who can!

Right. While I’ve been too busy at work lately and unable to write at all, I have been stopping by my staple blogs. I do like to keep up with Cllr Akehurst of Hackney Labour and see he’s tagged me as follows:

Pick up the nearest book
Open to page 123
Find the fifth sentence
Post the next three sentences
Tag five people and acknowledge who tagged you

Here goes:

“Moreover, the image of the delinquent and the criminal was functional in dividing the working class from itself. Criminology began the search for the typologies and differentiations of individuals, the search for the objectivity of criminality that portrayed the criminal as other than the normal. Furthermore, there developed in the late 19th century a specific relationship of the development of the new forms of criminological knowledge and the institutions of punishment, particularly the prison”.

From the chapter: “Modernity, construction and the social control perspective” in Theoretical Criminology: from modernity to post-modernism by Wayne Morrison, LL.B., LL.M, PhD, Barrister & Solicitor (New Zealand) and my academic hero.

Some Hackney friends don’t appear to be taking the news very well.

Tsk.

Given I could barely leave the house in the days after my father died, I was somewhat surprised to see Frank Lampard back to work for Chelsea so soon after his mother’s death.

This picture was taken after Lampard scored the winning goal by a penalty kick against Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday.

The photograph and this article by Simon Barnes on grief and football are extremely moving; they explain why I’m a fan.

Stoopid is as stoopid does: Flying in the face of common-sense and a clue, Hackney’s own swimming pool Stalinistas bring new meaning to the initials, “PC”.

And Hackney Labour wonder why people voted for Boris.

I was a carrier sailor in the USN.

Video shamelessly nicked from My Point Dave.

Semper Fi

From our “you couldn’t make this shit up” department, we give you the lawsuit to end all lawsuits. And people want to blame the lawyers…

Anyhoo, PC Bitseach and I have been voting. Coming, as I do, from a country where people tend to vote for the (wo)man rather than toe a strict party line, and given that I don’t love any of the candidates, I have to say that I didn’t finally commit myself until I was stood in the booth this evening.

While it is very non-u to disclose for whom one has voted, I will say that I based one vote solely on the basis of that candidate’s hilarious excoriation of Luke Akehurst on a blog.

Who says bloggers don’t make a difference?

Ms Baroque! Wot in the hell is this?

Link to the person that tagged you - i.e. me.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself in a blog post.
Tag six people of your own.
Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know your entry is up.

1. You don’t know me very well, because if you did, you’d know that I cannot follow directions to save my life. Usually, I have a go, give up and ask PC Bitseach to sort it out. Ask me to set up the Sky Box or assemble Ikea. Utterly hopeless.

2. I went to high school where they filmed, “Election“. It’s funny, because it’s true.

3. Prior to that, I attended Kubasaki High School

4. I never liked Oasis in the 90s; I preferred Blur. I’m a decade behind the times generally.

5. I watch Seinfeld DVDs when I can’t sleep. “The Cartoon” and “The Strongbox” are my favourites. I am George Costanza.

6. I’ve got a postcard on my fridge which reads, “La paciencia todo lo alcanza”.

Oh how we laughed!

Trevor Brooks aka Abu Issatwat (sorry Izzadean) and his little pals are going down for terrorist fundraising and inciting terrorism overseas.

So long, Trev. Have a great time in the pokey. With love from all of your Hackney pals.

It appears that the Boycott Nandos people are mounting their last stand against Richard Midda. Their objective is to block Nando’s application for an alcohol licence. Given the number of pubs and licenced restaurants on Church Street already, all I have to say is, “good luck with that”.

My question is: What do you really hope to achieve? The Vortex is gone and not coming back. Richard Midda isn’t obliged to rent the premises out to your “business co-operative” or anyone of your choosing. Your victory, if any, will be pyrrhic. If not Nandos, it will be another big hitter who can afford Midda’s rent. Simple as that.

Sorry.