The greatest show on Earth
21/8/2009
Is probably an over-used phrase. But right now, I think there truly is nothing more spectacular than a U2 gig. I was a little nervous about it: would it turn out that the time I saw them in Cardiff on the Vertigo tour had been a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and I'd be disappointed?; would bringing my mum to a gig with one of those popular beat groups so enjoyed by today's youngsters prove too much for her?; given that I enjoyed the last album more than this one, was it inevitably going to be a less impressive tour?
Fortunately, as I say, they're still stunning live, and even my aged parent now understands why it's worth queing most of the day to get close to the front. A large part of the sheer spectacle of the thing, of course, is down to Willie Williams, tour designer extraordinaire, who's been responsible for the set, lights, effects and video on U2 tours for 25 years, and is still the best in the business. So it was a pleasure to be able to sing happy birthday for him, in his home town of Sheffield :-). A man I'd love to be...
I-Spy II
15/8/2009
Whilst we were pootling up and down the severn and associated waterways on the narrow boat, we happened to stop at Gloucester docks, and popped into the town to get a takeaway. There seems something slightly wrong about the juxtaposition I saw there...
G20 update
4/8/2009
For those still keeping track of this (and I hope people are, since if the BBC article gets lots of hits they'll keep reporting), there's a little more news on the death of Ian Tomlinson after being assaulted at the G20. The IPCC have finished their report, and handed it on to the CPS. (For those who aren't up on proceedings, as I understand it the IPCC's job is to gather and collate evidence in a case such as this, and they then give the evidence to the CPS who decide whether it's a strong enough case to warrant prosecution. In a normal case the police themselves would do what the IPCC do here, but for obvious reasons they can't when the accusation is against a police officer/officers).
The problem, of course, is that all sorts of fellows who went to the right schools will now be putting pressure on the CPS to drop the case. They'll tell us it's not in the public interest for us to find out that some police officers aren't up to the job, or something... The only way I can see that we can counterbalance this is to put our own pressure on the CPS. Remind them that we're still watching, and that it'll hurt the public confidence in the independence of the CPS if they submit to the pressure. Well, it can't hurt to try, at least.