Thursday, February 23, 2006

Leeds girls aren't supposed to sound like this


If no one's heard Corinne Bailey Rae your life just isn't fulfilled. This woman has the voice of an angel. You can catch her songs on her website.

She also did a session in the Live Lounge with Jo Wileyyesterday. She covered the Editors Munich and it is absolutely beautiful. This girl will go far.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

1,2,3 and relax...

No not the song by Europe. Nicky hit viable on Sunday so it could be any day now. Eben was 9 days early so there's every chance that this one will be as well. Nic's now at that stage where she just wants it out. The midwives came round yesterday and brought the home birth kit with them, which made it all seem quite real. It's just sitting there now tempting fate.

I have to say although she's pissed off with being pregnant Nic's really looking forward to the birth, she's at Active Birth Yoga tomight which always really sorts her out. She's almost qualified to teach herself now, so she loves being taught as it takes all the pressure out of it. Ebs was fairly simple, 8 hours of established labour and apart from being born in our toilet doorway, there were no complications whatsoever. I 'm really looking forward to it now as well, I've finally got to the stage at work where if it happened now I could drop everything, which frankly was my only stress so that's now out of the way.

So all in all an oasis of calm, breathe.

DIY relief

No it's not what you're thinking (Span). We have finally finished both rooms and I'll admit it. I'm actually very pleased with the reults. The babies room is a little bit empty at the moment as we don't know whether it's a boy or a girl and as it's not going to be in there for a few months we can finish off the detail when it arrives.

But Eben's room is absolutely corking. And to prove I wasn't lying here are the pictures (sorry I've got all pleased with myself).



Wednesday, February 15, 2006

How dodgy are you?

I'm happy to report that I should have been banged up for 101 years and paid £2,000 in fines. How dodgy are you?

Monday, February 13, 2006

It's almost impossible to post now

I'm getting spotted left, right and centre. It's become almost completely impossible to post.

Why invading Iran is not the only option

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 7 month tenure in Iran has been an interesting period of interenational politics. He has made a number of bold gestures: 1. His holocaust denial 2. His assertion that he wishes to 'wipe [Israel] off the map' 3. His stubborn and bold resumption to Iran's nuclear programme. All have been bold high profile statements of international intent.

However, he has had what would be considered by most standards an absolutely disastrous introduction at a domestic level. His mandate was provided by the considerable Iranian poor. His 'back to basics' fundamentalist approach appealed to an electorate who wanted strong domestic leadership. However, in office his promises are proving difficult to implement as Tehran's more moderate business class are proving a difficult block to his domestic reforms. Unlike Afghanistan where the Taleban held power or even Hamas who have gained power (or what passes for power) on a fundamentalist standpoint, Iran has real economic clout and the middle class Iranians hold that power in Iran. What he's finding domestically therefore is that he is having to appease the middle classes which fundamentally goes against what he stood for in the election and the poor section of the country is becoming restless as to why nothing's happening.

Add to that, that he has had 3 nominations rejected in parliament for Iran's OPEC representataives and he has lost the confidence of the Supreme Religious Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is leaning increasingly towards the defeated conservative pragmatist and more moderate Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

Which brings me on to my point. Why are Western powers posturing and threatening sanctions and invasion (we are being softened up in the same way we were before iraq) when there is a much simpler option? An option that is not politically laudable, but nevertheless avoids the inevitable tensions that even the threat of invasion will garner. It's millenniums old but seems to be being overlooked. Yes it's good old regime destabilisation. With a domestic position that is tenuous to say the least, it is by no means beyond us to support Rafsanjani and to support the will of an increasingly strenghthened Iranian middle class. The big issue that faces us at the moment is Khameni's hardline position on the cartoons, it's a posiion that will sit well with the poor and creates a strong alliance again with Ahmadinejad.

Sanctions or war are not the only way, I simply don't understand this show of strength that seems the default position of the US and the UK.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Finally banned altogether

Well. I've finally been banned from the Five Live boards. I reregistered twice today, following the use of the word 'cunt' and my subsequent premoderation. It was an appropriate usage in my opinion, but I guess some people find it offensive so I accept my premoderation. However, I now recieve the following message whenever i try and post:

'We're sorry, but you are restricted from posting to this site.'

Ah well I suppose it had to happen eventually. I don't seem to be able to use a different browser, or a proxy server. I already can't access using a Mac as for some reason I'm banned at that level, so I'm left with the blog. I'll see you all on the blogs people.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

My wonderful wife

Well I've basically been in bed for the past 3 days with what I think is actual flu. I have to be careful, it's a word not to be bandied about lightly I know, but to be honest every time I get up, I'm absolutely knackered within 5 minutes and dissolve on the sofa with hot sweats.

So, my 8 month pregnant wife has had to do everything (well slightly more than she does on any normal day, I can't really say I'm some sort of super man)- plus be sympathetic and she has been genuinely sympathetic bless her. Which makes me think maybe I am ill because I know I'd be given short shrift otherwise.

Anyway today when I got up to go to the loo she was at the top of a ladder putting the brackets on the wall that she'd just jigsawed downstairs out of a spare piece of mdf. I need to get better soon.