Harry's Blog

The Photography Monthly magazine redesign is truly awful. Hardly any content now (I think they must have sacked most of the team) and what remains is presented in huge text to hide its brevity - like a magazine for primary school children. Used to be a great magazine - just a few months ago. No I won't be renewing my subscription.

The last few issues that have popped through my letterbox have been absolutely dire. If you were willing to actually read every word I think it'd probably take you 15 minutes. There is very little in there worth looking at.

Grumpy Bob has gone, for example.

It was the only photo magazine I subscribed to and it is now a shadow of its former seld. I keep getting emails and mail inviting me to resubscribe but I won't be wasting any more money on the magazine. A real shame - because it was once a great mag.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8510091.stm

A primary school in Weston-super-Mare has banned Valentine cards to save pupils the "emotional trauma" of being rejected.

Yesterday was a very a strange one for our family. Full of mixed emotions. On the one hands our little baby will crawled for the first time. We are amazed at his progress and so very proud of him. This has been a hard week for Will - he had a nasty cold over the weekend and cut his first two teeth - not a happy combination. But now the little monkey is mobile and it's both wonderful and rather terrifying - the twins crawled so much later, once they were more aware of their surroundings.

The joy at our children's growing abilities was tempered by a very hurtful correspondence we received in the post. I won't go into details here. But let me put it this way - I've held my tongue for years now while these people hurt those I love. No longer.

Now before you send the Eco-Stazi round I just want to make clear that I believe that it's more likely than not that mankind is having an adverse effect on our climate. But my beef is the way that views on climate change are being forced on people and the way language is being used to do so.

We're well used to hearing phrases like "holocaust denier" - and rightly such people are pilloried for being ignorant racist fools. But when similar language is applied to people who are unconvinced by what continue to be a lot of contradictory arguments, bad science and total nonsense it's not surprising people remain sceptical about the concept of man-made climate change.

To describe such people as "climate change deniers" is disingenuous, unfair and really a Godwin'a Law own-goal. It also displays a Newspeak style attempt at controlling thought through language.

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So I'm trying to make good on my New Year Resolutions 2010. So far I've managed to take a picture a day for Flickr.

My other goal was to write and record a new song every month. I'm a little rusty to be honest - both in songwriting terms and recording and playing. When you're rusty it's rather hard to launch straight into a big project like a full song - especially the kind of overblown nonsense I write.

So this evening - as a little refresher - I've spent half an hour creating the little noodle you can play via the buttons above. It's just a silly little improv over a simple chord progression - full of awful bum notes and the like, but it's good to actually create something and actually find I can still remember how to use recording software.

Should you be interested in the geeky elements it was recorded on Cubase Essential using Line6 PodFarm guitar tones. The actual guitars I played were a Yamaha bass (actually belonging to my wife) and my beloved old Epiphone Superstrat - which I have just restored with new Floyd Rose bridge, all new wiring and a new IronGear pickup.

Given that I don't drink much anymore, don't smoke and am actually already eating healthier these days my new year resolutions can be a bit more fun this year.

So here's what I aim to do in 2010:

1. Take and then post at least one photograph on Flickr every single day of the year.
2. Write and record one song each month.
3. Play live at least once in 2010.

Will I be able to do these things? They shouldn't be too hard should they?

We're about to start a new year so I thought I'd try a new look for the blog. Hope you like it.

I'm going to change the stock images in the header for some of my own once I've got some free time.

Thanks to everyone for their kind wishes and gifts on this birthday. It's been a lot of fun.

The children have had a great time too, we laid on a little tea party - more for them really than me - and they even got to play pass the parcel.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8382584.stm

I'm not at all surprised by these problems found at Essex hospitals. I'm waiting for St. John's in Chelmsford to join the list - the lazy nursing, poor management standards and an incompetent consultant there led to a tragedy in my own family.

I've decided after many years of book buying to finally get rid of some of them. I am someone who does actually re-read books - I really the whole Aubrey/Maturin saga every year for example - so I've long avoided divesting myself of the shelves full of novels.

But the truth is there are plenty of books I'm not going to read again, either due to them not being any good or that my tastes have changed - and in the case of Tom Clancy novels that covers both.

So this evening I'm going through the shelves and seeing just how many of my books I really do want to keep and read again.

Okay Justin, we get it, you like to dress up as women. That's completely okay, you do what you like.

But you don't have to make a Cbeebies show about it surely?

I have absolutely no idea who to vote for in the next general election. I know some people don't care - but I believe that democracy is important. So I feel I do have to vote. But part of democracy is choice and we really don't seem to have any.

Look at the options:

New Labour - Started well in government (minimum wage, tax credits etc.), then made a complete cock of things by following Bush's insane colonial aspirations in the Middle East. Cosying up to the banks has left us broke and the whole government seems to be in disarray.

Conservative - Oh they look very reasonable now, but I remember the 1980s. While tempted to vote Tory just to annoy my Dad I really can't bring myself to do it. Behind the new smarmy façade I expect the Tory party is as evil as ever. I try not to be evil.

Liberal Democrats - Ha Ha Ha! You're having a laugh.

British National Party - No I'm not mentally ill.

The Greens - See Liberal Democrats.

UKIP - No I'm not the kind of nutter who believes the bigotry published by the Daily Mail.

So there's very little choice really. Which means it's not much of a democracy is it?