Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Fucked The System

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A step by step guide how to fuck JSA and why you should and shouldn't do it

How to recognise sellers of snake oil.

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Bad Science – Ben Goldacre. Altnation regulars will likely be aware of at least the existence of Goldacres' blog Bad Science in which pseudoscience and quackery are exposed given the amount of threads Les posts to it. I don't know how many of you follow the links but I hope its a lot. Well, now he has released a book on the subject. It seems to be a compendium of the “best of bad science” in one way and a guide to spotting pseudoscience in another. In its first guise it is an entertaining, if sometimes troubling, read and lets us all have a chuckle at how GCSE level science is spun out into ridiculous and unverifiable claims. Sometimes it's troubling to realise how gullible other people can be, and at other times it's troubling to realise how gullible you yourself have been. Yet no matter how gullible you or other people appear to have been Goldacre seems to be as far from the scolding science teacher as possible poking fun at honest mistakes and ignorance. Which is refreshing...

An interview with me taken from the Hub magazine

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Oxjam will be kicking off again this October with hundreds more events raising money for Oxfam. It’s a music festival with a difference - anyone can organise, play or attend, with all proceeds helping relieve poverty and suffering worldwide. Launching on the 26th of October with a bang, Oxjam celebrates its third year in Glasgow with a whopping 60+ lineup of musicians and performance artists over one day in the West End's trendy Ashton Lane. Glasgow has been continually the most successful city in the UK for presenting the best bands and raising the most money for this very worthwhile cause. The Hub meets this year’s Oxjam Regional Manager, Mhairi Love, to learn why. Why do you volunteer with Oxfam? I started out nearly four years ago working with Outreach (those lovely folk who pester you at T in the Park and the like) and have since worked as a shop volunteer, in campaigns, and organised my own Oxjam events. I don’t think it’s necessarily that Oxfam are more ‘deserving’...

Part III. The Two Minutes Hate.

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The third and final installment in a three-part critique of the patriotic mindset; approaching the issue of patriotism in much the same way that the issue of religion has been tackled by recent rationalist thinkers.

Part three deals with the religious ritual methodology which underlies the patriotic sentiment, and how politicians have used this to their advantage. It also looks at the relation between patriotism and cultural development, and in conclusion, emphasises the importance of the broader, inclusive approach of humanistic, cooperative ideals.

Broken relationships make good albums, apparently.

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An album by a Scottish indie band centring around the end of a relationship and a near-suicide probably shouldn’t be uplifting. Especially when you consider that this should be Frightened Rabbit’s difficult second album. Surprising then that this is a record which puts a spring in your step and a smile on your face even as you run for your bus at the end of yet another rainy day. Album opener “The Modern Leper” starts slowly but with intriguing lyrics such as “A cripple walks amongst you all you tired human beings” carrying you to its glorious and uplifting chorus, while “Good Arms vs. Bad Arms” is an indie-folk ballad which is as much of a heartbreaker as it is a big warm musical blanket. The lyrics are always heartfelt and honest, as anyone who has ever split with their significant other will agree when they hear the line “I might not want you back, but I want to kill him,” whilst “I think I’ll save suicide for another day” is strangely hopeful. From start to finish,...

Part II. Father Knows Best.

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The second installment in a three-part critique of the patriotic mindset; approaching the issue of patriotism in much the same way that the issue of religion has been tackled by recent rationalist thinkers.

Part two briefly discusses the 'personification' of nations, the portrayal of the nation as a patriarchal figure, and the incentive that patriotism provides for war efforts.

Part I. Two Wolves And A Lamb.

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The first installment in a three-part critique of the patriotic mindset; approaching the issue of patriotism in much the same way that the issue of religion has been tackled by recent rationalist thinkers.

Part one deals with the main basis of defense for the patriot; namely, the invocation of ideals such as freedom and justice as reasons to support the nation.

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Two halves don't make a whole.

There really are idiots out there who ruin it for all of us. Once again they're not censors.

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"These are the armies of the night. They are 100,000 strong. They outnumber the cops five to one. They could run New York City.".... but they couldn't. Not really. Shut up and watch the film. It's only a tagline. It's only a film. Behave yourself

The evils of Coke.

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You may or may not have heard of Mark Thomas, you may or maynot be familiar with the Mark Thomas Comedy Product. Mark Thomas can probably lay claim to being the driving force behind getting rid of the protest permits for Parliament Square and for being one of the countries best satirist activists. If you're not familiar with him that's a bit of a shame and you are encouraged to seek him out. You will, however, definetly be familiar with the soft drink known as Coca-Cola. You might be aware, for instance, that the reason Santa is often portrayed in red and white is down to the advertising behemoth that is the Coca-Cola corporation. You might even be aware that this is in no small part down to an obscenely large advertising budget that could pay to run the UN for the next 33 years. There are probably few people who don't know Coke used to contain cocaine (a fact nearly so widely known it's hilarious that the Coke corporation never mention the "c word"…) but how many people...