West London Police Clampdown

To update on todays earlier events, it now seems clear that no bombs went off in West London, but the loud bangs that people heard were probably tear gas/stun guns/other 'specialist' tactics alluded to in the Police statement given this evening.

All four suspects are now in custody, including, it appears, one man arrested in Rome.

It's still not clear whether the dramatic arrest of two women at Liverpool St Station is connected. Police were described as 'sitting on top' of both the women for some minutes until reinforcements arrived.

And so the tension increases. In small ways, little by little.

Bombs near Portobello Road London W10

|| REFRESH OR PRESS F5 AS IM POSTING IN REAL TIME ||[Stopped posting 16.30pm]

listen via the net to BBC Radio 5

Reports are coming in that a 'huge explosion' has been heard in West London, near Basing Street, during a massive armed police operation in the area. Around midday, people in the area heard a huge bang, big enough to 'shake the ground', followed by gunfire. The whole area was sealed off already, so Im not sure if anyone has been hurt. Three men with rucksacks on their backs were seen by local residents getting into an unmarked van, and in another report, a man in a phorensic suit has been taken away by Police in an unmarked Police car.

Basing Street is the location of Trevor Horns Sarm Studios [note for music efficionados], and though this is a trendy area, there are lots of dodgy characters and underground activity of all sorts. The area is also famous for hosting a few race riots in the fifties, seventies and eighties.

Ive lived and worked in and around this area for many years. I feel odd, to say the least...I only live about 2 miles away.........

Last night, I heard heavy military helicopters flying low over this part of London for about an hour, from 1.30am to 2.30 am.

more posts as things develop

13.16pm
Police have revealed that they asked for a 'News Blackout' this morning, so even though the media knew something was going on, they wern't saying anything. [In Britain this is known as a D notice.] The operation is concerned with the attemted bombings of last week.

13.26pm
A man calling the radio is in a flat next to where its all happening, and has said that Police have been negotiating with a man in a flat for about an hour, trying to get him to leave the flat, stripped off in his underpants only. They also fear that he may be being held aginst his will. There's now a live phone connection with the resident, so he is telling everyone what's going on. He's recorded the loud hailer exchanges.

13.31pm
It now appears there may be two separate operations in the same area, one near Portobello Road, one closer to Ladbroke Grove.

13.32pm
Massive explosion. The resident is saying - Oh My God'.....

13.44pm
There are definately two separate operations in the area, possibly more. Both sides of 'The Westway', a huge 6-lane flyover that cuts through the area.

13.46pm
People are being evacuated, in partial dress carrying children and in a hurry.

Police have made 'a number of arrests'.

14.01pm
Two locations, one at Basing St off the Protobello Road, and one at Delgano Gardens/Barlby Road, about half a mile away. This is near Little Wormwood Scrubs, where the abandoned bomb was found.

14.21pm
Police are assisting the Transport Police at an incident at Liverpool Street Rail Station

15.04pm
Police are saying that there's an ongoing security problem at Liverpool Street Station. There is an apparent hostage/seige situation at Delgano Gardens. Police are saying they have made significant arrests, including the 'third bomber' from last week.

15.12pm
Police have arrested two women at Liverpool St station, and after being closed for some time, it has now reopened, to the audible sigh of relief from all London commuters.

15.39pm
The operations in Ladbroke Grove/Portobello Road are essentially over. Three people have been arrested, of those three, two are would be bomber suspects from last week. Ongoing searches are being carried out, so people will be kept away for some time yet. It isn't clear whether the women arrested at Liverpool St are connected with the bombings and attempted bombings.

When it gets down to it, our Police rock the t*ts. Just don't walk around with a thick coat and/or an ipod on.......

RIAA represent criminals - it's official

We know already that Clearchannel run everything in the music industry, price fixes tickets, controls radioplay and all the rest. We know already that the closed shop of the music industry gets carte blanche to do what the f**k it likes with the legal system [ask the downloaders], we know that we don't have a leg to stand on - we're just the 'punters'. So it's mighty refreshing to find out about Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, and his mission to clean up the corruption in the music biz:

Spitzer probe finds gigantic payola scam; Sony will pay $10M
Big-name artists like Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion and Good Charlotte got airtime on the radio because their labels gave away computers and trips to Las Vegas, according to telltale industry E-mails Spitzer uncovered - and revealed yesterday.

"Payola is pervasive. It reaches to the very top of the industry, on the radio side and the label side," Spitzer said yesterday as he announced the first settlement in his probe of pay-for-play in the music industry.[...]

To think they have the nerve to sue individuals for downloading, when they are driving us to source music from alternative suppliers because we cannot be spoonfed repetitive chart bound 'sounds', it beggars belief.

He's going after three other majors, in a payola scam thats bigger than God. These people are rats. As I always say, the brains have left the industry, so now the little men sell dirt for sh*t. The saddest thing is that Sony have to pay the money to charity - does that include the dollars and pounds they've screwed from a few individuals in the courts too? And who runs the charities? The big wig show business wankers. So the money stays 'in house' whichever way you lookat it. Vomit inducing.

nydailynews
nydailynews - david hinckley

Lovebox Weekender and Batman Begins

To break the tension, we mosied on over to Hackney Victoria Park on Sunday to experience the Lovebox Weekender - a hotch potch of marvellous tents, events and happenings headlined by Groove Armada. And very cool it all was too, with my mates Wangos doing the main stage.
+ more Lovebox photos on flickr

Who should I meet when I get there? Two of the acrobats [trapeze artists] who starred in the opera scene in Batman Begins - you know, the bit where young Bruce is scared sh*tless by the 'Bats' swinging out of the rafters during the production of 'Die_Fledermaus [The Bat]' Boito's "Mefistofele",[ref] and hassles his Dad to leave, leading to the untimely deaths of his parents ......anyway, these guys are cooool cats. Their description of doing the scene, with no one on stage but them, [ready for the matting], trying to make 'Bruce' feel and look scared, was hysterical. Ill try to film them describing it.
They have a basic site here, and Im hoping I can help them with media hosting, and even a new site, if I can persuade them.

London Developments Today

Today I got up to the news that a man has been shot 5 times by the Police on the Tube at Stockwell [close to Oval station], allegedly while trying to escape, after allegedly dumping a rucksack on the platform.

In other news, arsonists have attempted to burn down the house in Aylesbury belonging to the family of one of the suicide bombers. The family are not resident there at present, having fleed for their own safety some days ago.

The huge mosque in East London on the Whitechapel Road has been evacuated after telephoned bomb threats. The Imam said they had received many such calls in the past few months, but only 'two or three' had threatened bombs, and none as serious as this. Today is prayer day, and up to 5000 people were expected there later this evening.

On the Mall [near Buckingham Palace], heavy Police activity has been witnessed, with armed Police 'getting a man on the floor and pointing guns at him'.


Update 1 - 15.05
Just got back from using the Tube. I was shocked at how few people were using the trains. Empty platforms, and police everywhere. Police standing outside when I get back out of my own station, Police vans going up and down the streets.

Update 2 - 15.15
The Harrow Road [west London, north of Notting Hill Gate] is now cordoned off while a house is searched. People calling the radio are saying they have heard gunshots.

Update 3 - 17.50
The Chief of Police, Ian Blair [no relation] has made a statement saying that Met Officers face the greatest operational challenge, unknown threats and grave danger. He painted a picture of an enormous ongoing operation that was spread throughout the City. He sounded rattled but defiant.
As I write, the Mall is still closed off.

Update 4 - 19.06
Arrests in Birmingham, bomb alerts in Leicester

live blogging on events here
http://europhobia.blogspot.com/

What Next?

So Oval, Warren St and Shepherds Bush are still closed. Some of the main thoroughfares of London are still closed. The Tube drivers didn't want to go back to driving the tubes....and alot of other tube lines are virtually unusable. Turn's out that the men captured in Whitehall were unconnected to the bombings, as was the bloke in the hospital, or that's what the Police are telling us at any rate.

That's just a London afternoon for you.
BTW, the Aussies look like they're going to stuf us at the cricket.

More Trouble In Town

News just breaking over here in London - more bombs on the tube and buses. As of now, 3 stations: Warren Street, Shepherds Bush and Oval, and a bus in Hackney are affected. Oxford Circus has also been closed. Police are everywhere and Ive just rung a couple of people to make sure they're OK.

And I was looking forward to the start of the Ashes.......

update 1 -14.29:
moorgate closed, thames link, kings cross thames link, euston rd, victoria line brixton onwards....roads closed, police cars travelling in WRONG direction on motorways....St Pauls closed....

update 2 -
unexploded device in shepherds bush green

update 3 - 14.45:
people being told to stay where they are, don't travel anywhere. Iv'e just cancelled an appointment I had this afternoon.
There are now very many police deployed all over Town. Armoured vehicles, and helicopters overhead, sirens blaring from emergency vehicles.

update 4 -
4 explosions or attempted explosions. Potential nail bombs, but only the detonators have gone off........

update 5 - 14.50:
all the major tube lines have now been closed

update 6 -
eye witness reports of someone running out of warren St tube, 'as if they were being chased, or had done something'...also reports of chemical incident......an incident at University College Hospital [close to Warren St Tube]...not clear what's happening

update 7 - 14.59:
men seen getting out of an unmarked car, changing into protective clothing and entering Oval Tube Station, huge cordoned off area outside the Oval.[NB the Oval is the main station for the Oval Cricket Ground, where the Ashes, between England and Australia have begun today]

update 8 - 15.22:
Whitehall has been cordoned off. This is very close to the Houses of Parliament.

update 9 -
man chased and arrested by armed police outside Downing Street

update 10 - 15.30:
a second man has been apprehended at Embankment Tube Station, after being chased by armed police from Whitehall

update 11 - 16.17:
in the College Hospital, armed Police have sealed the building to search for a 'male, 6'2" asian....', Scotland Yrad has released a statement saying they cannot confirm or deny any arrests, but confirmed 3 explosions, at ?Moorgate correction: Oval, at Warren St, on the 26 Bus in Hackney, and an attempt to set off a device in Shepherds Bush. They are also making a definate link with events 2 weeks ago.....

... the man in question was wearing a blue top with a hole at the top with 'wires protruding'.

update 12 - 17.30:
Kings Cross has been closed. Although many reports are coming out saying things are generally getting back to normal, there are now new reports of other stations closing, being evacuated, or passengers not being allowed off trains.

Sightings of backpacks are also featuring heavily in the reports.....

update 13 - 18.30:
It now looks as if the bombs were real. Contrary to earlier reports that suggested these were only detonators, meant to cause maximum disruption, but now theyve announced that explosives have been found at all the sites. They just didn't go off.

Cycling - it's the future

Iv'e been doing up my bike.

My bike is an interesting bike. The frame is a Raleigh 'Bomber' [haha], with surf style [almost like a scrambler motor bike] wide bars and Muddy Fox wheels and tyres. Shimano bog standard 12 gears, crap brakes. It is all chrome. Everywhere. When I bought it 12 years ago for £75, someone offered me £150 in the street for it. Perhaps I should have sold it, as it's now worth nish, but it was the beginning of the chrome bike fashion, so I keep it for sentimental reasons. And who knows, I may even start cycling regularly now that Tubes don't look so inviting.

Since the Tube bombings, the sales of cycles in London have gone through the roof.

New Vlog for Helpline

Just posted a new vlog on the nerd helpline page - Soho in the evening....atmospheric capture of some cool buskers and rickshaw guys...check it out.
Let me know what you think, it's all experimenting at the moment, so any feedback is cool. If you have a few minutes, check out the other recent posts too....it gives more of the vibe we're trying to create.

Cricket

The weekend reaction in London to the bombs - a Sunday afternoon on the village green watching the cricket, in the shadow of the old church and the ancient oak and beech trees. What peace, what serenity.
wiki cricket history

Thing was, it was a great example of what Ken Livingstone said in his speech - the fantastic tolerance of all in London. One team was two thirds white guys, with a third afro-carribeans, the other team was asian, possibly indian, with one or two afro carribeans. Everyone wore white, as is the rules, and eleven men went against eleven men. I'm not sure who won, but the first team had scored 180 runs, and the second team were on 130, with a good few overs to go.

Hands Across the Water

Everything has been almost back to normal today, after a quiet evening last night. People seem unusually friendly, courteous and polite.

Funny thing is, I received no calls whatsoever from my friends who live outside of London, but still in Britain. Only my mother called to make sure I was OK. I got emails from my friendly brothers and sisters across the water though, so Im saying a big thankyou to all you Yanks - good people!
Why didn't anyone email or call from the rest of the UK? I think it's a certain parochial snobbery, a belief it's all 'Blairs Fault' or some other ill-informed point of view, or maybe the dreaded 'rich southerners can f**k off'. Im certainly puzzled by it. I think other Brits should show a bit of solidarity, after all, it could be Manchester next.

thx to fat for the flag........

Under Attack

So, taking into account what's been happening in London today, I feel it's pertinent to mention the book I'm reading at the moment - James Baldwin's 'The Fire Next Time' [Dial Press, 1963].

A clearer indictment of western society and it's treatment of it's powerless members, neighbours and economic dependents would be hard to find. The truth in this book is searing, burning off the page. Baldwin encapsulates all the reasons why the disaffected can be beyond normal moral action - they have nothing to lose. His explanation of the beginning of the Nation of Islam and his meeting with Elijah Mohammed, surrounded by the same oppulence that pervades the Christian church, both then and now, is testament to the confusion and despair that drive religion/escapism/extremism.

His background growing up in Harlem illustrates the dead end existence of the people there, or in any ghetto, providing the necessary incendary frustration and hate, but no escape.

This is why we were bombed in London today, and any sorrow or pity, [guilt?], that those who do not share our riches may feel, will be short-lived, as they struggle to feed their children, or clothe themselves.
It may seem harsh to say this at this time, but nothing will change when so much is wrong.

I recommend everyone to read this book.

Update 13-07-05
Seeing there wasn't a page in Wiki for The Fire Next Time, I created one.

London Gets the Olympics!

After having come to the rescue twice in the last 100 years of the olympics, we now finally have a proper chance at hosting it without having to step in at the last minute.....it really is quite exciting, to say the least. The Olympics , in my back yard. I'm bloody gobsmacked.
check out the webcam for Trafalgar Square, where there are lots of celebrations going on:
http://www.camvista.com/england/london/trafsq.php3
And here's a litle bit of history:
> London Olympics 1908
> London Olympics 1948

> The Official Olympics Site

Update: 8/7/05
London is the first city ever to host the Games three times. Whooaaah. Whose the Daddy now?

Videos of G8 Protests at Edinburgh

Some great video clips of what's been going on in Edinburgh, from UK Indymedia. Brilliant clips from on the ground, radio streams [complete with crusty punk soundtrack], and a top blog page covering events in detail. Go straight to the videos here.

G8 Blogging

So I've been checking the blog by Paul Mason, the BBC Newsnight journalist, on the going's on at Edinburgh, in the run up to the G8 conference.
He's a sound bloke from up north who reminds me of other BBC types I've ran into - Sean Langan and Sean McAllister - sincere, talented freelancers who get onto the BBC and give it some backbone.
Lots of good links to G8 blogs and those 'outside the fence', check it out to follow what's actually happening each day - on the streets and in the halls of power. He posts from the middle of rioting anti-capitalists from his P910i sony cell don't you know.....well cool I'd say.

The Aftermath of Glastonbury and Live 8 - I Predict a Riot

It's hard to put into words how I felt watching Geldof lecturing the masses, in the washed out quagmire that was this years Glastonbury - John Lennon's famous 'everyone in the gallery can rattle their jewellery' came most readily to mind. No ordinary person can now even afford to attend Glasto anymore - £130 is WAY too much for your average citizen. And the constant assertions by the smug Eavis' clan as to how great the rain made everything could only be made by people for whom a few hundred pounds wasted is no problem. Adding insult to injury by having to watch these pampered t**ts banging on about poverty made the toes curl.

Then Live 8: I live locally to central London, so was able to go and have a look at what was actually happening in Hyde Park, not just rely on the media edited vision of proceedings. It was a rather sad affair really, reminding one of an elitist garden fete, with the richest guests afforded 'sectioned off' areas of the crowd. I expected thousands to be thronging the streets in the surrounding area, but apart from a few tourists, there was nobody. ALL of Hyde Park was fenced off - a public space where the public were not allowed in. There were obviously plenty of people inside the fence, but large swathes of the park were totally empty.
So why fence off the whole park? Everyone likes a party, but the political message was akin to: 'Inbetween our expensive foreign holidays, weekends away and gluttonous dinner parties, why not spare a thought for the poor africans - after all, we won't have to do anything'. Except buy the DVD, brought to you by EMI.


- the Globe and Mail article: 'They know nothing about Poverty'.

As I write, the real protesters have begun the real riot at the start of the G8 conference in Edinburgh - armed with staves and park bench wooden stakes. Now we'll find out who wants to align themselves and their comfortable media guilt to the infamous anti capitalist anarchists of Britian - the very people who have made this whole issue come to the fore. Watch the news on this - it's too new for any good links yet......I predict all out street fighting - and possible fatalities.

19:25pm
Update 1
yahoo link to burgeoning riot
and sad proof of the real beneficiaries