R.I.P. Tony H. Wilson

Sad news came last week that Manchester "Impresario" Tony H. Wilson died. He was a very important figure for Manchester, managing or being a guru to many of the city's most influential bands, Joy Division/New Order & The Happy Mondays to name but two (or three) seminal acts.

Because of this he played a huge role in establishing the 'Madchester' scene which played a part in my decision to move to Manchester to attend university there in the early nineties. I loved the place so much I stayed for 13 years! Living in London now I can appreciate more Wilson's civic pride in Manchester & I'm pleased to have memories of going to his club, The Haçienda, & of seeing him having a drink like everyone else in one of Manchester's many excellent pubs.

The Guardian have devoted a whole section to him, well worth a read.

10 Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature

Intriguing & controversial discussion points even if you end up just thinking of situations that contradict the arguments.

Beliefs

After taking a quick online test, apparently these are my religious beliefs, such as they are.

Homepages

I've been playing around with iGoogle quite a lot recently & think it's the best thing I've used on the internet for ages, in fact when I first started using the web I wanted to have everything in one place & now I finally can.

As well as iGoogle there are several others each with various pros & cons: check them out.

Resurrection

**Originally posted in the now extinct WordPress version of my site.**

The blog is back. Admittedly it wasn't up to much before but it didn't deserve to be mistakenly deleted by my hosting provider! Anyway, it was backed up but I'm starting afresh; hopefully there'll be a trickle (don't want to be too ambitious) of updates from now on.

A little bit of politics

Understandably there’s been a huge kerfuffle over the latest alleged UK terrorist plot to blow up a load of transatlantic planes mid-air. Sadly predictable though was the following chaos, cancellations & recrimination at British airports trying to cope with the increased security measures.
I was sent this excellent article from The Register though which was my favourite one of the many opinions out there & which gives a pertinent transatlantic perspective.

Boxwood Cafe

Before I forget, I wanted to mention a lovely night out I had at the Boxwood Cafe last week, in Kensington. It’s one of Gordon Ramsay’s, he’s the chef on TV who swears a lot.

We booked a 3 courses for £21 deal through top table & thoroughly enjoyed it. It seemed to my untrained palate that every ingredient could be tasted individually & that they all combined to make a whole that was delicious.

What I really liked was the ambience though; it was modern & friendly, not really pretentious at all which I had expected it to be. I also liked the enjoyable buzz of the place, which is a change as sometimes the noise of London can get to me, but there was not a spare table in the place yet it didn’t feel crowded or ‘too much’.

I’ll have to go back some day & dine a la carte.