The Fruitcakes, 11th July, 09

The feckin christians are out en masse today in central London. The jesus fellowship an evangelical, charismatic incarnation of godophiles are marching from Trafalgar Square to Oxford Street and muckin with our plans to visit the Salvation Army charity shop in Princes st, W1, the stupid bastards. Normally I would hoorah disruptions to the smooth running of the disgusting thoroughfare Oxford St., but not on account of this bunch of tossers. And lo! I'm not safe indoors either. Bear witness to an example of the foul literature we're besieged with in Peckham. Just fuck off christians!

Oh hideous efficiency

In 1915 a horrible ill was visited on the office worker, for it was in that year that the Steelcase Corporation invented The Modern Efficiency Desk and doesn't the very name deliver shudders to the spine. The new desk consisted of a mere slab of metal atop 3 drawers and essentially was unlockable. Prior to its existence all desks were modelled on the Wooton Patent Cabinet Office Secretary (pictured). This design, unfurled, revealed a texture of cubbyholes where one could secret away nibbles, pornography or any time-wasting treat and, of course, work not yet done. All this and you could lock it up too. The Wooton patent enabled, "the conscientious withdrawal of efficiency" (Thorstein Veblen), hence its demise. The metal slab made shore your thoughts were not your own and brought shortly in its wake, oh horrible! open plan.

OOH BRIGHT

Sculpture by James Henry Pullen, a Victorian autistic savant, known as the Genius of Earlswood Asylum.

Pullen had a genius for contriving complex machines.

Snatch of Hugh Metcalfe's Script

Fuck Off Batman at The Montague Arms, 3rd July 09

Open Letter to Michel Prigent

Gorblimey Michel,

I was full out flabbered, aghast on hearing your messages this morn. If I shared with you, the admirable ability to loudly whistle in exclamation, I would've let off a right ripsnorter. The lately deleted article was intended in praise of Principia Dialectica and your good self. Let me take on, one at a time, any points you may have misconstrued offensive. On 'relishing English colloquialisms', me too! what a great thing it is to enjoy language; I too, often laugh - delighted with certain modes of expression. On, 'he likes a pint or 20'. Obviously the figure 20 is merely preposterous hyperbole or would you like to boast otherwise? Yes, you do brag and so what! its funny. Every one I know, shares with us, a love of downing pints with their mates - to mention your liking a drink is to embrace you and slap you on the back. Perhaps, I should've asked your permission to use the photographs. I did show you them at the time of their taking and thought you approved. My apologies for misnaming Robin. That was a shoddy and lazy error. I will not, however, revise my opinion on your waste-of-time feud with Stuart Home. Why spend so much time and effort on someone you can't abide? My intention in posting the article in the first place was to nudge the few friends who ever look at this blog in the direction of Principia Dialectica, and hopefully, this at least has been achieved. You write good and interesting essays on important subjects (so again, why bother with the Home thing?). From Peckham we wish you all good and long may you thrive.

Uncle Bunt, hero, has died.

Very sadly, Paul's great uncle Bunt has died. He was 80 years old and an heroic figure. His working life was spent at the Grantham site of BMARC, the British Manufacture and Research Company. Many of Paul's relatives worked at this arms factory which specialised in the design and production of aircraft cannon and naval anti-aircraft cannon, including his mother and his grandfather. It was either that or the chicken processing plant for Grantham's working class. Albert Pulling, or Bunt to his friends, was a notorious figure on site who deliberately broke down the machines he was working on whenever he fancied a break. What admirable and correct thinking attitude! Another example of Albert's impeccable behaviour was his habit of keeping a bog roll under his hat, "cause you never know", and I'm sure he wasn't a man to not dawdle over a shit, so as to waste more valuable, production time. If the Company name, BMARC rings any bells for you, it may be to do with Jonathan Aitken who had a role with 'Marco's', as the locals called it, as a non-executive director and was involved in well dodgy arms deals, therein, a position he continued to profit from when he became involved with GEC Marconi in 1998 as his Saudi connections also proved useful to that arms-dealing operation. GEC happened to be my first employer when I was 16 and living in Wembley. I'm very happy to boastfully report, that in common with the admirable Bunt, I wasted hours on hours of company time and would regularly achieve 3 hour lunch breaks in the pub and was introduced to the Freak Brother's comics by my sincerely time-wasting comrades. So up yours BMARC and GEC.