This is London

Readers, I don't know what to say. It's hard to describe my feelings about the chaos and disorder on the streets of London without sounding overly-emotional or trite. But this is heartbreaking stuff. Some of the riots are just down the road from here, so for the last couple of evenings we've had an urban soundtrack of police helicopters and sirens. Not that we're scared for our safety. We're just scared for our city. Poor London. I was planning on meeting a friend this evening for drinks at Frank's Bar in Peckham - but we've decided to postpone rather than see ourselves silhouetted against the burnt-out ruins of a multi-storey car park on News at Ten. So, Mr & Mrs That's Not My Age will be staying indoors instead. And, in a personal attempt to reclaim the city, I've started reading London Perceived by V.S Pritchett. A fantastic book. Which has a quote by Henry James that sums up (better than I can) my feelings for this city:



'It is difficult to speak adequately or justly of London. It is not a pleasant place, it is not agreeable, or cheerful, or easy, or exempt from reproach. It is only magnificent....But...for one who takes it as I take it, London on the whole is the most possible form of life.'







And there's an excellent piece by Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of Kids Company in today's Independent. It's called 'Caring costs - but so do riots,' and you can read it here.







Normal service will resume shortly.





Photo: Evelyn Hofer

london ontario

london Ontario

'Cracker' is a form of poison gas extraction can be the local water supply, which can become radioactive or flammable yet to be cracker to break the gas from oil shale in the region. There are many threats:

Even with strict regulatory control, it must be toxic liquids cracker that will be issued on shale gas wells - either through a leak above the ground, or as it is injected these chemicals into wells, or after crushing some of the wastes have been removed from the wells of the products to be taken in other places. We also can not ensure that the methane will not be released radium in the surrounding waters during the crushing. It is imperative that the methane, a greenhouse gas, and leakage from these wells, and cracking the stone always requires a large amount of fresh water, which must be taken from somewhere. There will also be a risk of explosions or earthquakes, we can expect from the pollution of the air around the drilling sites - along with the increase in truck traffic and manufacturing, as well as deforestation.

How destructive and in spite of the excessive extraction of shale gas that would be, and companies are already gearing up to bring breaking in our region. Have been buying tens of thousands of acres of land by the Calgary company looking to start cracking on Lambton and Chatham Kent. Whether or not there is cracking is closer to London, and water supply in the city is still threatened by plans to extract oil shale along the Lake Erie and Lake Huron.

What can we do?

The local residents began calling for a ban on the cracker.
If you can join or support our efforts, and e-mail us at stopfrackingontario at gmail dot com

We have created an online petition called "Do not frack in London, Ontario". and we started a petition as well as printing.

And concern of the cracker, which will be in many ways, you will need much more help to stop cracking in London, Ontario. And oil and gas companies have a lot of money to throw around, but we can not mobilize our people power.
Please encourage municipal officials to ban breakers in London. Their contact information is available in the upper right corner of the web site: http://www.london.ca
Since the imposition of a ban on London will not protect either in the city of Great Lakes water supplies, farms, or around our region, we should ask for a ban on the province-wide on the shale gas cracker.
There are many costs are not so hidden that come with the breakers, there is a government level should not be paid to the control and regulation of these processes the gas.
There are better options than that. We can create green jobs we created a clean and sustainable alternatives. Can be isolated to help us to keep the buildings warm, while the manure can replace artificial fertilizers, we can turn to alternative energies. Those are just examples.

Down By Law - and down with this sort of thing!

Look everyone, it's Jim Jarmusch. I can't believe he's 58 years-old. Anyway, tomorrow Uniqlo launch a collection of men's t-shirts in honour of three of the director's best 1980s films. OK, you know what I think about mid-lifers in slogan tees but much better than a Wills and Kate commemorative mug, no?







And talking of slogans, here are some of my favourite placards from the march in London yesterday. Oh yes, Mr & Mrs That's Not My Age were there to oppose the Government cuts, and our experience was that of a peaceful protest. The coalition even managed to cut the sunshine too, but everyone was good-humoured and well-behaved. Apart from a random bunch of posh boys playing at anarchists. Though it was more of a shuffle than a march, three hours to get from Victoria Embankment to Trafalgar Square.



Watch out for Boy George Osborne:




That's Not My Age loved the War Horse, here it is saying hello to some four-legged friends at Horse Guards Parade



And then later, trotting off down Whitehall:






What have you been up to this weekend?


Jim Jarmusch photo: Vinoodh Matadin and Inez van Lamsweerde