Moving home!!

I'm moving home .. to wordpress, gradually going to take this blog down and put the wordpress one up. 

My new, more proffessional looking website will be at

http://liztopia.wordpress.com/

Check it out ! It's going to eventually have poems, doodles and videos and everything...

Gig and blog changes !

First of all, thankyou for everyone that came to the ladyfest comedy gig and made it as undeniably awesome as it was. I had a brilliant time performing and felt privalaged to do so. 

It has inspired me to do some things. 

1. Perform more, and push myself more, to stop being so moany and 'but I hate the local scene' blah blah blah, to get out more, be more confident and more like a duck in terms of letting water fall from my back. 

2. To get a new blog. I have been writing this for a few years now and I reckon some of this waffley stuff can be archived and removed from the internet. I want something a bit more organised and proffessional in its approach.

3. More ladyfest comedy nights! Less shame about being a comedian, it doesn't really help matters, I just need to be realistic about things and keep checks on whether I am turning into a massive wanker. 

4. Eventually to get a proper website. 

But yes, I would like to keep this blog until the stats at the bottom get to 10 thousand but, just to let you know I am putting something else together at the moment

ADVERT ALERT

Ladyfest flyers in all their wonderfullness !!

 

This one has my name on it! 

Aventureland - capsule review...

Sitting at home watching Aventureland, it hasn't finished yet, I shouldn't write a blog review of it until it's over - so far though, it's enjoyable, but I'm bored (if I was that gripped would I be writing this? probably not). I'm bored of gaining an insight into what it's like to be an intelligent white, sexually pent up middle class indie boy who suffers setbacks but is ultimately surrounded by beautiful mildly fucked up women, who he can feel all artistic and anguished over.

I feel like I have seen that film so many times I could play the lead role. I feel like I have seen this movie so many times throughout my teenage years and early twenties I have morphed into a weird female version of that character.

As I type there is a Cure song (I won't spoil it by telling you which one) of course there is...the fucking cure - did everyone in the eighties express their longing through Robert Smith? Genuine question, I was too young to have any longing in the 80s. I remember expressing some early longing to the supernaturals, which is definately not something you should admit on the internet.

So basically a boy wants to go around Europe, but it turns out his parents can't pay for him anymore so he has to get a crappy job, poor wee lamb. Luckily though, he manages to find a job in a kitsch place with 'characters' and indie T shirts, and a lot of hot women and other white people of his age he can bond with. In particularly a rich girl who has problems, lucky for her she is skinny and can express her anguish through mild promiscuity (as well as the Velvet Underground and a Lou Reed T shirt). Everyone gets drunk, stoned - there are sexual mishaps,unpheasable virginity and family conflicts.

The film really isn't as bad as this facetious review makes it seem. I think it hit a bum note with me, partly because I can't afford to do postgrad study after Uni (a fact that this movie reminded me of, though I'm not nearly as whiney). Also I get bored of the message that beautiful fucked up promiscuity is what intelligent teenage girls should aim for (cos that what the creative boys like, you can be a muse!!)BORING. I'm also a bit bored of the woes of the relatively affluent (male/female - good soundtrack or not)

I'm not saying rich white people shouldn't be in movies, just not every movie.

On the plus side, I heard the song 'Amadeaus' for the first time in this movie, which is referenced in the Selma marries Troy Maclure episode of the Simpsons, in the wonderful song 'Dr Zeus'.

In other non geeky news, I am doing a gig in a week and a half ! It's part of awesome DIY arts festival, Ladyfest

Here's a bit copied from the website.

Thursday 24th September

Comedy Night: Sian Bevan and Guests
Local comedy-circuit regular Sian Bevan (**** - The List) hosts your evening's entertainment, featuring Jojo Sutherland, formerly-bearded lady Liz Ely, and others.
Doors at 7pm
Edinburgh City Football Club, 7 Baxter's Place (Top of Leith Walk)
Tickets £4

So yeah, come down and see me, make you smile... Also come to other Ladyfest things - if you pay a tenner you can get into EVERYTHING saving you literally A FEW POUNDS !! Which you could buy cake or whatever with really.

BIn workers strike

In Edinburgh there is the current possibility of a bin workers strike. At present refuse workers are on a 'work to rule' action - this means you do only exactly what is required, follow every bit of health and safety nonsense to the letter and intentionally slow things down.  

So at the moment, bin workers are doing the bare minimum and already Edinburgh is a mess. To me this is  both fantastic news and an important issue for feminists, as disparity between male and female rates of pay are part of the reason for this dispute. 

Bin workers are having their bonuses scrapped to bring their wages in line with the gender equality duty, which affects other 'masculine' council jobs like grave digging. More 'feminine' jobs like teaching assistants and cleaners never received these bonuses and there has been a massive disparity in pay between genders*. 

Obviously, taking money away from some of the lowest paid workers in the name of gender equality is not the answer, and we should be united in demanding more pay for all, not reduction in the wages of already low paid men. 

I think part of what makes this dispute interesting is the fact that the council/press have not really emphasised the fact that this is about addressing a sexist issue. To do this would highlight the fact that the council have had a massively sexist policy for a long time, leaving them open to being sued by female workers. Thus the cuts are called 'modernisation'. 

Thus we see an intersection of class and gender, whereby value is placed on more masculine jobs. Equally, when the bin workers see their pay cut, they strike immediately highlighting perhaps, the higher levels of entitlement felt by male workers.  I think the bin workers are right to feel that entitlement, I just wish that more female workers would realize their potential for change through strike action. I don't blame this on the cleaners or classroom assistants who may be bringing up children on their own and can't risk losing their jobs, this has to be the role of the unions and other activists. 

On another note - I was reading this guardian article about swine flu, and I got rather annoyed that the journalist felt it necessary to comment on the chief of the WHO's body and choice of shoes. Not cool. Neither is the Andrew Marr show for giving Griffin a platform to spout nonsense on sunday morning. He is not a legitimate politician and should not be treated as such. The tits behind most of the media presumably think that they can expose Griffin's racism, but by giving him a platform they take him seriously, and open up the possibility that he might be right.  

yuk...

Perfect for fathers day.......

Self aware disclaimer.... what I am about to propose is something that would uphold and solidify damaging gender norms, and you know, capitalism and that. As such it should be read for entertainment purposes only.....

There are a lot of things that I would do if I didn't have a soul, one of which is advertising and marketing. I think I would be good at it; it's also probably a really fun job for those bereft of a social conscience. 

I came up with an idea the other day which I think could make me millions. Inspired by the patronising pinkification of items which though fairly neutral in and of themselves, have become more associated with men.  Girlie gardening, pink computers, pink tools - all over the place women are encouraged to buy 'boys toys' by companies making pink versions*. 

All this is obviously making someone somewhere some money. 

So what-about Macho Housework? Plenty of companies are already using this approach, like Coke Zero - which claims to be a healthier diet drink, but is largely a product intended to tap the body conscious dick market. 

So why not market traditionally 'women's work' to men by making it macho?

I have lots of ideas for products which would cover a broad range of household tasks....

* The Footie Machine - it's a green front-loading washing machine with a football for a door!

* For use in your Footie Machine... blokey detergent! It comes in a suave black box, with silver writing and geometric shapes. Comes in a variety of flavours - beer, bacon, and Lynx (possible joint product?)

* Action Hero Washing line - it's a retractable washing line with your favourite action hero on one end! Watch him zip line from one side of the garden to the other.  Available in numerous varieties including Sly Stallone, Indiana Jones and The Terminator. Comes with pegs featuring your favourite movie characters! Available in Sci Fi or Action Movie. Pegs also come free with special packs of Blokey Detergent - can you collect the whole set?

*The radio-active Mancrowave - it's a microwave with snazzy radiation warning stickers!

* Part of the same range as the Mancrowave, is the Radio-active mop. This mop has power. This is the sort of mop that Jack Baur would use to mop up nuclear waste; or as a creative implement of torture. Available in black and green with snazzy radiation warning stickers!

*What could be more manly than knives? How about knives SHAPED LIKE GUNS! Also available as swords. 

* Are you Hoovering, or are you controlling your own monster truck van, or space-ship? That's right, a hoover shaped like monster truck, van or space-ship. 

In truth my intention was to come up with stupid products, but actually some of these sound quite fun, more fun than pink garden shears anyhow.....

* or chose more expensive pink versions of products they would have bought anyway which is probably more likely the case. 

Hope not Hate

So sad news this morning about the BNP. Hearing that racist fuckwits have been elected in a place where I am from adds despair to an otherwise pleasant monday morning.  

Don't have much to say about it, just thought I would draw attention to a 'they don't represent me' petition. 

Sighs..

Teach first?

I've been thinking about applying to teach first but looking at the website for it makes me feel a little bit ill. 

All these lame ass cartoons of smiling graduates going into rough, sorry I mean 'challenging' schools, looking serious, thoughtful, ready for action, ready for their temporary teaching mission. 

Now I'm not suggesting that aren't any good intentions behind this scheme (though I am suspicious about the fact that it is business funded). The problems do seem to outweigh the positives.

Having read the FAQs on their site, I have a few of my own....

 

Like, doesn't it de-value teaching as a profession by suggesting that it is something you could do for 2 years before you get on with your real job? 

Why do you want to attract people who hadn't considered teaching? 

Aren't the best teachers the ones who think that education is the most important thing in the world, and want to do it for reasons other than a career stepping stone?

What do you mean by 'exceptional' graduates, and what experience prior to Teach First do these graduates have of 'challenging' schools?

Why are you giving the most needy schools poorly qualified teaching staff?

Why do you think these schools are challenging? 

Do you think young middle class enthusiasm is the best solution to all social ills?

Are there any ethical qualms about challenging schools (or disadvantaged youth ) being used as a leadership stepping stone by those who are (relatively) privileged?

I'm not saying no good ever comes out of this program, frankly I don't know. The premise of Teach first  seems worryingly ill conceived. 

I did Project Trust, which was sold as a year to be proud of,  and though I am proud of some things, my abiding feeling is one of massive conscience ache. When I read over these profiles of how teaching poor kids helped Henry Whatshisface-smythe come up with examples of his leadership skills to get a job at JP morgan, I can't help but feel that it's all just a bit gross. 

Snog Marry Avoid?

Snog marry avoid seems to regard itself as a major innovation in the mind numbing genre of ‘the make over show’. It offers its participants a ‘make-under’: a radical life changing opportunity for them to see themselves without make up . The show has one simple message; too much slap and you’re a slapper. The participants are largely female, though men are also occaisionally featured,  so that when anybody dares point out that the whole thing might be a little bit sexist they can reel them out and say ‘no way, look we picked on some men too’.  The participants are made to stand infront of ‘Pod’, a cheap looking computer graphic which looks like a giant mechanical talking clitoris.  

Pod tells them that they look ridiculous with a lot of make up on, and the point is duly emphasised by Vox Pops men in the street, who decide whether they would 'snog' 'marry' or 'avoid'.  In this weeks episode, a barbiefied EMO kid is told that her bright make up makes her look stupid, and men are encouraged to call another woman 'cheap'. The 'make unders' inevitably dress the women to fit a fairly bland ideal which impresses the men in the street. To add to the hypocrisy of the proceedings the presenter herself is caked in make up, it's not so much about going without make up, as wearing 'natural look' make up. Once again television mistakes sexist nonsense for emancipation. 

Probably too long and not really enough of a review for my application form, I thought I would publish this here anyway in response to some guardian tit writing a tenuous piece in praise of Snog Marry Avoid. 

Been trying to think up some kind of male version, say...

'How much of a cock is this guy?'*

It would involve men parading about, acting agressively or like sexist gits, and then women get to rate them on a 'cock-ometer'. They would also be ridiculed by a talking camera. Hell you could even have a celebrity one, with awards for Celebrity Cock of the year, finally giving Jeremy Clarkson and John McCirirck a good reason to be on TV. 

Incase you were wondering, yes, this is what you get if you type 'cockometer' into google images.

It also looks like Jeremy Clarkson has something on Top Gear called a 'cockometer', hopefully he won't get too close to it himself or it might just explode..

* Even as I type this I worry i am being too mean, proving that I have much more of a soul than anyone involved in 'snog marry avoid'

Television

Settled down to watch some random bits of nonsense on the idiot-box, and remembered how much television makes me want to rip my own eyes out. 

First I watched Marcus Brigstocke chat to a Tory MP on 'I've never seen Star Wars'. I usually like Marcus Brigstocke, he's kind of like a cuddly Louis Theroux, a poor girls Louis if you will - except of course, he's not. Like anyone in the media he is public schooled, and there was something galling about watching him all pally with David Davis, like - however left wing he might be, Marcus has more in common with David Davis than he does with me. 

Then I decided to see what else was on iplayer. I decided against 'Kirsten's topless ambition' the first few minutes of which was like watching my soul die. I am young enough to remember Kirsten as one of the presenters of my childhood, filling the space before The Simpsons with something less annoying than whatever was on CITV. I don't want to see her 'investigate' boosting her career by going topless. I don't want her to make light of sexism from her comfortable position as a middling tv person, and I don't want her to even think about getting her boobs out. 

Instead I watched snog marry avoid. I'm not sure why, maybe I hate myself today. I'm not sure how this sort of stuff gets on television. The point of it all is to make girls look less 'fake'. I know I'm pointing out the obvious here, I know all this stuff is crap but still, I mean it's there isn't it - it exists. Someone gets paid to smear this excrement into people's consciousness. Probably more than two people. 

I watched it most of the way through. It can't be bothered to rant about it because it's just too obvious why it is so bad. 

I never particularly wanted to be the sort of person that 'doesn't have TV' but you, television - you drove me to it. 

My-Bloody-sogyny (I tried for ages to think up a punny title and this is the best I could manage)

I was flicking through festival websites and I came across this advert for 'Nightmare before Xmas' , an All Tommorrow's Parties event curated by My Bloody Valentine. 

For anybody not cool enough to know what is so special about ATP, it's a festival where bands get to pick the line up and it's at Butlins. It's more indie than a comic book version of Juno printed on a T shirt. Your £300 ticket gets you chalet accommodation and the knowledge you are gonna be at the frickin coolest festival in all of coolsville. It's in the name- not only are you cool enough to go to all the parties, you go to the parties of the future. 

I've never been, I'm sure it's very good.

Anyway I thought I would put this ad up here to express my annoyance and invite comment at their use of a corpse like woman surrounded by twee indie creatures. 

A woman floating who is looking away with her legs spread apart? WTF ATP?

Twee owls do not negate the horrendous 'rape- like images as dark and edgy' bullshit that is going on here; infact to me it seems even more horrible. Yes, let's have a smiling blob playing with a rocket over a woman who looks like she has been murdered or sexually assualted (or both). Good work.

Sinister trivialisation/objectification inherent in the image aside, the ad itself could not seem any more contrived. It's as if someone swallowed a mashed up copy of Vice magazine and a box of crayons. 

'Well, let's call it nightmare before christmas - Tim Burton, he's cool and dark and all the hipsters love him, and cartoony twee things, that's very indie, got to be indie - and a woman looking as if she might have been raped, well that's really very dark and edgy. Can't have enough edge now can we. No it's not sexist, look there's a cute monster and a bird holding a wilted tulip'

Pathetic. 

Hipster, 'ironic' indie sexism - still sexism. 

http://www.atpfestival.com/Feedback.php if you want to complain. 

Leaving your house: the fatal mistake that will cost you YOUR LIFE !!

It's a good job I picked up the metro yesterday when I was on the bus, so that I could read about the conviction of the murderer and rapist who killed Moira Jones, a woman in Glasgow. 

Apparrently she had an argument with her boyfriend, and went out for the night; which turned out to be the fatal mistake which cost her her life. 

Yes this is how yesterdays Metro actually covered the story. Moira Jones made the mistake of going out after a row with her BF. How dare she? Don't women know if they go out at night they are likely to bump into rapists and murderers?

It is good of the Metro to warn us women to stay in with our menfolk. Good of them to shift at least some of the responsiblity on to this murdered woman.  After-all, if women will get in the way of violent men what are they to expect?

I hope to see this approach used more often in other fatalaties, ie - 

Boy 16, decides to cross over the street - the fatal mistake that cost him his life!

132 passengers go on holiday to greek island on a plane, the fatal mistake that cost them their lives.  Sue bloggs just needed to get away from work for a little while, little did she know this would be a fatal mistake as the plane she boarded plummetted to the ground. 

Well done the Metro for having the balls to tell it like it is.When bad things happen to people then they have to take responsibility. 

WTF?!!

A fellow feminist flagged up this advert for Wilkinson Razors.

The website it was on suggested in an aggravatingly playful tone that the racist stereotypes might 'ruffle a few feathers'. Consider this bird's feather's ruffled in a Hitchcock's The Birds, kind of way. 

Of course it's racist sexist bullshit, that much should be obvious to anyone with eyes that are connected to a brain. Apart from that, who the hell shaves their Bikini line to cheer themselves up? I mean seriously? Surely not even the world's femmiest women think, ooh I 'm bored I'll get rid of some body hair.  That will be fun, I will shave and it will be all bumpy and red, and then my bath will be full of pubes which I will have to then clean. Yes, really, great fun. 

Even if you stick with the stupid stupid garden analogy - would you rather, spend ages gardening, or sod the gardening, invite a some people over, get drunk and have a garden party.

When you are having a garden party, do the guests really care if the garden is overgrown? 

Supposing they do care, one has to ask oneself  'are these the sort of people I want to invite into my garden?'.

Do these guests ever do any gardening themselves?  If they do,  have you ever considered the fact that they might be boring wankers ?

Wouldn't it just be better if we just left our gardens with lots of grass and concentrated on having better parties? Interesting fun parties, where people can let themselves be who they want and relax, rather than feeling arkward and constricted by all the tidiness. 

On a positive note, snaps to South Park for this episode.

Jade Goody - Why the hell do I care?

On the whole I would say following celebs is at best a meaningless distraction from everyday life. A symptom of our rampantly individualistic society where a few people are lauded for often dubious achievements. A fundamental part of a media system, whereby that which is important and relevant to our existence as human beings is relegated beneath the irrational worship of individuals. 

But.

For some reason I find myself utterly captivated by Jade Goody's living death. Every other day I trawl the internet for more details of her suffering, I want to hear her last words and teary goodbyes. I have even been on The Sun's website. I knew I shouldn't but for some reason, I cared. 

Jade showed us death. A fact of life we are completely dominated by and spend most of our waking life ignoring. We may spend our more indulgent moments thinking about the moving speeches that will be given at our funeral, but we don't talk about death. Following  Goody's death  has forced us to face our own mortality; our obsession with her is an obsession with ourselves. It was also indicative of wider feelings of limitation and loss that we in the west are facing up to in the current economic climate. Jade Goody's whole life was one of bust boom and then bust. Perhaps it is stretching it to suggest that Jade Goody's death represents the inevitable collapse and unsustainability of freemarket economics. Then again, perhaps not. 

Jade Goody also taught us that Great Britain will not be seen to tolerate racism. I do not condone Jade's actions on Big Brother;however her consequent villification served only to place the guilt of the nation onto the head of one uncouth working class woman. We had to evict Jade Goody from the Big Brother house so we can be seen to care about racism, a convenient mask for reality. 

Our outrage at her outbursts demonstrated the great myth of multiculturalism; that racism is an abberrition, and exception to norms of behaivour that ought to be tackled in a brisk corrective manner. 

 'Some individuals are racist, this is because they are ignorant, we need to educate them to be not racist, like everyone else'. 

The reality is that some racism comes from a place of hatred rather than ignorance, and that Great Britain is inherently  unequal and racist. What Jade said on Big Brother was inevitable. Jade was not punished for her racism; she was punished for being too ignorant to succesfully hide her racist attitudes.Jade Goody provided an easy sacrificial lamb for the racism of a nation. The fact that she is working class and female made her demonization all the easier. 

Ultimately, Jade's easy rehabilitation by the media showed how shallow the public commitment to challenging racism really was.

Some people may have found her living death morbid or strange, but in many ways her openness made perfect sense.  Millions of us open up to the public online, Jade's living death was a logical extreme of the behaivour of millions. This morning her death felt like a relief, the one woman Truman Show has now finally ended. Jade's mediated omnipresence makes her death seem somehow unreal;dying in the public eye allowed Jade to clutch at the last remaining straws of immortality. 

I guess time will tell whether or not it worked.

Easily the most noble use of the internet

http://www.beedogs.com

Yes I am up at 1am looking at bee dogs. Why aren't you?

Have you seen the bearded lady?

In order to raise money and awareness about Reclaim the night I will be wearing a fake beard for a week between the 23rd and 28th of February.

You can sponsor me to do this, and read about my adventures in arkwardness at :

http://ladybeardchallenge.blogspot.com

If you are in Edinburgh then you can also come along to the Bowery on the 18th and sponsor me in person.

All money goes to reclaim the night and women's charities in Edinburgh.

Womenarebetterthanmen.com

If you type this into your browser it automatically redirects to menarebetterthanwomen.com. A predictabley mysoginistic wank fest for insecure whiney scuzzbuckets. I mean really mysoginistic, like ' why the fuck did that moron get a book deal and I can't believe amazon are selling it' kind of mysoginy. Probably conceived by the satanic hate child of Richard Littlejohn, Melanie Phillips and Jeremy Clarkson.

At first the re-direction irritated me, but then I realised that the existence of this vomitous website (with no female equivalent) does offer convincing evidence that women are indeed better.

Not conclusive, but convincing.

Comedy Speed Dating

So I was flicking through the listings for the Glasgow Comedy Festival and came across this event 'comedy speed dating'. That's funny, but not ha ha funny.



The idea of spending an evening watching a bunch of medicore tits on a stage, and then having to sit there listening to dozens more trying to crack a funny within a specific time frame is enough to make me want to end my days single. Tommorrow.



Their wording is, of course, totally sexist 'We all know that the best way to a woman's heart is to make her laugh'. Yup, obviously the only people actively seeking dates are hetero men (or lesbian women but I DOUBT, to a CAPS LOCK extent that the writer had lesbians in his mind when he wrote that. At least, not in a non-sexist way)

Women, you better just sit there and smile while the hilarious men do the 'hard work' and make you laugh. Maybe that's why it costs £19.95 for women and a mere £9.95 for men.


The assumption that men are the funny ones is of course, intensley aggravating. The only justification they can have for men paying less is that fewer men speed date. Why is that? Could it be that it's much easier to get a date, as a man, than the media or popular culture suggest?


Why they think that women are prepared to pay a tenner more, in an attempt to bag a 'funny' man is beyond me...








Yup - this could be you...

Benefit frauds are women with health issues

So I spend a bit of time in Edinburgh's working class outskirts where I keep seeing the following advert in bus shelters.

There is a website about the campaign, with the following information.

'We're closing In' is aimed at people who have just begun or are thinking about committing benefit fraud. The campaign uses the very real risk of being caught as a deterrent. Its strong visuals highlight the investigation techniques used to track down benefit cheats, bringing home the message that there is no escape for those who commit fraud. '

So, what are these investigation techniques? Going around poorer areas and seeking out shifty looking overweight women, clutching their purses? And what the hell do they mean by 'strong visuals'? A fat woman? It is indeed true that women of her size are more likely to be on buses than bus shelters. Obviously if she can afford that many pies she must be cheating the decent healthy tax payer right? Forget the fact that obesity is often a symptom of poverty. Forget the fact that the people who do cost the tax payer millions are more likely to have penises, wear suits and hire accountants to do their dirty buisness.

It does however, give me an idea for a youth work project around political participation through the selective trashing of bus shelters. It would probably be quite popular, though I'm not sure where I would get funding...

Being on't Telly

Being on 'The Big Questions' was like having unsatisfying sex with a mediocre partner. It began with expectation which it quickly failed to deliver and ended abruptly just as you were beginning to feel something.

When we entered telford college we had to go through a security check and surrender any water. I was quite hyper from lack of sleep and the effects of the night before, I got a coffee in the cafe before an assistant informed me that I could go to the VIP room. The main difference being some free fruit and real coffee as opposed to instant for the studio audience.

In the 'VIP Room' I was introduced to Nicky Campbell; more presenter than man. He asked me for my opinions on 'bad lads' and whether or not they deserve our adulation. Honestly, I wasn't all that articulate - perhaps it was my awe in the presence of such a mighty figure in the world of day-time television.

Kokumo was there, someone I greatly admire - which made me somewhat nervous. In the show I was disappointed that Nicky didn't speak to Kokumo more. She put a spanner in his 'joke' about Rabbie Burns, which was pretty funny. Kokumo also pointed out to me that we were being used, as we weren't being paid for our appearance. Very good point, next time BBC, some free grapes just won't cut the mustard.

After a trip to the toilet, and a warning that I might not be allowed to wear my 'not for sale' T shirt because it was a logo, we were lead out to the gym which was set up as a small studio.
The audience pleasantly surprised me, being more left of centre than I had anticipated. We had a warm up debate about the BBC and Gaza, where the only people who took the side of the BBC were (unsurprisingly) those on its payroll.

The hour of debate passed pretty quickly, there wasn't really all that much debate to be had. The one comment that I did make was misinterpreted by the mostly silent Sci Fi writer, and Nicky swiftly moved away from my comment as it was 'getting off topic'.
Aah yes, talking about gender in a debate on 'bad lads' ... nothing to do with it... On the other hand the offensively conservative historian managed to suggest that Scots had an irrational loathing for Thatcher....

All in all an enjoyable, but meaningless experience. I met some nice people, and as soon as we went off air there was this feeling of 'is that it?'. I feel that's apt for losing my 'speaking on tv' virginity. Now I can just sit and wait for the call for me to replace Jonathon Ross....

On the Telly

So I was going to write a longer post about 'what its like to be on telly', and I probably still will.

For anyone that I haven't told I was on 'The Big Questions', a show where the public and minor celebrities debate things.

You can catch it for the next week on the following link:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00h6v3q/The_Big_Questions_Series_2_Episode_5/

I am adjusting well to a life of fame, graciously accepting compliments from strangers in the street and bearing with good humour being recognised in the local shop.