A funny story about life in E3

It's not unusual to be walking the streets of Mile End and smell someone smoking a spliff (and I've just given my Aunt a heartattack...). It's more unusual to identify the smell before 9am. My friend told me about such an experience last week and it made me laugh so much that I thought I'd share it.

A few weeks ago, she left her flat and was walking down the road towards the station. Ahead of her by about 10m was a young man, aged between 20 and 30. She could only see the back of him so it was hard to pin down an age. He was dressed relatively smartly, walking along, smoking a spliff.

Fair enough, she thought, some people enjoy a smoke in the mornings. Maybe he works nights and is on his way home. Whatever.

At the end of the road is an all boys school. Lining up along the street outside the school were a class of young boys in their school uniforms. As they got closer, she wondered what he was going to do with the spliff.

Sure enough, as they got within 20m of the boys, the young man stubbed it out. She thought he was being respectful and not smoking in front of children.

Then he approached the boys.

'Morning class, so who's ready for a day at the Natural History Museum?' he asked his pupils.

My friend's mouth dropped as she continued her walk to the station, past the excited class of school children. Just another day in Bow.

Farewell to The Gaff and all who sailed in her

This Sunday saw the final trading night of The Gaff, a small music venue on Holloway Road. As with many of London's small venues they were living hand to mouth, and when the landlord was offered a more permanent future, in the shape of an offer from the Costa Coffee chain, he 'jumped at the chance' according to one member of staff I spoke to.

The Gaff was open for less than three years and had recently started gaining momentum in terms of audience number and frequency of gigs. Yes the toilets leaked. Yes it wasn't the easiest place in the world to get home from. Yes the handstamps didn't wash off for days, even with strong soap. But it was the venue of choice for many of the London punk, skin and rockabilly scene, and without it we're back to our other spiritual home of the 12Bar or paying extortionate entry and drink prices at places like the Underworld (which has an even bigger problem with their sewer system!).

So farewell then to The Gaff. I celebrated birthdays there, I organised a benefit for Strummerville there, I got on stage and sang with The Grit there. I've been pegged, I've danced and I've loved it. Thanks to all the staff for making those nights memorable. To all my mates and the rest of Team Special, I'm glad we saw it off in style...

Votes for prisoners: tough shadow ministerial soundbites don't help

This weekend I had a piece published on Labour Uncut, and following the comments on Facebook, I thought I'd post the link here as well:

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2011/01/22/votes-for-prisoners-tough-shadow-ministerial-soundbites-dont-help/

The philosophical arguments around prisoner voting have recently been discussed by the excellent Martin Kettle in the Guardian, so all you fans of John Locke might have something to say on this article...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/21/prisoners-right-to-vote

Whilst I'm still refining my view on the issue of prisoner voting rights, the reality is that the franchise will have to be given to at least some of the 83, 780 men, women and children in our prisons, otherwise the government will be facing a damages claim of millions in a time of economic austerity. And with today's 'double-dip' announcement, they know this is something they can no longer afford to put off.