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Articles
City of Arson
April 25th, 2006 - 2:33pm
Just over a year ago my parents moved a few miles west from my childhood home in Leeds to Keighley, a town on the edge of the north Bradford suburbs, so my dad could be closer to his work. Having lived in London for the past few years, going to visit my parents in this depressed region of Britain has been a real eye opener, explaining some of the frustration and disenchantment with mainstream party politics northern England is currently suffering.
Published on hulver.com, Fri Jul 09, 2004 [Link]
Just over a year ago my parents moved a few miles west from my childhood home in Leeds to Keighley, a town on the edge of the north Bradford suburbs, so my dad could be closer to his work. Having lived in London for the past few years, going to visit my parents in this depressed region of Britain has been a real eye opener, explaining some of the frustration and disenchantment with mainstream party politics northern England is currently suffering.
Published on hulver.com, Fri Jul 09, 2004 [Link]
A Privatisation Too Far: Mercenaries and Torture in Iraq
April 25th, 2006 - 2:26pm
"If we can't hold ourselves up as an example of how to treat people with dignity and respect, we can't ask that other nations do that to our soldiers", says Brigadier General Mark Kimmett, deputy director of operations for the US military in Iraq of damning evidence of the use of torture in a US-run Iraqi prison. This sort of action is unacceptable on a human rights level, puts US forces at risk of revenge attacks and could jeopardise the strength of the coalition. It is important that we understand how such appalling human rights abuses have been allowed to take place.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Sat May 1st, 2004 [Link]
"If we can't hold ourselves up as an example of how to treat people with dignity and respect, we can't ask that other nations do that to our soldiers", says Brigadier General Mark Kimmett, deputy director of operations for the US military in Iraq of damning evidence of the use of torture in a US-run Iraqi prison. This sort of action is unacceptable on a human rights level, puts US forces at risk of revenge attacks and could jeopardise the strength of the coalition. It is important that we understand how such appalling human rights abuses have been allowed to take place.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Sat May 1st, 2004 [Link]
Reviews of the Dead
April 25th, 2006 - 2:45pm
George A Romero's Dead trilogy - Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead - were low-budget, low-production value gore-fests dismissed by critics but loved by horror fans. Over the years they wormed their way into popular consciousness and have been re-evaluated, elevated from exploitation B-movies to savage satires on modern American society. With the recent release of sequel Land of the Dead, now is a good time to look back at Romero's films and their cultural impact.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Sat Oct 8th, 2005 [Link]
George A Romero's Dead trilogy - Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead - were low-budget, low-production value gore-fests dismissed by critics but loved by horror fans. Over the years they wormed their way into popular consciousness and have been re-evaluated, elevated from exploitation B-movies to savage satires on modern American society. With the recent release of sequel Land of the Dead, now is a good time to look back at Romero's films and their cultural impact.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Sat Oct 8th, 2005 [Link]
British Camp Delta Detainee Speaks Out
April 25th, 2006 - 2:25pm
The first British suspect to be released from Camp Delta, Manchester-born Jamal al-Harith, gives a damning account of life in Camp X-Ray and Camp Delta in a three part article in today's Daily Mirror.
He describes torture, systematic beatings, forced medication, exposure, inadequate sanitation and denial of religious rights, along with the claim that prostitutes were hired to humiliate inmates.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Sat Mar 13th, 2004 [Link]
The first British suspect to be released from Camp Delta, Manchester-born Jamal al-Harith, gives a damning account of life in Camp X-Ray and Camp Delta in a three part article in today's Daily Mirror.
He describes torture, systematic beatings, forced medication, exposure, inadequate sanitation and denial of religious rights, along with the claim that prostitutes were hired to humiliate inmates.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Sat Mar 13th, 2004 [Link]
Did the United States target Al-Jazeera?
April 25th, 2006 - 2:47pm
Yesterday's edition of British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror carried the claim that George Bush planned to bomb independent civilian TV station Al-Jazeera's Qatar headqurters during the Fallujah offensive last year, but was talked out of it by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The source for this information appears to be a leaked British government memo.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Thu Nov 24th, 2005 [Link]
Yesterday's edition of British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror carried the claim that George Bush planned to bomb independent civilian TV station Al-Jazeera's Qatar headqurters during the Fallujah offensive last year, but was talked out of it by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The source for this information appears to be a leaked British government memo.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Thu Nov 24th, 2005 [Link]
First Adventures in Urban Exploration
April 25th, 2006 - 2:24pm
It's the dead of night, and I'm stumbling through dense undergrowth, a weak pen torch lighting the way. Brambles tear at my clothes and bare arms. Ahead, Monty navigates with a stronger beam, and leads me and Pi up a steep incline. I give up all pretence of looking after my clothes and scramble up on my hands and knees, the torch held in my mouth. I slide down the other side on my arse into a broad trench. "Watch your step, it's along here somewhere," says Monty. We walk slowly, scanning the floor with our torches, and there it is - a featureless black hole in the leaf litter, just three feet across. With apprehension I realise that now I've come all this way, I'm going to have to climb inside.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Tue Aug 12th, 2003 [Link]
It's the dead of night, and I'm stumbling through dense undergrowth, a weak pen torch lighting the way. Brambles tear at my clothes and bare arms. Ahead, Monty navigates with a stronger beam, and leads me and Pi up a steep incline. I give up all pretence of looking after my clothes and scramble up on my hands and knees, the torch held in my mouth. I slide down the other side on my arse into a broad trench. "Watch your step, it's along here somewhere," says Monty. We walk slowly, scanning the floor with our torches, and there it is - a featureless black hole in the leaf litter, just three feet across. With apprehension I realise that now I've come all this way, I'm going to have to climb inside.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Tue Aug 12th, 2003 [Link]
Riber Castle
April 25th, 2006 - 2:42pm
One of the dominant presences in Shane Meadows' recent film "Dead Man's Shoes" is an eerie ruined castle, set at the top of a hill overlooking the small northern town where the film's horror unfolds. Glimpsed occasionally above the bleak streets throughout the film, the castle is introduced properly in the terrifying final scenes. A Victorian gothic shell set in the grounds of a nameless, disused leisure attraction, it looks like an urban explorer's dream: remote, unknown, scary, and the setting of brutal - if fictional - events. Riber Castle was the perfect place for my sister and her boyfriend to take me when I visited them at Christmas.
Published on urbex.co.uk, Fri 14 Jan, 2005 [Link]
One of the dominant presences in Shane Meadows' recent film "Dead Man's Shoes" is an eerie ruined castle, set at the top of a hill overlooking the small northern town where the film's horror unfolds. Glimpsed occasionally above the bleak streets throughout the film, the castle is introduced properly in the terrifying final scenes. A Victorian gothic shell set in the grounds of a nameless, disused leisure attraction, it looks like an urban explorer's dream: remote, unknown, scary, and the setting of brutal - if fictional - events. Riber Castle was the perfect place for my sister and her boyfriend to take me when I visited them at Christmas.
Published on urbex.co.uk, Fri 14 Jan, 2005 [Link]
Squirrels on Crack
April 25th, 2006 - 2:59pm
On Saturday 8th October, an outlandish story about crack-addicted squirrels terrorising Brixton, south London, hit the British press. Reported in the Sun, the Daily Mirror, and even respectable broadsheet the Guardian, it was met with laughter and incredulity. Nevertheless it was presented as a news item, and the assumption was there must be at least an element of truth in it. So where did the story come from? And more to the point, was it true?
Published in issue 208 of the Fortean Times, April 2006
On Saturday 8th October, an outlandish story about crack-addicted squirrels terrorising Brixton, south London, hit the British press. Reported in the Sun, the Daily Mirror, and even respectable broadsheet the Guardian, it was met with laughter and incredulity. Nevertheless it was presented as a news item, and the assumption was there must be at least an element of truth in it. So where did the story come from? And more to the point, was it true?
Published in issue 208 of the Fortean Times, April 2006
The Bluewater Experiment
April 25th, 2006 - 2:57pm
Bluewater is a suburban London shopping centre just off the M25 in Kent. Unlike cheap and cheerful Lakeside Thurrock across the QE2 Bridge in Essex, it was built with luxury in mind, appealing to a better class of consumer. Inspired by the Trafford Centre at the posher end of Greater Manchester, it boasts a luxuriant architecture of minarets, glass pyramids and point lighting, nestling in the spectacular setting of a disused chalk quarry, the white walls of which are lit blue by roving lasers.
Published on hulver.com, Fri Dec 16, 2005 [Link]
Featured in issue 211 of the b3ta.com newsletter [Link]
Bluewater is a suburban London shopping centre just off the M25 in Kent. Unlike cheap and cheerful Lakeside Thurrock across the QE2 Bridge in Essex, it was built with luxury in mind, appealing to a better class of consumer. Inspired by the Trafford Centre at the posher end of Greater Manchester, it boasts a luxuriant architecture of minarets, glass pyramids and point lighting, nestling in the spectacular setting of a disused chalk quarry, the white walls of which are lit blue by roving lasers.
Published on hulver.com, Fri Dec 16, 2005 [Link]
Featured in issue 211 of the b3ta.com newsletter [Link]
Why Brown is the New Green
April 25th, 2006 - 1:54pm
As part of the British government's strategy to deal with increased demand for housing in the south east, it plans to build 200,000 homes on disused industrial sites along the Thames estuary to the east of London. In doing so, England could lose some of its most important wildlife havens.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Fri Jun 20th, 2003 [Link]
As part of the British government's strategy to deal with increased demand for housing in the south east, it plans to build 200,000 homes on disused industrial sites along the Thames estuary to the east of London. In doing so, England could lose some of its most important wildlife havens.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Fri Jun 20th, 2003 [Link]
UK Plans Military Intervention in Sudan
April 25th, 2006 - 2:40pm
A humanitarian disaster has been unfolding in Sudan over the previous year, largely ignored by the western media. The country's western region of Darfur has been victim to genocide and ethnic cleansing in an attempt by the Sudanese government to drive out anti-government rebel militias. Today the British Prime Minister Tony Blair outlined plans for possible military intervention to put a halt to the escalating situation.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Thu Jul 22nd, 2004 [Link]
Selected for the Michigan State University Debate Society 2004/2005 syllabus.
A humanitarian disaster has been unfolding in Sudan over the previous year, largely ignored by the western media. The country's western region of Darfur has been victim to genocide and ethnic cleansing in an attempt by the Sudanese government to drive out anti-government rebel militias. Today the British Prime Minister Tony Blair outlined plans for possible military intervention to put a halt to the escalating situation.
Published on kuro5hin.org, Thu Jul 22nd, 2004 [Link]
Selected for the Michigan State University Debate Society 2004/2005 syllabus.