Clare's Lair

Saturday, March 09, 2002

This blog is now a week old. It has had a few visits from people other than the Lair-master. The dissertation is looking more shaky than ever. There are now three weeks until my self imposed deadline of Easter.

Will we make it???!
Posted by Clare at 9:46 PM [+]
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Frank has been moving round while I was gone. Bless him.

Posted by Clare at 9:35 PM [+]
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It's come down to a choice between Frank and music. May be time to get a CD soon. The e-mail's still on though - write if anything dramatic happens over in Cambridge?
Posted by Clare at 7:30 PM [+]
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Why are web radio stations so annoying? Woohoo! Thought the Lair-master, naively, all these nostalgia stations! Only not one of them plays properly, except 'Lost in the 50s' which, the Lair-master discovers after more plays than anyone with a memory, has but one tape that is started when you go on.
So that's not good. So the Lair is currently attempting to rock to the sounds of Sock Hoppin' 50s but it is beginning to all seem like a bandwidth problem: radio stations and Cat Hospital just don't seem to all fit through the phone line.
Tff.
Posted by Clare at 7:22 PM [+]
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TUC General Secretary John Monks today warned the Labour party about the danger of losing mass support from Trade Unions. More
Posted by Clare at 6:53 PM [+]
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This is the quiz I did for Payback. Maybe I'll send a prize to anyone who enters with the right answer (within the UK, sorry). A CD or something.

Bad Girls Quiz

1. What does G.O.A.D. stand for, according to the show
a) Going orange and dancing
b) Good order and discipline
c) Greedy, overbearing and draconian

2. When is the new series of Bad Girls showing?
a) Thursdays, 9pm, ITV
b) Sundays, 11am, BBC2
c) Fridays, 10pm, C5

3. What is the character Denny's surname?
a) Smith
b) Blood
c) Treacle

4. Which organisation has Shed NOT been linked with?
a) Payback
b) Women in Prison
c) So Solid Crew

5. What is officer Sylvia Hollamby's nickname?
a) Alsatian
b) Bodybag
c) Corpse-collector

6. Where is Bad Girls set?
a) G-Wing, HMP Larkhall
b) B-Wing, HMP Hawkhall
c) W-Wing, HMP Grebe Towers

7. Which diminutive figure in the CJ world makes a fleeting
appearance in Series 4?
a) Anne Widdecombe
b) Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
c) Marion Janner

8. Whose murder is being investigated in the first episode of
Series
4?
a) Shell Dockley
b) Helen Stewart
c) Virginia O'Kane

9. What is Shed's aim in Bad Girls?
a) Education through entertainment
b) Information through incarceration
c) Glee through gardening

10. What was the name of the two Julie's pet cat?
a) Frank
b) Tigger
c) Tinkerbell



Posted by Clare at 11:26 PM [+]
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This is the bulletin I write each week for Payback. Anyone watching TV in the UK is welcome to see what's on!

crime watching
week 37: march 9th – 15th
Written for Payback by Clare-Marie White.
NB As schedules may be subject to change, it's worth checking a daily paper or www.radiotimes.com for up-to-date listings.

television programmes
classics, "Must See TV"
None this week

programmes worth watching out for, which don't make it to MSTV status
None this week

criminal justice programmes
Saturday March 9th, 20.00, C5 High Speed Pursuits
Police video footage: still being flogged to death.

Sunday March 10th, 03.10, ITV Judge Judy

Sunday March 10th, 07.30, BBC2 Lab Detectives
Fun for the kids on a Sunday morning.

Sunday March 10th and Tuesday 12th, 23.00, C5
Arrest and Trial

Tuesday March 12th, 20.00, C5 Probable Cause

Tuesday March 12th, 23.00, C5 Serial Stalker

Wednesday March 13th, 21.00, BBC1 Armed and Dangerous – Shops, Robbers and Videotape
Looking at the new tactics used by the police to tackle crime.

Thursday March 14th, 20.00, BBC1 Lifting the Bonnet
Looking at those who evade arrest with fake documents.
Producer: Tom Anstiss

Thursday March 14th, 21.00, C4 Trouble at the Mosque
As part of the Muslim and British season, Dispatches investigates how a lack of proper controls is allowing financial, physical and even sexual abuse to take place within some of Britain’s mosques.
Director: Magnus Temple Producer: Kurt Barling

Thursday March 14th, 20.00, C5 Libel
In a nice break from all the nastiness this week this documentary looks at all those who fight to win or die with the “simple sword of truth”, as Aitken put it shortly before it stabbed him. Interviews with Al Fayed, the Hamiltons and Aitken himself will make this intriguing viewing.
Producer: Emma Davies

social issues documentaries
Tuesday March 12th, 22.35, BBC1 Booze
Jeremy Bowen and Dr Mark Porter take the opportunity to do what newts do in a new series about alcohol and its affects.
Director: Steve Condie

real life documentaries/'docusoaps'.
None this week

crime dramas/serials
Saturday March 9th, 21.00, BBC1 Strange
A new spin on the murder mystery genre (sort of) with ex-priest John Strange who investigates murder mysteries with demonic connections.
Director: Joe Ahearne Producer: Marcus Mortimer

Saturday March 9th, 21.00, ITV Kavanagh QC
Court drama starring John Thaw.
Director: Charles Beeson Producer: Chris Kelly

Sunday March 9th, 03.55, C4 Codename Eternity

Saturday March 9th, 21.00, C5 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
[Repeated Monday 11th, 22.45]
Related website: www.cbs.com/primetime/csi

Saturday March 9th, 21.55, C5 Law and Order
[Repeated Sunday 10th, 11.30]
Related website: www.studiosusa.com/laworder

Sunday March 10th, 20.30, ITV Heartbeat

Sunday March 10th, 21.30, ITV The Jury
Director: Pete Travis Producer: Francis Hopkinson

Sunday March 10th, 19.05, C5 Martial Law

Weekdays, 14.40, BBC1 Diagnosis Murder

Weekdays, 11.00, C5 TJ Hooker

Monday March 11th and Tuesday 12th, 21.00, BBC1
NCS Manhunt
Two-parter starring David Suchet.
Director: Michael Whyte Producer: Sue Austen

Monday March 11th, 21.00, ITV The Vice

Wednesday March 13th, 18.00, C4 Smallville: Superman the Early Years
Featuring supernatural robbers.

Thursday March 14th, 20.00, ITV The Bill
Related website: www.thebill.com

Thursday March 14th, 21.00, ITV Bad Girls
Di gets engaged to new officer Barry. That’ll last…
Director: Jo Johnson Producer: Claire Phillips
Related website: www.badgirls.co.uk

Friday March 15th, 20.30, ITV Inspector Morse
Director: Herbert Wise Producer: Chris Burt

Other programmes of interest
Monday March 11th, 19.30, BBC2 Life Etc
Rosie Boycott talks to an ex-National Front supporter who turned to the other side.
Executive producer: Ruth Pitt

clare's personal choice of the week
Wednesday March 13th, 22.00, C4 Teachers
The entertaining look at modern schooling returns.
Director: Peter Lydon Producer: Rhonda Smith


criminal justice story lines in the main soaps during february/march
In Eastenders the bubbling antagonism between Phil and Steve finally blows up into a massive gang fight. Martin Kemp is leaving the soap, so you can probably imagine that he'll be getting the harsher side of East End justice. Meanwhile, Janine turns to prostitution to support her cocaine habit and Terry's attempt at giving her dealer a telling off leaves him seriously injured.
In Coronation Street, Duggie is dead and Richard is behaving suspiciously. And the pensioners of the street have a taste of vigilante action when their hitchhiker pulls a gun on them. With car-jacking and have-a-go heroes, Corrie wins the topicality award, beating even Brookside, who manage to tie their storylines in with next week's National Student Demo, which even the press usually fail to spot. Nicki Shadwick is arrested at a student protest in Liverpool but this doesn't put her off and she progresses to the big protest in London, where police have batons. Jimmy’s mental condition leads to his arrest.
She should take a lesson from Leanne, who despite taking a hammer to Bev's bar, is in line for a big compensation payout after Bev takes revenge on the garage forecourt.
And finally, Emmerdale continues to cover Marc's spell in a young offenders' jail and the community punishment for the rest of the areas' youth. Zoe is caught by the police for drink-driving and faces the loss of her license. But most dramatically, Zac's mother Peg is accused of murder.

Related websites:
www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders
www.corrie.net
www.brookside.com
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archers

radio programmes
must hear radio
Tuesday March 12th, 09.00 and 21.30, Radio 4
The Long View
After something of a drought Radio 4 finally show us what they can do with this programme on sentencing. Jonathan Freedland and Robert Hardy discuss prison sentences for mobile phone thieves and weekend-only jail sentences.
Producer: Virginia Crompton

criminal justice programmes

social issues documentaries
None this week.

crime dramas/serials
Friday March 15th, 21.00, Radio 4 Friday Play: Heart-Attack
A twenty-one year old is arrested for murder and the story is looked at from two different angles.
Director: Kate Rowland

other programmes of interest
Sunday March 10th, 20.30, and Friday March 15th, 16.00, Radio 4 Law in Action
Producer: Simon Coates

Friday March 15th, 16.30, Radio 4 The Message
Jenni Murray and guests engage in conversation about current media trends.
Related website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/themessage.
Producer: David Harvey


crime writing in the TV guides
In The Radio Times this week Trevor Grove writes about jury psychology. There is also a tribute to John Thaw…and My Kind of Day features Barry Farrimond aka Ed ‘I’ve always been a bit of a naughty boy’ Grundy. . . www.bbc.co.uk/drama talks to David Suchet about NCS Manhunt…


daily listings
NB As schedules may be subject to change, it's worth checking a daily paper or www.radiotimes.com for up-to-date listings.

saturday march 9th
20.00 C5 High Speed Pursuits
21.00 BBC1 Strange
21.00 ITV Kavanagh QC
21.00 C5 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
21.55 C5 Law and Order

sunday march 10th
03.10 ITV Judge Judy
03.55 C4 Codename Eternity
07.30 BBC2 Lab Detectives
19.05 C5 Martial Law
20.30 ITV Heartbeat
20.30 BBCR4 Law in Action
21.30 ITV The Jury
22.35 BBC 1 Booze
23.00 C5 Arrest and Trial
23.30 C5 Law and Order

monday march 11th
11.00 C5 TJ Hooker
14.40 BBC1 Diagnosis Murder
19.30 BBC2 Life Etc
21.00 BBC1 NCS Manhunt
21.00 ITV The Vice
22.55 C5 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

tuesday march 12th
09.00 BBCR4 The Long View
11.00 C5 TJ Hooker
14.40 BBC1 Diagnosis Murder
21.00 BBC1 NCS Manhunt
20.00 C5 Probable Cause
20.30 C5 Arrest and Trial
21.30 BBCR4 The Long View
23.00 C5 Serial Stalker

wednesday march 13th11.00 C5 TJ Hooker
14.40 BBC1 Diagnosis Murder
18.00 C4 Smallville: Superman the Early
Years
21.00 BBC1 Armed and Dangerous
22.00 C4 Teachers

thursday march 14th
11.00 C5 TJ Hooker
14.40 BBC1 Diagnosis Murder
20.00 BBC2 Lifting the Bonnet
20.00 ITV The Bill
20.00 C5 Libel
21.00 ITV Bad Girls
21.00 C4 Trouble at the Mosque

friday march 15th
11.00 C5 TJ Hooker
14.40 BBC1 Diagnosis Murder
16.00 BBCR4 Law in Action
16.30 BBCR4 The Message
20.30 ITV Inspector Morse
21.00 BBCR4 Heart Attack

Posted by Clare at 5:59 PM [+]
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The Campaign is now on hold. It remains a Lair Secret.
Posted by Clare at 1:46 PM [+]
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Frank has gone to the vet today. So the Lair-master is going into campaign mode. This is a vote of No Confidence in 'Lifelong learning' minister Margaret Hodge, which with any luck will appear online soon:

The Minister for "Lifelong Learning", Margaret Hodge, has failed in her duty to represent the students of Britain.

She has consistently shown herself to be totally unwilling to listen to students. In her tours around colleges she has blamed student officers for student debt, refused to even contemplate figures showing the difficulties of living on the amount available and told students they should get part time jobs during terms time; even though this has been shown to adversely effect degrees.

Her "consultations" have been a sham and she gives young voters a message of complete contempt.

Opposition parties have recognised that young people are disenfranchised. We have been left without a voice because of the government's refusal to listen to our problems.

We demand a government minister who will be willing to listen to us. Young people make up a large and under-represented proportion of the electorate.

This is not a campaign for any particular cause, but a call for a minister that will listen and a refusal to accept the substandard minister that currently represents us.

We demand someone new.

Whaddya think?
Posted by Clare at 9:59 AM [+]
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Poor Frank. He has been trashing his cage because he is bored. His owners say he might be able to roam around a room soon, which will be good.
Posted by Clare at 5:46 PM [+]
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My old schoolfriend Tim is interviewing ex-popstar Chesney Hawkes at the moment on Fuse Fm. That's something for Friends Reunited huh?
Posted by Clare at 5:44 PM [+]
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Sad news

Historian Roy Porter has died at the age of 55. His obituary appears in The Guardian.
He taught one of the most popular courses at the University of London, The History of Madness and also wrote many very popular books, including London: A Social History.
According to one student, he had just retired with the woman he described as "the love of his life". He died while cycling to his allotment - the cause has not yet been established.
Posted by Clare at 12:23 PM [+]
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Woohoo! It worked. Now you can read about what I'm doing, should you desire to. -
Posted by Clare at 11:10 PM [+]
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Presentation

My dissertation is tentatively called: “Printing for Pigs: or Daniel Isaac Eaton and the rise and fall of popular radical printing between 1792 and 1814”. The main sources I am using are court transcripts published by Eaton and a satirical pamphlet attributed to him. Many of the other sources that would have been useful are unavailable in Britain.

Daniel Isaac Eaton was born in 1751 or 52 and died in 1814. He was about 38 during the French Revolution and had up to this point done little of note except to become a freeman in the Stationers’ company, following on from his father.

Eaton became central to the radical scene in 1792 after moving to a new shop in Bishopsgate. He published ‘The Pernicious Effects of the Art of Printing upon Society, Exposed’. This was a satire of loyalist texts which suggested that feudal society should be brought back and all printing presses destroyed because of the effect they had on the lower orders. Part of the dissertation will be an analysis of the language Eaton uses to ridicule loyalists and the modern state as well as the beliefs and policies he reveals.

Eaton uses many of the methods we have looked at before to satirise the opposition including exaggeration in calling his own side “anarchists” and a suggestion that loyalists, rather than upholding Protestant Briton, actually hark back to Catholic times and want to return to this “Golden Age”.

The other two parts of the dissertation will look at Eaton’s trials. He was tried eight times, but I will be comparing the first three, in 1793 and 4 in which he was acquitted of seditious libel with the one in 1814 in which he was convicted of blasphemous libel and sentenced for eighteen months. Inbetween these periods he was convicted on two charges and went into exile in America for three years, being rearrested and jailed when he got back. By this time convictions had been sought by the government for all publishers of Paine and Eaton had become Paine’s official publisher.

These chapters will look at the language used in the trials and the interplay between power and resistance. The first trials show the attempts by the prosecutors to downplay accusations made in Eaton’s radical texts which shows that they felt under threat, while in the final trial you can clearly see that Eaton has far less power – he is under a lot more pressure to defend himself and his defence fails for many reasons.

I think looking at these two periods contributes something to the historical debate that goes on about radicalism. Unlike some radicals, he did not adapt to the changing circumstances of the times. He kept printing Paine and while the jury acquitted him for it in 1793, by 1814 he could not escape conviction. You can also look at the fact that in 1794 members of the London Corresponding Society made coins to celebrate his acquittal while in 1814 he had to print posters himself to draw attention to his plight in the pillory. Financially he did very well throughout the 1790s but after 1814 he was penniless and died in poverty and obscurity. Despite this his achievement lay in the fact that he contributed a great deal to the literature available to the wide public and his aims eventually came to be thought of as common sense. He faced the authorities numerous times and was arguably one of the bravest and most determined radicals.



Posted by Clare at 11:09 PM [+]
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Clare's Lair's editing post keeps pretending to lose posts. Which makes the Lair-master worry. Bad, bad interface.
Posted by Clare at 8:47 PM [+]
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Little Jess's e-mail turned out to be on her website after all. So if there's anyone out there who actually knows how to put comment boxes onto blogs help her out won't you?
Posted by Clare at 8:45 PM [+]
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Review: London Knights Vs Bracknell Bees

Well. The last match of the season at London Arena and the Knights were up against the yellow stripey Bracknell Bees. Nobody knows where Bracknell is of course, so the stadium treated them with suitable disdain.

First everyone was forced to stand to the national anthem. A truly terrible piece of music fit only to be dragged out at our most desperate times. And this clearly wasn't one of those times. Once that torture was over it was onto the match. And a cool match it was. Eight goals, three fights and too many pre-pubescent cheerleaders making fools of themselves. That's about all you need to know. And whenever the opposition scores everyone sits in silence while when the Knights scored it was loud music, screaming and Big Ben bongs. It's that kinda game.

So it ended a draw which should leave the Knights languishing somewhere near the bottom of the 'Superleague' table. But at least people have heard of London.
Posted by Clare at 8:39 PM [+]
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Even the nasty nazi historian David Irvine has a house in Mayfair, according the The Observer. How can this be? Daniel Isaac Eaton wanted only good for people (see below) and is anyone offering the Lair-master a million pound book deal for him? A six part series on ITV with fancy graphics? Nope.they just want people described as 'rude' and who go to court to be proved wrong.

Went onto a blog by "Little Jess" just - she wanted to know if there was any way for people to comment. There is! There is! Loads of people have comment boxes - just do what they do. But here we are, talking to the world in our own parallel universes. If you know Little Jess, or you see her on the street, tell her to search around all the other blogs and find the site that provdes them with the means to comment. Or simply to put a mailto link at the top of her page.

If anyone e-mails Clare's Lair, it will be published, by the way. Because that's easier than setting up a comment box. It would be nice to hear from someone...
Posted by Clare at 2:11 PM [+]
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Frank is spending the day sleeping. Seems to be healing pretty well overall - hang in there Frank!
Posted by Clare at 1:56 PM [+]
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The Observer reports that Joan Bakewell faces a charge and possibly jail for blashemous libel. She recited an erotic poem about a centurion and Jesus on the BBC. Blasphemous libel was the charge that Daniel Isaac Eaton was imprisoned for eighteen months for in 1814.

The law only applies to Christians, which will create many interesting debates about Britain should it actually make it to court. There will probably also be a debate on whether the Metropolitan Police Commissioner should be bringing forth charges like that when everyone in London is having their mobile phones stolen by small boys with knives. Apparently.
Posted by Clare at 1:50 PM [+]
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A scary moment when it looked as if The Sunday Times might have started charging people to look at its stories, but luckily all is well - you just have to give your soul to them to progress into the jewelled tunnels within.

They are still trying to oust Stephen Byers, who is proving himself to have clingier little nails than anyone could ever have imagined. This week the ugly train robber is revealed (by them, don't sue me) to have lied to parliament about all the lies he told before and to have ecouraged all his civil servants to employ his friends. Can he stay another week? Place your bets now. The Lair-master says GET OUT.

Meanwhile, Prince William is unhappy at St Andrews. Aw. He will probably move to Edinburgh, leaving behind (or taking with him) all those American girls who assumed they would marry him if they got in and are now wishing they hadn't ended up in a freezing, isolated Scottish village.

And finally, David Starkey is now the richest TV presenter in Britain. The man already owns two houses in London - how does an historian get so rich? Any offers on the Lair-master's highly interesting work on Daniel Isaac Eaton will be considered...

Posted by Clare at 1:37 PM [+]
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