This will hurt me...

10 Murray: to be crucified at the alter of good taste , April 2010. A large - if not the central - part of the reason that I would not like 10 Murray to go is explained by the following poem. I want a true history of my city, not an airbrushed, tourist-friendly, blandishments dominant theme park of convicts, sandstone and trees. PLEA FOR A HISTORY OF WORKING-CLASS LEEDS , by Barry Tebb I want a true history of my city FUCK THE DE LACY FAMILY AND DOUBLE FUCK JOHN OF GAUNT ESPECIALLY And all his descendants With their particular vilenesses - I met one in the sixties Who had all the coldness of Himmler So svelte and adored by the cognoscenti. I want a history responsive To the needs of the working-class One that will minute the back-to-backs Spread over the city like a seamless robe SO FUCK CUTHBERT BRODERICK’S TOWN HALL BRIDEWELL AND MAGISTRACY. I want a history of the culture Of the working class and not Hoggart’s slimy gone-up-in-the-world Jabber for the curious bourgeoisie He was es...

When we went along to the Christmas parade, Ezra appeared more interested in these two ducks mucking about in the Hobart Rivulet than he was in the various X-mas goths, roller derby girls and blokes in skirts. Indeed Ez tried to scale a fence to join the two Pacific Blacks - that's Anas superciliosa to any twitchers out there - for a dip. I figure that as we are rapidly approaching the end of the year, I can knock of another Sunday Top Five very easily. This week: the My Favourite Five Books I've Read This Year ! That's books I've read and enjoyed, not books released this year. Death and the Penguin , Andrey Kurkov The Spy Who Came In From The Cold , John Le Carré Things Fall Apart , Chinua Achebe If this is a Man , Primo Levi Gold , Dan Rhodes Just missing the cut is a long list, the ones that stand out in the memory include: Billiards at Half-past Nine , Heinrich Böll, Border Crossing , Pat Barker, Union Street , Pat Barker, The Truce , Primo Levi, History of the Pr...

Here is a [not very good] photograph of Hobart as seen from the waterfront area. Apologies for the brevity, but apparently I am to present on a topic unfamiliar to me in less than one hour to fifty people.

I had grand plans for today's photo. As I have previously mentioned, I was scheduled to present at a conference today. My thinking had been that I could take a photo from the lectern, and share with you a presenters-eye-view. Alas, by the time I took the stage, the light in the room was all on me, thus rendering any photograph very poor. Despite a throbbing headache and intense tiredness, I'd like to think that I offered a solid performance, with a rising crescendo to end. In cricketing terms, think of a number five coming in after a few quick wickets, constructing a solid half century, followed by some lusty hitting off a tired attack to take me to 85 not out by the close of play! But all of this self-aggrandisement had left me no closer to having a photo ready for you today. Thus, I was left with one last task as I dragged myself from the conference venue back to the bus mall. Despite the darkness, I felt that I owed the world a photograph from today. Thus you get this. The ...