Violence against nippers is wrong, just plain chuffin wrong, whoever the perpetrator might be. Me and Mrs Buddha have 3 nippers aged 7, 3 and 18 months. We both work full time in very stressful, poorly paid jobs. Most of our money goes on childcare or other nipper related stuff. It is bloody hard keeping it all together, we are permanently knackered and rushing around. We have no quality time to ourselves and we have no pot to piss in. We have never raised a finger against any of our nippers, nor have we been tempted to. It is simply unneccessary. Despite never haven been beaten by people 3 times their size, all three nippers are little bobby dazzlers about whom everyone comments that they are polite , well behaved and a pleasure to be around.
There is no excuse to whack the nippers, ever . The UN recognises that. The British government doesn't. Chickenshit government. I wonder if the US will come and sort us out if we don't accede to the wishes of "the international community".

The way I go on about Wilco anyone would think I am their greatest fan, but this would be very far from the truth. Prior to Summerteeth I had heard nothing by them, and even that took some time to grow on me. Even now it's a very solid piece of high class American guitar rock in the manner of Dwight Twilley or the Jayhawks, rather than a life changing record. Very good but that's all really. My sort of obsession started with the shenanigans around Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and what I perceived (and still do) as the very honourable artistic stance they took, or Jeff Tweedy did. Not to mention they streamed it for free on their website for about a year. YHF is not dissimilar to Summerteeth, of it's type as good as anything around, but hardly earth shattering. I am a big fan of Americana and folky troubadors but couldn't be arsed with their Guthrie tribute because of the presence of Billy Bragg, the most irritating tit in music. So it has come as something of a surprise to be sitting here, with my socks knocked off. MVC are knocking out Being There for £4.99, well you can't not buy it at that price. I had no great expectations of it, but it is chuffing ace, if a bit Twilleyish. If you are near an MVC buy the bugger, even if you hate it its only 5 quid down the drain, but you may come to regard it as the bargain of the year.

The Friday Five :
1. What size shoe do you wear?
7

2. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
One pair of sandals, which got mentioned the other week. Remarkably they are still intact, and very necessary in this warmest of autumns. One pair of pristine white trainers for the gym .Thats it. I shall have to invest in a pair of shoes before the weather turns.

3. What type of shoe do you prefer (boots, sneakers, pumps, etc.)?
Sandals, without a doubt.

4. Describe your favorite pair of shoes. Why are they your favorite?
At this precise moment, and at the risk of being boring, my sandals. They are battered to bloody buggery and definitely on their last legs, but I love them, if I had a scanner I would take a photo so the world could see them in all their battered glory. They have been true friends.
Way back when, when I was training to be a psychiatric nurse at All Saints in Birmingham (not a career path I pursued) I had a pair of red suede winklepinkers. Believe me the tiniest winkle could have been picked and they were babe magnets (honest!). I look back on those with fondness. One of the first things I did on the day I moved to Cardiff was buy a pair of red Doc Martin winklepickers with a sort of Oxford pattern on. Ten quid!! You can see why I stuck around.

5. What's the most you've spent on one pair of shoes?
The suede winklepickers didn't come cheap but I haven't a clue what they cost at this stage of the chuffin game. The sandals were about £60, and thats quite enough, thank you.

Guardian links alert :
The state of British pop
A reminder that things have been very much worse, depressingly so, and that the present government has achieved much. Not enough in my view, and at the expense of the equilibrium of people like me but who cares about that. It's better than it was.
One million young dudes show good sense
It's a good article, but I still think the Polyphonic Spree are a plile of cack
A rant:
I am beginning to despair of football and it's fans. The Leicester manager, Micky Adams was subject to dogs abuse the other day because of a previous association with Sheffield United (Association?????). After making a pig gesture to his abusers the Sheffield Wednesday fans went craaaaazzzzee. Adams may be charged. Wednesday fans followed him up to the seats after , advising him that they knew where his mother lived. The police got involved after some Wednesday fans complained.
Well, what a bunch of chuffing great big fairies. What has the game come to. A bunch of fans give a guy absolute shit throughout the game; I would imagine their language was ungentlemany. The guy, after much provocation responds, pretty gently, said crowd go wild. Then some of them complain !!! Fuckin outrageous. How come they didn't complain when Adams was taking shit? Where did this complaining tendency come from? Don't answer, I know, why couldn't the bastards have stuck to rugby and tennis? Come next years Henley Regatta I will descend upon it loudly demanding a brown and mild . If I hear anyone braying I shall have them arrested.
Not dissimarly, Eyal Berkovic was subjected to a tirade of anti semitism the other night. Finally he had words with his tormentor and drew his finger across his throat. Unpleasant, admittedly, but pretty harmless, nonetheless. It reduced a lady fan to tears and Berkovic may be charged. Fuckin well fuck me! If bad language or raucous behaviour, or ill mannered working class types, or balti pies upset you, STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM FOOTBALL.