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The election is upon us and the Tories are still up in the polls but I cannot for the life of me fathom why anyone would want to vote for them unless they were possibly minted, masochistic or mental.

They have run this country completely into the ground over the last 15 years. They have systematically sold off every asset this country had, run millions into poverty, dismantled public services, crippled the NHS and fucked the country sideways with a referendum no-one wanted or asked for. And yet still people want to vote them back in. And this is after an extended period of relentless misery, uncertainty and back to back fuck ups…so for fuck’s sake, why?? Cos Boris can deliver a good one liner and has a floppy fringe?? Really??

People used to vote for Tory because they were the party of business and were worried the economy would suffer under anyone else but Brexit will destroy the economy, even more than it has already already, and so that doesn’t even make sense anymore. And yet still people cling onto this outdated notion.

Labour’s policies will restore care towards communities, create green jobs and reduce inequality. The Lib Dems will ensure we stay in Europe. The Green Party will put the climate emergency at the top of the agenda. These are all good reasons to vote for these parties. What are the Tories going to do other than continue to service the rich and screw everyone else in the process?

For the climate, for equality, for basic fucking decency…please, I’m on my hands and knees begging you please…anything but tory!!

If you want to vote tactically go to: https://vote-smart.org.uk/ 

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This week’s shots feature graffiti and street art plastered across the walls of this city highlighting the importance of the climate crisis in this upcoming election in the U.K. The environment should be at the forefront of the political debate, which it appears to be for every party but the Tories. The following passage is from Naomi Klein’s book on the environment ‘This Changes Everything’ which I am reading at the mo and it explains exactly why Boris did not attend the climate debate on Channel 4.

“it has become increasingly difficult to discern where the oil and gas industry ends and the British government begins…At least 50 employees of companies including EDF energy, npower and Centrica have been placed within government to work on energy issues in the past four years..the staff are provided free of charge..”

Clearly no conflict of interest there. No, not at all, not one jot. So we basically live in an ‘Oiltocracy’. Like Trump, Boris is just a fossil fuel flunky (F.F.F) He works for them. A vote for the Tories is a vote to ensure ‘business as usual’ for the oil n gas industries so they carry on as they have been, which is to relentlessly plunder our ecosystem for shareholder profit with zero concern for the collateral damage to humans and all other species.

And not only will no-one currently in power get in their way but they are actively supporting them, pumping billions in subsidies, paid for with your tax money, which will allow the continuation of planetary devastation. Their actions, if not stopped, will ultimately destroy our ability to live on our spinning spherical host. Doesn’t feel like a good move from what I can see. ..

The next five years might just be the most crucial time ever for the human race in the entire history of our species as it will determine what path we take, which, for survival, requires putting ourselves on an entirely different path, because this one has revealed itself to be a dead end. The need to radically change our way of life and to confront head on the effects of climate change will require us to have strong forward thinking leaders that will take us in a new direction. Boris has none of these attributes.

Like Trump & Bolsanaro, Boris is not strong, despite him trying to play the ‘churchill’ card. These FFF’ are weak spineless men because, despite knowing (they’re cunts not idiots) of the consequences they continue to cower to their masters and help them to destroy the resources of this planet which are vital for life to continue. They are not the future, they are the past. They are the weights of yesterday that will drag us down into the depths from which we will not be able to return.

If Boris can’t even be arsed to turn up to a friggin tv studio to discuss it what do you think he’s actually going to do for the environment? Sweet FFF..A! So vote Tory, vote for humanity’s death warrant. That might sound overly dramatic but contrary to the utter inaction of this current government this actually is a fucking emergency. And saying it is one, isn’t actually part of the solution.

If they aren’t going to act like ‘our house is on fire’ we need to. And that means getting rid of them. We need to get these blocks in the road out of the way for good so we do not consign ourselves to a footnote in history. Many species have been and gone since this Earth formed but none have been dumb enough to wipe themselves out. And we’re supposed to be the most evolved so far. Not really looking that way right now because we are destroying the host that keeps us alive and as I have previously stated, even bacteria know to keep their host alive which means, right now, we are dumber than bacteria…

I feel like I have said these things many times but now as we get ready to choose our elected representatives it is a chance to remove those dragging us towards the precipice and enlist those who want to initiate a greener future, which means having one.

#anythingbutory

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When I was a kid I wanted nothing more than to travel into the future and with 2020 looming I realise I actually achieved my dream, I just did it the long way round, in real time. The future doesn’t look quite as shiny and as optimistic as we maybe imagined back then but it is definitely here, as am I.

What we do now will dictate what kind of actual future we will have but we must act now… doing nothing will not maintain the status quo. Doing nothing will propel us forwards towards a future none of us want to be in…

#anythingbuttory

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A week of famous bods this week. The celeb endorsements were obvs designed to flog my book (few more to come) but I wanted to also flag up the power and influence that the cult of celebrity has had on politics. It has obviously always had the popularity contest element to it but now, like America, it dominates to such a degree, that nothing else seems to matter anymore. This is nuts when the process involves making a decision about who we choose to govern our country and something that will ultimately affect all our lives so dramatically.

All I seem to hear in this run up to the general election when discussing potential leaders is whether people like them or not. Not what they stand for. Not their policies. Not their actions. But what does it matter? They aren’t going to become your friend. You’re never going to hang out with them or have them over for dinner so who gives a fook if they are ‘your type of person’ or not? What matters is are they competent, decent, intelligent? Are they going to do what is right? Are they going to put the citizens of their country first? Will they serve rather than be self-serving? They need to be leader material not mate material.

We also must accept that our opinions of these people are based on how they have been represented by the media and it is the way they are reported that dictates how we feel about them. We have never met them so it is not based on anything real. We don’t ‘know them’ know them. We just think we know them. We are basing our judgment on a flimsy easily digestible version of them, a 2 dimensional construct that has been fed to us.

We are essentially responding to a ‘character’ that has been ‘created’ to be loved or vilified. It is a perception of a person that has been presented with an intended purpose. The media are deliberately trying to sway you for and against the politicians because they are driven by their own political agenda. They are not objective. It’s not like they just want us to be informed. They are a propaganda machine and not to be trusted. We must see through these motives and we must take this on board before we let it affect the way we vote.

And if you don’t vote you don’t get to complain after and really isn’t that what we live for in this country? Why take away one of your favourite pleasures in life…

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#MYLDNBK – Celebrity Endorsements (Ep. 3) – The Harry

If you can’t see this vid please click on this link: https://youtu.be/y-EBEaUsx60

Please note: These are 100% real testimonials. The celebs featured have not received any payment whatsoever. Their views are their own. They just really really want you to buy a book because they really really like you and want you to be happy.

Harry was a darling. So sweet. In the morning he arrived with coffees for me and all the crew and in the afternoon when we were all flagging he had delivered onto set loads of fancy cakes and a giant bag of showbiz sherbet. Bless.

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Statements from the streets this week as part of my ongoing series “R U Talkin to Me”. These ‘messages’ appear to me as we career towards this election in the U.K. Buzzwords abound as sound bites take precedence over facts and personalities are judged more than policies. And trust is at an all time low as we now live in this post truth age where everything can be bent to suit whoever chooses to do the bending.

And yet I feel its important to remember, as the sign above indicates, politicians have never told the truth. They say what they think will get them votes and they rarely fulfil their election promises so why should we ever listen to them? In the normal day to day you can pretty much discount anything a politician says but in the run up to an election? Forgeddaboudit..

And so with algorithm bubbles fuelling your feed and fakery lurking at every corner, who can you believe? The answer is yourself. Do your research, disseminate your information, question your sources, go beyond the mainstream media, investigate, and don’t just accept everything wholesale. Every pusher of news has an agenda. Every single media outlet is subjective to a degree so you must factor this in when absorbing the ‘facts’. The answers are all there, you just have to look. And think. And when you are in your next heated political argument passionately pushing your opinion with anger fuelled adamance, ask yourself this question…where did I get my information from?

This all might sound very cynical but you cannot afford to be just take things at face vaiue and it’s very hard not to look at our political system and feel its kinda broken. It’s not that there aren’t any politicians or parties worth voting for but the whole opposition 2 party politics feels very outdated and after recent experience, just doesn’t feel like a forward thinking solution. It feels like a dead end.

However, I think the vote is the most important thing we have and we have to use it and we have to use it. And use it wisely, even if its tactical. It might feel you are supporting something you are essentially against and perpetuating the people in power who are a problem but the vote is the only power we have.

There is a lot of use of the phrase ‘the lesser of evils’ these days and I subscribe to it. This system might be geriatric and in need of a major overhaul but there are definitely worse versions of it depending on who is at the helm.

In this day and age its more crucial to know what you are against than what you are for. And vote with your head, not your heart. Vote with information not instinct. Vote with facts not fear. But whatever you do, just vote. It ain’t much but it’s all we got.

If that is all a total brain drain please accept this soothing mattress message…with a sweetie on a stick thrown in for good measure…

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All shots this week taken on Berwick Street in Soho. There is very little of old Soho left and yet still the last remnants are still being dismantled, removed and built over. The only smidgen of a glimpse of its former sleazy and seductive past are boardings (see shot below) which cover building work designed to eradicate it, oh the twisted irony.

I am done mourning the past version of this city. My grief has reached a level of acceptance which means I can exist in this new version and no longer lament the past. This is not because I am happy with the transformation. I find new Soho boring by comparison to its previous counterpart but because to stay locked to a former incarnation of the world around us is not healthy.

We must live in the now. We must be fluid with change and not be constantly looking backwards, hoping a world we grew up in and are familiar with will return. It won’t.

If you keep your gaze on what has gone you will fail to see what is front of you. Recently I caught myself saying ‘in my day’ when referring to the past but I realised that I am here right now, today is ‘my day’ as is every day I live on this planet. To identify with a previous period rather than the one you are in means you become a fixed moment in time. A full stop.

Maybe we feel the era we were raised in shaped us and defines us but we are as much a part of now as we were a part of then, if we want to be. If we engage. If we stop ourselves from being rooted in an ex-existence. We did those years, we lived them, they happened, do we need to keep living them? Why continue to dwell on previous experiences when you can continuously have new ones? If your focus is on another time, you will most definitely not be entirely present in this one…

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Babycakes Romero – Street Photographer. (Pt 1)

if you can’t see this vid click on link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIqZzFjjMT4

“This is the first in a series of mini ‘docs’ where we give you a no holes barred expose of the reclusive photographer that is Babycakes Romero. We were granted exclusive access and he allowed himself to be filmed for the first time ever.  We will take you behind the scenes, to show you his unconventional methods, his radical style and will ultimately reveal why this camera shy photographer is hiding in the shadows of his own exposures. We bring you the man behind the myth. The man behind the made up name.”

Simon J Levene, director (Tube Poker) 

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What do all the shots have in common this week? They were all taken within minutes of each other. These people are connected in time and location and now also by this series, which I will be continuing over next couple of weeks.

I was inspired by the spectacular photography book ‘A day in the life of London’ which was shown to me by my good friend & fellow photographer Alex Schneideman at Flow Photographic. It was published in the 80s and shows this city captured by hundreds of photographers in a single 24 hour period. It is an incredible piece of work and mind boggling how they achieved it. My slightly less ambitious version that I will present to you is the same city but will instead be just 1 photographer taking shots over a period of 2.4 hours, roughly 35 years later & last Friday to be precise.

And as we are talking about street photography books about London (see what i did there?) I wanted to let you know that if you are still looking to get a copy of my book ‘MYLDN – a streetview of London Life’ you can get from direct at my esty store via this link (and also the ‘BUY BOOK’ button on me website)

https://etsy.me/2QfiDmY

I am donating 50% of my royalties to the youth homeless charity Centrepoint https://centrepoint.org.uk so if you get direct from me they will get more. I have featured the dramatic and horrendous increase in homelessness in London over last few years in my book and it is a situation that, once in, is very hard to get out of. What Centrepoint does is help protect young vulnerable people and stop many of them from falling through the cracks and into a life on the streets. You also sponsor a room for a monthly fee of £12.00. (see website)

And while we’re punting books…Alex Schneideman & Hettie Judah’s ‘Art London’ collaboration publication has also been released this week and definitely worth getting hold of a copy if you want a definitive guide to this city’s cultural content providers which also contains some great art of its own via Alex’s photographs. This casual not posed at all verite shot was taken at their launch last night.