Author Archives: Jeremy Williams

Jeremy is an author and activist based in Luton. He writes serious books for adults, less serious books for children. His blog, The Earthbound Report, has been recognised as the best green blog in the UK by Vuelio and the UK Blog Awards.

I was passing an electronics shop today that had this sign in the window: ‘new imacs – back to school special’.

Back to school with an imac? I remember getting a new pencil case and thinking it was christmas.

come and talk with me

I’ve been away with the Lifewords team this past week, shooting a short film called ‘come and talk with me’ up in Northumbria. It’s a reflection on Psalm 27 and hearing God’s voice, using the story of the 7th century hermit St Cuthbert as an example. We’ve not really done this before, so not sure yet how it’s all going to turn out, but it’s been good fun and a real learning experience. I’ll let you know how we get on.

abandoned places

Everybody likes a good ruin, but the ones we usually value tend to be old, ancient civilisations, runied abbeys. But the 20th century has given us more abandoned places than any other, the cycles of innovation, industry and obsolesence leaving us with ruins in and around our cities, empty and crumbling, foreboding and locked away. I find such places fascinating.

So does Tim Edensor, my old university lecturer, who wrote a book on the subject.

His eloquent and thought provoking take on industrial ruins is online too, in writing and in photography, here and here.

“As spaces by the side of the road, ruins can be explored for effects that talk back to the quest to create an impossibly seamless urban fabric, to the uses to which history and heritage are put, to the extensive over-commodification of places and things, to middle-class aesthetics, and to broader tendencies to fix meanings in the service of power.”

reclaiming the airwaves

https://i0.wp.com/www.productdose.com/images/custom/pranks/tv-b-gone.jpgI have a new game. Last week I took delivery of a tv-b-gone keyring remote, and I have taken it upon myself to rid my local shopping centre of audio-visual pollution. For three years I’ve been walking to work through a certain shopping centre that shall remain nameless, and day in, day out they have the same adverts, the same ‘info-tainment’ about fashion shows and film premiers. No more. The tv-b-gone is a tiny remote control with just one button – off – and it works on any television. It really is making me very happy.

The remote was invented by Mitch Altman a few years ago, after he spent an evening of stilted conversation in a restaurant with a TV on in the background. I read about it in a Wired article ages ago, but the first run of remotes sold out very quickly indeed, and I’ve been waiting to get my hands on one for some time. You can now get one from iwoot. Adbusters have been on about them too, as part of their TV turnoff week campaigns.

I highly recommend getting hold of one, and reclaiming some public space. Mine has worked so far in the mall, in Sainsbury’s and WHSmith, and I’ve saved both Dixons and Curry’s several pounds in electricity bills.

Live Earth

Tim and I went to the Wembley gig yesterday, Caz got some free tickets, so we got to enjoy the corporate hospitality of Stony yogurt, whoever they may be. Whatever my reservations about the idea as a whole, they definitely put on a good show. Special mention to Foo Fighters, who I’ve always wanted to see, and Black Eyed Peas, who wrote a song specially and were rather good.

Best act: Foo Fighters, who know what to do with a stadium.

Worst act: Spinal Tap, replaying the dancing dwarf scene from the film and thus being essentially a tribute band to themselves.

Least succesful attempt to engage with the issues: ‘Let’s save the polar bears, let’s save our children’s children… let’s a least have a go, you know?’ The guy from Kasabian.

Least appropriate song: ‘Que sera sera’, sung by David Gray and Damien Rice and summing up the exact opposite to the attitude needed.

Defining song: Madonna’s theme song, which had a choir of about 30 children singing ‘you must first love yourself, then you can love someone else, if you can change someone else, then you have saved someone else, but you must first love yourself… etc’ Yes, a song about loving yourself sums up the whole thing quite nicely really.

Design for the other 90%

https://i0.wp.com/www.rolexawards.com/special-feature/inventions/images/big-502.jpgHere’s a great exhibition that’s on in New York at the moment, that I sadly am only getting to read about – “The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
Among the genius ideas are the Q drum, a rolling water carrier that will save the backs of those having to haul water over long distances.

And this pick-up version of the classic carry-all African black bicycle. If you’ve ever seen the way a Kenyan can fit his entire family on a single bike and then weave through traffic, you’ll appreciate how practical, simple and necessary innovations like these are.
Check out more details of design for the other 90% here. There will always be more toys for rich people, but this is the real cutting edge of design.

Fopp is closed

Alas! One of my favourite shops closed today. I went past it on the bus and noticed it was shut, and sure enough, Fopp has gone into administration. I thought it was a little suspect when they stopped taking credit cards a couple of days ago, but then they did sell everything so cheap, no wonder they couldn’t keep up. I regularly used to go into Virgin, listen to an album on their listening posts and then buy it for half the price round the corner. And they had books as well. Good thing I raided their bargain basement on wednesday.

Anyway, Fopp was the UK’s largest independent music supplier, which is a bad sign for music shops everywhere. And no, Amazon and itunes are not music shops.