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Welcome to Elvis Shakespeare blogland where the weather is intermittently overcast & gloomy with occasional showers of brightness. This is where we rant against the iniquities of life (but promise never to metion the damn trams).
For the practical stuff, such as instores, new collections etc, see the News Section on the home page.
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When Is A Free Gig Not A Free Gig? |
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For those who dont know, the cultural life in Leith (well, at least what we chuck at folk!)is currently under serious threat due to a bill passed recently by the Scottish Parliament.
From April 1, ALL free gigs will now have to have a Public Enertainment Licence which will cost a large amount of money (minimum fee is £106)and time as the form-filling - that well-known favourite activity of Edinburgh Council - involved will be enormous.
There is a petition online (chn.ge/ScrapArtsTax or you can find it via our Facebook page)which you can sign and a public meeting on 9 March of the City of Edinburgh Councils Regulatory Committee which is where the implementation will be decided and is open to all.
This is a bad amendment to a bill, needs to be actually removed from law and is wanted by noone, including the above committee (as I understand) so this is definitely a winnable one.
Basically, the gigs you see above this paragraph will not happen if we have to pay for a licence and I am informed by various other free venues, that will be the case for them too. |
When Is A Free Gig Not A Free Gig? |
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For those who don\'t know, the cultural life in Leith (well, at least what we chuck at folk!)is currently under serious threat due to a bill passed recently by the Scottish Parliament.
From April 1, ALL free gigs will now have to have a Public Enertainment Licence which will cost a large amount of money (minimum fee is £106)and time as the form-filling - that well-known favourite activity of Edinburgh Council - involved will be enormous.
There is a petition online (chn.ge/ScrapArtsTax or you can find it via our Facebook page)which you can sign and a public meeting on 9 March of the City of Edinburgh Council\'s Regulatory Committee which is where the implementation will be decided and is open to all.
This is a bad amendment to a bill, needs to be actually removed from law and is wanted by noone, including the above committee (as I understand) so this is definitely a winnable one.
Basically, the gigs you see above this paragraph will not happen if we have to pay for a licence and I am informed by various other free venues, that will be the case for them too. |
Do Journalists Get Irony? |
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Isn't the bleating from The Sun and their associated toadies marvellous!?
Trevor Kavanagh, genral spiv, sorry, Associate Editor of The Sun, complains that journalists are being treated like organized crime chaps by the police. Duh ... phone hacking, police bribery, political chicanery, destroying evidence, lying, using a chain of command to deflect blame ... no, Mr Kavanagh, we have no idea why Sun journalists would be likened to organised crime minions, why they would be, quote, needlessly dragged from their beds at dawn raids, unquote.
Maybe, just maybe, the idea that normal journalistic behaviour entails behaving like a bunch of immoral children will finally be turned on its head and journalists, like the rest of us, will understand there are consequences of illegal behavior. |
Festive Greetings |
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Wishing all our customers a happy festive season and a new year of peace and prosperity.
Remember, 2012 is the year when we must all put pressure on the undemocratic cartel of pimps, whores, murderers and general scum, otherwise known as the coalition government of the UK, so as we can get a vote-of-no-confidence in parliament and stop them before they destroy the very fabric of Britain. |
Here's The Future, Your Future |
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We have recently had the perfect example of why capitalism will never work (unless you want to make an awful lot of money whilst neglecting any human element, of course)when applied to the service industries.
Southern Cross, the UK's largest care home supplier, recently collapsed leading to 750 care home residents(31 000 people)wondering if they would have a roof over their head for much longer.
Southern Cross was bought by private equity/venture capital firm, Blackstone, years before,who decided the best interests of its shareholders was served by selling its property at an instant profit of £640 million, making a nice little earner and then renting the properties back from the new owners. Never mind, that drastically reducing its assets and putting itself at the whim of market forces ( rents going up, councils cutting back on the amount they will contribute towards residents' upkeep), has led to the demise of the company; Blackstone have long cashed out their shares and made their profit and moved on. This is the nature of private equity firms: make short-term profit for thier investors ( a much nicer name than asset-strippers) with the irony being that all those who came late to investing in Southern Cross, now find themselves with worthless shares.
Those of you in your 50s/60s, I suggest you start being nicer to your children! |
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