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Dr Who Christmas Special December 26, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , add a comment

WARNING - Dr Who Christmas Special Plot Spoiler. 

Take a dash of the Poseidon Adventure, throw in a pop princess, mix it all up with the strikingly handsome and surprisingly single tenth Doctor and you have the Doctor Who Christmas special, and possibly a  camp rival for the wizard of Oz.

When we left the Doctor at the end of the last series, he had been abandoned by his companions and the Tardis had just struck the intersellar cruise ship Titanic, in orbit around Earth on Christmas Eve.  He quickly repairs the damage, and decides to join the party.  Waitress Astrid Peth, played by Kylie, takes his eye immediately.  He moves in, telling her “you dreamed of another sky, new sun, new air, new life, a whole universe teeming with life”.  Taking her on an excursion forbidden to staff, to exotic and alien London below, she is hooked.  To which I, and half the female population of the UK (plus a fair few of the rest), can only say, I should be so lucky!  David Tennant seems to be reprising his earlier role as Casanova, travelling in time and toned down for family viewing.

Of  course, disaster strikes and the ship  starts to plunge towards the Earth, threatening not only those on board but all life on the planet.  The Tardis is  lost in the accident, which turns out to be less of an accident than it seems.  And now it is up to the Doctor, his new companion and an assortment of other characters to save the day.

One of the reasons why Doctor Who makes good, often inspirational, viewing, is the sympathy he shows for ordinary, humble people, bringing out the best in them.  The overweight factory workers who have won their tickets and are scorned by other passengers rise to the occasion, while the nasty, mobile-phone toting trader lives up to very little.  In an unusual twist for a disaster movie, it is not the good who survive.  Who said the universe was fair?

Clive Swift, famous as the henpecked husband of Hyacinth Bucket, is the ships historian, Mr Copper, with a BA from Mrs Golightly’s Happy Travelling Univerity and Drycleaners  and a knowledge of the Earth which extends to the Space Shuffle, and the UK going to war every year with Turkey and eating its inhabitants.  He gives the Doctor the chance to show just how British this show really is when he talks about Great Britain, Great France and Great Germany.  “No, its just France and Germany.  Only Britain is Great.”

The only recognisable alien is Bannakaffalatta (try ordering that at Starbucks) a cyborg rambutan who is another of the good guys sacrificing himself to save the day.  Sticking with the Doctor when the going gets tough may not be the best move, particularly if he looks at you in that ‘trust me’ way and promises to get you out safely.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Doctor Who without an ‘I’m going to save her’ moment and some frantic electronics.  This time a world tour and new album get in the way and the Doctor can’t bring back his new friend, though they do get one more snog before she completely disappears.  And no, she is not the spirit of the Tardis, despite Astrid being an anagram.

This is light, family entertainment for Christmas evening.  Its not Doctor Who at its darkly dramatic best, and Astrid is no new Rose, nor even as well developed as Catherine Tate’s Donna on last year’s special.   They do have fun with Christmas, and it is tense and exciting, with wonderful sets and some nice touches. The theme tune has been rearranged and is more upbeat.  And the Doctor thinks New Zealand is beautiful.  The near miss of Buck House, and the Queen waving as they go past is a little toe-curling though.

Although it sits outside the normal run of Doctor Who, there are nods to continuity.   Everyone  has left London, fearful of what will happen this Christmas, although the Queen has stayed behind, God Bless Her.  Given that we had the Sycorax two years ago, and the Racnos last year, she may not be the sensible one.  But if the Doctor’s life is a series of anecdotes underpinned by the bigger story arcs of the main series - Rose’s story, Martha’s, even Saxon - this seems to be on its own.

Old school fans, fundamentalist Christians and the odd Titanic survivor may not like it, but its good clean fun and far more right for Christmas than incestuous adultery over on Eastenders.

If you live in the UK, you can watch it online here before New Years Eve.

Moving lanes on the info superhighway December 18, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Being Freelance, Internet , 1 comment so far

Every now and again, I find myself looking back on over twenty years working in information technology, and am truly amazed at how far we’ve come. When I started working, 300 baud (about 300 bits per second, or less than 40 characters per second) was still very common. Only geeks had home computers, and even as a programmer, I didn’t have a terminal on my desk. One of my early projects was to buy the first PCs for the NZ Ministry of Transport’s head office.

And today, I sit in Cafe Nero on Parkway in Camden, patched into the net using a mobile phone modem, happily surfing away at speeds which would have been very good for home use only a couple of years ago. Its all over the 3G mobile phone network, and might just put the overpriced cafe-based wifi services out of business. For £20 per month, I have enough bandwidth and download capacity to do everything I normally do, except perhaps my recent addiction to watching the BBC online. Its also great insurance if the broadband at home disappears - something which seems more common now that Virgin have taken over Telewest / NTL.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been working much more flexibly, based between home, a client’s offices and a supplier’s. It’s insurance if my broadband goes down and means I don’t need to rely on client’s or supplier’s to give me access to their networks. Most of my work is online now - project team collaboration sites, email and other tools - so to be disconnected for any length of time is difficult.

I decided to use TMobile for this, despite a very similar offering from Vodafone, who have my mobile contract. It was the difference made by a salesperson who talked sense and didn’t try to tell me that having a maximum download of 3Gb per month was the same as unlimited surfing. Yes, 3Gb is a lot, but infinity is more. That maths degree comes in handy sometimes, it really does.

Now, if someone could just invent a way of charging the laptop over the mobile network. The nice people here are going to get tired of me nicking their power.

Fear December 16, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden, Environment , 1 comment so far

How much does fear stop people doing the right thing for climate change? Our society now seems pervaded by fear - terrorism, crime, and the world about to end.

There is an excellent initiative going on in Camden, that will probably do more to save the planet than all the carbon-generating talkfests in exotic places held by central government. Led by Liberal Democrat councillor Alexis Rowell, and including councillors from other parties, particularly the Greens, the Camden Sustainability Taskforce is starting to make a real difference. Each quarter, it produces a report on a particular issue for the executive, and its recommendations are being accepted. The first report, on Energy and Energy Efficiency went to the Executive in May, and work is now underway on a number of its recommendations.

The task force’s meetings are open to the public, and are well worth attending. A series of talks by experts in the area being discussed is followed by a brainstorming session of ideas to include in the report. The latest meeting, on biodiversity, included the council’s Biodiversity Officer, a representative of the Peabody Trust discussing the challenges facing social landlords in increasing biodiversity on their land and a specialist in Green roofs.

The Peabody Trust speaker talked about how green space in housing estates is often seen as a liability, rather than an asset. A culture of fear - health and safety worries, along with muggers hiding behind bushes (but not cars) - pervades many social landlords, and is indeed very evident in the housing department of the council, and this makes it difficult to create imaginative outdoor spaces. Being asked to cut down trees because they spread disease (its called pollen), or children’s playing areas having to be sealed because dirt is, well, dirty. This isn’t just the fault of the landlord by a long way - its also the view of many residents. If you have been brought up in a place where green space is rare and not very inviting, its probably natural to dislike and fear it.

I go walking in the countryside on my own sometimes. Its a little risky perhaps, but we’re talking farms and small woodlands, not going bush in New Zealand. I’m never far from a pub, or out of mobile range for long. I once got lost, and it took a couple of hours to find myself again. Hardly the end of the world, though falling and breaking a leg might be a bit more of a problem if hardly life-threatening. So often, I’ve had someone tell me its dangerous, and suggest that I’m either extremely brave, or just foolish.

But this fear of the world around us is debilitating and dangerous. Whether its fear of losing out to China and India stopping major governments setting realistic emissions targets, fear of someone getting hurt by falling on a rock stopping wildlife gardens, or the notion that three teenagers constitutes an ASBO stopping our communities from talking to each other. This is the first thing we have to overcome if we’re to get anywhere beyond the low-energy lightbulb approach to saving the planet.

How do we get rid of the fear?

Crisis over Christmas to operate in Camden December 9, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden, Politics , add a comment

It’s good to hear that the Christmas spirit has prevailed, and Camden Council have changed their minds and are letting Crisis go ahead with their Crisis over Christmas centre on Euston Rd this year.   I’m not sure what made the difference, but am very grateful to St Pancras and Somers Town Ward councillor Roger Robinson for raising it with the powers that be.

Sometimes shining a little light in these dark corners helps in very meaningful ways, and I’m very happy to be proved wrong in my opinion of those involved in this.

Somers Town needs housing, not a medical centre December 5, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden , 2 comments

Vacant land behind the British Library will become a medical research centre, despite Government pledges to build social housing on government land, and the wishes of people in Somers Town. There’s a report from the BBC here (Site Found for Medical Centre), and you can see this blogger at the end.

Somers Town has lost about 30% of its social housing over the last 20 years, and has some of the worst health of any area in London. Over-crowding, and a lack of housing for those who need it are serious problems here.

This centre has been approved despite local needs, and despite the planning brief for the area stipulating that at least half of the site must be used for housing. The medical research centre project has already gone awry once, when they bought the site of the National Temperance Hospital on Hampsted Rd and then realised it wasn’t big enough. I’ve little faith in the planning process, but this will be fought.

No Room at Camden Council’s Inn December 1, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden, Politics , 2 comments

The grandeur of the new St Panacras station sits side by side with one of the most deprived areas of London, Somers Town. Walk away from champagne and Eurostar, and its not hard to find people in very difficult circumstances. The drug dealers and hookers have mostly been moved on to other areas, but the vulnerable are still there if you look.

Every year, my friend Dom spends his Christmas working for Crisis Open Christmas, a charity which provides for the homeless and inadequately housed at Christmas time. It’s a rewarding and useful way to spend the week, giving him a lot of personal satisfaction while doing some good that’s much more in keeping with the Christmas spirit than the normal rounds of presents and parties.

Crisis operate these centres all around London, and this year, the Wellcome Trust offered a building on Euston Rd. That sounds ideal, given that a short walk around Eversholt St or St Pancras church will dispel any notions that homelessness has disappeared from Camden.

Why then, when Crisis asked Camden council for their support, did Camden turn them down? They weren’t asking much, because Crisis and it’s volunteers will do all the work, and even clean up afterwards and take people back to where they came from. But Camden Council are not prepared to support this.

I asked one of our local ward councillors about it. I know he’s concerned about housing in this area, and he’d heard nothing of it. A little further digging in the council, and I find myself in possession of an extraordinary and spinechilling document - a Council briefing paper prepared by the Acting Assistant Director (Needs and Access), Karen Swift.

It seems that Camden Council have a low opinion of Crisis, based on a fairly outdated understanding of the service they offer. These days, homelessness isn’t just about rough sleepers, but about those who have no secure housing, who move from sofa to friend’s floor, and those who, although offered a place in a hostel cannot take it up. Often these people have enormous mental health issues and aren’t easily brought into the system. Crisis is at least as aware of that as Camden Council. Crisis Open Christmas helps them to get the help they need, in a way that works with how they are, rather than through ‘targets’ and ‘tasking’ which may have little relevance to chaotic lives.

Don’t get me wrong. My experience of living in a council-owned flat and being involved with the District Management Committee for Housing in Somers Town has given me a high opinion of many of those involved in housing services in Camden, but the Council has got it wrong here.

Sadly, I suspect the nub of the reason for Camden Council’s rejection is in their statement that the Kings Cross area is ’sensitive’ due to recently reopened St Pancras, and that there is an unspecified but small rise in ’street activity’. Does this just mean that the Council is worried about all those unsightly homeless people who are out of Camden’s ‘control’ showing up near the posh new station?

It’s not clear where responsibility for this decision lies, but I can only ask the Council to change their mind. Every year, Crisis do excellent work with some of the most vulnerable in our society. If Christmas means anything, we must support them.