onionbagblog
CSI
Some events are worth celebrating, others require remembrance. I shall never forget the events of twenty-five years ago toady, when the body of a sixteen year-old teenager was found in a field, just outside of my home village.
Colette Aram went to my Comprehensive. She was stalked, raped and then murdered whilst walking through the village on a Sunday night. A quarter of a century later, and no one has yet been charged with her murder.
The case featured on the very first Crimewatch, back in 1983. The twentieth anniversary was used as a platform to appeal for any new information. A similar request is being made this week, with the added interest that advances in DNA profiling means that the net is now closing in on the killer.
That's assuming that whoever is responsible for the murder is still alive. Technology has helped to eliminate the many local suspects. The village gossip went into overdrive a quarter of a century ago. Fingers were pointed, flimsy evidence assumed an admission of guilt, and families were torn apart with claims and counter claims. The village has never really recovered.
I remember the morning of the 30th. It was a Monday morning, which for my half of the year group meant PE first thing at the local sporting field about a mile away from the school. Rugby was interrupted at two local police officers requested that we all head back to school as they 'wanted to look around the field.'
We had no idea at the time what they were interested in looking for. I don't think I had even seen a police car drive through the rural village in South Nottinghamshire up until that point.
By lunchtime and the rumours has started to spread around the school. The arrival of the TV cameras to interview a weeping Head Teacher confirmed the classroom grapevine. My short bus journey back home passed the school sports field, which by now had been taken over with police caravans as the murder investigation unit.
The body itself was found on the other side of the village. Tragically the victim's elder brother was there when it was discovered.
You can't play down the total shock and paranoia that this murder placed on the local community. The school bus would pass the murder investigation unit twice a day, and it seemed that half of the Nottinghamshire Constabulary was parked up on our doorstep.
Halloween a few days later wasn't celebrated in the village.
Crimewatch came and went, as did the reduction in officers working on the case as Christmas approached. The rumours continued. Any local weirdo who lived in the village was guilty as charged. It was a painful place to grow up.
The murder remained an open case, but as the years passed, you could see that the momentum had gone out of the enquiry. I eventually moved away, although still had to explain the difference between Keyworth and Kegworth to anyone who asked where I was from, and then responded with 'yeah, I've heard of that place...' (Keyworth had a murder, nearby Kegworth had a plane crash.)
To de-value any human life is a hideous error. But now I find myself waking up each morning, and being surprised if there hasn't been another teenage murder in my little patch of South London.
Stranger still is that I was genuinely saddened to hear of the recent suicide at Brockwell Park, whereas I didn't give a second thought about a fatal stabbing less than a mile away.
Different circumstances, but still a death; still a grieving family and still a wasted life.
I've got a funeral to attend myself next week back in the East Midlands. I'll be seeing family and friends once again, some of whom I haven't seen from around the same time in my life when a rural village existence all of a sudden became very sinister.
Strange times.
technorati: keyworth
| Thursday 30 October, 2008 |
Some events are worth celebrating, others require remembrance. I shall never forget the events of twenty-five years ago toady, when the body of a sixteen year-old teenager was found in a field, just outside of my home village.
Colette Aram went to my Comprehensive. She was stalked, raped and then murdered whilst walking through the village on a Sunday night. A quarter of a century later, and no one has yet been charged with her murder.
The case featured on the very first Crimewatch, back in 1983. The twentieth anniversary was used as a platform to appeal for any new information. A similar request is being made this week, with the added interest that advances in DNA profiling means that the net is now closing in on the killer.
That's assuming that whoever is responsible for the murder is still alive. Technology has helped to eliminate the many local suspects. The village gossip went into overdrive a quarter of a century ago. Fingers were pointed, flimsy evidence assumed an admission of guilt, and families were torn apart with claims and counter claims. The village has never really recovered.
I remember the morning of the 30th. It was a Monday morning, which for my half of the year group meant PE first thing at the local sporting field about a mile away from the school. Rugby was interrupted at two local police officers requested that we all head back to school as they 'wanted to look around the field.'
We had no idea at the time what they were interested in looking for. I don't think I had even seen a police car drive through the rural village in South Nottinghamshire up until that point.
By lunchtime and the rumours has started to spread around the school. The arrival of the TV cameras to interview a weeping Head Teacher confirmed the classroom grapevine. My short bus journey back home passed the school sports field, which by now had been taken over with police caravans as the murder investigation unit.
The body itself was found on the other side of the village. Tragically the victim's elder brother was there when it was discovered.
You can't play down the total shock and paranoia that this murder placed on the local community. The school bus would pass the murder investigation unit twice a day, and it seemed that half of the Nottinghamshire Constabulary was parked up on our doorstep.
Halloween a few days later wasn't celebrated in the village.
Crimewatch came and went, as did the reduction in officers working on the case as Christmas approached. The rumours continued. Any local weirdo who lived in the village was guilty as charged. It was a painful place to grow up.
The murder remained an open case, but as the years passed, you could see that the momentum had gone out of the enquiry. I eventually moved away, although still had to explain the difference between Keyworth and Kegworth to anyone who asked where I was from, and then responded with 'yeah, I've heard of that place...' (Keyworth had a murder, nearby Kegworth had a plane crash.)
To de-value any human life is a hideous error. But now I find myself waking up each morning, and being surprised if there hasn't been another teenage murder in my little patch of South London.
Stranger still is that I was genuinely saddened to hear of the recent suicide at Brockwell Park, whereas I didn't give a second thought about a fatal stabbing less than a mile away.
Different circumstances, but still a death; still a grieving family and still a wasted life.
I've got a funeral to attend myself next week back in the East Midlands. I'll be seeing family and friends once again, some of whom I haven't seen from around the same time in my life when a rural village existence all of a sudden became very sinister.
Strange times.
technorati: keyworth
| #permalink |
Que?
Those mediaguardian Manuelgate headlines in full...
Laurence Howarth: Were those who complained about Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross personally offended by their stunt?
Matt Wells: A parable of our times
Brand-Ross phone prank: BBC inquiry findings to be revealed this week
Jonathan Ross: Profile
Russell Brand: Profile
Daily Mail leads Middle England against Ross, Brand and the BBC
Brand and Ross: Pilloried on Page 3
Has the BBC done enough by suspending Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand?
Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's Radio 2 stunt: the reaction
Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand suspended by BBC
The BBC should admit its mistakes more quickly
Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie calls for Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross to be sacked
Tories link Radio 2 phone prank to public service broadcasting debate
Offence record: The most complained-about shows
BBC on defensive and Ofcom steps in as 10,000 complain about Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross
Gordon Brown criticises Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand's BBC phone prank
BBC radio chief tries to quell storm over Brand and Ross phone prank
David Cameron wades in to Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross phone prank row as complaints top 10,000
Poll: Should Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross be fired?
Ofcom to investigate Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's phone prank
Media Monkey: For anyone unclear on the Mail's position on Brand and Ross...
BBC should 'take some pain' for phone prank, says Will Wyatt
John Harris: Ross and Brand incident says a lot about recent histories of Radios 1 and 2
Michele Hanson: Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand think everyone wants them. Where do they get their confidence?
BBC says sorry for prank phone calls
Complaints to BBC over Russell Brand phone prank top 1,500
Media Monkey: Outraged Sun driven to print topless pics of Andrew Sachs's granddaughter
Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's 'offensive' calls: transcript
The BBC has apologised after Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross left lewd comments on former Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs' answermachine
Julia Raeside: Andrew Sachs was not the only victim of Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand
Russell Brand highlights Mail Hitler links in apology to Fawlty Towers star
BBC apologises to Andrew Sachs for Russell Brand phone prank
Plus seven more feeds have just dropped in the short time I've been compiling this C&P:
Maggie Brown: Suspension is not enough for Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand
Media Monkey: more from Sachsgate
'Sachsgate' – who's who in the BBC hierarchy?
In pictures: 'Sachsgate' - who's who in the BBC hierarchy
Video: Andrew Sachs on Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand: 'I'm not collecting apologies'
Andrew Sachs: profile
Russell Brand resigns from BBC as Jonathan Ross apologises for 'juvenile remarks'
Phew.
The medium is the message, and the medium here (of which The Gruan alone is not guilty) has turned a not very important issue into a national outcry.
Is anyone actually reading any of this 'analysis'? I thought I switched to RSS
in order to filter out all the twaddle that is pushed in my direction each day. It's the online equivalent of the vicar announcing how outraged he is at the increased availability of pornography, shortly before his weekly visit to the sex shop.
I personally have no problem with the initial stunt, apart from the crap-ness of it all. If you're going to resort to school boy humour, then at least execute it properly. Oh, and choose your victim carefully.
If I were the kind of mainstream knobber media commentator that files outpourings to Cif to sustain a living, my beefy bone would be more about the rampant egos of the two twats involved. But these seem to have been placed under control. For now.
Headlines have to be written, blog posts have to be filled, comments have to be *cough* moderated. See what I've done? A lot of people are making a lot of mileage / money out of this. And you can bet that dear old Manuel is not one of them.
Now then... the US election, the global economy, a Cif style deconstruction celebrating Forest's first away win of the season.
Next!
technorati: pop will eat itself
| Wednesday 29 October, 2008 |
Those mediaguardian Manuelgate headlines in full...
Laurence Howarth: Were those who complained about Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross personally offended by their stunt?Matt Wells: A parable of our timesBrand-Ross phone prank: BBC inquiry findings to be revealed this weekJonathan Ross: ProfileRussell Brand: ProfileDaily Mail leads Middle England against Ross, Brand and the BBCBrand and Ross: Pilloried on Page 3Has the BBC done enough by suspending Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand?Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's Radio 2 stunt: the reactionJonathan Ross and Russell Brand suspended by BBCThe BBC should admit its mistakes more quicklySachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie calls for Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross to be sackedTories link Radio 2 phone prank to public service broadcasting debateOffence record: The most complained-about showsBBC on defensive and Ofcom steps in as 10,000 complain about Russell Brand and Jonathan RossGordon Brown criticises Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand's BBC phone prankBBC radio chief tries to quell storm over Brand and Ross phone prankDavid Cameron wades in to Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross phone prank row as complaints top 10,000Poll: Should Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross be fired?Ofcom to investigate Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's phone prankMedia Monkey: For anyone unclear on the Mail's position on Brand and Ross...BBC should 'take some pain' for phone prank, says Will WyattJohn Harris: Ross and Brand incident says a lot about recent histories of Radios 1 and 2Michele Hanson: Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand think everyone wants them. Where do they get their confidence?BBC says sorry for prank phone callsComplaints to BBC over Russell Brand phone prank top 1,500Media Monkey: Outraged Sun driven to print topless pics of Andrew Sachs's granddaughterRussell Brand and Jonathan Ross's 'offensive' calls: transcriptThe BBC has apologised after Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross left lewd comments on former Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs' answermachineJulia Raeside: Andrew Sachs was not the only victim of Jonathan Ross and Russell BrandRussell Brand highlights Mail Hitler links in apology to Fawlty Towers starBBC apologises to Andrew Sachs for Russell Brand phone prankPlus seven more feeds have just dropped in the short time I've been compiling this C&P:
Maggie Brown: Suspension is not enough for Jonathan Ross and Russell BrandMedia Monkey: more from Sachsgate'Sachsgate' – who's who in the BBC hierarchy?In pictures: 'Sachsgate' - who's who in the BBC hierarchyVideo: Andrew Sachs on Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand: 'I'm not collecting apologies'Andrew Sachs: profileRussell Brand resigns from BBC as Jonathan Ross apologises for 'juvenile remarks'Phew.
The medium is the message, and the medium here (of which The Gruan alone is not guilty) has turned a not very important issue into a national outcry.
Is anyone actually reading any of this 'analysis'? I thought I switched to RSS
in order to filter out all the twaddle that is pushed in my direction each day. It's the online equivalent of the vicar announcing how outraged he is at the increased availability of pornography, shortly before his weekly visit to the sex shop.I personally have no problem with the initial stunt, apart from the crap-ness of it all. If you're going to resort to school boy humour, then at least execute it properly. Oh, and choose your victim carefully.
If I were the kind of mainstream knobber media commentator that files outpourings to Cif to sustain a living, my beefy bone would be more about the rampant egos of the two twats involved. But these seem to have been placed under control. For now.
Headlines have to be written, blog posts have to be filled, comments have to be *cough* moderated. See what I've done? A lot of people are making a lot of mileage / money out of this. And you can bet that dear old Manuel is not one of them.
Now then... the US election, the global economy, a Cif style deconstruction celebrating Forest's first away win of the season.
Next!
technorati: pop will eat itself
| #permalink |
Seasons Greetings from SW8
Christmas Eid Diwali Festivus comes to SW8. Before Bonfire Night as well.
Blimey.
It will be time for that Sunny Stockwell Christmas tree post soon.
technorati: festivus
| Tuesday 28 October, 2008 |
Blimey.
It will be time for that Sunny Stockwell Christmas tree post soon.
technorati: festivus
| #permalink |
Loveshack - LIVE!
Refresh and scroll down for updates.
4:30
And so here's the one where I try and prevent the fragrant mrs onionbagblogger from spunking away any savings that we might have on a Cumbrian shack.
Cripes.
We're at Savills the auctioneers, in wanky West London. mrs obb has her heart (and my wallet) set on adisused water treatment works Cumbrian loveshack. We've seen ONE picture of it online. It all looks very Wordsworth-esque, situated on the edge of Ullswater and surrounded by mountain views.
I may need to go and wander lonely as a cloud, should she actually buy the bloody thing.
In principle I'm fine with the purchase. We've been after a VERY early retirement place for some time now. Location, location, location though. And my location is North Norfolk, and not some place that takes four hours out of Euston to reach.
Yep, it's Withnail country, but that alone is not enough to make me want to move there. Four walls and... that's about yer lot. My heart skipped a beat when BT told me that 256kbps is the best I could expect.
No Modern Interweb = No Sale from my point of view. With no electricity either, don’t even think about installing a fucking jukebox to liven all the stiffs up.
Chin chin.
But shit - here we are, poncing it up with the property classes of West London. The Penrith shack seems an awfully long, long way away. Which it is, of course.
Bidding has already started on the other properties. We're Lot 85. Much like Penrith, this is unknown territory for me. I toiled with the idea of tying up mrs obb's hands, to prevent her from bidding. But a nod is as good as a wink, and she acting like a right winker right now.
I've been practising sitting on my hands all weekend.
PLEASE feel free to put a bid in.
5:00
A combination of a crap 3 dongle signal and needing nerves of steel in the next few minutes means the end of LIVE! (knobber) Loveshack blogging. Lot 85 is us, and it's up next.
5:10
Bidding started at £10k; the reserve was £35k. I pulled out at £40k and the final selling price was £106k. Don't forget the £50k you would need to find for basics such as a floor, heating and um, 'sewage.'
And so out of a catalogue boasting almost two hundred items, the room at the poncey West London hotel emptied as soon as Lot 85 was finished. A high demand, and a high price.
Is the Cumbrian shack worth £106k? Possibly. It's worth whatever someone is prepared to pay for it, which at 5:05 on Monday afternoon was just a little too steep for me. We would have gone for it if this was to be our main property. But for a VERY early retirement home that would probably only see any action for six months of the year, I'm pleased that I managed to calm down mrs obb's optimism.
Next up is a North Norfolk auction in Novemeber.
Shhhhh A shack is a shack is a shack. Especially so in Sheringham.
technorati: cumbrian shack
| Monday 27 October, 2008 |
Refresh and scroll down for updates.
4:30
And so here's the one where I try and prevent the fragrant mrs onionbagblogger from spunking away any savings that we might have on a Cumbrian shack.
Cripes.
We're at Savills the auctioneers, in wanky West London. mrs obb has her heart (and my wallet) set on a
I may need to go and wander lonely as a cloud, should she actually buy the bloody thing.
In principle I'm fine with the purchase. We've been after a VERY early retirement place for some time now. Location, location, location though. And my location is North Norfolk, and not some place that takes four hours out of Euston to reach.
Yep, it's Withnail country, but that alone is not enough to make me want to move there. Four walls and... that's about yer lot. My heart skipped a beat when BT told me that 256kbps is the best I could expect.
No Modern Interweb = No Sale from my point of view. With no electricity either, don’t even think about installing a fucking jukebox to liven all the stiffs up.
Chin chin.
But shit - here we are, poncing it up with the property classes of West London. The Penrith shack seems an awfully long, long way away. Which it is, of course.
Bidding has already started on the other properties. We're Lot 85. Much like Penrith, this is unknown territory for me. I toiled with the idea of tying up mrs obb's hands, to prevent her from bidding. But a nod is as good as a wink, and she acting like a right winker right now.
I've been practising sitting on my hands all weekend.
PLEASE feel free to put a bid in.
5:00
A combination of a crap 3 dongle signal and needing nerves of steel in the next few minutes means the end of LIVE! (knobber) Loveshack blogging. Lot 85 is us, and it's up next.
5:10
Bidding started at £10k; the reserve was £35k. I pulled out at £40k and the final selling price was £106k. Don't forget the £50k you would need to find for basics such as a floor, heating and um, 'sewage.'
And so out of a catalogue boasting almost two hundred items, the room at the poncey West London hotel emptied as soon as Lot 85 was finished. A high demand, and a high price.
Is the Cumbrian shack worth £106k? Possibly. It's worth whatever someone is prepared to pay for it, which at 5:05 on Monday afternoon was just a little too steep for me. We would have gone for it if this was to be our main property. But for a VERY early retirement home that would probably only see any action for six months of the year, I'm pleased that I managed to calm down mrs obb's optimism.
Next up is a North Norfolk auction in Novemeber.
Shhhhh A shack is a shack is a shack. Especially so in Sheringham.
technorati: cumbrian shack
| #permalink |
Rogues Gallery
Twelve hours spent on the job, plus the same amount of time spent working in Photoshop (and believe me, the bloody bride needed Photoshopping. And then some.)
Can't, polish, turd.
I offer no further comment.
technorati: mutton, lamb
| Sunday 26 October, 2008 |
Twelve hours spent on the job, plus the same amount of time spent working in Photoshop (and believe me, the bloody bride needed Photoshopping. And then some.)
Can't, polish, turd.
I offer no further comment.
technorati: mutton, lamb
| #permalink |
Feeding Time
Three feeds for you:
site feed
iTunes feed
podcast feed
Professional ethics (yeah, right...) prevent me from commenting further.
But yep, the school podcast is up and running, and available for subscription in the iTunes store.
The toughest techie part isn't the recording of the podcasts (Garageband is rather good.) Becoming listed in the iTunes store was also rather simple (if a little lengthy in waiting for verification.)
Nope, the techie nut to crack was generating the required RSS feed from a static webpage. The iTunes store won't listen to you without any RSS action.
After many aborted attempts at writing my own XHTML code and synching it with the raw data within Dreamweaver (the Devil's own work,) I came close to giving up.
I then stumbled on the perfect DW plugin - RSS Dream Feeder. It takes selected html within DW, and then rather wonderfully generates an RSS feed for you behind the scenes.
It comes at a price - a $40 licence. The freeware has restrictions about the frequency of your publishing, plus you haven't got full control of all of the elements within your feed. I think it was money worth spent.
In a modern interweb world where if you can't provide me with a little orange RSS button then I'm sorry, but I'm not going to read you. Feeds are the way to go.
I may even get the collective thoughts from Year 1 on this whole process in the podcast next week.
technorati: rss
| Saturday 25 October, 2008 |
Three feeds for you:
site feed
iTunes feed
podcast feed
Professional ethics (yeah, right...) prevent me from commenting further.
But yep, the school podcast is up and running, and available for subscription in the iTunes store.
The toughest techie part isn't the recording of the podcasts (Garageband is rather good.) Becoming listed in the iTunes store was also rather simple (if a little lengthy in waiting for verification.)
Nope, the techie nut to crack was generating the required RSS feed from a static webpage. The iTunes store won't listen to you without any RSS action.
After many aborted attempts at writing my own XHTML code and synching it with the raw data within Dreamweaver (the Devil's own work,) I came close to giving up.
I then stumbled on the perfect DW plugin - RSS Dream Feeder. It takes selected html within DW, and then rather wonderfully generates an RSS feed for you behind the scenes.
It comes at a price - a $40 licence. The freeware has restrictions about the frequency of your publishing, plus you haven't got full control of all of the elements within your feed. I think it was money worth spent.
In a modern interweb world where if you can't provide me with a little orange RSS button
then I'm sorry, but I'm not going to read you. Feeds are the way to go. I may even get the collective thoughts from Year 1 on this whole process in the podcast next week.
technorati: rss
| #permalink |
