Oddities

  • Talking rubbish

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Politics, Social Media

    One perennial problem in the Easton district of Bristol where I live is fly-tipping, the illegal dumping of waste.

    trade and other waste dumped by communal bin for household waste in Stapleton Road, Easton
    Disgraceful! Trade & other waste dumped by communal bin for household waste in Stapleton Road, Easton

    Some areas – such as Stapleton Road (see above picture) – have persistent problems and last night I gave a short presentation at the latest Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Forum meeting to try and encourage other residents and those who work in the area to get involved and make Easton a tidier place.

    I’m pleased to say I received whole-hearted support from local councillor Marg Hickman, who is equally concerned about the amount of litter on the streets (are fly-tipping and littering related; does one attract the other? Ed.).

    Flytipping can be reported online using the council’s dedicated report form. Some people use Twitter to do so too, whilst for those with a smartphone various third party applications are available, such as My Council.

    If anyone does draw attention to fly-tipping or litter on Twitter, you might like to add the hashtag #tidybs5. If you live elsewhere in Bristol you might like to adapt the #tidybs* hashtag, replacing the asterisk with the first figure of your postcode.

    Yesterday I did learn prior to the Neighbourhood Forum meeting that persistence pays off: via an email from the city council I learnt that several traders on Stapleton Road are or have been served with fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping by enforcement officers. It’s a start, but I get the impression that fly-tipping will be as hard to eradicate as a Hammer horror film vampire.

    Bristol will be European Green Capital in 2015. Unless it sorts out fly-tipping and other environmental problems in Easton and the city’s other less prosperous areas (like the plague of flies, dust and other industrial pollution in Avonmouth. Ed.), the accolade should be amended to read European Greenwash Capital.

  • Caption chaos

    Steve WoodsBristol, Media, Oddities

    Being sloppy is one thing at which the Bristol Post consistently excels and the situation only looks to get worse following the announcement by David Montgomery of Local World – the owners of the Bristol Post – on the future direction of its titles and the role of journalists.

    Today’s most glaring howler features photographs with the wrong captions in this article, as illustrated below.

    incorrectly captioned photo from Bristol Post

    That’s the first locomotive I’ve seen with blonde hair! 😉

    The chaos continues with subsequent photographs in the series too.

    incorrectly captioned photo from Bristol Post

    How anyone can confuse a girl with a locomotive is anyone’s guess.

    Is the Post employing visually-impaired journalists?

    We should be told.

  • Almost 1 in 5 sites blocked by UK nanny filters

    Steve WoodsMedia, Oddities, Politics, Tech

    ORG logoThe Open Rights Group’s Blocked Project has revealed that nearly 20% of websites are blocked by web filters implemented by UK ISPs.

    Those affected involve Porsche broker’s website and a political blogger/mum hoping to read an article about post pregnancy care, yet they still get blocked by filters ostensibly designed to protect young people from adult content (which apparently includes talking about alcohol, smoking, anorexia and hate speech. Ed.), indicating that ISPs are acting as censors and arbiters of what is acceptable content for their subscribers.

    The extent of excessive blocking has been revealed by the Open Rights Group’s Blocked project, which is documenting the impact of filters. Web users can use a free checking tool where they can instantly check to see if a website has been blocked by filters. So far, the Open Rights Group has tested over 100,000 sites and found that over 19,000 are blocked by one ISP or another.

    One of the blocked sites is the political blog, Guido Fawkes. It’s being blocked by ISP TalkTalk, which puts the latter on a par with the not exactly democratic government of the People’s Republic of China.

    ISPs have also been criticised for the lack of information about how to get sites unblocked. Mum-of-one Marielle, said she was “humiliated” when she visited a shop run by mobile operator Three to find out how she could enable access to an article about post-partum care on her phone: “The manager told me that I couldn’t access filtered articles without entering a 4 digit PIN every time I wanted to read a filtered article because I had a PAYG plan” Marielle submitted a report to Three saying that the article had been incorrectly blocked, but didn’t get a response.

    Other sites that have been incorrectly blocked by filters include:

    www.sherights.com – this feminist rights blog was blocked by TalkTalk in April 2014. Its Editor-in-Chief says that as advertising revenue is generated by the number of site visitors and that being blocked, “directly impacts our bottom line. But, more than that, we are concerned with the message that blocking our site sends: that pro-woman, pro-equality, pro-human rights subject matter is somehow offensive, inappropriate or otherwise problematic.”

    www.philipraby.co.uk – Philip Raby, who sells and services Porsches, only found out that his website was blocked by O2 when one of his customers told him. Philip says that it’s difficult to measure the financial impact of being blocked but, “we must have lost some business and, of course, it doesn’t look great telling people the site is not suitable for under 18s!”

    Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group stated: “Through the Blocked project we wanted to find out about the impact of web filters. Already, our reports are showing that almost 1 in 5 websites tested are blocked, and that the problem of overblocking seems much bigger than we thought. Different ISPs are blocking different sites and the result is that many people, from businesses to bloggers, are being affected because people can’t access their websites.”

    The original impetus for the introduction of filters came from Claire Perry, the Conservative MP for Devizes, a vociferous campaigner for protecting children from adult material. However, she should have been careful what she wished for, as her own website (which features many references to pr0n. Ed.) has also fallen victim to the ISPs’ filters.

  • Art up the Feeder

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities

    In recent years, Bristol has hosted two very successful public arts trails.

    Wow! Gorillas was a project sponsored by Bristol Zoo Gardens in 2011 that displayed 61 decorated life-sized fibreglass gorilla sculptures on the city’s streets. It coincided with the zoo’s 175th anniversary. At the end of the event the sculptures were auctioned off, raising £427,300 for gorilla conservation work and for local Bristol charity Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal.

    2013 saw Gromit Unleashed take to the streets of Bristol. This saw 1.18 million people visiting the Gromit Unleashed trail and associated exhibition over the 10 weeks of the event last summer. Church Road at Lawrence Hill was one of the sites chosen for a Gromit; it hosted one named Lodekka (posts passim) after the fondly remembered Bristol double-decker bus commonly in use when I first moved to the city in the 1970s.

    After these events, the places where any remaining sculptures can be seen on public display can be counted on the fingers of one hand. One gorilla can be seen in North Street, Bedminster and one Gromit adorns the bows of one of the Bristol Ferry Boat Co.’s ferries plying the city docks.

    However, there’s one place where both a gorilla and a Gromit can be seen together – Feeder Road alongside the Feeder Canal, historically an area associated with grime and industry, not art of public view.

    If you look up a couple of hundred yards beyond the traffic lights, you see them.

    sculpture of the roof of Manor Scrap

    Both were bought at the respective charity auctions by Manor Scrap. According to their website, Manor also acquired another gorilla, but this cannot be viewed from the road from what I could see.

    Chatting to Pete, the boss of Manor Scrap recently, I understand that the next sculpture trail to be organised in the city will be based on another Aardman animated character – Sean the Sheep.

    Will Shawn end up down the Feeder too?

  • Bristol Post: England invests £168 in roads

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Oddities, Politics

    Road works traffic signAccording to yesterday’s online edition of the Bristol Post, the Department of Transport is to invest the princely sum of £168 – the largest amount it has spent on tarmac for four decades – in England’s road network.

    Of this total, the amount earmarked for local authorities in the Bristol area swells magically to more than £2 mn., according to a this piece by an unidentified Post hack.

    The second paragraph of the report reads as follows:

    The handout from a £168 funding pot which will see more than £3 million potholes filled is part of what is being billed as “the biggest investment in roads since the 1970s”.

    For those who prefer their information unmangled by the illiterates of the local media, the original Department of Transport press release is available here.

  • Photo captions: out of focus

    Steve WoodsBristol, Media, Oddities

    There’s a certain art to captions for photographs used to illustrate news pieces; photographs provide additional interest to what could otherwise be a dull bit of prose.

    Today the Bristol Post features one story which seems to provide an element of unintentional comedy, as shown by the following pictures and their captions used in a slideshow in the piece in question.

    image of police car with wrong caption
    Foxtrot Oscar?
    image of dancers with police car caption
    Thank you for a lovely evening on the beat…

    The International Journalists Network has published guidance on writing photo captions. Its first paragraph states:

    Photo captions are often the first elements of a publication to be read. Writing photo captions is an essential part of the news photographer’s job. A photo caption should provide the reader basic information needed to understand a photograph and its relevance to the news. It should be written in a consistent, concise format that allows news organizations to move the photo to publication without delay.

    I’ll note quote the rest of the photo captions advice, but would recommend it be read – and acted upon – by the residents of Bristol’s Temple Way Ministry of Truth. 🙂

  • Avon (still) calling

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Oddities, Politics

    The Heath government’s Local Government Act of 1972 radically overhauled local government arrangements in England and Wales.

    In particular, it redrew the map of the shire counties, some of which had been in existence in some form since medieval or Saxon times.

    coat of arms of Avon County CouncilOne of the Act’s results was the creation of the County of Avon, a non-metropolitan county, which survived from its creation on 1st April 1974 until its abolition on 31st March 1996, when it was succeeded by the present unitary authorities of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath & North East Somerset.

    Despite its abolition and its failure to engage popular support during its existence (it was widely derided at the time as a “cardboard county”. Ed.), Avon is proving harder to eradicate than a vampire. Its legacy can be found all over the West of England and the defunct county’s former administrative area.

    In organisational terms, its name crops up in the following public and private bodies:

    In addition to the above, there’s still an Avon Coroner’s district, the Forest of Avon community forest project and one can by an Avonrider ticket on local bus services.

    Although it ceased to exist nearly two decades ago, many bodies still insist that Avon forms part of the postal address of places like Bristol in spite of the fact that the Royal Mail long since indicated that it was not necessary to include Avon as part of any address as Royal Mail itself had abandoned the use of postal counties in 1996.

    The inspiration for this post came from a conversation this morning on Twitter.

    Any further instances of the survival of Avon can be posted in the comments below.

  • Save Avonvale Road Victorian school

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Politics

    There seems to be a passion for demolishing what’s left (and unlisted) of Bristol’s 19th century buildings at present (posts passim).

    The latest potential victim is the Victorian era school in Avonvale Road in St George.

    image of Avonvale School
    Avonvale School. Picture credit: Mariateresa Bucciante

    Bristol City Council, those champions of preserving the city’s heritage of past centuries (as long as it fits in with their particular view of what constitutes heritage. Ed.), together with Redfield Educate Together (who’ll be running the school to be opened on the site) and the builders, PPP ‘experts’ Skanska, have submitted a planning application proposing the demolition of the old Victorian school buildings and the building of a box-like, bland, modern replacement.

    The existing building has apparently been declared unsuitable by the city council’s Children and Young People’s Service, the trendy, modern moniker for what used to be the Local Education Authority.

    A petition has been organised to try and avert its demolition and the information below comes from it.

    The Victorian school currently occupying the site was designed in 1898 by the acclaimed local architect, Herbert J Jones, and it is a candidate for local listing. It is a local landmark in St. George, an area with a strong character and the building, in excellent condition, was used by the council until recently (isn’t it curious how the same building can be used and then regarded as unsuitable by the same body? Ed.).

    The petitioners believe, as recommended by English Heritage advice on reusing Victorian schools, that the building should be saved and adapted for the new school. If not large enough, other school buildings are available, such as the other school in Avonvale Road in Barton Hill.

    The advice from English Heritage is strong: “Where re-use for educational purposes has been ruled out, every effort should be made to find a new use. The aim should be to obtain the best return for the taxpayer consistent with government policies for protecting the historic environment.”

    The replacement defeats Bristol City Council’s draft policy DM26 which states that, “Development should contribute positively to an area’s character and identity, creating or reinforcing local distinctiveness.”

    The petition, which is addressed to Bristol City Council, concludes as follows:

    We acknowledge the urgent and strong need for a new school in the area and we very much support the reuse of this building and the search for more suitable sites, and for a school which is truly inspiring for the future generations of Bristolians.

    We believe you should reconsider your plan, looking for the advice of English Heritage’s experts independent from the proposal of a single developer.

    Sign the petition.

  • Slade alive

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities

    Thursday morning’s post contained an unusual item for me: my invitation from my niece to attend the private view of her art degree show at the Slade School of Fine Art in London’s Bloomsbury.

    image of silk screen printed lining paper
    Silk screen printed lining paper by Katherine Midgley. Image courtesy of the artist.

    On Friday afternoon I hopped on the train from Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington and made my way to the Slade in Gower Street in time for the opening of the private view, entry to which was slightly delayed by a fire alarm. Coincidentally, news began to filter through at about this time of the disastrous fire at the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building at Glasgow School of Art.

    One of the degree show exhibits currently greets visitors as they enter the quadrangle of where the Slade stands – Ellen Yeon Kim’s The Shelter.

    Once inside the Slade, the degree exhibition is spread over 3 floors of the labyrinthine building, whose institutional white emulsion and grey gloss dĂ©cor does nothing to detract from the students’ work and lets the latter not so much speak for itself, as declaim.

    Slade Degree Show posterAs an indulgent uncle, I was very impressed by my niece’s exhibits as I know full well how much hard work and effort she has put into it. However, there’s one part of her show I have yet to experience – the commentary to her video, but that’s in hand.

    As one would expect from one of the UK’s finest art schools, the standard of work on show was exceptionally high. If I could pick out a couple of highlights, these would be Danielle Tay and Ben Westley Clarke, not forgetting Lori Ho.

    The private view of the degree show is usually the opportunity for the students’ parents, family and friends to view their work. I do nevertheless wonder how many parents felt perplexed at their offspring’s output.

    The BA/BFA degree shows are open to the public until Thursday 29 May, weekdays 10am – 8pm, weekends 10am -5pm, whilst the MA/MFA Show will be open from Thursday 12 – Wednesday 18 June, weekdays 10am – 8pm, weekends 10am -5pm.

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