A while back I wrote about the progressions in my driving since passing the test in August. Last night I checked off a couple of the things on the “still to do”.

I’ve now driven in nearly-central London (Shepherd’s Bush and Hammersmith, to be exact) and done my first stint on the M25. And no problems on either thing.

Of course, it being half eleven on a Tuesday night might have helped a bit, but all the same, they’re checked off the list now.

The BBC website today carries a story about people being evicted from ‘London’s oldest squat’. To remove 150 squatters – some of whom have been in the properties for 30 years! – required the services of 200 riot police in twenty vans. Talk about overkill.

According to the story, the majority of the squatters left peacefully, although “some refused to move and barricaded themselves into the properties and one man threw a petrol bomb, before dropping his dog from a second-floor window”. (the dog was caught by the man’s friend, and was unharmed) So, from the sound of that, a couple of pieces of resistance – hardly warranting 200 police in full riot gear.

Talk about overkill.

What really gets me, though, is the mealy-mouthed weasel from Lambeth Council…

It is estimated unpaid rent on the properties over 30 years amounted to £4m, plus a further £400,000 in council tax.

Mary Lynch, of Lambeth Council, told BBC News: “We can’t justify letting people live in these houses rent free, council tax free, paying nothing towards the community when we have 12,000 people on our waiting list for houses.”

It plans to demolish the properties and replace them with new homes – at least 75% affordable housing – and a sports centre.

You can’t justify the people living there rent-free, but frankly what the fuck have you done about it? They’ve been in those properties for thirty sodding years, and the council hasn’t managed to come forward with court cases, evictions, bailiffs or anything in that time. Surely that comes down to the council being lax, and not keeping track of their own properties and methods?

And how come the squatters haven’t been able to claim that the properties are theirs, as they’ve been in residence for more than 12 years?

One of the many things that can be said about Faithless is that they do keep themselves busy. We missed the gig last December, then saw them in May at Alexandra Palaca, and then again last night at Brixton Academy. Three tours in a year – that’s good going by anyone’s standards.

Of course, doing that much touring, you could understand it if the basics were the same each time, or it all got a bit familiar. But with Faithless it doesn’t. Yes, the set-list was similar to the one at Ally Pally, but it wasn’t a match by any stretch. They started off with “Insomnia”, carried on through favourites such as “God is a DJ”, “Mohammed Ali” (never could spell that right), “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, “Bring My Family Back”, and finishing off with a stupendous “We Come One”. Of course there was a lot of other stuff too, but they’re the tracks that stand out in memory.

It’s a pity that Carling seem to have opted for becoming utter cunts when it comes to photography though. Where we were, I could’ve come up with some fantastic shots – the view was excellent, as was the clarity and distance. But after the last time, I wasn’t going to risk it again. I might make some enquiries about getting a press accreditation of some sort from them though – hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Overall, the show was something spectacular. No, the sound mix wasn’t perfect – some of the vocals were drowned out by the bass-heavy nature of the speaker stack – but pretty much all the people there knew all the words anyway. The lighting rig was awesome – I haven’t seen that many strobes and lights in such a small space in a very long time, the bass sound was the kind you can feel in your fillings, and all told the entire thing was superb.

In my opinon, Faithless are one of the very few bands you absolutely should see live, even if it’s not your “normal” type of music. They simply blow pretty much everyone else off the stage. Long may they continue to do so.

First of all, a quick “good luck” to Gordon, who’s starting up his own part-time web-design business.

In addition, over here I’m looking at starting up two new website ideas, and also potentially seeing if I can resurrect one from the wallow of “not quite got round to it”. I’m going to stay a bit quiet about them for now, because it’s all very “pie-in-the-sky” and “I wonder if something like that will work?” at the moment.

However, I’ve got the relevant domain names – and there’s one I’m deeply chuffed to have obtained, along with a still-present sense of disbelief that it hadn’t gone. Which makes me wonder whether it’s been tried before and failed, or just something that’s never occurred to anyone else. Being more than a bit cynical, I tend towards the former option – but we’ll see.

Anyway, I’ve got the ideas, and the basic stuff all mapped out in my head, so now it’s “just” a matter of transforming that into working websites. “Just” he says, optimistically.

Quite honestly, I’ve no real idea whether the basic concepts will work or not. They should but that’s no guarantee when it comes to the fickle worlds of users and businesses. I’ll be giving it a damn good go though, and may just ask some of the regulars from here to do a bit of beta-testing when all’s said and done. I’m going to give it all a fair crack of the whip – if they haven’t started taking off by the end of 2006, then they’ll be removed, and all I’ll have spent on them is the £150 for domain name and business hosting. If I’ve made that back – and hopefully more besides – then I’ll keep on with them.

Off tonight to see Faithless at Brixton Academy. Second time we’ll have seen them this year, so let’s hope it’s good.

And no, I’m not taking my camera, not after the farce last time I went to Brixton Academy…

So I see that today the Vatican renewed it’s ban on gay priests. Of course, paedophilic ones are OK, so long as they’re not gay.

Frankly, what the shit does it matter whether a priest is gay or not? It’s hardly like they’re going to go out persuading the congregation to go gay, is it? I swear that the Catholic Church has done more than any other organisation in history to spread bigotry and viciousness throughout the world. Yes, it’s a personal viewpoint, but it’s one I stick to.

And besides, what happened to that bit of holy writ about “Love thy fellow man”?