Norah Jones
Manchester Apollo

Unlike Chris, I did manage to see the Norah Jones concert last night. Partly through luck (I’d seen an advert, and knew friends who wanted to see her too) and partly through opportunity (there was money in my account, and I could afford the £30 per ticket gouge price), so I managed to get the tickets. And pretty good tickets they turned out to be – 19 rows from the front (well, row “S” – I think that’s 19th row).

Despite the comments of others (“they’ll have needles in the chairs to keep you awake”) it turned out to be a pretty good concert.

In direct contrast to most of the gigs I go to, this one was all seated. Very sedate, easy-listening. In fact, it was almost like a huge living room, with it’s own singer and band. Well, it wouldn’t be my living room – the seating I’ve got is comfortable, and doesn’t make my arse numb. But that’s a small side point.

The gig itself pretty much fulfilled the meaning of the word “intimate” – or as intimate as the Apollo gets, anyway, with 2,500ish people in there. It was good – the lighting was dimmer than I’d have liked, but then, I’m used to blinding bright shows etc. The sound quality was pretty much spot-on, and the musicians were excellent too. All in all, it was a pretty good gig – although I’ll still admit to being surprised by her covering two of the huskiest voices in music, “Long Way Home” by Tom Waits, and “Ride On” by AC/DC, originally sung by Bon Scott. All things considered, a pretty good evening – but with only a 90 minute performance, was it really worth ?pound;30 plus booking fee etc.? I don’t think so, but most of the people coming out agreed it had been a brilliant concert, and would probably disagree with me about value for money.

Five Years

It was only while reading this story (via Gert) that I realised it’s now five years since David Copeland set off three bombs in London. For me, it was the last one, at the Admiral Duncan in Soho that will always be the one I recall most, as I’d been through Old Compton Street less than half an hour before the bomb went off. It doesn’t seem possible that it’s already half a decade ago – but obviously it is.

Inspiration?

Hmmm, today I’m trying vainly to look for some inspiration. And not really doing all that well at it. I’m doing three (probably) different design ideas for one site, as a demonstration of the versatility of the website/product I’m creating, as well as the uses of CSS and PHP.

But inspiration is lacking. We’re not talking rocket science really, just three different titlebar images, logos, colour-schemes, and page layouts. I’ve done two (pretty much) but the third is – well, problematic. I’m sure it’ll come to me in the end, but for now it’s absolutely annoying the tits off me. Ah well.

The thing is, I’m not a graphic artist. Thankfully, nor have I ever claimed to be. I can (usually) get Photoshop to do what I want, and the ideas eventually transfer over the brain/hand/Photoshop interface, but it’s not easy, and tends to drive me barmy. Still, it does mean that when I’ve come up with something that works, or got at least the ideas, then I’m a happy bunny. Until then, stress-head reigns supreme.

Home Again, Home Again

Back home. The weather in Nottingham was abysmal, and pissed it down all day. The weather in Leicester wasn’t much better. It’s been a good weekend – although most of the group seem to have developed a dollop of food poisoning, which is never good. Thankfully I haven’t had it, which is a bonus considering the two hour train journey.

The birthday surprise went well, with the DJ at Zanzibar in Leicester being utterly gobsmacked that a whole bunch of his friends could be so sneaky as to all congregate in Leicester and organise it without him knowing.

Mission successful. *grin*

Normality

Well, after the calm of last weekend, I’m back on the trail of being daft. Nottingham this weekend – not for anything hugely relevant, just social commitments. Back Sunday. Possibly photos, probably not, if I’m honest.

There’s a few things I should probably be commenting on, but for now my brain’s in Helen Keller mode, so no guarantees at all.

Upgrade

I don’t need a new laptop.
I don’t need a new laptop.
I don’t need a new laptop.

But look. It’s shiny, and black, and ultrathin, and cute, and $3,200, and .. and …

I don’t need a new laptop.
I don’t need a new laptop.
I don’t need a new laptop.

Scapegoat?

Both the Grauniad and the BBC are reporting today on the story that 200 people have been falsely recorded as being criminals by the Criminal Records Bureau. I’m not surprised – but for once, I don’t think it’s fair to lay this one entirely at the door of the CRB. From the BBC story

In some cases the names of those being vetted by the bureau were similar or identical to those of actual criminals.

In others, the criminals had given someone else’s personal details to the authorities to avoid a police record.

Now, OK, the first sentence there is pretty much down to the CRB, and the fact it should check more than just the names. In fact, it _does_ check more than just the names, so it’s really more attributable to staff selecting the first matching name, rather than checking properly. That’s a procedural error, and not particularly great.

However, the second sentence is far more relevant – criminals using someone else’s name when arrested/charged/whatever. That’s not down to the CRB – it’s the police forces with procedural errors. I’ve been arrested a couple of times over the years, and have never been asked for proof of my name – it would be all too easy to simply use someone else’s name. That’s a flaw within the police system – and it’s stupid, because it’s something that’s pretty easy to verify, short of someone having a full set of false ID. Even a simple check in a person’s wallet is likely to reveal what their name is – cashpoint cards, switch cards, work ID cards, if they don’t match the name you’ve given, then it’s definitely cause for suspicion.

In fact, the CRB seems to be becoming the scapegoat for things like this. Back in December, it was acknowledged that it was relying on information from other agencies, which isn’t always accurate, yet it still took the brunt of the blame for Ian Huntley passing his CRB check when again the blame was actually attributable to the police forces who hadn’t kept records on his arrests. If the records had been kept, it’s far more likely that the CRB would have picked up on it, and not allowed him the job in Soham.

Also, that “200 people in two months” is actually a pretty insignificant figure. The CRB has the capacity to deal with 50,000 Disclosure checks per week. 25 errors a week isn’t good – but it’s still only a quarter of one percent of the capacity. That’s an error rate I can live with – particularly considering that it’s run by Capita (or Crapita, as Private Eye calls them) who aren’t exactly renowned for the smooth running of their contracts. Even the CRB one is now £150million over budget, which is currently in the throes of being investigated.