Thursday

Last day of the month - as it's Halloween, so a day I have to spend upstairs, hidden at the back of the house, in the dark, so that I don't get kids banging on the door.

Worked really hard this week - able to sign off a piece of work today - and invoice for it, which makes me happy. I'd feel a lot happy if I got paid by some of the people who owed me money - if I don't get paid today, I have to make some embarrassing phone calls, same thing seems to be happening every month. If i do get paid, I am solvent until next year, potentially. I'm sure something will happen to carve a big hole in my finances ( don't get me started on fixing the roof. )

Made the mistake of shaving at the weekend, face is a raw, bloody mass of ingrowing hairs. I look like I have smallpox.

The 'stolen baby' Roma scandal has died down, now that it's turned out that Roma don't actually go around stealing children after all - and that assuming that a child is being trafficked because it's blonde isn't actually a good idea after all - it's just racist.

The other low point for this week, tedious Lou Reed tributes. A local singer has adapted 'Perfect Day' for a video of a wedding - not quite getting the heroin reference. Regardless of his contribution to musical history and popular culture - I don't think I would have wanted Lou Reed in my house, his swift segue from tedious self absorbed smack-head to tedious, self absorbed, sanctimonious egoist seems to have been short and smooth. It's almost a boring as 'proper' journalists trying to write clever articles about the Morrissey autobiography.

Another tedious aspect of this week has been the emergence of Vicky Price and Chris Huhne all over the media as commentators on, respectively - the legal system and the ecology/economy. I'm perfectly happy for anyone to come out of prison and resume and rebuild their life. Huhne was a complete arse and his cowardice and self serving are breathtaking - but I'm aware that he was a respected and hardworking lobbyist - if he wants to re-build his life - that's his affair - it can be done. His former wife is another matter. Having spent a single day in 'proper' prison and a few weeks in a soft option spa - she's now an 'expert' on the economics and ecology of the penal system, having re-invented herself as some sort of administering angel meets Bodeccia. Seriously. I never swallowed the 'poor little wifey' act. She's one of the most successful and respected economists in Europe - she makes decisions and gives advice to world leaders and her influences affect millions of lives and jobs, she's quite capable of telling corporations to sack thousands and pull out of poor economies for some greater good, and to perform in such a masculine environment, I doubt very much that she takes any shit. Her 'marital coercian' defence was archaic and redundant , something an overpaid legal team dragged up from the archives as a last ditch attempt to save her skin - it's conveniently forgotten that the only reason that the 'crime' of swapping points came to light is that she was unhappy about the financial settlement at the end of her marriage - petty point scoring from a couple who are both independently wealthy. What adults do to themselves neither bothers nor surprises me - but the single most disgusting part of the whole affair was how she was comfortable with using her children against her former husband and allowing private messages between an estranged father and some to become public. I can't forgive anyone for that. Larkin was right.

Talking court and legal - we might run a sweep stake in the studio to see how long Rebekah Brooks goes down for - I think its inevitable that Andy Coulson will get 6-9 months. Brooks is another matter - I have a feeling that she believes she will get away with it, and she has more friends than Coulson. Any protestations of innocence and ignorance wash over me. Don't forget that she got her big break at the NOTW by disguising herself as a cleaner and stealing paperwork from the desk of the editor of the Sunday Times to 'steal a scoop' (it was the Hitler Diaries). She clearly started her career as she intended to go on, at the time she was lauded by Murdock as clever and inventive - I think she's just a crook. Different standards for little people.