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2007

December 2007

No news yet of the return of Roger of Stoke. I do feel the BBC have missed a trick there. Surely they could drop the soapy triangle of Robin, Marian and Guy, and mount a rescue attempt for the great clockmaker. We live in hope.

Meanwhile, I came across this photo of the London branch of the Transformationalists. They never really got the idea, did they?

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Have a happy transformationalistic Christmas, and I’ll see you in the New Year.

Bring back Roger of Stoke!

***

November 2007

Hard times for the City of Stoke-on-Trent. Not only does Channel Four broadcast a programme about the worst places to live and makes the claim that 1 in 5 families in Stoke-on-Trent are homeless but in an episode of the BBC’s “Robin Hood”, that great hero of the Potteries, Roger of Stoke, gets one line before being summarily ambushed and killed by Sir Guy of Gisborne. Is that the way to treat one of the most beloved characters in medieval literature?

Actually, Channel Four had to apologise for the mistake about the homeless families of Stoke - the actual figure is 13 - but it makes you wonder whether the mistake was born of pure ignorance or open contempt. Surely 1 in 5 families would indicate a fifth of the population of the city, roughly 50,000 individuals, wandering the streets in a post-apocalyptic landscape eating dead babies, and yet these people from the heights of their metropolitan Olympus must have thought, ‘yes, that sounds like Stoke.’

As for the BBC, all I can say is

BRING BACK ROGER OF STOKE !

*

Donald Ayler passed away on Sunday 21st October after suffering a heart attack. He was a true transformationalist.

***

October 2007

From the Evening Sentinel of Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007:

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September 2007

ELASTO

***

August 2007

From the Evening Sentinel of Thursday, July 12th, 2007, a fine example of the art of transformationalistic letter writing:

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***

July 1st 2007

“the disgrace of the Age is its attempt to confuse philanthropy with tyrannous legislation.”

(Robert Buchanan, The Coming Terror, 1891)

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June 2007

And sometimes one just despairs....

Hirst unveils £50m diamond skull

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May 2007

And sometimes the dark forces which rule this planet bugger off somewhere for a bit....

Spanky & Our Gang

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April 2007

The end of the line:

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***

March 2007

Apologies if I’ve linked to this before, but if I have, I can’t find it, and if I haven’t then I should have:

The Garden of Forking Paths

by Jorge Luis Borges

(“he lived in a suburb of Fenton, less than a half hour’s train ride away”)

***

February 2007

And sometimes it gets no better than this:

        Don't think there ain't no Santa Clause,
        I know darn well there is, because
        My cutey's due at two-to-two today.

The Little Ramblers

 

***

January 2007

Happy Transformationalistic New Year.

***

2008

 

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