30th April 2001 - 8:03 p.m.

Mayday, bloody Mayday. Yes! I'm against dogma. Yes! I believe in the liberatory effects of the Imagination. Yes! I like the idea of bringing politics back to the streets. The thing is.. if one is going to base a movement on simple slogans alone, one is rather doomed when the chosen slogans turn out to be rubbish.

Imagine the scene.. An angry crowd outside the American Embassy in some Second World country. They brandish Molotovs and charge towards the wrought iron gates. Hark! What’s that they’re chanting?

"YOU DON'T PAY TO BE ANGRY!"

And the immortal:

“IT’S NOT WHAT IT COSTS, IT’S WHAT IT’S WORTH!”

Hardly "HO HO HO CHI MINH/ DARE TO STRUGGLE, DARE TO WIN!", is it?

I borrowed 'Unfinished Business', the Class War compendium, from our local library. Great!, I thought, an earnestly anti-intellectual book of radical politics! But, no, it was an idiot-tome, full of heading like "What is Capitalism?" and "Violence: Why?". Class War for beginners, in the most patronising fashion imaginable. Unlike something like, say, Alexander Berkman's 'ABC of Anarchism', which is both clearly/concisely written and possesing of moments of beauty.

And there's the SWP. My favourite slogan of theirs, over a shady poster-image of Mr. Bush:

"OPPOSE STAR WARS - BUY SOCIALIST WORKER EVERY WEEK".

Which kinda sums it all up.

Batons will fly tomorrow. Rubber bullets, by all accounts, are liable to be fired. In advance, the press are billing it as 'The MayDay Riots'. And will then feign shock when things kick off. If one thing more than any other - more than 'Manafacturing Consent', more than a multitude of Pilger-referencing Media-Guardian apologists for monopoly Press-ownership - convinces me that something is rather awry in news reporting, it's the way that happenings such as this are portrayed. C4 news tonight - 'So what IS the new anti-capitalism all about?' And they talk to George Monbiot and find out only that he would like an International Parliament. The hidden agendas.. The inability to contend with the questioning of the basic structures.. The Newsnight programme-brief brazenly demands that the system itself remain out of the limelight, in the shadows, whilst all questions are directed towards the manner in which the system is administrated.

Something funny is going on. The most fascinating programme on British TV at present is 'The Secret Rulers of the World' on C4. Last night, we learnt about ZOG, about the Aryan Nation, but mostly about US domestic policy. Something funny is going on. You knew that, right?

Out on Saturday night. I wear my cream Summer suit and Italian sunglasses. It rains. I smoke too much. Smoking: something you do with your face when you don’t feel like kissing anybody. The pub empties early, and we go to the newsagents for Nurofen, and then to a garishly lit fastfood restaurant (name removed to give credence to my opening paragraphs) where I am concerned as to whether my mouth can manage the alliterative magnificence of the Mega-Mac Meal. Mentioned only for literary effect.

Work is a four letter word. Flicking through D&C at my desk during a lunchtime last week, primarily in order to avoid having to look at anyone's faces. Victoria comes over to me, wanting to chatter, wanting me to accompany her outside for a cigarette. She glances at the page open on my desk, and begins to read aloud. It had to be that JTLeroy page, didn't it? "You're a pretty boy but sometimes you like to wear lipstick and look like a girl. You get eyed up. Men watch your arse as you walk..." I blush in an impressive fashion. Victoria pretends not to notice. I doth protest too much. Victoria is an absolute sweetheart.

I am still not used to having my own web page. I have it bookmarked, and keep checking back to see whether it has been updated.