From peat to peat

During Spring my Father and I went on a trip to Scotland to tour the whisky distilleries of the West coast, what’s known as the Islay malts (plus Talisker). These whiskies are defined by their heavy particle per million rate (ppm) of peat – giving them a smoky flavour. But this does not mean each is a bruiser – the ppm rate in this region varies from 10 at the low end to a throat killing 70ppm at the top. But how is this peaty magnificence achieved? Read on dear friend, read on….

So the trip started with a brutally early journey to Stanstead. We had paid more to avoid the early flight, but good old budget airline changed the time to vicious-o-clock. Arriving in Glasgow Prestwick, we were met by a superbly friendly gnome like chap from the local car rental place who took us to our awaiting chariot. A beautiful Fiesta was powered up by Senor Pond; he was the designated driver. First pit stop – petrol station – how different to London: locally cooked sausage roll as an eating delight. We then powered on to Lock Lomond for a beautiful break and a cup of coffee (the place was a severe tourist trap with lunch time steaks coming in at £20 for a rump – entry level price).

The journey took us on a wonderful trip through the Highlands until we reached Tarbert, a tiny little fishing town that was once a centre of wealth. The first night’s stop was pleasant and we were fed with an exceptional, and exceptionally large, Scottish breakfast. Ferry time and to Islay we went. Laphroig, Kilchoman and Bruichladdie distilleries visited and strong opinions on all, but too much content for one mere blog post. Onwards and upwards: Isle of Skye and Talisker – the old man’s favourite before we went, but now perhaps converted to Laphroig. Try the quarter cask 12 year which is currently available from Sainsburys at just under £30. Nice.

We took a long walk around Skye, which cleared away hangovers and cleared the lungs. Two thirds around, Mr Pond sank in a giant bog of peat and I had to use all of my might to pull him out. And so peat to peat.

So why the peaty flavour? Well, the barley is soaked in water to start the fermentation process and then it is dried on an open floor over the smoke of burning peat. Controlling the amount of peat used in this process delivers the ppm and the flavour you are looking for. You may be a Speyside advocate but I say no!

Part 2 of this post is for those with an interest in whisky and shall explore the distilleries we visited in more detail.

Pigged out

On a recent holiday to Andalucica we consumed vast amounts of pork, partly by choice and partly by fate. We had taken the Moro cook book with us to serve up some of the food from our favourite restaurant whilst in one of its countries of origin. At the same time, we were staying in a little, traditional townhouse that belongs to a friend of my parent’s, so mother and father kindly stocked the fridge for us – and pig was their preferred purchase. So the scene was set for a pork odyssey and consumption commenced.



Iberian hams

The Serrano ham comes from the high mountains of the Andalucia region of Spain. It is cured in perfect conditions, high up in the Andalucian hills, with hot summers, cold winters and low humidity. The hams are cured using a time honoured tradition, passed down through the generations and using traditional methods and recipes. Yum. However, far better than Serrano ham, in my opinion, is Pata Negra Bellota. Pata Negra simply means Iberian ham; the Bellota denotes that the big has been bread on acorns. According to Spain's Denominación de Origen rules on food products, jamón ibérico may be made from cross-bred pigs as long as they are at least 75% ibérico. These pigs are bred in the forests on the boarder between Spain and Portugal and so fall outside of the remit of this Andalucian post. But this ham is super-lush-arama. You can buy it in Borough Market but prepare for a wallet battering at £16.50 / 100g.

La Chinata

p111 of Moro’s first cook book brought our attention to this fine ingredient. This is a smoked paprika which is apparently used a lot in traditional Spanish cooking, although we found it hard to source while we were out there. Quoting from Moro, “before being ground the peppers are dried over oak fires to impart a distinctive smoky quality” and it adds a really subtle but distinctive flavour to your cooking. Again it can be purchased in Borough Market, but be kinder to your wallet, go to a decent sized Sainsburys.

Moorish skewers

Lurking on p108 of the Moro book are these delightful bbq numbers, perfect for the current weather. Using a really quick-to-assemble marinade, pork cooked over charcoal with this flavouring has a distinctive red wine vinegar, garlic and spices taste. We cooked them on a disposable bbq down by the beach. Happy days.



Why the obsession with pork?

Whilst on holiday I discovered why the Spanish love pork so much. This may be familiar to you but was certainly a learning for me. As we know, the Moors pushed from North Africa throughout Spain before Ferdinand and Isabella booted them out. The region benefited from the science and agricultural skills of this Islamic infusion and the magnificent impact can be seen in towns such as Ronda, Cordoba and Grenada. But of course, at the time, the Spanish objected to being invaded and subjugated, so they ate pork to spite their Muslim conquerors. How fascinating I say. So our vast consumptions of pork was well fitting – we even ate pork cheeks!


The bridge at Rhonda

Jamon Jamon

So what inspired me to start posting again, because admittedly I have been away for a while? Jamon Jamon is a little tapas place on Parkway in Camden. I really object to paying London prices for tapas food because it is over-inflated but I was pleasantly pleased by this place. With a retractable roof it’s a nice summer spot and has a great selection of Spanish wines (including white Rioja, which is worth exploring). If you search online for reviews you’ll receive negative comments so maybe our experience was not an accurate representation of the place, but we found the food to be great and the atmosphere relaxed. The one criticism was a lack of staff, which meant the two waitresses were super stressed and service was slow. But I reckon this place is good and I will be checking out their 7 quid lunchtime deal.

Oink and out

We all love a good holding pattern

So my blogging presence has been appalling of late. It's amazing how two back to back holidays can disrupt the writing flow, although I'm sure Web 2.0 puritans would not forgive such behaviour.

What have I been up to? Well, a week in Andalucia, which inspired the impending blog post "Pigged Out"; a whisky distillery tour in Scotland with the old man, "From peat to peat" shall follow; a wonderful bank holiday lunch at Moro, which will provide my first review of this favourite establishment; a dabble with Camden thai; disappointment at Belgo Nord, again.

This post clearly constitutes a holding pattern piece; but rest assured, the full flow shall follow soon.

One love to Mr Lundy who I saw recently on his way to Rome and big respects to the Lostbanhoff crew, I had an awesome Bank holiday rave courtesy of Benji and Shark.

Last thoughts: at the moment I am loving gin and tonic, but don't fall for the Tanqueray marketing hype - Bombay Sapphire rules every time (although the father-in-law-to-be-in-the-future sticks firmly to Plymouth dry gin). Our keyboard is back to front with the @ and " sign. Why? Why? Why? A creature bit me in the arm on Friday night and now my entire arm is full of inflammation and agony. I want to kill little creatures. Call me St Patrick of NW1, the biting creature purifier.

Have you listened to 'Welcome to Jam Rock'? It's on currently' I'm not convinced. Hit me with some reggae recommendations and bring on the croquet....

Tender beef lips

As I sit and type a long overdue post (I've been on holiday) on my new Blackberry Bold (it's sick) I find it hard not to salivate about the topic of this tale: tender cuts of beef, lovingly served with expertise in exclusive surroundings. Yes, I am writing about Gauchos.

Any of you who know me may be shocked at this point - not a fan of style for style's sake, I usually consider places that I lovingly refer to as (s)wanky as exactly that, but with the brackets and their content removed. But somehow someway, Gaucho bowled me over. Perhaps it was the company, perhaps it was the superb waitress, or indeed my excellent selection of New Zealand red, but something changed my thinking toward central London dining.

A shrine to beef consumption, Gaucho Piccaddily is high end class and value to money to boot. 50 quid per person delivered beer, wine, perfectly cooked steaks and delightful sides, cheese and port...well of course it would be rude not to old boy. The seductively dark decor made any sense of time disappear and my dining comrades and I were lost in a hedonistic black-hole of rare meat indulgence, but avoided any unfortunate anti-matter (except for a family introducing crying babies at the end).

So the tide of the Pond may have been turned. There is, however, a Gaucho in Hampstead - if that's up to par, I'll be able to consume cattle without leaving the North London raunch. The only down side is the planet. Cows are one of the most ecologically unsound animals to breed. Perhaps I'll offset this environmental injustice, if only I could do the same for my gut.

Locked down

Down at the lock. As the sun starts to threaten over the Camden sky, an obvious spot to chill at is by the lock, but with a multitude of venues to choose from, what is one to do? Well the good news is that most spots are good, obviously different venues for different purposes. Starting on the Camden side of the lock, we have Lloyds, a cheap drink haven that feels like you are drinking in any regional city centre; Peterborough, Watford, Leeds. Now, this is not necessarily a 100% bad thing, there is a time and place for being chavtastic, but it is not on a Friday night as I recently discovered by going there in error…,But with beers at a pound, it’s a reasonable afternoon drinking and sports watching spot.

Crossing the fairy bridge (although unfortunately the fairy lights have been removed from the tree...) we first come to the Lockside Lounge. A long bar, the atmosphere does not suffer from the shape and it also has a decent outside area where you can sit and overlook the going-ons of the food market. I ate here for the first time the other day and was very happy – solid pub grub done well. Across from here we have Lock 17, an old time favourite. The beers on tap are not to my preference, and it is sometimes difficult to get served, but this place has great DJs – formerly liquid D&B on a Thursday and this awesome old(er) chap on a Friday. With three floors an outside space, there’s plenty of nooks and crannies to explore in here, and the drinks are reasonably priced.

Crossing the road, you could come to In Spiral Lounge, a kind of hippee-festival vibed place that only sells vegetarian, organic food and organic drinks to match – try their special beers. The music in here is wicked and you can sit down by the canal, so it makes a great end-of-evening spot, in my opinion.

Going back in to the Stables area, we come to the Proud Gallery – a trendy spot for trendy kids, but also worth checking out. The building is divided in to three areas – a photo gallery, a large, open-plan live music space and then an actual stables area – where you and your chums can sit inside a stable like a horse and admire the cobbled streets. Drinks are not cheap here and beer is only in bottles, which is a no-no in my book. But if you are looking for a bit of fun and a change to the typical Camden watering holes, pop in.

So there’s some comments on a few of the venues immediately by the lock. Obviously a short walk away are other venues such as the Hawley Arms, the Lock Tavern and the Bar that Flies, all of these shall be discussed in later instalments. I’d also like to talk about Dingwalls and Jongleurs, both within the same building as Lock 17, so eyes will be peeled for a suitable gig and a suitable comedy night.

And let’s just hope the sun comes out.

Crawl was the result rather than the action

The pondman inaugural camden pub crawl took place last weekend and was a marvellous event indeed. Although we only completed a third of the course and didn't progress from the green zone, much fun was had by all.

A punctual arrival by the Scot guaranteed an early start, but seeing as the rest of the crew were not yet in Camden, the start was defined by a spot of breakfast in the Camden Kitchen. Very well cooked bacon and eggs were devaoured but at the cost of 10 quid per person, I felt somewhat done.

The crawl assembly point was the Edinboro Castle on Delancey st, where we were greeted by friendly staff proactively looking for feedback on the venue. I told them that the main issue was the slowness of service, otherwise it's an awesome pub. They reassured me that measures were in place to address this, including the addition of a self service beer pump in the garden. You heard it here first....

Having exceeded the allocated time in this venue by 300 per cent, we progressed to the Dublin Castle, full of teenagers, this is a camden trendy spot with matching grit and stinky toilets. A big floor allowed the Scot to bounce around like the madman that he is.

Thoughts turned to the football and eating so we progressed to the Spread Eagle where the attornery-pix had burgers that looked delicious. The availability of Red Stripe on tap was a welcome relief from the standard five per-centers, and the quiz machine provided a reason to re-engage the brain.

Crossing the road to the Earl of Camden, a table was miraculously secured to watch the football, which was a result considering there were about ten of us. The arrival of the Cynic initated the consumption of spirits, and the inevitable descent in to crawling. A sterling effort on jagger-bombs was put in by all, which saw the first leavers depart at about nine.

A hardcore crew of five people remainded to the end and then progressed to a house party, where a cab was very quickly required for my goodself.

A good first run, the pondman pub crawl saw a top group of people reunited and having a booze-filled Saturday afternoon of fun. Hard on the wallet and even harder on the liver, this may well become a bi-annual event - pencil in Saturday 1st of August for the next one.

The route will remain the same until it is completed and no man or woman is left standing. crawling is the new walking, don't you know.

Not a wack job.

On Friday night, my good self and side kicks, the monster, the pixie and the attorney, went to Sushiwacka, the most excellent Japanese restaurant, located on Parkway in Camden.

I can not praise this marvellous establishment enough. By far and away the best sushi I have had in London, this place is small, cosy, super-friendly and authentic. The fish was amazingly fresh, the tempura was light yet crunchy and the udon soup tasted just like it did in Japan.

A small family run operation, this place is focused on delivering quality, at a fair price. By far and away my favourite restaurant in north London.

Virgin Media is attempting to bleed me

We have the Virgin Media package at home - telephone, broadband and TV - it does the job but is apparently more expensive than Sky, which is a shocker considering how satisfied all of my friends are with the Sky offering.

In contrast, Virgin Media has been an absolute pain from the get-go. The customer service is shocking, the TV service is unreliable, the phone line is sometimes crossed and the inferface looks like it has not been updated since the acquistion of NTL; this is not even mentioning some of the ridiculous clauses in the Ts and Cs. However, after months of problems the service settled down and so did my feelings toward it - I accepted it, I thought it was ok, I didn't want to change.

Until yesterday. In through the postbox comes a letter notifying us that all of the prices are going up. How very dare they?? I am absolutely outraged by this considering Sky are doing super deals at the moment, including free provision and installation of dish and box.

And so Virgin Media, with one piece of paper you have destroyed a year's work of reputation reconstruction and probably lost a customer too.

It's a recession, don't you know. Cut your profit margins and retain your customers, best to have steady cash flow. You tools.

Curry in Camden, the battle of wet and dry

Curry. Umm curry. I like curry in my tummy, but only curry that does not make your bum runny. So, where to have curry in Camden?

Camden has a dearth of curry establishments, fine or not. Why this is, I do not know - presumably because it isn’t a traditionally South Asian community and therefore few businesses were established. In fact, I can only think of two Indian restaurants in Camden Town and one is a Masala Zone - a chain restaurant. This disappoints me muchly, especially as I used to live in East London and had Mirch Masala under my flat, and the world famous Lahore was across the world.

So can anything in the fine shire of NW1 compete? In short: no. There are three restaurants I shall discuss: Camden Maharani (on the High St), Masala Zone (Parkway) and Bangalore Brassiere (just off Camden road). The first and last are independent establishments and therefore preferable to a chain. The Maharani is nice inside, has good, friendly and efficient service, and serves very stylised curry. But perhaps this is where my issue with is resides - the food is a little too flashy; it just does not seem authentic enough. But on a scale on one to ten of Camden curry spots, I'd give it a seven.

Next up, Masala Zone. Despite the fact it is a chain, it does good curry. In fact, I recently had the butter chicken and it was comparable to a dish I had in Goa - and that is saying a lot. But where it lets itself down is with the dry dishes - starters, kebabs etc. They are just not good, they are bad. In comparison, Bangalore Brassiere is a master of kebabs, meat tikkas, samosas, but can not make a gravy dish to save its life. Well it can, but on a basis of multi-coloured paint that you could use to paint a badly coloured wall. This Indian restaurant is my local so I won't slate it; all I will say is don't go out of your way to visit it. Unless you want the 'traditional' UK curry experience i.e. somewhere that has not changed since 1970.

And so we come to the title of this email: can any Indian restaurant in Camden do both kebabs and gravy dishes to a high standard - as far as I can tell, the answer is no. Postcard responses please....

One last thing on this issue. I am launching my inaugural pub crawl this Saturday and had planned for Masala Zone to be the lunch spot. Here's what happened: I call them, I'm told that I can not reserve unless I have 10 or more people - no problem - I am super popular and hundreds will attend (not) - I am then told that a minimum of 90% of the reservation number must attend, order from a fixed menu starting at £14 per person, or else no booking can be made and I will be liable for the cost difference. The Pond thinks this is ridiculous. On a previous visit, I got annoyed with this restaurant and questioned their actual desire to sell food and make profit; the same thought springs to mind regarding reservations. So I shall book the Maharani and support local business - I should have done this in the first place.

One last thought on this issue - the Halal curry vendor in stables market is excellent for £5. But only wet and no dry. Shall I cry?

Pub review - The Flask

A short bus ride on the 274 takes you from Camden town to Highgate village, via a lovely, windy uphill road that the bus often struggles with. Highgate is a top spot, not just because of its village picturesqueness, not just because it makes a great starting point for a Heath adventure, but because Minty from Eastenders can often be spotted - hoorah! And aside from that, there are a number of top drinking and dining spots.

The first I shall start with is the Flask, which is a charming, hobbit-like pub with low ceilings, dark wooden beams, real fires and nooks and crannies. The only downside to this place is its popularity, which makes an impromptu visit difficult, and a telephone reservation worthwhile. This is especially the case in the summer, when the awesome beer garden gets flooded with north London nobility and Heath hikers alike.

The food is both excellent and very fairly priced - a rare combination, especially in this part of town. I've been twice recently and was pleased both times. For the first meal, I had a steak, which was massive and yummy. My only problem with it was that I ordered rare, and rare indeed it was. This was no error on the side of the establishment, in fact, it simply reflected that they cook properly whereas the majority of venues don't, and hence I tend to order one cooking level of beef lower than I actually desire. On the second trip, I had some perfectly cooked seabass on a bed of root vegetables and potatoes. Yum. Both meals were less than £15. Steal.

So there you go, the Flask, it's great. The problem is everyone knows this. Oh, and I should have mentioned, the selection of beers, guest ales and ciders is truly impressive. Undoubtedly one of the best reviews you'll read on the Pondspot.

Pub review - the Lord Stan

The Lord Stanley on Camden Park Road has been my local since living in the shire and it's a good pub, on the whole. The Stan is a gastropub in the true sense of the term: an old-school boozer that serves great food in relaxed surrounding. Sure, they played with the idea of table service for a while, but they realised it did not work and scrapped it. Good on them. Other checkered experiences with it include the switch from San Miguel on tap to Kronenberg, but the move was explained to me by the senior managers as being based upon SM having increased in price so much from the manufacturer's side that the Stan would have had to sold it at a price unacceptable to all. Fair enough.

My other gripe with the Stan is its Sunday Roasts. They are good value at £12.50 but just do not compare in quality to the rest of their cooking. I think this is because the main kitchen, which is within the pub, only has hobs and grills - so I assume the roast has to be cooked upstairs at the start of the day and is then plated up in the 'show' kitchen during the day, resulting in sometimes over-cooked meat and always over done Yorkshire pudding.

But, order anything that they can cook in a pan and you'll be smiling. Lamb steaks, beef steaks, fish, cutlets all are delicious. Matched with a great wine list, and weekend lunch offers (spag bol for £6 last week), this pub is a winner. And having the kitchen in the middle of the pub is a great move - it gives it energy and buzz, and of course an amazing smell that gets you salivating.

And if this review is not enough to tempt you, try this: it's Chris Martin's (ColdPlay) favourite pub.

Peace.

From Liberties to Camden Head - death of a local boozer

A fear that has been niggling away at me for sometime was confirmed today, and I'm feeling sad. The Liberties, Camden High St, is completely dispensing with its previous guise and is reverting back to the pub's original name, the Camden Head.

At first glance, you may think this is not necessarily a bad thing, in which case I would recommend you click here. Now let me set out my stall. My friends and I have been drinking in Liberties for the past two and a half years, never a glamorous boozer, never a shit hole, it was completely fit for purpose: a pub where you could usually get seats, chat to your mates and enjoy a good range of beers, and should the night take you in a messy direction, it was always accommodating. This is not to say it was always like this - it was originally a bit rough around the edges and you'd probably only have a drink or two. But then the ownership changed, they made some nice decor amends, introduced good music on the stereo, and the place became more comfortable. This is where it should have stopped. But it didn't. In an attempt to broaden the crowd, the volume of music increased night upon night and the atmosphere changed. We boycotted for a while, but out of love, I returned. On a school night, it was passable, but no longer made the cut as a weekend venue.

Reading the new website, the target audience for the pub is no longer locals - it's aiming to be a 'destination pub' - and this was the niggle that had been niggling me. Note how the home page particularly welcomes pre or post giggers, or Camden market shoppers. Are they trying to fill it with 15 year olds? I think the premise is fundamentally wrong - it is not a destination venue in Camden, and neither will it be. There are so many pubs in Camden, it is difficult to differentiate. Landlords should be consolidating their existing clientele whilst gently trying to expand their market, not throwing the baby out with the bath water. Camden has enough destination venues: Hawley arms, Gilgamesh, Underworld, Edinboro Castle, Good Mixer (and I'm sure there's more) - let the tourists go there.

I wish them luck but I'm afraid they've lost me. I'll pop in from time to time, for sure, but it will no longer be my preferred venue. And that's a sad state of affairs.

Train services in Britain, they're great they are

Why, why, why British rail service?

I had to go up to Oxford today to talk at the University and was very surprised to find that the train was only marginally more expensive than the bus services (X90 and Oxford Tube, both wonderful), so I thought I'd treat myself to a train journey and save at least half an hour. How wrong I was. Firstly, I had to wait nearly ten minutes for a tube from Camden to King's Cross, which is ridiculous considering it was mid afternoon and the total time for that leg of the journey equated to the time it would have taken to walk. Then, I had to get the tube to Paddington and all of the westbound trains were delayed. Hump.

Now, this is fairly normal for the tube and wouldn't have inspired a post, so I shall continue. I arrived at Paddington, went to the self collect ticket machine, which proceeded to only vend me my outbound journey, claiming a printing error, and instructing me to speak to the ticket office. The fine gent at said location told me firmly that it wasn't possible for the machine to have said such a thing, and proceeded to infer that I was lying (let me add that I was dappered up in a suit and looking quite the full-fare paying gent). I politely told him that this was not the case, so he had to go confer with his colleague. For 15 minutes. He then made me go out to the machine and double check that I had not dropped the missing tickets, like some mal-co mongoloid. After half an hour of tomfoolery, and missing my intended train, he gave me a 'right to travel' piece of paper.

This fine document clearly stated that it was a replacement ticket and contained all the standard ticket powers. So I finish my job in Oxford, return to the train station, give the bit of paper to the man at the gate, who instructs me to go to the ticket office. Aaaggh. I queue at the ticket office, where the assistant proceeds to tell me that my piece of paper is a replacement ticket. I tell him I know this. He writes me another bit of paper. I go back to the gate. The pig-man gate guarder laughs. I go to the platform. The train is 15 minutes late. I freeze.

So here I sit on the train, firm in the knowledge that the ticket saga is not yet over - I still have to get out at Paddington.

I'm not a man of the world, but I've been on a few foreign trains. They are good. Really good. So why can't the fucking country that invented trains get them to work properly?

Next time I'll take the bus, or walk, or skip, or cycle, or use a space hopper, or maybe even a pogo stick....

slow night, even slower day

I was struck with the most awful headache at about five yesterday. Returning home, I did not know what to do with myself. And then the shivers started. Wrapped in my duvet, I was pinned to the sofa and unable to move, and so looked for two options to entertain myself: posting from my Blackberry and finding a film on the 'on demand service'. Both failed me.

Virgin's service proudly boasts to have '500 films at your fingertips', but this is not much help when the majority of the films are shit, and you've seen the only good ones already. So I spent half an hour browsing the options and found nothing, and then a further half an hour watching the Virgin preview channel in the hopes of finding something to watch.

I finally came across the recent, animated Star Wars release and proceeded to watch it. It was ok, but I was damn glad to have not paid to see it at the cinema. Following my time in a galaxy far, far away, I proceeded to bed, where I then burned up with a fever.

So I couldn't go to work today, and I was damn bored. Bored, bored, bored, which explains the title of this post. On the upside, I managed to access my blogging account from the Berry, so am now entertaining myself by boring any readers I might have.

I'll be in better form tomorrow and am very much looking forward to the release of Watchmen, which I shall be seeing in the Imax.

Toodle pip

Sex, sight and sound

Read my recent post on the use of video in online PR and my thoughts about a recent study that suggests musical lyrics are related to teen sexual behaviour by clicking here.

Beats, rhymes and life

A very impromptu Fabric outing on Friday lead me to see the world famous, my favourite, DJ Craze, and he did not disappoint. Always a master of the decks, this guy's showmanship is legendary - not just banging out the dirtiest beats and scratching like the DMC master he is, he flips records, spins around and is basically like a highly skilled cocktail maker, using vinyl instead of mixing jugs.

So wanting to relive the experience, I logged in to my FabricFirst online account to see if the live mix recording had been uploaded. Of course not, but what I did come across was Riz MC. I very, very, vaguely knew this guy at university, and through small worldness, we have current friends in common. Whilst his acting career is currently blazing, I was impressed by his MCing session. His lyrical content had the intelligence you'd expect of an Oxford grad, and I particularly liked his acapella, "Losing my religion to tomorrow's headlines." The spit was all about the misplaced fear in the modern media of Islam, and the failure amongst many leading politicans to realise that much of the frustration amongst this community comes from social deprivation, lack of opportunities and the capitalist system failing. Cilvaringz is another intelligent rapper who discusses similar issues, you can check him out on Wu Tang records. Riz also has a track called, "Radar", which explores ingrained stereotypes and how they create barriers within communities. I look forward to his album dropping and wish him luck.

The weird world that is Swiss Cottage

I went to Swiss Cottage last night for a friend's birthday party and went for a drink in 'The Olde Swiss Cottage'. I knew it was going to be a tad bit weird, but I expected tacky rather than peculiar. And peculiar it was. Blessed be the fact that it is a Sam Smith's pub - £2.14 a pint - nice, but full of strange old drunk men propping up the bar, not so nice.

One of the old geezas had written a poem, which was actually ok - look out for the thorough bred dogs on the wall, but there was a wiff of uninformed racial prejudice to his chat, which was not nice. As we left the place, I noticed a load of 'youth' lurking outside, undoubtedly skinning up. The contrast between the inside and out of this venue was stark - each were equally troublesome. So we left, and returned to the wondrous shire of NW1, and that was that.

Lesson: buildings that look like cute little ginger bread cottages are not always what they appear.

Climate change and the future of journalism - what do they have to do with healthcare PR?

Visit the auroracommsblog to see my recent posts on:

- The future of journalism: An OU presentation
- Unintended consequences: A lecture by Sir David King