The Idler

Smash the System with Penny Rimbaud

I will be presenting an evening with Penny Rimbaud on Monday 28 September at the Book Club Boutique, Dick’s Bar, 23 Romily Street, Soho. The night is called Smash the System. Entry is free. Doors open at seven pm and close at midnight.

TH

Free market in Edinburgh

I urge everyone to flock to Edinburgh for the first “Alternative Market”. This wonderful scheme is based on the markets of Northern Pakistan and has been set up by friends in Edinburgh. Their intention is to trade with gold and silver instead of paper money, and to return self-reliance to people by providing outlets for homemade merchandise and direct trade. The market will have a real flavour of the bazaar, with music and talks and entertainment going on among the stalls. Here is the poster:

A Real Free Market

Out Now: The Ballad of Britain

My brother Will Hodgkinson’s fantastic new book about music in Britain is out now. He has travelled the country discovering the music that people make for themselves, outside the vanities of the record industry, from folk in Cornwall to grime in Peckham. Truly, like food, music is escaping the hands of the capitalist money-makers and returning to the hands of the people. Click here to buy the book from the Book Depository, the non-evil Amazon.

TH

Country Diary 85

DURING THE GOOD weather a few weeks back, I got out my trusty scythe to mow the lawn. I swept and hacked away, but try as I might, I could not get the lawn to look properly cut. The grass looked squashed rather than neatly shorn. So I gave up and finished the job with my cheap electric Flymo, and I have to say that the Flymo did a reasonable job. (more…)