Mike Figgis' Soho Composites last day

Today's the last day of Mike Figgis' Soho Composites at the Photographers' Gallery.


You may remember that I wasn't impressed with the last piece of Figgis' London content that I'd come into contact with. It was the rather strange "Considerate Londoners" film for Transport for London that was supposed to show how if Londoners thought about each other a bit more, the whole world - or at least the top deck of a London bus - would be a better place.

I wrote "I love Mike Figgis and thought that Leaving Las Vegas was amazing, but I really wasn't convinced by this film. I wonder how much artistic / creative licence Figgis was given for this, and whether the TfL powers that be turned it into a film made by committee..... It seems a waste of Figgis' talent specially as I bet he wasn't that cheap to hire."

Really pleased to say that Soho Composites was excellent. If you get a chance to go to the gallery today, it's well worth a visit.

"Well known for experimenting with the creative process, Figgis is spending one week prior to the public display intensively photographing in this central London location, and continuing during the week of the exhibition.

The images will be produced and printed on-site over the course of the week, in a temporary studio space within the gallery. These photographs will then be presented on the wall with Figgis adding and subtracting from the previous day's display."

I was pleasantly surprised to see a certain book in the Photographers' Gallery bookshop next door:


Always nice to see something in a bookshop that you helped to produce (I was chief researcher for the book).

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Sunday, April 13, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Liverpool Street Station 6pm Rick Astley - watch out US

I know a number of you saw my little plug for the Rick Astley flash mob / rick roll / rick mob / rock mob / rick rolling, call it what you like, last week. So it's tonight. Literally, I don't know, tens, hundreds, thousands of people will be at Liverpool Street Station shaking their snake hips and singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" to Mr Astley's 1980's masterpiece.


I'm excited. The Americans kind of think they invented flash mobbing at stations - with their No Pants Subway Days and Frozen at Grand Central Station. They're a bit miffed that Rick Astley is taking the limelight at the moment. I was having a drink with Joel Veitch this evening (like you do - sorry I'm such a fan of the dancing penguins and kittens. Waving at LJ, Piero, Matt, Jerome & Nik too) and he pointed out that the BBC had interviewed him about Rick Rolling earlier that day. They dismissed it as a "daft craze".

But back to station flash mobs - that's hundreds of people meeting at an appointed time to do something - anything - the thing is they all do the same thing at the same time. Let's not forget that Victoria Station has been the home to several flash mobs.


Here's another from Victoria station. What about the Circle Line Parties? Eh, Eh. The UK & London can do them too.

I've never seen so many advance notices for a station flash mob in the UK before. It's been on the radio - in fact I'm hearing it on Heart FM as I type this blog post. It's being twittered. (here's me on twitter) Going round on emails. Everything.

The staff at Liverpool Street Station are certainly going to have a fun time.

UPDATE They came they saw they Rick Rolled


From Whatleydude's live blog of the event. Expect to see tons of different views of this on YouTube and any other video sharing site.

The video re-mix below by Rickrollerz rocks. Remember there was NO MUSIC at the actual event so they put this together by taking footage from loads of different people singing to song with their lips moving to exactly the right parts to the song.


I particularly like this picture from Orhan* and his description:


"The crowd, under the electronic board, at exactly 6pm started singing a song by Rick Astley called "Never Gonna Give You Up" to the bemused looks of the commuters watching the spectacle from the balconies, and around the concourse area. After about two minutes singing the crowd disappeared,and everything was back to normal again."

Mmmm really sounds like there was a lot of disruption to hard working commuters by a "bunch of slackers" then. See some of the comments below if you'd like to know what I'm referring too.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, April 11, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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IKEA take your Tube Map sponsorship to next level

Last month IKEA sponsored the latest version of the London Underground Map (although with Bank / Monument shenanigans another one will be on the cards soon).

However, I wish they would follow the lead of their Japanese counterparts and sponsor and furnish a whole train:




Thanks to Jess & Ian who sent me a link from Pink Tentacle about IKEA's latest initiative. "The Swedish Furniture giant IKEA has converted the Kobe Portliner Monorail into a moving showroom before the April 14 opening of a new retail outlet at Port Island. The redecorated train, which features a colourful exterior, bright upholstery and fancy curtains, will carry passengers in style until May 6."

That rocks. Please, please, please IKEA do this in London. I'd almost enjoy travelling on the Tube if you did.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, April 10, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Can the Nothern Line learn from Japan

Hot on the heels of the above story is another - only in Japan - subway story. Check out the video to see subway staff zealously helping to ease the overcrowding situation.


Like me, Matthew who sent the link in doesn't think this happens any more, but I'd be willing to be proved wrong.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, April 10, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Genius Subway Ad for Wonderbra

Many thanks to Sizemore for sending me the following picture from Singapore's MRT stations.


It plays on the yellow safety line which you have to stand behind to make sure you don't get hurt by oncoming trains or are not so close you could fall. A second yellow "Wonderbra" line implies that if wearing one of their bras you'll need to stand even further back as your boobs will be so much enhanced!

Perhaps it should go alongside the following warning or saucy invitation at Penrith station

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, April 09, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Time Out London Pub Quiz - MOO stickers arrived!

As I head off to Edinburgh for a couple of days, I remembered that I hadn't put up a picture of the MOO stickers that I made with the left over beer money from the Time Out London Pub Quiz where our team triumphantly.... err ... came last.


My rubbish pictures don't do them much justice here, but they look pretty good in the flesh. The 90 will be divvied up between the team very well and for five quid plus postage they were a bobby bargain.


I should have got more and in fact I've just discovered there's an even bigger incentive to get more, as for all of April you can make MOO stickers with your own favourite photos and get three packs of MOO stickers for the price of two! Result.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, April 07, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Even more Snow on the Tube

Getting slightly tired of this snow business now. You might think the London Underground looks good in the snow, but it's the 6th April. It's not supposed to be snowing in London. It's the London Marathon in a week or so's time, I remember watching that in a heatwave - now everyone's going to be wearing snow boots at this rate.

Tomorrow I fly off to Edinburgh for work (sorry carbon footprint). That's going to be fun and games if the weather is like this. The only good thing about this morning so far is that we haven't got an April Tube Strike. Hoorah!

UPDATE If anyone has any snowy pictures from London & Greater London Boroughs you might want to add them to a Flickr group that's been created called Snowday London

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Sunday, April 06, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Bank Monument interchange in photos

Hoorah, now that we haven't got the Tube Strike to moan about, let's have a look at subject you have been discussing in quite some depth all week.


If you look at Flashboy's photo above you'll see it all: confusion, overcrowding, boredom, fuzziness - that's it - the Bank / Monument interchange problem.

Flashboy said: "This isn't the really bad bit of overcrowding... I couldn't take a picture of that, because I couldn't move my arm."

Check out what he says on the flickr page to the photo below:

.
Flashboy himself has made a post on the whole situation at Bank which makes for interesting reading too. There's also an update.

Luckily I don't have to use it, so you'll notice I've been pretty quiet in the comments (most unlike me I know), but you've been doing such a sterling job at discussing this all week I'll leave you to it. Carry on making any further comments there, unless you want to use this post to comment purely on Flashboy's photos or his post. Thanks.

Related articles

• No interchange at Bank and Monument stations [via Zemanta]

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Saturday, April 05, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Thousands trapped on London Underground

Around 5,000 commuters were stuck in Tube trains for around three hours last night when the entire Jubilee Line suffered a power failure. Nine Jubilee Line trains stalled at around 6pm on Thursday night, following a loss of power at the Jubilee line control centre in Neasden, north-west London. The passengers were walked through tunnels to get out.


The BBC spoke to one commuter who was on the trains who sounded remarkably calm about it all "We were getting regular communication from the driver, but he had no way of finding out what was going on. He was getting frustrated too.

"Some passengers did try and prise the doors open as after an hour or so as it was very stuffy and you really felt like you couldn't breathe."

She added that people shared food around and were happy to give up seats for others.

A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson said: "Staff from across the Jubilee and Northern lines were called in to assist with the detrainment process.

"Emergency services were called as is standard in these type of situations. However, no customers required medical assistance."

The trains started running again at about twenty to nine at night.

If you were on one of those trains last night, I'd love to hear about what you felt. Many thanks.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, April 04, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Qype party and almost missing last Tube home

Went to the fab Qype party last night, so was able to help drink them dry as the booze flowed (quite literally) freely.


Evening started at Chancery Lane Tube where I saw the Tube poster for Mackenzie Crook's Tube film, Three and Out.

Zapping onto Tottenham Court Road to hear the voice on the PA system kindly informing us that the "planned industrial action by some London Underground staff has been suspended, please look out in media outlets for further details". Media outlets couldn't they just say shops or newsagents?

The Qype party itself was fun, so waving at all the people I knew there: our lovely hosts Andy & Rob, Rob's wife Nina (so sorry for the food spittage) Lloyd Davies sans ukelele, LJ, Darika, and Londonflimgeek.

But the good thing about parties is that you get to meet a lot of nice people you've never met before. So waving at tiki Chris, Mr Bluesky, the Duck, Kathryn, and Poppy. It was a pleasure to meet you all.

Going home I was absolutely knackered and fell asleep more or less from Leicester Square. I normally have some innate sense that I like to call the Tube Fairies who wake me up, near my stop. Today the Tube fairies, may have been on strike! I woke up thinking that I had missed my stop and that I was approaching Acton Town. I was in fact approaching Hounslow East. (I was virtually at Heathrow Airport - the scene of Naomi Campbell assaulting a police officer - not another fan of Terminal 5!)

It took forever to get back home. On the way back we waited at Acton Town for ages, before the train decided to leave. Changing at Turnham Green, another long wait and a man had pressed the useless platform help pod and in the end I ran down the stairs and asked the remaining staff member what as going on.

I clearly need to start wearing "wakemeupat" stickers.


However, well done to the Qype team for organising a fab night out. Plus don't forget to complete their survey on which Tube line has the hottest commuters on it. That's "hot" as in "sexy" not "hot" as in the poor folk trapped on the Jubilee Line last night.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, April 04, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Rick Astley Liverpool Street Station 11th April

From the ever wonderful b3ta.com

"Here's a date for your diary - Friday 11th April, Liverpool Street Station, the plan is to be there for 6pm and sing the Astley classic Never Going To Give You - to effectively combine flashmobbing and rickrolling into one horrific combo, and rickroll an entire train station."

More details on Rickmob

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, April 04, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Strike has been called off

The London Underground Strike scheduled for 6th - 8th April 2008 as been called off
The Standard said: "Leaders of the RMT and TSSA unions had combined forces in a row over safety issues. All lines across the network would have been brought to a halt. A senior LU source said TSSA Tube representatives had voted overwhelmingly to accept a deal under which there would be more discussions over safety concerns."

The RMT are triumphant and said "We were told that agency and security staff and the crazy concept of mobile station supervisors were models for the future, but we now have a guarantee that there will be proper supervision and that the current use of agency and security staff during traffic hours will be brought to an end,"

The union TSSA said "This is a victory for common sense and the travelling public. The paramount importance of Tube safety for both staff and passengers has been recognised in this deal and our members will no longer face the threat of a two-tier workforce.

“We now must work together to improve industrial relations throughout London Underground to make sure we do not find ourselves facing a fiasco like this in the future."

Hoo-bloody-rah!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, April 03, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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How to make your own London Underground MP3 player

Imagine saying to your grandchildren "In my day we used to make our own MP3 players out of Tube pencil cases, & bits of old circuit board". Well an enterprising member of Make: Technology in Your Own Time has done just that


This rox big time. It's an official London Underground Pencil case or flat tin, that someone has added an MP3 player kit to. "The hole around Hyde Park Corner Station is where the on-off switch protrudes from the battery box."


Mchaceortiz made this and said: "This is the open view of our Make Daisy MP3 Player Kit completed in our special enclosure. The box contains 3 AAA batteries fixed with double-sided tape to the top of the box. The on-off switch protrudes through a specially-drilled hole in the to of the case."

I've shamelessly adapted the opening quote from the guys and gals at the Make blog who said: "When a son or daughter asks for a new MP3 player, you can always chime in, "In my day we built our own MP3 players - soldering both ways, uphill!"

Thanks to Matthew K for giving me the heads up on this.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, April 03, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Meeting Julian Barnes - Metroland author - Top London & Tube Writer

Last night I met one of my favourite authors Julian Barnes at reading and signing event at the RSA. Julian Barnes' first novel, Metroland, won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1981 & is in my opinion essential reading for any Tube fan. It's a coming of age novel about two schoolboys growing up and travelling on the Metropolitan Line & their disgust for Metroland.


But I wasn't there for that. I love a lot of Julian Barnes' other novels. Although he's an out of towner by birth, he's lived in London for ages and writes about a London that's familiar to everyone. He crosses over ages soooo well.

The average age of the audience may have been 40 - that's because there were load of people in their twenties and loads in their sixties too. I'd never seen such a mix of ages at a book reading before.

There were so many resonances and things happening tonight that made it brill for me, so indulge me a bit while I gush or not.

I was late as usual and had to enter quietly, I had to shuffle past one guy to sit in a space and hot & bothered tried to take of my coat. A very sweet guy next to me kindly helped me with my coat. Julian Barnes read from his latest book "Nothing to be Frightened of" which is about death, fear of death & dying (a surprisingly uplifting read). His voice had that warm cosy lilting quality of being on a comfy train ride. I closed my eyes a couple of times, almost nodding off & was pleased to note that the nice guy next to me was doing the same.


After an interview with the host, it was audience Q & A time. The second questioner asked the most pretentious and long winded question about Hamlet, Socrates, death. The guy next to me whispered "For f**k's sake", which is exactly what I was thinking.

When the questioner eventually stopped Julian Barnes said something like "I'm sorry but I don't understand a word of what you've just asked". We loved Julian Barnes even more at that point. "Have you been reading my brother's books?" he asked (his brother is an eccentric philosopher who lives in France and wears 18th century clothing). "You should and you'll find your answer in them". What a great way to move onto the next question.

In the interviews and Q & A's we learnt that Barnes is an old school author who types on an electric typewriter & then literally cuts and pastes. "I use Pritt stick glue", he said. Yet he's no technophobe although calls himself "lo tech". He's in contact with his brother far more now by email than when they if they had both been living in the same country. Far from cause the death of relationships, email has helped bring life to his relationship with his brother.

When asked about his "last meal" before dying, he said he'd seen a website which lists prisoners on death row's last meals. "When you're about to die suddenly cholesterol doesn't seem so bad" he said.


I HAD to buy a copy of Nothing to be Frightened of and get it signed. I was too disorganised to remember to bring all the other Barnes books that I already owned. The nice guys & gals at the RSA moved down the long queue with post-it notes collecting names you wanted your book to be dedicated to.

I thought about mine. I didn't want Annie Mole (cos it's a pen name) didn't want my real name either as I wanted something more memorable. My turn came and Julian (see how he's Julian now) looked at my "name" & then up at me.

"Our Lady of the Tube?" he said
"Yeah", I replied.
"Why's that?"
I gushed about Metroland and said it was my favourite Tube book, but also told him that I wrote a blog about the London Underground.
"Really?" he nodded. "Ah interesting"
"And I'm going to blog about meeting you." I gushed.
"You are?" he said quizzically, thinking "OHMIGOD mad stalking fan girl". (I've since discovered Julian has his own blog too and also uses Blogger as a host.)
"Can I shake your hand, it's an honour to meet you?"
"And you" he said with even further bemusement. And I moved on.

So here it is in all its glory:


Poor Julian Barnes had Nothing to be Frightened of but Annie Mole!

I happily read parts of the book on the way home and came across a great piece about the Tube (see you've been rewarded for getting this far - thanks)


Julian Barnes I salute you and thanks for a great evening.

Just a reminder that this is the last day to enter the quiz on Breakfast on Pluto, another fab book (and now film) which features the London Underground heavily. It's really not that difficult, specially now I've added more clues. Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, April 02, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Strike April 2008 - What might happen if it goes ahead

Firstly, let me say this post is not an April Fool. As you can imagine I've had A LOT of traffic to the blog with people trying to find out more about the planned London Underground Strike for April 2008. It's currently set for 6.30pm on Sunday, April 6th 2008 running until 6.30pm on Wednesday, April 9th 2008. The strike action is proposed by members of the RMT and members of TSSA.

Richard is a regular commenter to my blog, is clearly in the know and makes the following speculations as to how the strike may or may not affect your journey:

"The RMT strike will go ahead. They couldn't possibly resolve eight issues in a few days even if they really wanted to.

If TSSA back down, as history would suggest they will, most stations will remain open and most trains will run. Station staff are allowed to work overtime and there will be sufficient numbers, along with managers to keep most open. To my knowledge, RMT members were balloted on whether they wanted to strike but not warned that it would be a 72-hour strike. This is only anecdotal but I've yet to speak to anyone who takes the RMT line on ALL these issues. I would expect a fair amount of dissent. Although there is a stigma about 'scabbing' I get the impression that staff feel very little reluctance these days to slag off the unions, whether or not they belong to one.

I think about one-third of tube drivers are in the RMT, about one-half in ASLEF, the remainder not in a union. Drivers are not allowed to work overtime so a striking RMT driver's train will have to be cancelled unless a 'spare' driver is available (every day there are some spare drivers booked to cover absence). But even if all the RMT drivers 'obey' the strike - which is highly unlikely - there shouldn't be a crippling impact on most lines.

Lots of passengers will expect the worst so you may even have a bit more room than usual even though the intervals between trains will be greater.

I should add that a lot of station supervisors are in TSSA. If they walk out then there will be problems!"

I think they are very useful tips. If BOTH TSSA & RMT unions don't back down or London Underground aren't able to come to an agreement with both - there will be serious problems across the whole Tube system. If it's just the RMT, less so, but it's still not going to be pretty.

But as usual with any London Underground industrial action, please look at TfL's website to see the actual disruptions that are taking place on the day. I know that many of us will need to plan ahead and I'll try to keep you as updated as far as I possibly can too. Thanks.

UPDATE - The Tube Strike has now been called off.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Virtual Tube Ride may help treat Paranoia

A virtual reality ride on the London Underground may help treat paranoia, experts at King's College London believe.


Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London have developed a programme recreating a journey where a person interacts with other travellers. The British Journal of Psychiatry found that 30% of the 200 people studied had paranoid thoughts, with (not surprisingly) those anxious and worried most likely to do so.

The researchers believe the programme could be used to assess and treat people in combination with counselling.

Dr Daniel Freeman said: "Paranoid thoughts are often triggered by ambiguous events such as people looking in one's direction or hearing laughter in a room. But it is very difficult to recreate such social interactions.

"Virtual reality allows us to do just that, to look at how different people interpret exactly the same social situation. It is a uniquely powerful method to detect those liable to misinterpret other people."

The study funded by The Wellcome Trust had participants wearing headsets. They were taken on a four minute virtual Tube ride. Volunteers walked around a carriage filled with "virtual" passengers who behaved like real people.

The "avatars" - breathed, looked around, and sometimes met the gaze of the participants. Though all the characters were designed to be neutral, showing neither overt hostility nor friendliness, the volunteers interpreted the same characters in very different ways.

One participant who experienced paranoid thoughts said: "There's something dodgy about one guy. Like he was about to do something - assault someone, plant a bomb, say something not nice to me, be aggressive."

A woman said: "Felt trapped between two men in the doorway. As a woman I'm a lot more suspicious of men. Didn't like the close proximity of the men. The guy opposite may have had sexual intent, manipulation or whatever."

Another said: "There was a guy spooking me out - tried to get away from him."

Dr Freeman said the results suggest that paranoia was a quite normal emotion: "In the past, only those with a severe mental illness were thought to experience paranoid thoughts, but now we know that this is simply not the case."

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Topical Tube Photos of the Week

One way or another the London Underground has been in the national news a lot lately. Here's a few Flickr pictures from me and others that represent some of the topics.

Heathrow Terminal 5 Opening

You can't have failed to notice that the press think it's one big FAIL.

My favourite Tube shot related to this is from James Cridland who visited & (I think) flew from there yesterday.


He notes that the font used is also not the official London Underground font.

Tube Film Criticised

The BBC & Channel 4 both report on Mackenzie Crook's new Tube film Three and Out and it has been criticised by ASLEF's union leader for making a comedy out of suicide & portraying Tube staff as "callous self seeking half wits". This was before the Union leader had even seen a shot of the film.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a press preview screening of the Three and Out last week and the film is far from what it's being made out to be. Here's a picture from the press pack.


London Underground do not let any professional film crew on the London Underground without prior approval and I imagine they also had a PR person with them on the entire shoot. I was on Arena a couple of years ago for about five minutes - the shoot took several hours and we were accompanied by a LU PR person for the whole shooting time. Personally, I think the producers of Three and Out handled the suicide issues well.

Taking Photos on the Tube makes you a Terrorist

The Times report on how street photographers face difficulties with public concern rising over terrorism and paedophilia (nice). "In the past year, the photography blogs have buzzed with tales of harassment, even violence.... There's the amateur photographer punched prostrate in the London Tube after refusing to give up his film to a stranger....

"Now, a new poster campaign by the Metropolitan Police is inviting Londoners to call a hotline if they don't like the look of a photographer. 'Thousands of people take photos every day,' runs the text. 'What if one of them seems odd?' The poster states that terrorists use cameras for surveillance. Life with a camera might be about to turn tougher."


Here's a lucky shot by me taking a picture of a guy on the Tube with the said Police campaign in view.

If you've seen or taken a topical Tube picture (or even one that spoofs it) please send to me and comments, as normal, welcome below.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, March 31, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Madonna doesn't use the Tube & criticises London Transport

Shock horror Madonna isn't a London Underground commuter. The press are all over Madonna's recent interview in Q magazine where she "hits out at London's transport network".

According to the Press Association: "The star criticised the congestion charge, the Tube and complained that traffic was worse than ever.

Madonna, 49, often spotted cycling around the capital but also using chauffeur-driven limousines, told Q magazine: "I would make it so that young musicians, aspiring musicians wouldn't have to pay the congestion charge or pay taxes."

"Will Ken Livingstone get my vote? No. The traffic in London is worse than ever now. All Red Ken wants is roadworks going on everywhere." She added: "Don't use The Tube; can't use the roads? No. I'll just have to walk I guess."

Jesus wept, the reason she doesn't use the Tube is that she would get mobbed if she did. She's an A list mega star. Just because she doesn't use it is hardly a criticism of it.



It's funny because if Madonna loved the London Underground, why couldn't she even make herself appear with the "kids" in a Tube carriage for the video Hung up?

Londonist said of the video: "And then we see a phenomenon that will be all too familiar to every Londoner: the sassy dance-off on the Tube. We've lost count of the times that rival gangs of urban youth on the Tube train attempt to top each other with their funky moves, only to be put in their place by an even funkier zaftig woman in sequins. Note that the LED display announcing the next stop has been turned off, and all the ads have been removed. The upholstery and layout clearly identifies this as a Jubbly line train of the 1996 type (notice the "perch seats"), but how did they get the yellow handrails replaced with chrome ones?"

And Tube expert SK in a quiz on this blog confirmed this was true "I've just compared this picture from the video, with pictures of other tube stock, and it is absolutely 100% definitely a Jubilee Line 96TS."

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Sunday, March 30, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London Underground Strike - Dates announced today

Today we find out when the next London Underground Strike will be. Yesterday RMT union members voted by a margin of five to one for strike action in defence of safety on the Tube.


Strike dates will be announced today at a press conference to be held at RMT head office from 11.30am.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "This vote reveals the strength of feeling among our members that the safety and security of the network, for staff and passengers alike, will not be compromised under any conditions."

Yesterday's ballot results open the way for joint action with fellow Tube union TSSA, whose own members voted for strike action earlier this month.

The RMT press release says: "The unions are opposing management attacks on safety standards and the casualisation of safety-critical work."

UPDATE - Thanks to Fimb who commented the dates have been announced. From 6.30pm on Sunday, April 6th 2008 until 6.30pm on Wednesday, April 9th 2008. There's still, I suppose, some hope that the unions & London Underground will come to an agreement before the actual dates come around.

Naturally London Underground has responded calling the strike action "unnecessary". Howard Collins, Deputy COO said: "These issues have nothing whatsoever to do with safety, and not a single job is at risk.

"All of the issues raised by the RMT are already being addressed through the normal negotiating process. Significant progress has already been made and most of the issues have been agreed. The RMT's announcement does not mention the progress that has already been made. There is simply no reason for a strike, or even the threat of one, as all of the issues being raised can be resolved.

"A strike by the RMT would lose staff pay and inconvenience the travelling public to no purpose whatsoever. It is entirely unnecessary and we should get on with sorting out these issues through the normal negotiating process."

UPDATE - The Tube Strike has now been called off.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, March 28, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Three and Out - Preview Screening - The Verdict

OK, so last night I was lucky enough to be invited to the preview screening of Mackenzie Crook's new film about a London Underground driver, Three and Out. It had ruffled the feathers of ASLEF general secretary Keith Norman without him even seeing it.

It portrays a Tube driver who learns about the "Three and Out rule". The rule says that if a Tube Driver experiences three people who are hit & killed by their train (a "one under") within a month they get laid off work and receive 10 times their annual salary as a pay off.


Here's the trailer that gives you more of an idea of the film:


So armed with popcorn and having had a free beer, me, LJ Rich, Madame Miaow & Brian Pigeon's PR Agent, Lisa went to watch the film.

Plus points - there are a couple of massive twists that I won't reveal here that make the film quite interesting. London Underground obviously approved all filming and the script, so Keith Norman's worries about the industry being disrespected for their work and being made to look like "callous, self seeking halfwits" seemed not to be a concern to the London Underground.

It doesn't belittle suicide and people who are suicidal or make a joke out of either. The Samaritans were consulted in the making of the film.

My worry is that it was trying to hard to tick a lot of these controversial subjects and ended up being not a comedy, not a film about the complex issues behind suicide and not a film about how far someone might potentially go for their own self gain.

It was about half an hour too long. There was a really embarrassing sex scene between Mackenzie Crook and the new Bond girl Gemma Arterton (I'm not a prude but it made me squirm). Mackenzie Crook, to me, seemed to be going through the motions & not injecting the pathos of The Office's Gareth to the role.


However, Colm Meaney, the suicidal guy that Crook's character eventually found to jump beneath his train to get the big pay off was very good. Anthony Sher camped it up as a French cannibal who Crook's character mistakenly thought might be a potential suicide victim. Kerry Katona was ... er ... Kerry Katona. Mark Benton, was also a little wasted as Vic, Crook's friend and original reporter of the "Three and Out" rule.

People laughed during the film, but not big belly laughs. There was a bit of romance but it wasn't quite believable for Arterton's character to suddenly fall for Crook because he was "different".

The Tube stuff was fine. Nice scene setting with mice running over the lines. Lots of it clearly shot on real Tube trains. It made London Underground staff look fairly normal and far from the "callous self seeking halfwits" which Norman mentioned above.

So no overall verdict from me, try to see it for yourself when it comes out on the 25th April and share your thoughts after you've seen the entire film - it's not as black and white as Mr Norman from ASLEF states. Thanks to the producers for the invite.

UPDATE - well A LOT has happened to the film since this screening - see the premiere pictures of Three and Out & ASLEF's leafletting of the premiere.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, March 28, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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