Each day in the Nottingham Post there has been a page called '10 Things that would improve Nottingham' featuring guest writing from a host of local notables and Post writers and today it was my turn. This is a light hearted page of the paper although it does sometimes throw out some serious points but unfortunately there isn't enough room really to go into depth. The opinions I have that could improve Nottingham would take up more than the whole paper so I thought hard about what I could present in little chunks; obviously the issue of a mushy pea stall/shop in the city centre is of paramount importance, I'm surprised the council haven't done something about the fact that we can't eat our local dish whenever we want. There is a stall in the Christmas market selling them but they are tinned and using bottled mint sauce - that isn't what we fought for during the Mushy Pea-gate scandal. There were other points regarding dog shit and litter and the need to shut the fuck up once and for all about Robin Hood (I worded it differently to suit a local paper) and of course I got in a bit about talking at gigs. 

The article is online if you fancy a read.

It would be nice (although it would take a while to settle in and get people used to it) if talking at gigs could be looked into in the new year. If the venues took a stand then people would have to follow if the punishment was being ejected and possibly barred for a period of time. You see signs declaring a venue has a zero tolerance approach to drugs and everybody took notice of the ridiculous smoking ban, a little too quickly and without argument, so why not talking? Maybe a solution would be to make the gap between each act that bit longer to enable people to chat, catch up, order drinks, and so on. After a determined amount of time a bell goes like in the theatre to give sufficient warning that the time had come to wrap up your conversation and either pay attention to the person/people on stage or find somewhere else to drink.

I am a genius. If I die soon I want someone to put this in action and make sure it is called 'Steve's rule of quiet'.

Please read the December newsletter.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #66 is available from here.

This week's edition of The Random Saturday Sessions with Gerry Trimble is available from here.