Letter to my 16 year old self

Inspired (and cajoled) by my friend Stephen, here is a letter to my sixteen-year old self. Fortunately, I do not have a photograph with which to illustrate this piece.

Dear Andrew,

I am writing this from a distance of (very nearly) 19 years, although even just typing that seems strange. While an awful lot of water has passed under any number of bridges, in some ways it does not feel that long. In many regards I am still the same person as you reading this. Inevitably, though, there are many ways in which you've changed and many things I've learnt.

The purpose of this letter is not to tell you what happens, or where you'll end up, but to offer some advice based on what I've learned along the way. I've decided to pare this down to three individual pieces of advice, although there is much more I could share. These aren't necessarily the most important things I could share but they are things I feel you could benefit from hearing sooner rather than later.

Think of this letter as giving you a head start - you'll have to learn the other things I've learnt for yourself. If I do feel you need further help in the future, however, I will be sure to write again.

The first thing which I feel it's important for you to learn is the futility of having regrets. You will inevitably make wrong decisions and your life will, at times, move in directions that you didn't intend. When this happens, you need to rectify it. Do not dwell on what was, and what wasn't. Don't waste time, effort and emotion on regretting the decision made, instead learn from the incident and move on.

The next thing is to try to live within your means. This may seem hard, particularly with so many spending temptations and widely available credit, but will pay dividends if you succeed. Your eventual career may not be something you have considered yet, but it has the potential to pay well and give you a good standard of living - don't let debt get in the way of that.

The final thing, for this letter, is not so much advice as an exhortation - keep reading. While you may not have a TV yet, sooner or later you will. Other things will also invade your life and occupy your time. Try to take some time every day to read - it will help you escape from life's pressures, broaden your horizons and exercise your imagination. Reading has, to now, been a passion - don't let it go! Some authors you may like - and this is just a hunch - are Iain Banks, Margaret Atwood and Kazuo Ishaguro.

The next 19 years will not always be the easiest, and you have a lot to learn yet. If you take the advice in this letter, however, things may be easier.

Yours, Sincerely,

Andrew

You can read Stephen's letter to himself here.

Virtual Gallery, Room 2

This room features works by the Sculptor, Rachel Whiteread.

Whiteread is best known for various large scale works, such as the Tate Modern turbine hall installation "Embankment" and "House" - pictured below. Her works seek to show the world in a different light - often through taking the cast of a space rather than an object and then exhibiting that out of context.

Pictured are, from top to bottom:

• Untitled (Novels)
• Untitled (Pair) - which are made from casts taken from Mortuary slabs,
• Untitled (Domestic) - which is the cast of a stairwell
• Untitled Monument
• House - the cast of an entire house

More information on the artist can be found here and here.

Visit Room 1 of my Virtual Gallery

At Once both Introspective and Retrospective

After a recent fallow period - during which life had rather got in the way of regular blogging - I've clambered back into the saddle recently and increased the blogging rate.

I've also tarted up the page layout, and made some cosmetic changes. I've widened the text columns, mainly as the previous layout was cutting off the edges of You Tube windows, and introduced a new colour scheme.

Other changes are hopefully less cosmetic. As well as the existing list of blog entries, in date order, I've now introduced a search bar on the right. I've also introduced a list of labels, prioritised by number of uses, to link through to specific subjects. I'm going to review all these tags too, to make sure this list as useful as possible.

The final key change is the introduction of response buttons at the bottom of the posts - you can give instant feedback, or leave a more in-depth comment, as previously.

It's not just the style of the blog I've been thinking about - I've been having a think about content too. One of my problems is that I find it difficult to write short entries - I start with an idea and before long I have 600 words! My solution is to mix up the longer pieces with links to You Tube videos and pictorial entries, and you should see more of these as time goes by.

The recent flurry of entries seem to have attracted a number of new readers, as well as increasing regular visitors, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to point you in the direction of some of my favourite entries so far:

Salvador Dali gallery
Tour de France Brits
Henry Allingham tribute
Simon's Cat link
5 on the 5th - a monthly photographic blog
My first Video Log

Guest blog by my friend and fellow blogger Stephen

Andrew

Pretty Pictures

I've been thinking about my blog a lot recently and one of my conclussions is that I need more pictures. Today I've delved into my archives and found these pictures from a holiday in Cornwall two years ago.



From top to bottom: Disused Tin Mine building, Sculpture in Barbara Hepworth's garden, View from Lands' End at Dusk, St. Ives Rooftops, Watergate Bay, Tintagel Castle Window.


Andrew

Give them enough rope...

On Thursday, the BNP leader will, controversially, appear on question time. Should he be allowed? Well, on balance, probably yes. The BNP somehow manages to stay the right side of the various laws which govern the line between freedom of speech of inciting racial hatred. In addition, they now have over a hundred councilors and two MEPs so they clearly speak for a section of the populous, however objectionable they may be.

While their views may be, at the very least, distasteful they cannot now be ignored. To do so would risk them continuing to spread their bile at low level, letting it fester and spread like a cancer. It has reached a point where they need to be faced head on. They need to be given some (limited) exposure, a spade to dig themselves a hole and enough rope with which to hang themselves.

With the right counter arguments, their views can be shown to be ludicrous. Appropriate questioning will reveal their true colours. Their love for Britain will be shown to be a veil for their hatred of other races.

The British, whom the BNP claim to defend, are not some homogeneous, pure race that have inhabited this island for centuries. Wave after wave of invasions saw Celts mixed with Norsemen, Vikings and Normans. In more recent centuries, we have incorporated further waves of immigration from Ireland, China, the Caribbean and India and Pakistan, amongst many others.

This diversity, and acceptance, is core to British values. While immigrant communities may not always have had it easy, without them we would not be the nation we are today.

So questions for the BNP to answer: In identifying the “indigenous population” who do the BNP seek to defend? Where do they draw the line - families whose routes trace back prior to 1950 or 1900 or some other arbitrary date? Or do they just mean white people?

Nationhood is a complex subject on which there are many different takes. Many people are nationalistic and keen to celebrate their identity. Many people have fixed ideas about what being British (or English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish) means and their place in the world.

Having a sense of identity and belonging shouldn’t be about denying others the opportunity to share this. Being proud of who and what you are shouldn’t be about superiority and exclusion. Expressing national pride shouldn’t be about denigrating others.

You can express Nationalism without being isolationist. You can be patriotic without closing the borders and keeping the country for the “natives”. Above all, Britishness is not about telling Natural Born Britons, or any other residents, they should participate in a voluntary repatriation programme.

Further questions: Where do the BNP draw the line in international co-operation – the EU, the UN? Who would be eligible for voluntary repatriation? Is the Black or Asian soldier less of a patriot than his white counterpart?

While I do not believe the BNP stands for a true definition of Britishness or a correct interpretation of what it means to be a Nationalist, I can’t really question their status as a party – even if clauses in their constitution currently run contrary to anti-discrimination legislation.

I hope that Thursday’s appearance by Nick Griffen on Question Time really shines a light on the true identity of the BNP. They may speak of a love for Britain and it’s people, but at the heart there’s nothing but hate. They may dress themselves up as patriots, but what they stand for is a white isolationist agenda.

Forcing the mask to slip and thereby revealing the truth is the only way to combat the lies, half-truths and innuendo of a party whose core beliefs are contrary to that of the overwhelming majority of true Brits.

Andrew