Day 417

Sunny, windy, nice Bank Holiday. Nicer than the 1991 one definitely, what a bore that was.

Parents having gone on holiday in the morning, am house-sitting at their place. Made all secure in the evening, applied alcohol to anxiety with good effect (short-term, anyway).

Day 416

I like the song E.R.N.I.E. on that Madness album I got yesterday, btw: 'A thousand winners every week...' When it comes to prospects of improvement I must admit E.R.N.I.E. is where I feel my best chance is. Given that job applications are 50p win bets at 100-1, if that, my (est.) 1100-1 weekly chance of my Premium Bonds coming up is more promising. Don't laugh, they might win me £250,000 next week. .

Depressing prevailing media opinion recently that socialism is finished. Is it fuck! I heard a vox pop in the afternoon with various young Euro-wankers saying their ambitions are just to 'make money'. Get rid of the lifeboats, the first-class passengers say there won't be any more icebergs. These materially-obsessed would-be capitalists don't realise that their launching-pad of prosperity was made possible by the socialism of the past. Imagine a Britain in which (Goddess forbid!) the Glorious Dawn of 1945 never happened! Even worse than one in which a gang of capitalist fanatics have done their worst to dismantle its legacy! The message to all those who wish a fair distribution of wealth is 'never give up'. 'When all around seemed dark as night.'

Day 415

In Our Price got Absolutely by Madness for a (these days) bargain £5.99.

Day 414

Listened to Feedback. No more The Village for a while!

Got the new Viz - let down by admissions of support for beardy Thatcherite fanatic Richard Branson and his tin-pot commercial radio station. And general sense of running out of ideas.

Day 413

A welcome job loss today - Norman Lamont was finally sacked. Useless incompetent bastard. Wonder if he still thinks high unemployment is a 'price worth paying', ha ha ha. The Tory scum are trying to put the enormous public debt down to public spending, when of course it's that taxes aren't high enough.. Bastards! Bastards! Bastards!

Watched the usual telly. Pris later.

Day 412

To the library: got out Desolation Road which I've noticed before. Reminded me of One Hundred Days of Solitude, with its generations bearing irritatingly similar Hispanic names, and climate and repetitive under-age sex.

Got rather depressed in the evening, cheered up with the advent of healing rain. Must ring M tomorrow.

Day 411

Carried on with the Odyssey.

Watched the telly version of And Now In Colour (It's a Mad, World etc). Like all Radio 4 to telly conversions the direct translations were bad and the new material better. Especially the Subbuteo sketch, very funny.

Day 410

Morning was very long but weather was nice. Read a lot of the Odyssey in the afternoon too.

Day 409

Beautiful weather. Read Tom Brown's Schooldays. A good day for a Sunday.

Day 408

Saturday isn't what it was, is it? Perhaps I'm getting too old for getting drunk every Saturday. Or perhaps worrying about Sunday has overshadowed it. To be honest, Friday isn't what it was either, especially now The Bill has moved.

Day 407

The evening dragged rather. But heard Dillie Keane (of Fascinating Aida) singing a heartfelt song on Kaleidoscope called Socialist Britain which brought tears to my eyes. Interesting that the acts of the current Torycaust are entirely negative, ie attempts to destroy welfare state, nationalised industries, council housing, local government, mines, shipyards, education, NHS etc. What positive things they have created I cannot think. Bastards!

Day 406

Rained continuously all day: had to go to the post office in it. Watched the usual telly plus Rik Mayall acting rather well in a play about a sodden game-show host. Indeed I forgot he was Rik Mayall.

Day 405

To the Post Office to cash my Giro, then round to my parents'.

Reading the SOCIAL SERVICES article in our old Children's Britannica was struck by the deterioration in society since the Torycaust began. This is a rotten, corrupt, greed-driven society where acquisitiveness is legitimised. 'And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task... if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair... again in days to come'. The Tories - Together We'll Crack Them.

Day 404

Nice day. Not so nice interview at the DHSS - have to write more speculative letters I think.

Nasty anti-transsexual play A Romance on Radio 4 in the afternoon.

Day 403

Into town to sign on. In the library by chance found a volume of Tolkien criticism which I got out. Thought about how to make a good impression at the DHSS interview tomorrow.

Day 402

Round to my parents'; mum sent me to the garden centre to to get garden lime. Got to sign on tomorrow.

Day 401

When I got back to my parents' house at 11pm watched The Bill which I'd videoed: a curiously unreal episode saying goodbye to Ted Roach ('You thought only T.R. had a bottle'). Perhaps being drunk enables one to see through bad acting.

Day 400

I see the Tory scum intend to abandon Government responsibility for a wide range of activities and turn it over to (Tory) private companies. This will be a charter for rampant corruption. I suggest the Cabinet be arrested as enemies of the State and thrown off the Tarpeian rock.

Yesterday watching my Madness video spotted a triffic moment in Sweetest Girl - the line 'When, when the government falls, you never can tell' is accompanied by them giving a thumbs-up, grinning widely and showered with streamers. The Torycaust must come to an end. Don't tell me there's nothing coming.

Day 399

Got £3 out of the Abbey National to cover yesterday's breakdown of discipline.

Haven't seen M for 2 weeks. Wonder why?

Day 398

Haven't seen M for quite a while. Perhaps she thinks it isn't worth contacting me if I can't afford to come out at weekends. Hope not!

Day 397

Didn't get to sleep till 3.30 am last night. Woke up to a hot sunny humid day.

Day 396

Faced up to financial reality and planned for the next Giro in 9 days' time. Went round to my parents', found my radish seeds planted a week ago had come up.

Listened to very good R4 play Focus by Arthur Miller.

Day 395

Nice pre-summery weather in the afternoon.

Day 394

Last night I played my Bob Dylan tape for the first time in ages, today my imaginary bet on Bob's Return won 14-1.

Day 393

My hope on Wednesday was granted. The Tories got an enormous beating. The Liberals overturned a 12,500 Tory majority at Newbury: they got a majority of 22,000! A massive 28% swing, bigger than Orpington.

The Tories were beaten out of sight in the council elections: they lost control in 15 counties, keeping only Buckinghamshire. Labour are now the largest party in Essex! The Liberal I voted for won, a rare thing in my experience. The Tories lost all the council seats here. It was on BBC1, which I watched after Pris last night, County Hall I mean, as 'Essex Man rejects Tories'.

The high-water-mark of optimism is the observation was that if a general election had gone the same way, Labour would be in power with an overal majority of 87, and the Liberals would have 56 seats. Of course you can't extrapolate local elections directly, but it's a good sign. The Tories lost control of counties they've had for 104 years!

Went into town, checked local results at County Hall.

Day 392

Went and voted. Told the women at the table they ought to move the Daily Mail off it or at least put it face down. It annoyed me and Carl at the General Election, and really isn't right. They did too.

Day 391

Cashed my Giro. County council elections tomorrow. Hope the Tories get a good beating.

Day 390

Watched Quantum Leap. Always more interesting when he's a woman.

Argued with my mum on the phone - bad enough being unemployed without having to argue about it all the time.

Day 389

Nice day weather-wise. Watched Live And Let Die, from which bits had been cut, irritatingly. In the evening more LotR appendices. Realised that Éowyn is 23 in LotR, same age as me.

Day 388

Finished Lord of the Rings again. Now leafing leisurely-ly through the Appendices, which as I think I've said before, are a sort of reward for so much reading.

Bank Holiday tomorrow, May Day Bank Holiday in fact, so at least I haven't got to sign on. (I hope).

Day 387

American attitude to the Serbs continues to amaze me with its hypocrisy. Jews suffer at hands of Nazis, so they're great. Serbs suffer similarly and are seen as scum of the earth. Odd eh?

Oh yes. A gift in the morning: an opinion pollster rang up in the morning with questions about radio and Carlton-Thatchervision, GMTV etc. He asked me what I thought of Carlton-Thatchervision, when I said it would take a while he said fine. So I dictated a succinct statement about Th**r's grudge against Thames over Death on the Rock and their consequent replacement with a more compliant operator. It's not often I get people ringing up asking my views!

More women priests fuss.