It is with anger and sadness, but little surprise, that we learnt today that that PC Simon Harwood has been  found not guilty of the manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson. Over 1400 people have died following police contact since 1990 yet no officer has been convicted of manslaughter whilst on duty since 1986.  The ins and outs of the case have been covered in great detail over the last few years -  but what has come to public attention following the end of the trial is Harwood's previous history regarding excessive force. The Tomlinson family have shown great strength and dignity in their determination to seek justice for Ian and plan to continue to do so by pursuing a civil case in the courts.  You can support them by donating to the Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign 

Alternatively you can buy the Ian Tomlinson Benefit CD This compilation was put together by Norfolk Community Action Group as part of a benefit day for the Tomlinson family - all profits raised from the CD  will go towards Ian's family's campaign for justice. 

The Death of Ian Tomlinson - A Photographer's Account

Rick's Rant's - Why Ian Tomlinson Must Not Be Forgotten

The "worlds richest person", the ironically named Carlos Slim  has found the solution for current economic problems.  "Hurrah!" I hear you cry.  No, wait, he's not going to do the decent thing and  kill himself...in an interview with Forbes, the first choice of magazine for total losers, the Mexican multi-billionaire not only put forward the genius idea that struggling European countries should privatise their motorways and charge users, but also that the average retirement age be raised from 65 to 70. Excellent. You stick to what you do best; monopolising services in developing countries at the cost of it's citizens standard of living, and we'll all go to work for an extra 5 years. Oh, and have to get the fucking bus there because we can't afford the toll on the motorway.   Nice one, thanks for that, Fatboy-not-Slim.

Grunge is Dead?
by Lilly O’Connor and Steven Thomas Smith

Grunge is dead... These words were written on a Kurt Cobain t-shirt alongside a famous picture of the musician holding his daughter Frances. 20 years later, Nirvana, Mudhoney, the Melvins are selling more CDs than ever. What makes this music so special? Is Grunge still dead?

In 2012 it is perhaps to be expected that Grunge died at the end of the ’90s.  But there are bands like the American Spayed, Dominoise, Tommy Mills & The Jade Amenity, Aussie band Mud Letter Pie, German band Pandora and the Irish one You Name Us, that keep the 90s fire alive. With passion, devotion and tenderness, the fire of grunge music keeps burning.

Questions were asked, and answers have been given. ’90s grunge bands keep touring, and their shows impress by their energy and passion. In a time where the look wins over quality it’s a welcome return to the roots of punk rock music.

The ‘new grunge’ (for lack of a better term) movement can be traced back to the early 2000s and before. Some of these bands have been veterans of the scene for the better part of two decades.

It hardly seems fair to call it ‘new’, but some things take longer than not to get noticed, listeners grow tired of the condensed and processed top 40 bands penetrating the eardrums of ‘mainstream’ radio listeners. Therefore, many have now discovered these bands and with great enthusiasm.

There’s a somewhat ‘basic’ formula in ‘grunge’ and the garage/punk genre. Some of it’s a blast of straight up ’60s throwback. From the fuzz laden guitars, to the chord structures and arrangement, to the in your face garage lyrical approach. It’s been said that yes, there is indeed a ‘new’ grunge movement. It is definitely rootsy Punk and garage influenced, but wait a minute… it’s also been said ‘new’ grunge has a more ‘sophisticated’ approach. Maybe that’s because the younger generation picked up where the older generation left off, and made it their own. There is an undeniable raw, artistic approach to the music that people seem to be able to relate to.

No, I don't think punk rock is dead, it can’t die, it expresses the frustrations and the lack of hope of youth, as long as there will be inequality there will be punk rock music.

Domi-noise are currently on tour in France.  You can check out their myspace for dates.

Tommy Mills & The Jade Amenity will be on tour in France/Europe this September.  The live line up of the band features Richie Ramone of The Ramones on drums.  Watch the official myspace for tour dates.

If you're at a loose end this Saturday why not pop down to Cambridge and join Ian Bone in baiting some over-privileged wankers? To be honest my gut is full of cider and both my heart and head are weary so I'm a bit hazy on the facts, but it's something to do with winding up posh twats in row boats, with the added support of animal rights people who think it's wrong to hit swans with oars. It sounds fucking amazing and everyone should go. Senate House, Cambridge, 11am, June 16th.

If you can't be arsed with that this weekend, because you're a total dick, then you should probably stay at home and wank into a shoe. Thanks to Regretsy for pointing us to the guide on how to do it properly, turns out we'd been doing it wrong all these years...

Recently, some of us at Now or Never! were saddened to learn of the death of an old friend from our animal rights days.  Speaking to comrades from long ago times at her funeral reminded us of just how relevant hunt sabbing still is to challenging blood sports and encourage you to find out more and look into contacting your local hunt sab group

In more uplifting news, we've been dazzled and impressed by Oswald Repents; a local website for local people, focused on issues in the Bawdewsell area. Covering topics truly relevant to local people, like the parish football club, social events, the need for volunteers at the village hall, but with a radical commentary throughout , it's an example of a really excellent grass-root anarchist enterprise. It's not often you see a quote by Buenaventura Durruti next to a report on a Tractor Run to raise money for a village hall! It bought to mind another favourite local website of ours, Bedford Bypass who also mix local issues and anarchist politics in an accessible and engaging manner. If only anarchists in every village, town and city were engaging and participating in local issues in this way. If only we at Now or Never! weren't too busy drinking our own urine , watching zombie porn and making prison hooch to do something worthwhile. If only, if only....

Now or Never!: Briefly, can you explain who you are and your history within Starbucks?

Daniel Gross: I’m a worker and a Wobbly.  I got started in corporate retail at Borders Books and Music. In 2003, I began working as a barista at Starbucks in New York City.  The IWW Starbucks Workers Union [www.StarbucksUnion.org] was founded on May 17, 2004.  In the summer of 2006, Starbucks fired me in retaliation for union activity and I’m currently fighting for my job back along with five other wrongfully discharged IWW baristas.

NoN!: Why did you feel you needed to unionise?

DG: First, there’s bread and butter.  6, 7, or 8 dollars an hour is a poverty wage and disgraceful from a $23 billion company showing record profits quarter after quarter.  Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, already a billionaire, took in over $102 million in compensation last year while baristas hover at or below the poverty line.  Many Starbucks workers depend on government benefits to survive. 

We were, as ever, delighted when the latest issue of The Cunningham Amendment hit our doormat. Hand letter pressed on salvaged  antique machinery by the dashing Dr Peter Good, each issue is a thing of beauty - crammed full of little gems to delight and enthrall.  It's restricted circulation means those understood to be "Anarcrisps" do get priority, but if you wish to acquire yourself a copy sending your details with a donation of cash or stamps to TCA, Room 6, Tangleford House, The Street, Bawdeswell, Norfolk, NR20 4RT should get results. Just proves that when anarchists aren't banging on about the Spanish Civil War or drinking our own piss, we're also capable of making the world a little bit more pretty too.

A first hand account of a Serbian illegal immigrant inside Basel, the Swiss deportation prison

First I would like to say that I didn’t experience any kind of torture from the police in Basel. They arrested me in a lawful manner (on the basis of accusations from one of their citizens that I threatened him in order to obtain money). The only abuse of position by the police was when they pressurised me to sign a form (which would allow a court to make a judgment on my case without my attendance in court). I refused to sign it. During 7 lonely days of custody I took the opportunity to rest from the hard travelling conditions I had encountered crossing the border.  The Cell was more than 15 square metres, with a radio and 72 TV channels and a free shaving kit …in Serbia it would be unbelievable, but I’ll write about Serbian custody another time.  I was only disturbed by prison guards calling me to exercise and by another one who brought us food (he tried to keep/steal cake from me during the weekend; idiot). Swiss people have high living standards but they’ll take any opportunity for more money.  They are taught to think so.

A very quick post to point out that, if you haven't noticed, the site's had a bit of an overhaul and we now have some new regular blogs - Rice Serbic will be commenting on politics and current affairs, Tug Wilson will mainly be regaling you tales of rancid films, Charlie Cody will be discussing all things artistic and Paul Knight will be enthralling you with celebrity bullshit. In between having nervous breakdowns whilst pulling the new site together, we've managed to scrape together a new issue of the magazine - yes, Now or Never! issue 21 is hot of the presses and it's a corker. And we've finally entered the modern world and made it possible for you to buy digital copies of the latest issue. Not only that but we're updating our audio files collection for those of you who want to listen to our bullshit. We have new books for sale in our shop,  plenty of new articles for you to enjoy and we've put some of our more popular regular columns online including History in a Nutshell, Old Whinger's Corner, the first few installments of Harry K's brilliant Bible Reviews and Rick's Rants .

Regular contributor Sidney Street Porter's thoughts on the 2011 Dale Farm Eviction, the prejudice Roma people face and that TV show....

My mother never said “I never should play with the gypsies down in the wood”, she was quite open-minded like that; unlike some of the other mothers about who'd tell their kids not to do so, in keeping with that quaint, bigotry-enforcing nursery rhyme of old. Mistrust of gypsies and travellers by insular, parochial society stretches back centuries, through Prosper Merimee’s Carmen, turned into a famous opera by Bizet, past the not very politically correct Enid Blyton character Gipsy Jo, through Nazi elimination in concentration camps, to the gypsies, tramps and thieves of popular pop ballads and jokes by lazy middle of the road hacks like Peter Kay and Jimmy Carr. Isn't it about time that we overcame this fear of the not that particularly unknown?
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