I’m surprised to learn that I’m currently Yahoo!’s number one for ‘adult web cams’ (number three for ‘adult webcams’). This is a surprise because there must be thousands of sites offering relevant experiences and I’ve only mentioned webcams (never web cams) once, way back in May, to poke fun at Leslie Grantham’s antics. It really is weird how theses things work. Anyway. You’ll find a wide range advertised on the right.
Oi! Grantham! Leave out the webcam!

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Not really. But Mancunian commuters did go home to the equivalent story last night. It’s emerged that not only have transport ministers Alistair Darling and Kim Howells opted to scrap Metrolink’s expansion £200m down the line, but also to slash the maintenance budget. At peak time the city’s Metrolink system is so popular (overcrowded) it’s nearing breaking point. The ministers suggest easing the pressure via route closures. Mancunians must get back on the roads they seem to say, suddenly falling silent on a proposed congestion charge.

Manchester mourns end of public transport……Government batons down the hatches

Click here for the Manchester Evening News campaign to save Metrolink, which you can support by texting the word tram followed by a space then your name and postcode to 83105. Each text costs 25p plus your standard message rate. The service is provided by Cellus.

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NIMBYs are colonising the city centre and threatening to destroy much that makes their trendy homes trendy. Scarcely a week goes by without a local paper carrying a story of suburban people complaining about a developer’s plans to build yet more flats in their neighbourhood. But the suburban NIMBY is easily understood. They want family homes (but not those families who’s kids break your windows). Some are old enough to remember when their little piece of suburbia was blissfully free of bars and restaurants and so have a bit of a case against the invasion of happily childless and gardenless couples enjoying themselves on their doorstep.

Demography will defeat the suburban NIMBY. But the city dwelling NIMBYs defy all logic and threaten to bring boredom into the heart of the 24 Hour Party. This week’s City Life includes a long letter from the staff of Night & Day, one of the city’s longest running music venues and major contributor to the regeneration of the Northern Quarter. When I came to Manchester in the late 1980s this part of town was dominated by disused and derelict warehouses. Now its home to boutique shops, bars, restaurants, clubs and… homes.

The homes are the last part of the mix and some have been built next door to Night & Day. The developers apparently commissioned an acoustic report before building commenced, but ignored its recommendation that the new flats be insulated. Now some residents want the club closed.

On the other side of the city is Whitworth Street West, a long time centre for club land. Much of Whitworth Street West is flats now and one of the city’s most important and oldest clubs, the Ritz, is now surrounded. The Ritz is so old that it featured in classic film Billy Liar way back in 1963. Its new neighbours don’t like the noise.

Unlike (some of) their suburban counterparts, the city dwelling NIMBYs cannot claim they were first (and few were born before 1963) and none can convincingly claim not to have known about the problems of which they complain. With two bed flats in the Hacienda starting at £545,500, they’d get more for their money in a quiet suburb. Yet they prefer to colonise the city centre, even though they don’t like it, and then campaign to shut it down. The sad thing is they might just do it.

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Last Thursday saw the Vague Film Club abandon Cornerhouse for the Royal Exchange Studio and The Falling. This is the latest work from composer/artist/writer/devisor and, most importantly, fellow Vaguster, Ailís Ní Ríain. Ailís’s work was showing as part of BLUE2, a festival of emerging artists working across theatre, music, dance, film, poetry and more. You can view some of her art online over here.

Performed by on the harp by Amy Liptrott supported with video, The Falling uses music, poetry and the spoken word to present the confused inner world of a woman condemned to purgatory. I have my own experience of purgatory, but like so many personal experiences the two are very different. Ailís’s zombie-like protagonist is condemned to wander her afterlife, reliving the experiences that have left her so troubled. Its an absorbing piece that both challenges and stays with you.

Ailís’s 30 minutes-ish were preceded by Ammo, a very different piece. This was a conventional play centred upon a ne