As always PRSD has had it’s finger on the pulse of Devon news this week and posted about non-church weddings in the region.

One of the most powerful texts I picked up while at University was Emma Goldman’s essay on Marriage and Love I used it as one of the main thrusts of a second year project to prove that Robert Nozick wasn’t a “real” anarchist because he did not think about collective politics, and Goldman, with her anarcho-feminism truly was anarchistic because she took in to account female and family politics, collective human societal politics.

Of course, things have changed, somewhat if not enough, since Goldman was writing. In the Western world marriage is no longer – one hopes – about the buying and selling of women, child-baring beasts, family names, it no longer means a lack of female choice. It is about “love” (whatever that means… arf arf), about choosing a person to live with, about paying less tax, about making provision for your kids if one of you should die… Who says romance is dead? So, perhaps Goldman doesn’t apply any more?

Not so, still marriage is used to belittle women, even today. Apparently ‘all little girls dream of their wedding day’, they all know what dress they’ll be wearing (and it has to be a dress, the outfit, historically, of female repression and servitude), what the ‘colours’ will be. More and more money is spent on one day, with the average in Britain now being £25,000. This, in a generation that can’t afford their own houses, of course… One day costing that much, one day when you are no doubt too tired and too stressed out to enjoy it. All this rubbish is laid at the feet of women. They want marriage, to protect them and their babies (so, we’re still assuming we don’t have proper jobs and merely wish to cement our man so that your babies are his number one off-spring – all sounds a bit Tudor-ish to me, that) and men acquiesce, turning their eyes to heaven and shrugging with all their mates, because that’s what women want.

But surely almost everyone wants love? Companionship? Another half, partner, lover of some description? Even blokes seem to want that most of the time… Love is about support, love is about the collective, love is about society, love moves us away from selfishness.

Goldman says: ‘Love, the strongest and deepest element in all life, the harbinger of hope, of joy, of ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all conventions; love, the freest, the most powerful moulder of human destiny; how can such an all-compelling force be synonymous with that poor little State and Church-begotten weed, marriage?’

Love, in all its thousands of forms is life, then. The love for our children, the love for our pets, the love for our property. Hang on, that’s the problem love and property have been confused! At first women were the property, then it was about protection of property, joint property! And there it is, the reason I got married, despite being a anarcho-feminist. Having lived with my partner for four years, having been in love and secure for all that time, we got married to protect any children we might have from the ridiculous co-habitation laws in this country and because my in-laws expected it.

How hypocritical is that? Very. It is the most hypocritical thing I’ve ever done, but as a friend, and anarchist, said to me on the day “love is good”, even love sanctioned by the state…

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Everyone has been involved in brainstorming at some point. From tactical, corporate meetings aimed at knocking out new advertising ideas, to late night discussions about how to take over the world, the brainstorming session is a worldwide phenomenon that leaves nobody out. But isn’t it always true that the vast majority of great ideas born in these discussions usually never make it past the concept stage, and that most are forgotten before they ever get the chance to evolve?

Not any more! Researchers from Keio University in Japan have teamed up with Kayac Company to develop what can readily be described as a ‘concept intensifying system’. ‘Kage Roi’ as it has been named, signifies the next generation in cerebral group discussion. Based on a computer capable of speech recognition, it takes the form of a discussion table with separate stations for each of the individuals taking part. Cunningly positioned microphones record what is being discussed, identify key words and phrases, and instructs the computer to trawl through the web and find relevant information to help develop the conversation. Ceiling mounted projectors then cast the information onto human-shaped shadows on the table which act as screens.

The concept behind the Kage Roi is that it will enable brainstorming sessions to flow more smoothly and ideas not to dry up or come to a dead-end as often. And just to add to the overall theme, it also features a multi-setting lighting system to generate atmospheric effects to the meeting. For instance, one setting imitates a dawn to dusk period over a two hour period, allegedly to stimulate useful phases and mood shifts during the meeting.

Although an original concept in itself, experts and visionaries have been working to discover a method of streamlining discussion groups for a long time. For instance, Danish development company MindLabs have created the concept of the egg-shaped brainstorming vessel. Basically a big egg which everyone sits inside for discussions, it is supposed to promote a stable and balanced environment where each of the participants feels equal and comfortable to share their ideas. Sounds a bit far fetched to me, but it has been received successfully by a number of Danish policy makers and business types.

Another original example is industrial designer Jason Chang’s S.P.I.C.E interactive table. This interactive table features games that require team work and encourage joint efforts that should inspire collective contribution and problem solving. S.P.I.C.E stands for ’stimulating play inspires creative expression’, and endeavours to be the first stage of strategic project development – a starting point for creative discussions and collaborations.

All these ideas, although original and well conceptualised, seem a little open to misuse to me. After all how tempting would it be, as everyone is sat around the Kage Roi trying to keep the discussion going, to pause from the issues in hand and shout ‘latest football scores’? Hopefully one day I’ll find out…

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The Devon Wildlife Trust got in touch with some spiffing details of a photography competition to capture the creatures of the coastlines (uniquely there are two coastlines in Devon donchaknow).

“Wembury Marine Centre and the Plymouth group of the Marine Conservation Society are running a photo competition this month to help promote the weird and wonderful wildlife found off our coasts.

“The competition is open to all and the theme is ‘Marine Conservation - the good, the bad and the ugly’. Entries should illustrate some aspect of British marine conservation. This could include beautiful coastal landscapes worth conserving, people working in conservation, marine or beach pollution, marine related animal or plant species at risk.

“There are four classes in the competition: Underwater Adult, Underwater Junior (under 16), Land Adult and Land Junior (under 16). The deadline for entries is 18 July 08.

“Cat Ridout who runs Wembury Marine Centre said: ‘I’m delighted to be involved with this photographic competition. I hope it will be the first of many and help to promote our marine environment which often gets overlooked. The competition is open to all and is not just for underwater pictures so next time you go for a walk on the beach, take your camera and get snapping!’

“The competition will be judged by Peter Rowlands (underwater photographer), Neil Hope (Deputy Picture Editor, Western Morning News), Paul Naylor (underwater photographer) and a member of staff from Plymouth College of Art and Design.

“The entries will be displayed at Wembury Marine Centre from Saturday 9 August to Sunday 17 August. Prizes will be awarded at an evening event at the Centre in August.

“For more information about the competition and the prizes on offer, visit the competition website or call 01752 862538.”

Pic, a sunset coral, by Keith Hiscock.

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The Greek myths have inspired many retellings through the centuries but may reach a whole new readership in Glyn Iliffe’s King of Ithaca. It is the first in a three part series based on the adventures of Odysseus and the characters from Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and starts off with a young Odysseus travelling to Sparta to pay suit to Helen of Troy. Many adventures later he sails home to reclaim his homeland accompanied by his new wife Penelope. Plenty of action made it an enjoyable and at times exciting read and is sure to appeal to fans of Conn Iggulden and Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

King of Ithaca, Glyn Iliffe, Macmillan, £12.99, 9780230529236
• The Torbay Bookshop is one of the leading independent booksellers - visit it online.

On Saturday Plymouth Arts Centre should get its free bus pass, it celebrates its 60th anniversary afterall. And how to enjoy such a pensionable landmark?

There will be an exhibition of ‘fragments of Plymouth’s past and present through archive material, film footage, radio broadcasts and stories’.

‘In its early years there were exhibitions by Gwen John, Ivor Kenny and Ted Williams, as well as famously offering Beryl Cook her first exhibition,’ says the press release, but Patrick Heron, Peter Blake and Paula Rego were well on their way to international acclaim by the time of their shows in the ’80s and ’90s.

The exhibition will also include a new commission, Reciting the City, by Mike Lawson-Smith – ‘a two-screen video installation that sets the stage for a latent dialogue between Plymouth’s citizens, prompted by film footage extracted from the South West Film and Television Archive’.

Also on show will be Jeremy Deller’s wall drawing The History of the World 1997-2004. An intricate mind map which traces the links between the Acid House scene of the late ‘80s and the traditional brass band.

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Way back in the smog of time, this publication carried a regular column called Mill Communication, which was intended to “pick the juiciest tidbits from those Trago Mills/UKIP local newspaper adverts so you don’t have to”.

Seems we may need to do run it again to save citizens their sanity - we got this message through from Roberto Franceschini of the European Movement, Devon Branch:

“The Western Morning News published the European Movement letter of complaint against UKIP abusing their column in the weekly Trago Mills advertisement page. Unfortunately, they inserted a paragraph from the Government Agency Natural England on windpower which made nonsense of the text I sent them. So, today I sent WMN the letter below:

‘The following extraneous paragraph was slipped probably in error into my letter “No grandees in our European Movement” published on Wednesday July 2.

‘It said: “Natural England, the Government’s statutory adviser on wildlife and landscape protection, has promised to publish a map setting out suitable locations for onshore wind developments in England.”

‘This error made a nonsense of the complaint I was making about the irresponsible use of Trago’s advertisement in the WMN by UKIP. If Mr Challice and his party wish to make such statements at the very least they should be factually accurate.

‘I do not consider it good enough to provide the public with misleading slurs at the expense of a respected local organization that gives the public an opportunity to hear from a wide range of experts on many topical European issues.

‘The European Movement Devon Branch which has been operating in Devon since 1975 only wishes it could say the same for UKIP’s activities.”

The whole thing seems kooky to us here in the belly of the PRSD’s barometer of bilge, but before we enter into a debate about the end-of-pier routine that is UKIP – who are quite happy to bemoan the gravy train and yet pocket the cash – we thoroughly applaud Natural England’s approach to onshore wind maps.

Creative Commons photo © 2004 by Tomasz Sienicki, tsca#sdf.lonestar.org

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Devon has a super record on recycling, it’s one of the top local authorities in the country, donchaknow, so it would have been nice if South West MEP Graham Watson had mentioned that in his press release about the agreement between MEPs and Europe’s environment Ministers to set a target of recycling 50% of household waste by 2020, and 70% for industrial and commercial waste.

In fact, “The percentage of rubbish recycled in the Devon County Council area is now 50.5%, according to the latest figures for April to September. That is an increase from 45.6% last year, and well above the national average of 30.9%,” according the a Devon CC press release from December 21, 2007.

“The best recycling areas in Devon are Teignbridge with 60.4% (55.34% not including Devon County Council’s recycling centres), South Hams 59.04% (57.06% without DCC’s recycling centres) and Mid Devon 53.35% (49.69% without DCC’s recycling centres).”

There’s always more to do, but a bit of recognition of the hard work and the growing commitment to recycling would be good.

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Would Black Lace play Dartington?

He is the Music Man, and he comes from down your way… and he’s been daubing Dartington with what we all think but wouldn’t dream of saying – lest we offend those who could offer us a gig in the illustrious, former grassroots arts establishment.

The Biker Boy (or Cyclist Citizen depending on your view), who goes by the moniker of ‘the Music Man’, has been painting the slogan: “Vapid art from talent free bureaucrats from the vacuous elite,” on the new signage that’s been popping up around the estate.

So popular has the graffiti become that the next management focus group is looking into adopting it as part of the corporate identity for the Dartington Plus brand – the rationale being that it cuts through the confusion over what their core values are.

Alas, we jest - but only about the last bit.

We’re keen to hear from the Music Man - phone call or comment would do. And we’d like to hear what inspires him, and what the rest of you guys think about Dartington. Email info@peoplesrepublicofsouthdevon.co.uk or fill in the comment box below.

• Check out the Laban Dance Workshops at Dartington.

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Advocate of nuclear power, Giles Chichester MEP, has been invited by the Industry Forum to give the keynote address at their Meeting on Climate Change at the Chemical Industries Association in London today.

Giles, who oft remarks on how nuclear is the environmentally cleanest and best positioned to be the energy of choice now, is a member of the EU Temporary Committee on Climate Change which was created to ‘formulate an integrated approach to climate change policies’. So you’d guess his comments echo those from European Parliament discussions.

He is also coordinator of the the European People’s Party (not THAT sort of People’s) and European Democrats (not THOSE sort of Democrats) group on the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee. He is also chairman of the European Energy Forum and the Conservative Delegation’s Energy spokesman in the Parliament. But from what we can gather, he aint no lover of green.

• Read Giles’ press release about his expenses scrape.

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