![[popular search engine] Quiz](https://dom.blog/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/searchheader.jpg)
This post was nicked from Lucy and her swish new blog 
, and has been pre-recorded. Apologies in advance to Nic, who hates this kind of stuff.
Type “[your name] needs” into Google search:
“Dominic needs a family who has lots of time for him, who can provide a very stable routine, who is good at advocating for services, and who can recognize and take joy in each little step he takes.”
Type “[your name] looks like” into Google search:
“‘The brutal fact is that Dominic looks like this because he was so drunk while in the womb.”
Type “[your name] likes” into Google search:
“Dominic likes The OC.”
Type “[your name] says” into Google search:
“Dominic says my dad’s 50.”
Type “[your name] wants” into Google search:
“Dominic wants to use Jetspeed to build his RSS portal.”
Type “[your name] does” into Google search:
“Dominic does a flip at the Eccentric Symphony and Washed Up Hollywood booths at Project Las Vegas Feb 15, 2008.”
Type “[your name] hates” into Google search:
“MySpace profile for Dominic Hates You ffm//66 with pictures, videos, personal blog, interests, information about me and more.” (This is rubbish!)
Type “[your name] loves” into Google search:
“DomluvsEmma
Type “[your name] goes” into Google search:
“Dominic Goes To Montreal.”
Type “[your name] has” into Google search:
“2-year old greyhound dog Dominic has only two legs left…”
No no, I haven’t abandoned my blog! In fact, here’s a major marketing push…
Now that we’ve got that out of the way: tomorrow I return to the ‘Bridge. (Andy, that’s your fault.) Aside from a mock exam on Monday which is going to be really rather awful, I’m excited and happy about going back etc etc, but I’ve still got a load of things to do first! Today’s progress through my todo list has been quite successful, however, so I’m pretty hopeful about going to bed at a reasonable hour with everything packed and ready.
I’ve done a fair bit of voluntary work for the Ken campaign over the past week or so. At times stressful, it nevertheless feels quite rewarding to have helped out, and it’ll feel all the more awesome if it all pays off and he wins on 1st May. I’ve also ranged about a bit: leafleting outside of Willesden Green, telephoning places in Richmond and Kew, and pushing leaflets through doors in Kentish Town. The latter has the advantage that it avoids direct contact with voters, of course 
although on the other hand that can sometimes throw up unexpected and pleasant surprises! A case in point would be the slightly drunk South African man named Ken, who was so enamoured with our ‘Ken Rocks’ bags that he bought one off me for a grand sum of £7.42. (I donated this to the campaign before anyone asks, naturally.) Then there were the curious voters over the phone: committed Tories, with well-to-do voices, who nevertheless were voting for Ken. Erm, thanks! And as part of a quid pro quo with Saoirse, I even went to a Left List meeting in exchange for being able to borrow her for the Ken campaign for an hour or so. This was the meeting where I learnt that the government had ‘given’ the banks £100 billion as some sort of gift, that the increase in police officers has been ‘pretty disgraceful’ and that, yes, Lindsey German will join forces with Boris Johnson to protest against the MONSTROUS BENDY BUSES FROM HELL!!11. Ah well.
Politics over! In the last week I’ve also witnessed Kelly S’s drinking first-hand whilst openly discussing The Curse Of Fenric with Scott over at a gathering at Lucy’s. I’ve visited Stratford upon Avon, a town which reservedly never seeks to over-play the fact that it might just have some sort of tangential relationship with a certain English playwright, as well as having delicious fudge. I’ve re-discovered Hear’Say (ironically), toured Parliament – which included discovering the exciting secret entrance into Westminster station – and enjoyed both Doctor Who and The “you have to put people in the appropriate skill set!” Apprentice. Super.
I think my mother and I have a proud history when it comes to geek trips, and today we continued the trend by visiting the London Transport Museum in its swanky new form. It’s a lovely place, complete with the tubes and buses of yesteryear, all ready for visitors to immerse themselves in and resurrect fond childhood memories, despite the fact that in any other context they’d be wingeing that they weren’t actually going anywhere or that there had been a queue. In the all-important shop – the perfect place to get a new mug after an unfortunate incident last term involving a little bit of smashing – I opted for a London Overground design on the basis that it represents the latest and greatest step in sneaky railway re-nationalisation (sortof), and I’ll certainly drink to that.
But don’t think this was all! No, for we then continued on to the Royal Courts of Justice to pop in and out of a few cases. In one of the trials – on immigration – we found ourselves rather unfortunately plonked right in the middle of the prosecuting team, and had to keep looking around as if we hadn’t noticed that they were now conducing hurriedly whispered conversations right through us. Aw, justice: a cheaper alternative to the cinema!
Thank you Abbi, for a wonderful dinner party last night! Great food, hosting and conversation 
I think I’ll let the photos tell their own story…
Group shot
Joshua and (pretty!) Abbi
Sersh and Tash
Some take the prospect of violence more seriously than others
Clearly trying to make a point, whatever it was
More photos, as is the modern way, on Facebook
Facebook recently threw open the floodgates for the ‘political views’ listing, which had hitherto been restricted to a bland spectrum from liberalism to conservatism, but can now be anything a user’s heart desires to display to the world on his or her profile. I settled on ‘optimistic liberal’ in the end, not wanting to launch into a fully fledged speech with about the same number of characters to use as a single text message. Andrew – a kindred spirit from Peterhouse – kindly asked me to elaborate, allowing me to set out my stall brimming with optimistic spirit about how far humanity has come, and how far we might be able to go, despite all the challenges, all the setbacks, and all the ugly realities. And in general, I fully believe it.
But there are moments.
On Wednesday I spent the early part of my evening stood outside King’s Cross tube station, handing out election fliers for Ken Livingstone to anyone who might mistake it for a freebie paper. The occasional nutter was pleasantly mild, and I was rather fond of the elderly avuncular Tory – and I’m making an assumption he was a Tory out of a very strong sense of instinct – who merrily put his arm around me and declared that he was awfully sorry but had already declared for another man. As a reward for my brief moments of sacrifice, I was given a free ticket to the Time Out mayoral hustings by the two Ken organisers, who were, incidentally, the kind of blokes you know are decent, hard-working and thoroughly good people within a fraction of a second.
Boris was skipping the hustings, so it was left to Ken, Brian and Siân (for the Greens) to produce a panel essentially united around progressive politics. So not terribly good argument, but uplifting all the same. If these are the people running, you can’t go wrong, right? Well wrong, of course, because of the looming figure of Boris. But y’know, it’s not even bloody Boris which dents my optimism. Nor even the swarm of loud-mouthed supporters who hung around outside in matching Back Boris shirts chanting various pieces of nonsense. No, because it’s a democracy and they represent a legitimate viewpoint, so let them have their piece. The depressing thing is knowing that Lynton Crosby is hanging around backstage, managing it all, out of sight and out of mind to most of us.
But even this pales into insignificance when I come home to read of the BNP’s candidate forced to withdraw after writing that rape is “simply sex” and “cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal”. This man was second in line in London: if the BNP won two Assembly seats, he’d have been there, drawing a salary from us as a spokesman for London. I think I can be forgiven for letting that dent my optimism just a little bit – though, on the other hand, it heartens the spirit to see the Boris folk singing from the same hymn-sheet as us when it comes to the BNP.
Having said that, I cannot ignore the people who are “not racist” and “not sexist” and “appalled” and “shocked” and “sickened” and all the rest of it, yet spout regressive beliefs as if it were a natural reflex. Lynton Crosby plays the politics of fear and division to put people into power: for every hardening of people’s attitudes towards ‘others’, he should feel ashamed, though of course he never will. Columnists from Richard Littlejohn to Peter Hitchens attack the BNP, yet all the time make it more and more likely that people will turn to them. And to you, JF, to you who casually sneer at the ‘feminist left’ and blog in what I can’t quite decide is mock or real ignorance: be honest with yourself, for you could so easily have been the one to write – without thinking, but with a casually different contextual spin – “I’ve never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth”.
I’ll calm down now Sincere apologies to my sister who sensibly wrote that “I way prefer bullet points of what you’ve done then long theoretical debates or Ken propaganda!”
Helen on It’s (waiting) time.: “Fabulous news, congratulations to you both! X” Jun 8, 21:51
