The 'B' word

How to fix UK gov deficit & clear national debt? Emergency powers for a special wealth tax (at 95 percent) on British billionaires. Yes, BILLIONAIRE should be filed under 'obscenity'. Wealth super-tax ensures a minimum number of victims, but with maximum claw-back of dosh from greedy Brits. Let's face it, if they can't survive and live comfortably on 5 percent of a billion, then... who cares?  

The 'A' word

Austerity seems to be a current buzzword from the Con-Dem coalition, inflicting cuts to public services. I’d really like to see austerity measures applied to churches, too… Why not abolish the ‘charitable’ status for church institutions in the UK, and make them all pay taxes at premium business rates?

There’s no reason why the organised religions should remain a special case. A lot of church properties, on prime sites in town centres, could be redeveloped for proper commercial enterprises to make better use of the locations and land, which might even provide more useful services to local communities.

More BS!

Black Static is three years old! Where does the time go, and all that...
Issue #18 (TTA Press) features my latest 'Blood Spectrum' column of DVD and blu-ray reviews, with coverage of 25 new releases on seven pages:

Solomon Kane (4/10)
Afterwards (4/10)
Bubba Ho-Tep (5/10)
The Storm Warriors (6/10)
Blood River (5/10)
Psychosis (3/10)
Clash Of The Titans (7/10)
Shelter (5/10)
Animals (4/10)
Manson Girl (5/10)
14 Blades (6/10)
Goemon (7/10)
The 7th Dimension (8/10)
[REC] 2 (8/10)

     + Soulless Scars: round-up...
Zombie Women Of Satan (1/10)
Bikini Girls On Ice (1/10)
Samurai Zombie (3/10)
Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler (3/10)
2001 Maniacs: Field Of Screams (1/10)
The Haunting Of Marsten Manor (1/10)
The Torment (1/10)
Meat Grinder (2/10)
The Bleeding (2/10)
The Horde (3/10)
Dead Cert (1/10)

More film & TV reviews!

My latest 'Laser Fodder' column (for Interzone #229) has review coverage of the following genre movies and TV shows, on DVD and blu-ray:

Exam (5/10)
The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue (7/10)
Mulan: Warrior Princess (5/10)
Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess (5/10)
The Lovely Bones (4/10)
Warehouse 13 - season 1 (7/10)
Ashes To Ashes - season 3 (6/10)
Cargo (7/10)
Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief (4/10)
Hierro (7/10)
Shutter Island (6/10)
Wizards (6/10)
Astro Boy (4/10)
Ponyo (2/10)
Nothing (7/10)

Fun photos

From one of those suspect but amusing emails doing the rounds...

Here are the candidates for 'contractor of the year' award...

The last one is (reportedly) the winner.