The redrafting and editing isn’t moving fast enough for me. I’ve been handwriting a few new scenes this week. It’s quite a challenge to make my rudimentary understanding of the recruitment/electoral/voting process seem interesting. Wrote a new scene for Peter where he’s being harassed by the water board and members of the red clogs party. Not just for the sake of it but to actually move the plot and his story along. During my research into most things Dutch, I read a couple of things where it was suggested that the water board in The Netherlands had quite a bit more power and influence than you’d normally expect. I thought this idea was interesting and made reference to this in the novel.

I’ve written the new scenes on computer paper mainly because I couldn’t be arsed starting up the computer and staring at a black computer screen for a couple of hours. The risk of procrastination is much higher as well when you’re connected to the internet. When I’ve finished going through it again the plan will be to get it read by a couple of trustees, who read far more books than I do.

In other news there appears to be a spot of bother going on with the BBC who are considering taking BBC6 Music off the air. Naturally this has concerned a lot of people, including myself and David Bowie, who feels such a move would go against the ethos of people like John Peel. 6 Music has always felt more democratic and representative of its listeners than Radio 1 and to some extent BBC Three. Shooting it in the face would effectively be removing one of the high quality alternative digital stations where you’re almost guaranteed to hear new and classic music. It was never a perfect station. It had some misfires such as George Lamb and Lesley Douglas who just didn’t get what it was about but essentially and thankfully the station was bigger than them. The station doesn’t have to attract or compete with Radio 2 or Radio 1. the whole point of the BBC is that quality and niche markets are catered for. It’s a shame that these ideals weren’t applied to Radio 1/BBC 1, where the emphasis is on cheap production, manufactured pop, comical indie, poor light entertainment and self-serving talent shows. I’m not going to suggest that you all go daft and get a ‘twibbon’. The BBC trust need actual views. On a personal level I’m grateful to 6Music for giving me the opportunity to play some music and be interviewed as part of the Listeners 6mix. (Don’t think they do this now)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/listener_6mix/tracklisting_20070429.shtml

So…yeah. Mark Thompson is a bit naughty.