London

I wrote articles for Time Out in 79 and remember recieving your cheque. My speciality is censorship.
If you want me to submit an article with pictures i would only to pleased to submit one.
Mike Freeman
The recent raid by the Obscene Publications Squad (OPS) on the Tate gallery is a symbol of the repressive society Britain, dare I say “Great Britain?” has become for creative people. Artists with erotic subject matter have been persecuted in this country since Victorian times with the emergence of the Obscene Publication laws and now these curbs on freedom of expression have reached the denial of artistic freedom and artists whose choice of eroticism as their subject matter live in fear. .
We now have the Dangerous Pictures Act which denies rights of artists, in contravention of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The excuse is always the same “It is for the protection of children” yet in reality our children can obtain, and they do, the hardest pornography online from other countries that have less repressive laws than our own. To make drawings illegal if they portray certain content is unsustainable as no children are used in the making of a drawing for example. A drawing is an idea and simply marks on paper or other medium and the same goes for painting. There are artists, I for one, who would like to express what they feel about today’s repressive climate but are terrified to do so because they fear the consequences.
“The “Doublespeak that is used to make any reference to youthful sex is inherently repressive and a denial of rights, for example “For the purposes of the act any person under the age of eighteen will, deemed to be a child” And now the Censors have gone further and it is any person, or depiction of any person who looks younger than eighteen. A person of sixteen is legally allowed to have sex so representations of legal acts become illegal!
Authoritarians, political and religious realised a long time ago that if you control a person’s sexuality then you control them because control is control per se. I believe that young people should be enjoying recreational sex and it is there right to do so and it is also my inherent right to express this idea in imagery. Of course the law bears most heavily on the female where a girl of sixteen who inhabit the repressive ideal world of the Censors does not even think of sex let even do it. In reality girls of sixteen are young girls becoming young women and their sexuality is their birthright and this development should not be repressed in anyway at time that they are searching for a mate, for example or besmirched by the idea that it is wrong.
As an artist I use drawing to express ideas that I could not using real models. Throughout history sexual morality has always swung towards repression then back again towards freedom of expression and this barometer may be seen as a quantifier of freedom that exists in any society in the world. Sanctions for producing eroticism vary from execution in the more repressive countries with extreme authoritarian laws to imprisonment or fines in the more liberal countries. It is a corollary that if you live in a country where there is no censorship of sexual imagery then that is a free country.
The Tate gallery are now opposing the Censors and fighting for freedom of expression and every intellectual and artist should come to their aid and give support. My advice, as a person who was acquitted under the Obscene Publications Act at the Old Bailey in 1983, is to confront the OPS, who are simply the “thought police” and let them prosecute. I am sure that the Tate can afford the top QCs and with a queue of expert witnesses from the art world and intellectuals they would win the case and strike a blow for freedom that the authoritarians would never recover from.
Mike Freeman.

I can't believe that it is impossible to contact you at this site! There is no email address at all for any features editors or categories or anything - it is impossible ! how can we send you tips or ideas - its an online site and its all one way
do you print them in the paper magazine? that would be odd wouldnt it ....
if i wanted to email your blog the big smoke or the property editor for example - how can this be done.......

Your listings have The September Issue playing at the Vue Islington at 15:30 every day. This is incorrect. It is not on at that cinema at all, confirmed by a member of staff when I went there to see it. It is, however, on at Screen on the Green around the corner, at 15:30

I can see that you do not listen to your readers. Many comments complain that articles are out of date. The one on museums is 8 months old! Try updating things before they grow ancient.

This feature is only useful if it is updated at regular and frequent intervals. It is now coming up to October 2009, but your latest update was January 2009. This just isn't professional; better to withdraw the service than give people out-of-date information.

Why do you have to put in a area for the film listings - it is hugely annoying when you cannot dispaly all listing anywhere in London.
I've stopped using your site and gone back to the paper version - at least you can see at a glance where films are playing.

paulo,Walkabout is for australians to get drunk in. Very drunk. Very very drunk. I wouldn't go in a Walkabout if it was the last place on earth. Even australians with any personal self respect don't go in Walkabout. Ask any cab diver what they think about Walkabouts and they will tell you "...they're trouble mate. I turn me light off when I get near one and put me foot down. Trouble, trouble, trouble" Ask the police and you will get a similar response.
mick

How can a cafe that pays its staff £6 per hour get number 1 and 2?? Surely the staff renumeration should be considered?!

An order (No. 100010468) has never been received. Please let me know what has happened to it. The order was placed on 04/09/09.

As far as suggestions go, I would like to see a feature that would allow me to log in to the website and flag restaurants that I find interesting and would like to visit at some point. That way I could go to my own section of the website and find all the reviews that I've marked.
Another good feature to have would be to allow vegetarian and vegan readers to rate all restaurants on a scale of vegan friendliness and vegetarian friendliness - so even if a restaurant is not vegan you can get a good idea of how many/how interesting your options would be.

I'm trying to put an ad in your magazine and on the website i work at a london bar, how do i do it??
heres the details.
This Monday 21st September is the inaugural Comedy Quiz at The Library, Islington.

A pub quiz like no other. A vicious cocktail of comedy and top trivia with questions ranging from the bemusing to the down right absurd! Bonus points for showing off your own unique party tricks, racing to collect a battered sausage and being able to complete a whole array of hilarious tasks.

Hosted by comedians Dave Bibby and Dan Mason this quiz is sure to break the mould. The guys will offer up their own take on the pub quiz format with a movie round involving their recreations of famous movie scenes, 'finish the limerick' where you get the chance to offer up your unique ideas and the inexplicable tricketydickety question round.

All this is pulled together by a real sense of competition throughout the quiz and prizes for everyone. Brace yourself for a night to remember!

COST: £2 per person (max. team size 5)
TIME: 7:30pm
DATE: Monday 21st September

A feature where users could rate the events posted would be beneficial. Would be a great to find out what to see based on what everyone else liked.

I have subscribed, how long will it take to actually receive a copy through the post??

It would be helpful if you checked your timetables of film times. On 3 occasion I have arrived at the cinema only to find the film is on at different times to those quoted or not on at all. It makes it difficult to make arrangements with friends with any confidence that the film we set off to see will be on.

hi whom ever is reading this..i'm a bit disappointed that i cannot obtain a complimentary Beefeater 24 cocktail voucher because i live in Canada. True, i do reside here but for the first time in my life i am excite, proud and tingly to the tips of my toes to announce that "Tammy Dunlop arrives in London October 30th 2009". Are you as excited to see me as i am you? So, is there anyway i can obtain a voucher? hugs & kisse, Tammy D