Homophobia
Friday, August 17th, 2012 | Photos, Religion & Politics

Well said.

Well said.

Well said.

Tonight is “Ladies Night” at Oceana. You’ll notice the sexualised images of some young “buff” men in the posters, collectively known as the “Dream Idols” apparently.
This caught my eye because it’s easier to stand behind a claim such as “people should have the right to use their bodies for whatever purposes they wish”, when you’re not the victim. But take this example, it is my gender that is being used in sexual imagery to sell a product (in this case, entry to a night club).
Yet, I’m still entirely behind it. True empowerment and equality come from granting people the freedom to do as they wish. If they want to appear on a poster without a shirt on, who am I to tell them otherwise?
When I was young, there was a lovely shopping centre in in the city named The Headrow Centre. It was located on The Headrow, hence the name. Inside there was a statue of a man holding a bunch of balloons and on the top floor was a toy shop packed to the rafters with everything a child could want (in terms of material possessions). Happy memories.
However, in 2008 they decided to kick all the shops out and renovate the centre, re-naming it The Core. Turns out this was a mistake. Indeed, probably one of the biggest mistakes in Leeds’ retail history. The Core is now a barron desert of white walls where shops used to be, and posters desperately trying to attract new businesses.
But of course, who would want one there? It has almost no foot fall; it is simply three floors of emptiness. I doubt they could even give the retail units away.
If that wasn’t the end of their trouble, they’re now surrounded by much more exciting retail prospects on all sides. Most notably, the new Leeds Trinity will form the showcase shopping centre of Leeds when it opens next year.
An entirely renovated Central Arcade sits just of Briggate too.
If that wasn’t enough, the development of the Leeds Arena has led to the Merrion Centre throwing a lot of money into renovating a lot of it’s units too, in the so called “Arena Quarter”.
No wonder the investor is going bankrupt. Sad times.
It’s been a while since I last stopped by York Brights, so I decided it was high time to turn up to a meeting. It was a somewhat intimate affair, with only six of us there (usually there are loads of people these days), but the conversation was never the less it’s usual excellent standard. We also noticed an item on the menu we hadn’t seen before.
The mega mixed grill burger as it is known is just that – a mixed grill in a burger. They start off with a huge burger, was at least half a pound, if not more – I just don’t really know how much a pound is but it was definitely at least as big as two McQuarters. They then put a fried egg, a gammon steak, a chicken fillet, a pineapple ring and a sausage, wrap it all in the world’s largest bread bun and surround it with chips. Amazing.


Apparently, google thinks that pornography and church go rather well together.
One of the drinks I missed most since I stopped drinking alcohol is Rekorderlig. It’s like Kopparberg, but a lot nicer, there is more of a fruit taste in it. Luckily, when you are in a country full of alcoholics, they cater for such a niche.

Alkoholiton is Finnish for alcohol free. It’s amazing! Devastatingly, since returning to the UK I had a search around on the internet to see if anyone imports it, but it seems not.