Category: Southall
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Live at the Counter Eurovision '79
“without the knowledge of your history you cannot determine your destiny”
Forty-seven years ago, Misty In Roots played at the Counter Eurovision rock festival in Brussels, in response to the Eurovision song contest being held that year in Jerusalem, and in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Less than a month later, Blair Peach was murdered by the British police on the streets of Southall while defending the town from the National Front.
Ealing Council allowed the march of the fascists to go ahead despite a 10,000-strong petition from local people opposing it.
Clarence Baker, Misty In Roots’ manager, was violently assaulted by police that day and left in a coma for five months.
Organist Vernon Hunt was jailed for six months on trumped up charges. He was so broken by this experience of state oppression that he never rejoined the band.
Today the British government allowed another fascist march in London on the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.
Today I dragged my 11 year old down to the Dominion Centre and Library in Southall to meet Misty In Roots in the entrance foyer and learn a little history.
The Dominion Centre is the site of the former Dominion Theatre where Blair Peach’s lifeless body lay “in state” for six weeks while thousands visited to pay their last respects.
This iconic photo of Misty In Roots outside the entrance now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.
We came home with a signed limited edition red vinyl copy of arguably the best live album ever recorded. We spoke to some very nice people. And we bumped into my friend Happy.
And we met Poko, Kazi and Tunga from the band.
“if you’re not conscious of the present you’re like a cabbage in this society”
For balance and transparency: I ate lamb biryani at my little Black African heritage kid’s friend’s Halloween party last week. I don’t know where or how the middle-eastern heritage parents sourced the meat, but their south-east Asia heritage neighbours happily attended the party with their son, too. The lamb was sooo tender. As Bournemouth heritage Ed Morgan might say, “I’m a terrible person.”
It’s been a very noisy and smelly morning. Reversing forklifts, car alarms, barking dog, pneumatic drill. Now it’s the fucking ice cream man doing his rounds (mate, the kids are all at school). To top it all off, we had the delightful petroleum aroma of our local asphalt recycling plant drifting in on the prevailing wind.
Forking* Hell (Again)
Almost exactly sixteen years ago I wrote a blog post titled Forking* Hell! about the relentless, sleep-shattering racket of reversing forklift alarms from the Beaver Industrial Estate (aka Chancery Gate Business Park), just a stone’s throw from my home.
It took months of escalating complaints, sound diaries, late-night MP3s, and even a YouTube video to get Ealing Council to take the matter seriously. But eventually, following site visits and interventions, they did. Forklifts were fitted with quieter white noise alarms, acoustic barriers were repaired, and the beeping stopped.
For a while.
We had more beeping in 2013 and 2017. Each time it was the same old story, but also it was eventually resolved.
2025: Guess Who’s Back
After years of relative peace, the problem has returned. Forklifts with traditional beeping alarms are once again reversing their way into my headspace—late at night, early in the morning, and all day long.
This isn’t a one-off. It’s relentless. Some nights, the beeping continues past 11 p.m.; some mornings, it starts before 7 a.m. I work from home. My wife does too. Windows stay shut even in hot weather just to make it bearable.
And once again, I’ve gone through the motions:
- Sent detailed emails to the council
- Provided audio recordings and video footage
- Explained the site history and previous resolutions
- Pointed out that something has changed recently (a broken barrier? a new operator?)
Response time from the council: One week.
Reason for delay: “Your email may have been blocked because it included links.”
Suggested action: “Call us next time it happens.”
Because obviously, I’ve got nothing better to do at 6:45 a.m. than call a noise hotline while forklifts beep through my kitchen window.
A Brief History of Beeping
Here’s the timeline in a nutshell:
- 2009–2010: Original complaint. Acoustic barrier found faulty. Council intervened, site improved.
- 2013: Issue re-emerged. Council visited, spoke to operators, and beeping was replaced with white noise alarms.
- 2017: Warning signs. I emailed again asking them to restrict night operations or use quieter alarms.
- 2025: The beeping has returned. My patience has not.
The Ask (Again)
I’m not asking for miracles. Just the same thing that worked before:
- Site inspection
- Identify the offending units
- Replace the beepers with directional white noise alarms
- Check the acoustic baffle hasn’t fallen apart again
- Remind businesses what Best Practicable Means under the Environmental Protection Act actually means
If you live near the estate and you’re also being disturbed, I encourage you to file your own complaint. Noise pollution doesn’t fix itself.
Want to Hear It?
You can:
🎧 Audio recordings from our kitchen
🎥 Video showing forklifts in action (YouTube)
Déjà Beep
History doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes, said Mark Twain.
In my case, history reverses slowly, with a loud, repetitive beep that echoes off corrugated warehouse walls and slices through what was once known as my attention and the “quiet enjoyment” of my home.
*Thanks again to Andy C
My morning walks back from dropping my kids off at school are usually relaxing. Not this morning. I was on edge with the nearby presence of our local elected racist doing his rounds.
Every outdoor seating area in the public realm is littered with beer bottles and cans, laughing gas canisters and other drug paraphernalia.
Probably not what local homebuyers here signed up for with the marketing lure of “canalside living”.
Morning walk.
Sat on a tree stump for a few minutes enjoying the sunshine, breeze, and sights and sounds by the canal.
Fundraising for my sons’ school got off to a slow start, mainly because the school was slow in sharing the online fundraiser with the school-to-parents messaging app, and then when they did share it they forgot to attach the link to make it clickable. As soon as they made it clickable and shared it again we got £190 in donations in one day. I’ve asked the school to keep sharing as “every day you share the school gets £200!”