THEGAYUK

Category: Comment

  • THE UNDATEABLE GAY | That time I bashed the bishop

    THE UNDATEABLE GAY | That time I bashed the bishop

    The Undateable Gay returns with another column about an unfortunate incident with a man of the cloth.

    WenPhotos / Pixabay

    After talking of my Budgens’ days as customer service manager in my previous tale of dating woe, it took me back to another memory of my youth. So get inside the undateable gay time machine once more, as I take you on a trip to 2004.

    Working in Budgens always provided me with plenty of eye candy. All of the evening and weekend staff were mainly students of the male variety, all looking to earn their beer money. And I was their boss. What a fantasy.

    Now, before anyone gets on the phone to the police, may I remind you that I am talking in the past tense. I was only 20 at the time of these fantasies about young male students aged 17 or 18 so it was all perfectly legal. And does not make me a sexual predator.

    I always remember good old Peter Woods*. He was the store manager. Knowing I was partial to perving on the odd pretty boy employee, he would often give me his words of wisdom. “Don’t poke the payroll.”

    Being a good, obedient boy, I always listened to his advice. Always, that was, until Jamie* came along. I finally had a fellow gay boy in the store.

    Jamie was absolutely gorgeous. He had the most beautiful blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. And you could see his well-toned physique through his chequered green Budgens uniform. I quite often did an impression of a dog’s tongue hanging out, dribbling every time I saw he was rostered on my shifts.

    One night as we were filling up the shelves with loaves of Hovis, I felt our eyes meet across a thick cut granary. Unusually coy, I blushed and looked down at a white bloomer.

    It was Christmas eve and my ears caught a glimpse of Mariah Carey playing in the background. As the words of “All I want for Christmas” resonated in my lug holes, I took the bull by the horns.

    “Would you like to go for a drink this evening?”

    I looked at a Best of Both loaf to avoid making eye contact, fearful that his answer might be no.

    My confidence with men in those days wasn’t what it is these days. I was quite a chubby youth with a bit of acne and a fake tan addiction. I also had eyebrows that I would shave with a bic razor which sometimes made me look like I was sporting a pair of slugs above my eyes.

    My friends often say I’m the ugly duckling who blossomed into the swan. And to be honest, I’m glad I grew into my looks at a later age. All the pretty boys who I fancied in my teens at school are dog rough nowadays. So I’m glad I went the opposite way! Better to be like a fine wine and get better with age.

    Anyway, I’m digressing. Back to the drinks proposal with the medium cut Kingsmill as our witness.

    “Yes.” He replied rather quickly actually. Expecting the answer to be no, I didn’t let my ears register the answer and started babbling on like a banshee.

    “I mean, I understand if you don’t want to.”

    “Yes!” He said again, but in my banshee induced state I continued not registering his response.

    “I know it’s Christmas eve, so I completely get if you’ve already got plans.”

    And then, quite out of the blue, and I guess to shut me up, I felt him face plant his lips onto mine. All down the bakery aisle in Budgens in the year 2004. Very modern for the era, let me tell you and no one even raised an eyebrow.

    “I’ll meet you at the Crossroads at 7”, he said as he departed from my lips. Oh, the Crossroads. That takes me back as well. That was the pub at the end of Shepperton high street. It was our local haunt.

    R.I.P Crossroads. (And I’m not talking about the dodgy ITV soap. Although that’s also very sad that it’s no longer around) But right now, I’m talking about the Shepperton pub which got knocked down years ago to make way for retirement homes. I miss it. Many a drunken night (or business lunch) was spent in there. Well, I say ‘business’ lunch. It was just an excuse for the managers to get pissed during work hours.

    As we stumbled from the pub that night, we walked arm in arm and I was as pissed as a fart, I can tell you. We came to my local church and I clocked the time. Midnight Mass was about to begin.

    I made the suggestion that we should attend and I could see the hesitant look on Jamie’s face. But I gave him a flutter of my rather long eyelashes and before you could say “Hallelujah”, we were inside the church.

    We tripped our way through the doorway in our inebriated state and the first carol was already in progress. Any fellow bible bashers will know which carol we entered to. “ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID’S CITY”. It’s always the first carol to be sang at Midnight mass.

    I used to be in the church choir as a young boy you know. I would always sing the first verse as a solo at Midnight Mass. I had a lovely little soprano voice back in the day. Until nature came along and made my balls drop, that is.

    Talking of the church choir, my mum is still in the choir to this day. And I saw her on this night, look up from her hymn book as she caught a glimpse of me from the choir stalls.

    I could see her disapproving stare and head shake as we tumbled our way to our seats. A stare and head shake that only a mother can perfect. She could tell I was rather trollied. I knew I would be in for it on Christmas day morning. But the Sauvignon Blanc erased any worries of her wrath right away.

    This particular night, the service was being taken by the Bishop of London no less. It was a big honour for a small church in Shepperton. So it was packed to the rafters.

    We were at the part of the service called the Peace. For those of you not familiar with church service proceedings, this is the when the priest invites the congregation to share God’s peace with one another. And you all shake hands with each other and declare, “Peace be with you!”

    As the Bishop made his way towards Jamie and I, I quickly made a beeline for him, hand held out with excitement at the fact I was about to shake hands with the Bishop of London.

    And in my overzealousness, I forgot to check what my feet were doing. Before I knew it, my foot became caught on the chair leg and I went face first into the Bishop’s chest. My boat race smacked into the cross hanging around his neck.

    As I clung onto the Bishops’ hips, I felt him go a bit wobbly on his pins and as he went backwards towards the floor, he managed to steady himself on the side of a chair.

    I looked up at him, big drunken gin on my face, sorry, I meant grin and I proudly pronounced “Peace be with you!”

    He quickly peeled my body away from his hips and chest and moved onto the next member of the congregation, fearful for his life and his balance.

    My mum hid herself behind her hymn book. Jamie hid himself behind a pillar and pretended he was there worshipping with another group of people.

    After bashing the bishop at midnight mass, I decided I would take Peter Wood’s advice in future and not poke the payroll. Business and pleasure don’t mix.

     

    * names changed to protect the innocent or not so!

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  • COMMENT | Trump’s Transgender military ban: How reducing minorities limits team success

    The recent decision of the US Supreme Court to continue the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people serving in the military is an unnecessary limitation on organisational effectiveness.

    CREDIT: © StockCube

    What is the goal of the military (at least in democracies)? Overwhelmingly our clients in the defence sector tell us it is operational effectiveness. The question then, aside from any personal prejudice for or against trans people, is, “does their inclusion in the organisation contribute to operational effectiveness?”.

    Much to the chagrin of many detractors, the evidence suggests that it does.

    Take any organisational ecosystem and analyse its productive potential. We know that a lack of diversity can lead to higher risk, lower resilience and lower productivity. Similarly, extremely high levels of diversity, if not led well, can lead to lack of trust, poor morale and team bonding.

    However, the military (in general) is extremely good at leadership. In fact, I would go as far as to say that in my 15 years working with the UK military, it has gone from one of the worst sectors on LGBT+ inclusion to one of the better ones. Look at the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index to see.

    Jerry Patterson, a retired marine, argues that Trans people should be banned because a 2015 survey by the National Coalition of Transgender Equality found that “…40 percent of trans-identified respondents had attempted suicide during their lifetime — nearly nine times the attempted suicide rate in the US population.”

    However, like all of us in general, not all trans people want to serve in the military. Good recruitment policies look at individual talent and contribution, not general prejudices.

    Contrast Jerry’s view with that of the British Royal Air Force. The RAF Museum has celebrated the contributions of three trans service personnel, Roberta Cowell, Caroline Page and Ayla Holdom, three transgender women who are either currently serving or have previously served in the Royal Air Force at different periods of time over the past 100 years.

    Indeed when Trump announced his ban, UK military leaders across the services were unanimous in their condemnation of an unnecessary and politically charged policy of discrimination that would harm the hard-won cohesiveness of the military.

    “When you are a family at sea for 6 months you have to work as a cohesive unit”

    When I first started working with the Royal Navy after the lifting of the LGBT ban in 2000, Naval captains were brutally honest with me. They knew they had always had gay personnel in their midst but they were persecuted – bad for them and the overall team morale. They made a conscious decision to include. When you are a family at sea for 6 months you have to work as a cohesive unit. Including difference makes you stronger, not weaker.

    And at the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves an even more fundamental question: why does the military exist if not to defend the values we hold dear? Inclusion is one of them.

    Stephen Frost is the founder of Frost Included, a consultancy dedicated to helping people understand diversity and inclusion. His new book Building an Inclusive Organisation, published by Kogan Page, is out February 2019. For more information go to www.frostincluded.com or find Stephen on Twitter @FrostIncluded

    YOUR SUPPORT MEANS EVERYTHING

    Help us deliver unique, usable and reliable journalism that supports the gay, bisexual and curious community of the United Kingdom. Can you help protect LGBT+ media? Publishers like us have come under severe threat by the likes of Google and Facebook. The problem is that advertisers are choosing to put their money with them, rather than with niche publishers like us. Our goal is to eliminate banner ads altogether on site and we can do that if you could pledge us a tiny amount each month.

    We’re asking our readers to pledge just £1 per month, more if you’re feeling swanky. You can stop payment at any time.

    It’s quick and easy to sign up and you’ll only have to do it once.

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  • The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Fiat Doblo

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Fiat Doblo

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

    An Irrelevant look at a certain car.

    Fiat Doblo. 2005-2009

    What’s boxy, rather wild on the limit, has to be driven enthusiastically and comes from Italy?

    No, not an Abarth something or other, we are talking about the Fiat Doblo van. A van that, despite its looks, won the 2006 “International Van of the Year” Admittedly that award came some six years after its launch with a facelift and like the Doblo, it’s a grower, not a shower, so eventually it gets there. 

    Shame about the facelift really because the 2000-2005 model had quite a nice purpose built front to it. And model maker Norev thought so too and made a nice 1/24th scale model of it that until recently, you could buy from Home Bargains for just £2.99 Probably not one of Norev’s greatest achievements because their models often retail for around six times that price.

    And so to the real van, and what a van and how very Fiat with some of Fiat’s idiosyncrasies missing. Namely, the rubbery gearshift that afflicted Fiats for so long. The gear shift in the Doblo, mounted high up on the dashboard, was within a flick from the steering wheel and selected gears as good as any race-bred machine from sister company, down the road in Maranello.

    And things got better with the engine. The lively FIRE (Fully Integrated Robotised Engine) 1.4 petrol was an absolute peach. It developed 76hp and my word, it feels like it has more. It’s 5 star award is its eagerness to please like a dog that has just thrown up your dinner that it stole from the coffee table. 

    And then things get even better for Dobby the Doblo. The handling is quite remarkable and highly entertaining, boarding on crazy, dangerous and downright outrageously good fun. You see, the rear end has a solid axle, suspended with some of those old fashioned leaf springs. What it would appear had been forgotten by the development team, was to soften it for the passenger carrying variety of the Doblo. Instead, it retained the stiff setup from the van. It made it highly entertaining.

    The bad thing about the Doblo, though thankfully still keeping with Fiat tradition, was the driving position. It’s not so much a position but a torture, especially for your ankles. Thankfully, your feet don’t rest for too long so they are always moving around. That enthusiastic buzz getting the better of you. 

    It’s no sports car and yet it thinks it is. And with that facelift, it moves it from an ugly car to a good car.  

  • So what IS a “White Gay”

    So what IS a “White Gay”

    On the surface, the term “White Gay” may not strike a chord of recognition. But it’s an issue that is becoming insidious and problematic within some areas the community.

    StockSnap / Pixabay

    I’m hoping that after the explanation, people do continue reading because this is an issue that needs to be discussed and understood. So what does “White Gay” actually mean?

    It’s the notion that within the community there is a simmering underbelly of racial/societal ignorance. Now I dislike the term white privilege because as soon as that phrase is mentioned, there is an instant backlash against anyone trying to point out, that society IS in general easier for someone who is white, tall and thin. It’s not an individual thing, obviously, there are tall, fit, white people out there who have a hard time. This is a generalised observation of how society views these white people and people of colour.

    As a white person myself, I will never truly understand actual racism and I don’t pretend to know what any person of colour goes through on a daily basis. Jane Elliott conducted many experiments around racism, most famously The Blue-eyed/Brown-eyed experiment. She went about separating blue-eyed people away in a different group and treating them with contempt, while openly praising and helping the brown-eyed group. Reactions were mixed, and some people thought her experiments were nasty and pointless and only fueled the idea of racism. But she made very valid points regarding the fact that after the workshop, no matter how bad the white blue eyed people were treated, it would stop, people of colour don’t get that kind of break.

    But I digress, how does this reflect on the LGBTQ+ community, surely we are all one harmonious group of rainbow love. Sadly this just isn’t the case. Recently there has been a contentious issue regarding adding a black and brown stripe to the rainbow flag to represent people of colour in the community. On the one side, there are people who feel these stripes should be added because those people the new stripes represent do feel marginalized within an already marginalized group. And on the other side are the people who feel the flag was never about race, the stripes represent different emotions, and feelings of the community and further segregating groups only feeds the fire of alienation.

    The issue of the stripes also came into sharp focus in the community when drag queen Peggy Wessex shared a poster designed for her depicting the black and brown stripes being vomited up by a unicorn with the rainbow colours in the background and the tagline “taste THE rainbow.

    There was of course defenders of Peggy saying she was a comedian and that banning comic things was just political correctness gone mad.

    Is it racism, or is it simply ignorance of race? There is a huge difference between the two.

    Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for nothing is sacred in comedy, but when it comes to taboo subjects, it all depends on how you construct the joke. This was poorly thought out and just wasn’t funny. It was deliberately designed to provoke a reaction. Peggy didn’t design the poster, but she endorsed it by sharing it and making comments such as “how it should be”.

    Speaking to a friend of mine about the flag, he voiced worries of being seen as racist if he didn’t have the flag with the black and brown stripes on.

    But he made an interesting point, as a white man, the stripes aren’t for him to decide upon, so the flag isn’t for him to wave.

    Another point he made was that a lot of the arguments seemed to be between white people, he saw few people of colour voicing an opinion. Is this a symptom of trying to look “woke” and tolerant instead of actually just being nice to people as a normal behaviour? Does an overcompensation actually do more harm than good?

    I can see both sides of the argument, the flag never represented race, but people of colour can feel like they aren’t fully a part of the community and want a valid representation of their identity.

    rihaij / Pixabay

    Is it racism, or is it simply ignorance of race? There is a huge difference between the two. Ignorance of race is unpleasant, rude and stupid, Racism is dangerous, unlawful and pervasive. And it can start off small, with the idea of preference.

    We’ve all heard people say “but it’s just my preference” about who they are attracted to and having a preference is fine no one is telling you to be attracted to someone you’re not, but one has to ask themselves, is it truly a preference, or is it ignorance of race? Outright dismissing or fetishizing someone based solely on race IS racism and it can be incredibly damaging. And some people are disturbingly open about it, putting on their dating profile their “preferences” usually in an incredibly disparaging way.

    White Gay term doesn’t just cover race

    But the White Gay term doesn’t just cover race, it covers a multitude of things, based on weight, height, amount of hair, gender identity & disability among other things. An easy dismissal of someone based on how they look. Small snide comments such as “You’d look good if you lost a few pounds”.

    A look at someone in disgust, whispers and pointing/laughing. These things can really affect a person and while obviously as a society the first thing we see is appearance and an initial attraction is based on looks, that only goes so far. You can find an incredibly hot guy and he’ll turn out to be narcissistic, selfish and shallow. Personality can easily outshine any perceived flaws.

    Differences should be acknowledged, and talked about in a positive way. A lot can be learned from other people’s experiences or heritage.

    I have sadly heard stories of certain gay clubs (which shall remain nameless) actually refuse entry to someone based on how they look. No wonder there is self-segregation within the community. But self-segregation is just as damaging as outside segregation. Only sticking with your own group highlights the differences instead of everyone coming together and being supportive of each other. Differences should be acknowledged and talked about in a positive way. A lot can be learned from other people’s experiences or heritage.

    The point of this piece isn’t to call anyone racist or shallow because not everyone is, it’s to bring light to an issue that is there and does have ramifications towards people.

    I’m also very aware that any discussion from my point of view can be instantly shut down with the phrase “You’re a cisgendered white male, you’ll never understand” And no I won’t fully understand or appreciate everyone’s experiences, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t have a meaningful debate and discussion where we can learn from each other without any valid points being dismissed.

    I live by two simple mantras, treat everyone how you’d like to be treated yourself, and learn something new every day, no matter how small. The more we learn, even from people we disagree with, the more we grow.

    People are so quick to argue or take offence instead of actually talking, and figuring out why a reaction is had. Will this solve the issue? Far from it, but I’m hoping it at least opens up an important discussion.

  • The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Citroën Berlingo

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Citroën Berlingo

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

    An irreverent look at a certain car.

    The Citroen Berlingo Multispace

    The 1998 – 2013 model was a step in the right direction when the Berlingo came out as a van. It raised the game in the CDV (car derived van) market. Instead of taking a humble hatchback, this was a purpose-built van on a hatchback chassis. In this case, the Citroën ZX.

    This meant it had van like space in the cabin and storage appropriate for its van moniker. And then Citroën added windows and seats to it and sold it as a cheap lifestyle vehicle and judging by their sales literature, it was aimed at the young get-up-and-goers. Truth is, it’s easy access and comfortable seats sold it to the silver surfers who bought it in their droves.

    They even fitted it was an optional electric folding sunroof that went almost the entire length of the vehicle. A sunroof, in a van! an ELECTRIC folding roof IN A VAN!! That’s the French for you.

    And it sold in big numbers. Nothing could match it for small road space and huge interior dimensions.  

    It’s not that bad to drive either and when it was launched, even Jeremy Clarkson had a soft spot for it. In fact, it was almost universally liked by every road tester.

    The Berlingo has one thing that it lacks and that is street cred. Despite being seen as a young active lifestyle persons transport for five, it was a box on wheels. It was easy for old people with arthritic hips to get in and out of and its floor pan was easily adaptable for wheelchair ramps. If ever there was a truly multipurpose vehicle, the Berlingo was it.

    Buying one is easy. Oil leaks are the main culprit and some will have seen the welding torch, though rust isn’t really the killer for the Berlingo. Lack of maintenance and collapsing rear trailing arm bearings are.

    About £600 to have that fixed. Also, driver seat foams collapse. It’s about £130 to replace that and this I know because I bought one for mine. I own one. And remember the old people that bought them? Safe to say they wouldn’t have thrashed them. To be fair, there is little to be gained from thrashing the 1.4 petrol or 1.9 diesel. The 1.8 petrol was far more spirited, it’s harder to find one.

    It does what it does very well. It will carry you over great distances comfortably and swallow huge amounts of cargo. It’s just that it’s not very attractive and that’s why it’s an “ugly car”

     

  • The Good, The bad and the Ugly: The Renault Clio

    The Good, The bad and the Ugly: The Renault Clio

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

    An irreverent look at a certain car.

    The Renault Clio 2.

    The 1998 – 2005 Clio in almost all of its guises was a sensational little car. Even now, some 20 years later, they are still fun to drive.

    Nicole and her Papa were onto something with the pretty Clio 1. Clio 2 changed a few things like the fitment of plastic front wings and the use of materials inside to make it lighter and cheaper to repair.

    I’ll grant you that Clio 2 wasn’t as pretty as Clio 1 but then again it was still far better to look at than Clio 3.

    Borne out of Clio 2 was the crazy and short-lived, three litre V6 mid-engined monster using a modified V6 from the Laguna that was a part development engine with Peugeot/Citroën. Two seats and no luggage space in a widened shopping cart from France. Just 2822 road going versions were made.

    So I’m taking the 1.2 16 valve as the Clio 2 to get. It’s not a fireball to drive with just 74bhp but this enables you to be enthusiastic in your approach to where you point Clio 2 at and plough on. It’s still a fun car to drive.

    Admittedly, the clutch on a high mileage car will become heavy and city traffic will kill your left leg. Or it’ll encourage you to take up the gym membership and work on that right leg that in comparison would have become lazy and weak.

    And then there are the mechanical failures that are the Clio 2 Achilles heels. Ignition coils will fail and rocker cover gaskets leak. Simple fixes in the big schemes of things. My niece has one as her first car. I said it would breakdown. It broke down. It was a coil pack.

    Interior trim, made light to save weight, will by now, be rattling around with some, if not all, clips broken. You learn to live with it. What you won’t though is the rattle from the optional sunroof. Opening it usually solves the problem.

    And who could forget the “bonnets up” controversy where the bonnets would flip up at high speed! Lack of maintenance on the bonnet catch was the culprit here. So lubrication once again saves the day.

    So should you buy one? Yes. They are cheap cars, cheap to run, fun to boot around and are still pretty to look at.

    And that is why the Clio is a “good car”

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  • Did you know that China has banned depictions of gay people on TV?

    Did you know that China has banned depictions of gay people on TV?

    The world’s most populated country has, since 2016, banned depictions of gay people on Chinese TV.

    Ben Mitchell And Paul Coker kiss
    Scenes like this kiss in EastEnders between two men would be banned in China. CREDIT: (C) BBC Kieron McCarron

    China has a raft of strict regulations on what its people can see, download and transmit. Even porn is forbidden in the country and its citizens have been offered money, lots of it, for turning in to the authorities those who are suspected of viewing or hosting the content.

    However, even darker and more problematic is that the depiction of gay people is forbidden and the language used in that enforcement is incredibly worrying. In fact the ruling saying that content that ‘exaggerates dark side of society’ is banned. This includes homosexuality, but also adultery, earrings on males and even, yes, cleavage.

    In fact, it was reported that an earring was blurred on a reality TV show because the contestant, Jing Boran, is male.

    “Vulgar and Immoral”

    Even the relationship and first gay kiss in Star Trek between Lt. Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Chief Medical Officer Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) would be banned in China.

    The Chinese government’s ban is part of a crackdown on “vulgar, immoral and unhealthy content” and was first reported in 2016 and is nothing more than a government-backed, systematic cleansing of gay people from society.

    The government outlines that TV shows shall not “show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviours, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on.”

    This ban, according to the Guardian includes smoking, drinking, adultery, sexually suggestive clothing, even reincarnation.

    This clampdown on content has increased since Xi Jinping, China’s president, came into power in 2012.

    This means that content readily available in many countries across the globe that incorporate same-sex relationships would be forbidden. In fact, streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and the BBC’s iPlayer are not available to view in China.

    At a time when relationships that stray away from the normative, like the same-sex relationship in Netflix’s Star Trek Discovery or even a same-sex kiss in EastEnders may never actually be seen in China.

    In April 2018, Sina Weibo, China’s largest social network said it would remove “homosexual” content from its platform. Sina Weibo said in a statement that it had begun a “clean-up campaign” to remove “illegal” content, including “manga and videos with pornographic implications, promoting violence or (related to) homosexuality”.

    Weibo reversed its ban, but only after a huge backlash against the platform.

     

    WHILE WE HAVE YOU…. YOUR SUPPORT MEANS EVERYTHING

    Help us deliver unique, usable and reliable journalism that supports the gay, bisexual and curious community of the United Kingdom. Can you help protect LGBT+ media? Publishers like us have come under severe threat by the likes of Google and Facebook. The problem is that advertisers are choosing to put their money with them, rather than with niche publishers like us. Our goal is to eliminate banner ads altogether on site and we can do that if you could pledge us a tiny amount each month.

    We’re asking our readers to pledge just £1 per month, more if you’re feeling swanky. You can stop payment at any time.

    It’s quick and easy to sign up and you’ll only have to do it once. Click to start the journey and support THEGAYUK!

  • COLUMN | Back to models… I love the Tamiya’s Hilux Little Bruiser

    COLUMN | Back to models… I love the Tamiya’s Hilux Little Bruiser

    During the summer of 2018, THEGAYUK was fortunate enough to be given the keys to Toyota GB’s homage to Tamiya’s Hilux Bruiser for a week. It was a sad day when they came to collect it.

    Shortly afterwards there was word on the street that model giant, Tamiya, was going to release a new radio controlled model based on that very Hilux Extra Cab model. And to really get the excitement up, they displayed it with stickers identical to the one Toyota GB had made.

    This new model wasn’t to be based on the original Hilux Bruiser 3 speed chassis and as a result, it has made it more affordable to every enthusiast by basing it on the tried and tested CC-01 chassis.

    Tried and tested, this chassis certainly is. It has been around for 25 years! That in itself sounds insane and yet there is still plenty of life in this chassis. It has seen 28 changes in body shell though some have been re-released. 

    Sometimes, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it and that really is something you won’t be doing with the CC-01 chassis. They don’t break. I used to run one year ago with the Subaru Brat body on it. So without further ado let’s quickly look at the chassis and its build.

    It’s simple with a few surprises. Not all the screws are the same and within the first few instructions, you’ll notice that the front diff has smaller screws. Here is a useful tip for you. If you plan on using it off road, try stuffing the front diff with blu-tac. It will lock the diff up but allow some movement, sort of like a very limited slip diff. It helps when off-roading.

    The rear diff comes with the option of locking it with 2 useful inserts. The rest of the chassis is pure off-roader in design. The rear has the ability to carry out to scale articulation with a live rear axle while the front is suspended by wishbones and all is damped by oil filled shock absorbers.

    With a proper off-roader like this old faithful, it isn’t about speed. The CC-01 was never about speed. It’s all about torque with power to climb and crawl along. With that in mind, you will want to make sure you waterproof the radio gear.

    The chassis is tough, rugged and never goes wrong. Even cleaning and maintenance are quick and easy. I could go on about what to do with the chassis for maximum off-road fun, but I’ll leave that up to you to discover. It’s truly will sort of go where you point it. 

    And now to the best part. The body shell. For years, Tamiya shells were intricate pieces of craftsmanship. Suddenly they started issuing stickers in place of paints for lights and door handles on their polycarbonate shells. It made bodybuilding quicker without the painstaking wait for bits to dry. Even the stickers were pre-cut. To me, that always felt a shame. 

    Thankfully, the shell for the Hilux Bruiser does have light inserts for the front and rears and the kit comes with a basic front and rear light kit. And there is more too. Masking. The extra cab needs masking up for the application of pearl white so this shell is turning into an intricate one after all that is worthy of extra attention. 

    What I choose to do however was paint it metallic blue. Tamiya recommends a solid blue colour. Having been up close and personal with the real thing, I can tell you that it is a sparkling metallic blue in colour. So there was no way I was going to paint it solid blue.

    As for the stickers, they look daunting. There are plenty of them and all have to be cut out. This was a joy for me and should be for you too. It’s intricate and makes building the model more intricate while developing those modelling skills. I must add that I did get sticker fatigue with this but that only extended the joy of the body to another day. Saying that it took over a week to build the body. A WEEK! The chassis was built within hours! 

    There is the need to also buy some black paint too for the load bed area and radiator grill. None of this comes in a sticker. The rear light units need to be painted along with the mirrors. So this shell really did turn into a feast for the modeller like a gift that kept giving. And for that, I’d like to thank Tamiya. 

  • COMMENT | Six Stripes Were Enough

    Manchester Pride have this week unveiled the design of their new flag design.

    The 2019 Manchester Pride Festival will use a design with eight stripes, which was flown outside Philadelphia’s City Hall in 2017, instead of Gilbert Baker’s classic flag design, which has become synonymous of the LGBT community across the world

    Mark Fletcher, the chief executive of Manchester Pride, said in a statement to THEGAYUK: “We have seen that the iconic rainbow must adapt to reflect the modern society that we live in.

    “A lot has happened but there is still a long way to go, especially in the recognition of people of colour in the LGBT+ community,” he continued.

    The decision of Manchester Pride to release this as their 2019 design has received a backlash on social media, with many users questioning the inclusion of race in a flag that has for many years represented sexuality, with one user on Twitter commenting ‘When was sexuality about color? Never. You only just made it about color by adding that. Are you going to put white in there too?’

    And they have a point. The six colour flag, created by Gilbert Baker, has developed over a number of years and has represented life, healing, vitality, nature, serenity and spirit, with the missing colour on the Pride flag to represent the lack of equality for the LGBT community.

    The Pride flag has been used for the last forty years, without issue.

    Despite the Chief Executive of Manchester Pride stating we ‘must adapt’ to reflect the society we live in, we need to remember the meaning behind the flag that has represented a community for this length of time; It’s about sexuality, rather than the race of individuals within the community.

    A study last year found that 70 percent of gay people were opposed to the new flag, while most white people and members of the Baby Boomer generation were also against the move.

    In contrast, Millennials, people of colour and trans people were more likely to be in favour of adopting a flag with black and brown stripes.

  • THE UNDATEABLE GAY | Explicit phone messages between my ex and another man

    THE UNDATEABLE GAY | Explicit phone messages between my ex and another man

    When your New Year’s Eve goes off with a bang…

     

    JESHOOTScom / Pixabay

     

    Cor! I’m taking you back fifteen years to the New Year’s Eve of 2003. A time when I’d just turned 20 and I’d been dumped by the, then, love of my life. I thought we were going to be together forever. Oh, the naivety of youth.

    I was still customer service manager for Budgens Supermarket back in those days. Good old Budgens. You rarely see them around on the high street these days.

    A few weeks before my boyfriend had dumped me, I’d bought him a brand new mobile phone worth £150! Now, that was a lot of money back in those days. God, I’m starting to sound like me Nan. God rest her soul.

    I can remember the moment of my realization as vividly as if it were yesterday.  He still had his bloody mitts on the £150 phone. I was having none of it. There was no way he was keeping it. So I marched down to the hairdressers where he worked. It was two doors down from Budgens.

    As I barged my way through the doors, I was greeted by a salon full of ladies having their blow drys, all getting ready to look glamorous to celebrate the New Year. But I didn’t care. I was still heartbroken and acting irrationally. Only five minutes before, I’d been in tears down the fruit and veg aisle as ‘All I want for Christmas’ played over the tannoy.

    I bellowed to make myself heard over the hair dryers and as I did, I saw the salon manager making her way towards me.

    “I WANT THE PHONE BACK!” I barked as I held my hand out. You could see the client’s eyes all lighting up as the hairdresser’s scorned ex made a scene. It was giving them all a juicy bit of gossip that they could share over a glass of champagne that evening.

    “Mark! This is not the time or the place!”

    “Just hand over the phone and I’ll leave!”

    Back in the safety of my office, I had itchy fingers as I clutched the phone. I was battling with my conscience. Should I read his messages or not? The devil on my shoulder won the battle.

    As I clicked open on the inbox, my eyebrows raised. Yes, I can promise you they did. It was the days before I started having botox. And my jaw dropped to the desk.

    I witnessed many explicit messages between my ex and another man. All dating back to when we were still together! Part of me wished I’d never looked and the other part of me was glad I had. Although they do say ignorance is bliss.

    I slammed the phone down on the desk as steam erupted from my ears. I looked up at the clock. 6pm. The salon would be closing. I decided I had to have it out with my ex. How dare he be sexting and seeing another man when we were still together. Bastard. I was so angry, I could have crushed a grape.

    I peeped my head out of Budgens’ front door and I could see the salon was already in darkness. I knew he’d be waiting at the bus stop. I simply had to have it out with him. There was no way I was going into 2004 without dealing with this.

    “JANE!” I screamed as I saw her filling up the shelves with Hovis loaves. She jumped to attention. Jane, bless her, and for her sins, was one of my best friends from my Budgens’ days. There was an incident once where she threw some Hovis loaves at me during an argument we were having. But I’ll save that story for another day.

    “Please drive me to the bus stop!” I pleaded with her. She grabbed her car keys and we made a swift exit out of the supermarket doors. She screeched to a halt at the bus stop and I saw my ex gulp as I slammed the door shut and walk towards him.

    In the meantime, Jane could sense I was about to start a cat-fight so she jumped out of the car as quickly as she could. But in her haste, her foot got caught in her seat belt and she went face first into the gutter.

    As she scrambled back onto her feet, I had my hand raised ready to make my first move on my cheating ex. I slapped his face, a la Pat Butcher and Peggy Mitchell style. I took a deep breath and I started to make my way back towards the car. In my mind, a slap had bought the matter to a close.

    But clearly my ex had different ideas, and before I knew it, I felt a foot up my backside and I went down to the pavement like a sack of shit. Onto my knees I fell as he kicked me up the derriere.

    Too many years of watching Dynasty had prepared me for my next move in the inevitable cat-fight that was about to ensue.

    I leapt from my knees like a pouncing tiger and jumped onto his back. We both hit the pavement like a sack of spuds and started to roll around, limp wrists clawing at each other, with no decorum whatsoever.

    As we took it in turns to be on top (a first time for everything as he was always very selfish when it came to that normally), I saw out the corner of my eye that quite a crowd was beginning to gather around us.

    “Look at Krystle and Alexis!” I heard a bystander call out. Being such a Dynasty fan, I oozed with pride. And hoped I was Alexis. Well, I prayed actually.

    When Jane could see that there was going to be no outright winner of the cat-fight, she dragged us apart screaming.

    “ENOUGH!” For anyone who doesn’t know Jane, let me tell you, she’s rather scary. She would be very good in the cast of Wentworth Prison. So me and the ex jumped to attention and got back onto our feet rather quickly.

    Doing her best headmistress impression, Jane had a good grip on my arm. I assume it was to make sure I didn’t make a break for it and dish out another slap. She opened the car door and practically threw me into the passenger seat.

    I couldn’t bear not to have the last word so as Jane started the engine, I wound down my window and stuck my head out into the cold winter air.

    “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” I bellowed towards my ex. Jane sped off quicker than her usual speed.

  • COMMENT | The joy of the good old fashioned… wank

    COMMENT | The joy of the good old fashioned… wank

    Old Dog With A New Dick

    (C) BIGSTOCK

    I recently rediscovered the joy of wanking. I make no bones about it, but for the past 24 years, I’ve been a poppers user. The wonders of that amyl nitrate smell rushing up your nose during those heady days to a Kylie track on the dance floor of the White Swan in East London or during the euphoric moments during anal sex. It was wondrous. 

    Forgetting the fact it could give you a monstrous headache and when not at their finest (read that as fresh) they smelt like old socks, but the rush was real. It was fun.

    Several years ago, the government banned the sale of amyl nitrate and instead we had to make do with Isopropyl nitrate and to be honest, they are rather crap. I’ve tended to need more and more to get the same rush and to be honest, it’s just not doing it for me anymore.

    And then the other day, I ran out. It was a Saturday and my local “special interests” shop was closed and I wouldn’t be able to get some until the following week. I had to wank it alone. Cheese n Rice! I was not expecting what happened next.

    24 years of being somewhat “off your tits” does make you lose your senses and control the rush. I’ve literally been cumming and going. Not anymore though. Suddenly out of nowhere came this tightening from my inner thighs. I’ll be honest here, it ruddy well hurt! Suddenly I was having an orgasm.

    I’ve had orgasms before, and when you get the rocking on, I’ve been known to scream like a fox. I’ve also shouted out Pilots 1975 hit “Magic”.

    Most of the time though I’ve not. I’ve felt the rush, gone giddy and then I’m reaching for the tissues.

    So there I was, somewhat shocked at this pain from within my thighs. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t try it again later that evening because I did. And again, the rush came, the thighs tightened and the pain was this time quite exciting. I felt like an adolescent again when I first played with the meat stick.

    And this continued so I decided to experiment with different techniques because this time I was able to. And there I was, bringing myself to the edge of cumming and I’d stop. I was able to stop. You see with poppers, I always found that once the rush was there, it was over. I wasn’t going to be able to stop it.

    And the fun hasn’t stopped there. I’ve angered myself several times by getting there and then stopping. Adjusting speeds and grips. It’s been an a-wank-ening and I’m glad it happened. I’m glad on that Saturday afternoon, I had run out. I didn’t know you could get sweaty palms like this! 

    So try something different this weekend. Don’t sniff poppers. Go it alone. I can tell you this, you’ll bloody LOVE it! It wasn’t exactly easy at first, I’d taught myself that every good arrival was with the help of that little bottle.

    So goodbye poppers, my little wanking partner. It was fun, we had over 2 decades, you fried my brain, lost me some brain cells and you brought me to the edge of heaven in Heaven to Heaven but I’ll pass now. I’m done.

    https://www.talktofrank.com/drug/poppers