OK, so it's not really disability-related, but following the very sad death of Radio 1 legend , we wanted to pay our own little tribute here on Ouch (particularly as we listen to a fair few bands and musicians who have appeared on his show over the years).
So here's an entirely gratuitous photo of the great man himself, taken from our Glastonbury Diary feature which we ran in the summer of 2002. It shows one of our intrepid festival-goers, Louise Hickman (and her PA), meeting Peel whilst schmoozing backstage in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ area.
I'm going to listen to Teenage Kicks on my headphones now.
You can tell that the presidential race in the US is hotting up and getting rather desperate when stories like this one appear.
The Democrats at the Tennessee campaign office of Craig Fitzhugh have been accused of sending out anti-Bush promotional flyers that mock disabled children.
The flyers in question are astonishing. They feature a picture of George W. Bush's face superimposed onto the head of a disabled child competing in the Special Olympics. The text alongside the picture reads:
"Voting for Bush Is Like Running In The Special Olympics:
Even If You Win, You're Still Retarded."
See the picture and condemnation on the website of the .
The Republican party were also quick to condemn it and to point out that this is the same office that the local John Kerry campaign for Tennessee is based. The website carries further condemnation from Tennessee Republican Dave Dahl.
But surely Democrat spin doctors wouldn't sanction a piece of political dynamite such as this just before election time? Well, they any claims that this came from their office.
Randy Button, the Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman
described it as a dirty tricks campaign from "shady Republican operatives" concluding that their actions are "reminiscent of the Nixon-era Watergate burglaries"
The Democrats have called on the District Attorney to get involved and find out who produced this material.
This Friday (15 October), the film Inside I'm Dancing (official site ) is released in cinemas across the UK. It's proving controversial with many disabled people, because of its casting of non-disabled actors in the two leading disabled roles. Ouch's Claire Fisher got an early look at the film during the Edinburgh Film Festival back in August, and was distinctly unimpressed, to say the least. In her review she said: "it lurches excruciatingly from one cliche to the next, the only respite being some mainly dire jokes." More recently, Ouch readers been sharing their views on the film on our messageboard, too.
Ahead of Friday, some more articles have been appearing around the web. Disabled US comedian gives it a in The Independent, whilst comic actress Emma Kennedy also has good things to say about the film on her . However, she also mentions a conversation she had with Ouch columnist Lisa Egan, in which Lisa made it clear that having non-disabled actors playing disabled characters was, for her and many others, as bad as employing white actors to play black people.
Do carry on giving us your views on Inside I'm Dancing - either by email or on the messageboard - as well as letting us know if you see any more reviews or comments on the movie elsewhere on the internet or in the newspapers.
