'OOPS, MY PHONE'S DEAD OFFICER :((' - FREE DLR TRAVELLING FOR LIFE/FOR NOW.

The wonderful Docklands' Light Railway (DLR) celebrates its 30th birthday this year and it has been nothing short of a blessing for Londoners, especially myself. My uni's situated aaaall the way out in Beckton, E16 (far east) and if not for the DLR getting to uni would be a nightmare.

The line conveniently links you up with some of London's best areas.. in my opinion; Lewisham, Stratford, Canary Wharf, Canning Town, Greenwich, Tower Bridge to name a few and the best thing about it is.. IT'S TOTALLY FREE OF CHARGE NOW UNTIL FOREVER (for some 'daredevils' lol). Of course, it's not, but it is barrier-less at least for now and if you're a 'train station opportunist' then yeah, it's basically always free.

No barriers means you can choose not to tap your oyster or buy a paper ticket as there is a 90% chance that the DLR station you're heading to is also a barrier-less one. Things do heat up a lil' as once you're on the train you've got to emulate the fantastic Mr. Fox in your attempts to read and avoid the ticket man. Look out for signs and signals that tell you what his or her next steps are going to be.

NOW. Most people are already fully aware of this and therefore all the above isn't really relevant to you. Sorry for not saying earlier :)

BUT I'd like to make people aware of something they may not already know..

When the inspector comes towards you armed with his needlessly chunky, card-checky-thingy and there's absolutely nout you can do WHACK OUT YOUR APPLE PAY. A friendly Nigerian conductor once informed me that by law conductors cannot reprimand you if your apple pay fails. This is simply because your payment can fail for a multitude of reasons, usually network/3/4G related and obviously sometimes we can't help these things from happening..  therefore it is unfair to be charged a penalty fare. IT'S NEVER FAILED ME OR ANYONE I KNOW, AS OF YET. 

Photo by Zach Ekpe.

I am, however, pretty certain that TFL are already working on this - if they're not already planning to install barriers at every DLR station. It's just too big a loophole for them to ignore. So if you find yourself in the common situation of being asked to present your ticket and you haven't paid for once pull out your Apple Pay and let them scan that I promise you they'll walk on. It's fool-proof.  Either that or you can always say your phone died and it's the only method of payment you brought out with you. Nothing much anyone can do/say about that either.

DISCLAIMER: Out of the 45 stations, on the 7 different lines, 4 (to the best of my knowledge) will always have automated ticket barriers, these stations are; Stratford (not Stratford International, that's free), London City Airport, Canning Town and Bank - tap your oyster prior to travelling to or through any of these stations. Unless you want to be squeezing through the barriers behind an unsuspecting stranger whilst it squeals out this vile tone in desperation to see you caught by the TFL staff member(s), the barrier not the stranger.

Again, if you're a regular fare dodger you've probably already worked out the effectiveness of the 'my phone's dead' line. But for those who haven't tried their hand a bit of free travel for whatever reason, spread the word for them, so they may travel as freely as the rest of us!

Bye!

MET POLICE 'CBA WITH INVESTIGATING ASSAULT, SHOPLIFTING, GTA & BURGLARIES & MORE'

2017 has been truly loopy and you are 100% forgiven for not being to keep track with all the madness. Today, however, the Met police have made some pretty big changes that I feel we should all be aware of.

"On Monday, it was reported that the UK’s largest force would no longer look into many reports of crimes, including burglaries, thefts and assaults, where there was judged to be little prospect of identifying a suspect."

London's Metropolitan Police announced earlier today that they would be looking to save around £400m on their budget in the next four years as a result of over-spending and immense pressures caused by the current terror threat. Firstly, that's a huge sum. The fact that we're ready to reduce funding for our national/domestic security but happily increase our military budget is beyond crazy.

As a result of these cuts, police will now be investigating far fewer crimes, essentially giving free-reign to some criminals, some think. Nothing's been decriminalised so every crime is still worth it's weight in jail time.. What has changed are attitudes towards certains crimes, with less time being spent on the investigations of them.

Police will now be looking into the following a lot less;

- shoplifting

- burglaries and thefts

- assault (where the attacker isn't instantly idenitfied)

- car crimes

- criminal damage

The deputy commisioner of the Met Police, Mark Simmons said;

“With the pressure on our resources, it is not practical for our officers to spend a considerable amount of time looking into something where, for example, the value of damage or the item stolen is under £50, or the victim is not willing to support a prosecution.

The 'pressure' on their resources that Mr. Simmons is referring to is the supposedly ominous and looming 'terror threat'. 

“We need our officers to be focused on serious crime and cases where there is a realistic chance that we will be able to solve it. We also want them to be available to respond to emergencies and go to those members of the public that need our help the most.” 

He also added;

“Of course, we are not talking about things like homicide, kidnap, sexual offences, hate crime or domestic violence, but the lower level, higher volume offences such as shoplifting, car crime and criminal damage. 

Obviously, he's obliged to say everything he's said above, he has to do a job. However, I'd say that the Met Police are playing a risky game. They are fully aware of the mentalities the 'criminals' they have to deal with on a day-to-day and must surely know that the opportunist mindset of a potential wrong-doer is only going to see this as an opportunity?

This supposed 'let-off' is weirdly coupled with an announcement earlier in the week that the Police would now be looking to clamp down on people for the possession of corrosive acids/liquids in the wake of a recent rise in acid attacks, the most being one in Stratford's old shopping mall. All smells a bit contradictory to me.. 

The police are basically saying they're going to be harder on assault because that's what an acid attack is... at the same time as investigating it less?? I can only think that this will result in more people trying to get away with acid attacks and other assaults if they believe they can remain faceless, resulting in more people from that demographic being jailed. 

The Met are hoping to save this huge some of money over 2020, which is the tiniest bit more encouraging. Imagine if they forecasted themselves a year to save £400m we could be looking at a completely different story. Personally, I hope that these cuts of this nature don't continue. After all we fund the police through tax. If they do continue, we could be looking at a lot more 'leniency' on more severe crimes and that definitely wouldn't be good!

What do people most fear? (TWITTER POLL)

On my Twitter page, I've been conducting a series of polls - oo don't I sound scientific!? I've been doing so for a couple of months now and will probably carry on indefinitely! Given that I study Journalism and am looking to do things of this nature more in the future.. it wouldn't hurt starting now, on a smaller scale and less formal platform.

One of my first (I think my 4th or 5th) poles was targeted at everyone and posed the question, 'Generally speaking, what do you most fear being..?', the possible answers were; A Victim Of Crime, A Victim of Terror, Poor or Lonely.

I wasn't actually going to post anything on it, but yesterday, I mentioned to my mum that I'd polled this question and her reaction reinforced the significance of these findings.

These were the results..

Of course, there are a huge number of negatives that could be drawn from this data as well as one or two positives. This polls suggests that on average people in the UK fear being 'A Victim of Terror' less than crime, poverty and loneliness. The only positive from that is that people (or at least my Twitter seemingly aren't buying into the shit in the media. People, as you can see, most fear being lonely.. closely followed by poor.

My perrrrsonal opinion is that our 'system' is to blame for such a high number of people fearing for the financial stability. It's purely a reflection of the complete uncertainty surrounding employment for over 18s. Zero-hour contracts, poor wages comparably to the price of life, lack of jobs various reasons, poor education system that doesn't prepare you for 'adult life', discrimination (racial, gender etc), lack of motivation, anxiety, lack of confidence... the list sadly is endless! But all of these are indicators of a failing system. Now obviously a number of people have flourished in the same system but again, in my perrrrsonal opinion, that's a kind of luck of the draw thing. Either you were luckily instilled with the right mentality to help you succeed (upbringing/life xp has resulted in good money management, high motivation, innate dislike for laziness etc) from a young age - whether you were raised poorly or well. Either that, or your from a rich/connected family blah blah blah, you know the story.

Now, people most feared being lonely in the future. That's quite telling. I've found this to be true in life tbh; people aren't too scared about terror unless a bomb goes off, people utter the odd word about being the victim of crime but I don't hear it often, people are alllways talking/worrying about money and people genuinely all want to be accepted. It's just important that we speak to people often and if you see anyone looking like they could potentially need a friend, be the friend!!

Follow my Twitter for more polls!

Happy Sunday!

TORRENT COMMENTS, LOL.

Here's a bit of Sunday fun. 

I've recently thrown it waaaay back to the old-school times of downloading torrents. Torrenting isn't that hard to explain for someone who knows more than me, but I do know that it's 'peer-to-peer (person-to-person) file sharing' cutting out the producer of the file your sharing, basically. The poor super-rich person/corporation doesn't earn a buck. Can I get an "oh, well!".

Disclaimer: It's obviously illegal so do it at your own cost and try and buy from those who aren't as fortunate - however you gauge that.

Sooo. The reason I'm blogging. I've downloaded LOADS in the past month or so, it's been a lot of fun. Nothing has been funnier, however, than the comments people leave for whatever reason.. simply, they're usually impressed or not. After yonks of reading them to myself and countless laughing fits I decided to start screen shotting the funniest. In hopes that I'd one day blog about it. 

Anyway, here there are LOL. There aren't that many How people come up with some of these things is BEYOND me. Got to love people.

i love this, hahaha 

demandin'

this album review gets progressively worse ahahahaha, very funny. imho = in my honest opinion, took me a minute

  

i LOVE what he/she said about the video qual!! LOL! try imagine what he's saying hahaha

very ignorant! hahaha

Hahah, that's enough for now. I'm going to be collecting more of these and sharing them with you all again in the future. The internet is foon-eh. 

If you're interested in illegal downloading shit coincidentally after reading this post. Go to this site and there'll be loads of sites you can go to from there to downloads whatever you like!! From games to music to films to programs to books and mags to games and lots more!

Just make sure you download uTorrent. That's basically all you need. Type what you want into a site from the proxy list provided in the prior paragraph, click on the lil' magnet symbol and boom. You're computer will blow up....

JOKES your download will start and you can listen in no time, it's super fun if you've got a speedy internet connection but tbh, most connections nowadays will give you a fast download. The days of waiting a billion days for your favourite new album to download are over, for most of us.

Bye!

BARCELONA: WHY SO MANY VEHICLE ATTACKS?!?!

 A couple of days ago the world saw yet another terrorist attack in the form of a vehicle mowing down groups of innocent people. This time the the victimised city was Spain's second capital, Barcelona. 13 people have been confirmed dead and over 100 injured potentially in what seems to be a continuation of a growing trend.

"Car and trucks have now killed over 100 people in separate incidents in recent years. Extremist groups have long advocated for their supporters to use vehicles to target pedestrians." - according to HuffPost.

ISIS have claimed responsibility for the attacks this time but it isn't solely Islamic extremists that advocate for this kind of attack.

The attack in Barcelona comes less than a week after a member of the White Nationalist Party of America mowed down peaceful protesters in Charlottesville, VA, killing 1 and injuring countless. BUT WHY ARE SUCH ATTACKS TAKING PLACE SO FREQUENTLY???????

This seems to be an increasingly popular tactic employed by only extremists and I believe that they're ultimate aim is to scare people out of gathering in large groups. I mean, I like to bar in mind that however volatile things are the chances of being caught up in this kind of attack are low - but at the same time I had a few seconds yesterday where I stopped to myself and thought 'I'm never ever going to Oxford Street again.' But after another few seconds I rubbished the thought, realising that it was the common irrational fear that they want us to have.

I personally think that people shouldn't stop protesting or gathering in big groups but at the same time there is a threat out there. People are looking to divide us even more and once we can't stand together physically, we can't stand together mentally. I think it's important that we keep on talking, sharing information and learning more.

Police have allegedly foiled another attack in Cambrils, 120km away from Barcelona where 5 suspects were killed. The men were apparently planning to attack people with a car again and some were equipped with explosive belts.

Here are some useful links, if you'd like to read up on the Barcelona attacks;

Barcelona terror attack: What we know - CNN

Spain terror attacks: 13 killed and 100 injured in Barcelona and Cambrils attacks – as it happened - The Guardian

Barcelona Rocked By Terrorist Attack - The Young Turks

Everything we know about the Barcelona terror attack - Telegraph

COOL PLACES; HIIT KITCHEN, St. Alban's (x Zachary Ekpe Photography)

All photos are by moi.

Rob (left) & Kris (right)

5/6 weeks ago I was introduced to a new business in Hertfordshire's St. Alban's (25 mins by train from London - St Pancreas International). A funky, fitness bar/cafe called 'HIIT Kitchen' started by Rob Ashman and Kris Tyrell, specialising in healthy, snacks and juices for fitness fans and everyone else.

The lads are about the same age as myself which I love to see and they've succeeded in creating a cool looking place that appeals to everyone at the same time as a specific demographic.

They've since opened and have enjoyed a great start to business! They had me in again yesterday and here are some of the photos I took to help boost their online presence.

Like other locals businesses I've seen birthed in trendy parts of London and it's trendy suburbs this one has bags of potential and you should 100% pop in to try some of their amaaaazing products - you'll be welcomed by an awesome staff and vibe!

Contact

HIIT Kitchen Facebook Page

www.hiitkitchen.co.uk (coming soon)

HIIT Kitchen Insta (soon to be featuring a number of my shots)

Contacte-moi - Facebook - Zachary Ekpe - @zachekpe (Instagram) - zacharyekpe@gmail.com - for bookings & enquiries.

COOL MUSIC; BEST BEEF EVER?

In allllll my years as a grime fan (13 or so), I am sure that I haven't been lucky enough to witness a better one-on-one, bar-for-bar 'beef' than the ongoing brawl between two of grime's pioneers.. P-Money a.k.a. Paris Moore-Wiliams & Dot Rotten a.k.a Zeph Ellis a.k.a Joseph Ellis-Stevenson, formerly of the same grime crew 'The OGz'.

Tbh, P's been involved in a fair so many beefs with a few big names that I was starting to think I knew everything bad about Paris. On the other hand, Dot Rotten's been in the backseat of the grime whip for so long now it could have been easy to believe that P had this in the bag. But both share one thing (besides double barrelled surnames) is that they are both KINGS when it comes to lyrics and wordplay.

This is the timeline of events so far;

"Dot Rotten Sent For P Money With

Dot Rotten - Organised Grime Freestyle (P Money Diss)

Then P Money Replied With 

P Money - Real Talk (Dot Rotten Diss) 

Followed By 

P Money - Liars In The Booth (Dot Rotten Diss)

Then Dot Rotten Came Back With A Longer Reply 

Dot Rotten - Real Talk (P Money Diss) 

Then P Money Replied With 

P Money - Did You Notice? (Dot Rotten Diss) 

Then Dot Replied With

Dot Rotten - Facts (P Money Diss)

Plus

Dot Rotten - Steak Bake (P Money Diss)

Now P's replied with..

P Money - I Got Bars/Man Like Peri (Dot Rotten Diss)

"

Wiley Vs Kano was my introduction to grime on the first ever Lord of the Mics, so I guess I've had 0 choice but to LOVE clashes ever since. I thought that P was at the tip of his peak in his clashes against Ghetts and the Big H but Dot Rotten has forced Mr. Moore-Williams to level up once again and credit to him.

The latest update I have is that P Money has released a mixtape called 'Snake EP 2', exclusively containing all of his disses, available on SPOTIFY, LOL.. Again another first for a grime beef. 

not taken by moi

Dot Rotten's undoubtedly a don. I have to admit, I've had to do a quick few searches to update my limited knowledge on him, but his name has been synonymous with grime from day one - I know that much. He's produced for nearly everyone and is one of the best lyricists and a minority's shout for the best in grime.

taken by moi

I personally don't know what to make of it, obviously. Both artists are accusing each other of lying and that never helps, both are also using the names of dead people in their defences, making it doubly

impossible to know who's telling the truth. All I know is that after watching P Money for YEARS and meeting him in person a few times, I've even been face-to-face with him on the stage of a big fest and I am positive that he is way to nice to be a roadman. Meaning I naturally can't buy into his version of events to well. I think Dot has no reason to lie whereas P does.

P snapchatted a couple of days ago saying that he was "29, nearly 30" and has "0 time" for the throwing the term 'liar' back and forth between him and Joseph Ellis-Stevenson - before proceeding to call Rotten out on lies he had apparently told, he then said that the next diss he drops this Wednesday will be his last. Dot is 28, so age means nothing and it will be interesting to see if Paris keeps to his word.

Click the links to find out more on the madness!!

COOL MUSIC; 67 *POLL*

South London GOONS '67' have just shut down the whole of London with the launch of their latest album entitled 'The Glorious Twelfth'.

The albums perfectly embodies grime's new, brixton drill sound. They haven't tried to do anything out of their comfort zone and it's worked well for them. The first track 'Rolling Up' is a perfect and somewhat calm (compared to some of the other tracks) introduction to a hyped album. 

The albums also features tracks 'Look How Life's Changed.', 'Waps' & 'Guwop'. My personal favourite is 'Rolling Up' the first track (its probably playing out of your laptop/mobile device right now) - and that's purely down to the piano that plays periodically throughout. In all honesty, picking a favourite is too difficult - the whole ting is just too CONSISTENT.

Do make sure you have absolutely no family to see for around a week if you're planning to listen to this album from start to finish.. Listening to bars like 'Nuff DJs spin dem hits, but we just spin dem 40s *BOWW*' & 'The opps don't come to the Hill, if they say the do but they fibbin'! Come to my block, bare gunshots, could be dipping *TRUU*' on full blast may just leave you with a permanent screw-face & attitude problem.

Find the album on Spotify, iTunes, Soundcloud & YouTube. Simply search '67 The Glorious Twelfth'.

The whole albums should be available below.. Have a listen and then answer me poll quickly. I wanna see what people think of this genre. The more you listen to their lyrics, the more informed you become about 'gang life' in London. They tell no lies.

COOL POINTERS; Hey, Sugar!

Sweet-toothed people are everywhere - I'm one of them, and I never really knew why until I realised that everything contains sugar so obviously our bodies naturally become sugar addicts whether we notice or not.  I mean, this probably isn't news to many of you, but at a recent university conventiony/pop-up stall thing I was shocked to find out how much sugar was really in some of our most beloved beverages!!!

Here are the sugar contents in some of our favourite drinks;

Whilst looking - bare in mind how many teaspoons of sugar, if any, you willingly have with your tea or coffee. 

Starbuck's bestseller the Frapuccino contains a whopping 16 teaspoons!! 

Flavoured water, 'the healthy option' has 7 teaspoons! Imagine 7 teaspoons in your damn tea!! 

Red Bull gives you wings..   and 8 teaspoons of sugar?

Good ol' tap water boasting an impressive 0 teaspoons of sugar.

If you're super concerned about the amount of sugar you're taking in you can use this little sugar intake barometer thingy to measure how much you're taking in daily.. if you're super concerned.

It's probably good to remember that sugar isn't all bad, after all it can be found in a high number of natural as well as unnatural goods but like anything.. too much of it will kill you instantly. 

Here are some quick links to some interesting articles:

           18 Foods and Drinks That Are Surprisingly High in Sugar - Authority Nutrition

How Much Sugar Is In Your Food And Drink? - MedicalNewsToday 

8 High-Sugar Foods You're Eating Every Day - everydayhealth.com

The Truth About Sugar - BBCGoodFood

Sugar Contents of Fruits - sugarstacks.com

For more information speak to your local health/fitness-freak or perform your own lil' google search?

Thanks for reading, bye!

COOL EVENTS; FLICKS FROM 420

As promised here are some snaps from the 420 celebrations in Hyde Park. Thousands of people turned out including grime MCs Big Narstie and Black the Ripper as well as plenty more familiar and friendly faces.

Hey.. It's the Chicken Shop Date girl 'Amelia Dimoldenberg' presenting for VICE it seems?

Big Narstie was greeted by hundreds and welcomed everyone with joke after joke. 

Artists like 'Bi0ch3mic' were out promoting their works by handing out free sweets, a definite winner with the dro-smoking enthusiasts - 90% of whom were sure to be suffering from a serious case of the munchies. Follow his Soundcloud and follow him at @bi0ch3mic on everything else.

Black The Ripper representing 'The Dank of England' was out all day selling his merchandise and taking photos with every fan, yes, every single person that asked him. He never put a zoot(joint) down.

Thousands of people made their way down to Hyde Park for the day.

There was the chance to get involved in some cool activities too from drumming to baton twirling to MCing on an open mic.

VICE News were one of a number of interesting/hip media outlets documenting the day's proceedings.

ARTICLES ON 420 

The Independent - '420: Thousands gather in London's Hyde Park to celebrate smoking weed'

Evening Standard - '420 day: 12 arrests as thousands gather for annual pro-cannabis demonstration in Hyde Park'

The Sun - 'HIGH-D PARKThousands of cannabis smokers ignore police demands and light up in London’s Hyde Park for ‘420 day’ in campaign to legalise the drug'

METRO - 'Thousands of weed smokers descend on Hyde Park for 4/20'

Thanks for reading.

Have a great weekend!