www.the-firm.org

Phone 020 8802 5988

Mobile 07905 526409

ishmael@the-firm.org

The Firm is changing.  For years we have been trying to stay afloat in a Scene that has become increasingly dominated by the wish to make money; the activists of the 1990s fought for sexual freedom, what we have ended up with is Free Market Economics, and The Scene is a far poorer place for it.  I for one am not going to hang around for some handbag wielding bitch to tell us ‘there is no such thing as society' all over again.  It is time for change.

There's no point in running commercial events that only a handful of people turn up to; all that does is make us look and feel stupid.  Hence the demise of Strict; sitting behind the box office all night watching the fake smiles on disappointed people as they left lying that they would return, and listening to all the reasons that the club was failing was horrible.  That's why it's not happening anymore.

We are moving into private events, generally not for profit, aimed at a modest number of people.  These will not be widely advertised, and generally by invitation only.

You may not have noticed, but the PO Box has gone.  Work is in progress to set up a mechanism for ticket purchase online, and for people with no internet at all we will sort out an alternative address.

Our next big event will be Night of the Cane on November 11th.  In the mean time we are going to be doing a number of small, fairly private events, dedicated to playing SM games, not to making money.

Now then; does anyone want to come to a private SM party, to be held on Saturday 19^th August in North London?  You don't have to pay to get in, and it's likely to go on until the late hours of the morning.  The venue has dungeon equipment.  To obtain more details, call me on 07905 526409, and tell me something about you.  Nutters, sad single men with really nothing going for them, and psychopaths need not email.

There will be an SM Boxing Event on September 23 in the East End of London.  Most of the places are filled, but we can almost certainly squeeze a few in who are really up for it.  If you're interested email me back complete with picture and something about yourself.  Girls who fancy standing up and duking it out are especially welcome.

I've been reading about the Spanish Inquisition lately, and that strikes me as a good idea for an SM fantasy; does anyone fancy joining in and playing this game?  Lots of dungeons, torture chambers, interrogations; we will need both dom and sub players, and some premises.  It could be a fantastic concept to play with; so who's interested?

Dame Shirley P^rter* has just come back to live in this country, in fact she has a flat in Curzon Square, Mayfair.  I recently found out that one of the least pleasant aspects of her gerrymandering antics was that she sent poor families to live in tower blocks that she knew were full of crumbling asbestos, adding ‘Good riddance'.  Isn't somebody going to lock this evil old harridan in prison?  They'd do it soon enough if she were an asylum seeker.

* Which is an anagram of Slimy predator here, and Virginia Bottomley anagrams to I'm an evil Tory bigot.  Find out more about anagrams at  www.anagramgenius.com