PCP#627… Stasis….

Stasis…with tracks by… Monsters & Men, Del Ritmo Vivo, Dives, Secret Archives of the Vatican, Dan Konopka, A Human Expressing Experience, HabooDubz, Astral Robot, Pierre The Motionless, Wasaru, Prabumi, Royal Air Moon, Dualist Inquiry, Enrico Falbo, Hydro Fyter.

  1. The Flood, by Monsters & Men. [telematiQ netlabel]
  2. Coral, by Del Ritmo Vivo. Buenos Aires, Argentina. [Shika Shika]
  3. Upwards, by Dives. Vienna, Austria. [Wilhelm show me the Major Label]
  4. Prayer is Better Than Sleep, by Secret Archives of the Vatican. Croydon, England. [Broken Drum Records]
  5. Late Night Beats (with Dan Konopka), by A Human Expressing Experience. Los Angeles, California, USA. [Bandcamp]
  6. The Slug, by HabooDubz. Budapest, Hungary. [Culture Dub Records]
  7. When The Rain Falls They Talk of Manchester, by Astral Robot. Mancheaster,s England. [NU Logic]
  8. Tokyo’s Night View (Pierre The Motionless Remix), by Wasaru. Lille, France. [The French Touch Production]
  9. Nafas, by Prabumi. Jakarta, Indonesia. [Shika Shika]
  10. Meduses De Glace, by Royal Air Moon. Nantes, France. [The French Touch Production]
  11. Echo Park, by Dualist Inquiry. New Delhi, India.[Bandcamp]
  12. Psychostasis, by Enrico Falbo. San Francisco, California. [Vulpiano Records]
  13. Deep Evergreen, by Hydro Fyter. Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. [Bandcamp]

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-NT-NC-ND 4.0) License 

PCP#627… Stasis….2019-12-12T15:56:18+00:00

TDZ#215… Crystal Dub…..

Crystal Dub … with tracks by ….Le Lab, CrudoBilbao Dubbers, The Subvivors, Dawood Sound System, Tokiboun In Dub, Anna Mystic, AMP Outernational, DreadFul, Rowtical.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-NT-NC-ND 4.0) License

TDZ#215… Crystal Dub…..2019-11-27T18:07:23+00:00

Lost In The Supermarket?

So Sainsburys would like us to #ShopForOthers. Potentially a great sentiment when the need for food banks is greater than ever. But are they selling this food at cost price? Are they giving some away free themselves? Are they match funding? No. It’s just another way to boost their profits and it makes me sick.

I regularly shop at Sainsburys.  They hever have enough working tills and they keep trying to force me to use the SmartShop App where you basically do eveything yourself.  I just won’t do it. I’d like a human to do the checkout stuff please. Preferably a few more humans so I don’t have to wait so bloody long.  Yes, I can do it myself, but you’ll make everyone redundant and then how will the old non-tech-savvy customer buy their food? Who will they talk to in their lonely lives? I did say this to one of the staff and they completely poo-poo’d my argument.  “Good luck in your new job love, in about 12 months time”, I told her.

Having said that there’s a couple of members of staff in my local branch that have special needs – and you know what? They’re bloody excellent! Hard working, know their job and very, very friendly. I’s a joy to talk to them and they make the older customers feel cared for.

Contrast that with the BBC Documentary Inside the Supermarket, which follows the staff of the grocery chain for a year. The store staff are great, but the CEO, Mike Coupe, appears to be a complete wazzock! He clearly doesn’t listen to his staff and his customers when their views differ from his own.

So, rather than fuel Sainsburys profits, which not trot down to a Food Bank and see what they really need, and work out the best way for them to get it.  Are they partnered with other supermarket chains, like Tesco or Waitrose? Can you (and they) get food cheaper with them?

Yes we should Shop For Others, but do it ethically!

Lost In The Supermarket?2019-11-26T16:14:18+00:00

The Eye Of The Tiger?

You expect all the usual tropes during an election.  Candidates with their shirt sleeves rolled up (“I’m ready to do some work”), holding babies (“I’m a family person”) or shaking hands with supporters (“I’m one of the people).  And there’s the other one – in a boxing ring with gloves on.  “I’m ready to take on the fight and win” is the message of course, but how out-of-place do these candidates look in the ring?

The only politician known to have trained as a boxer was John Prescott and his most famous punch was outside the ring when an egg was thrown at him by a protester.

The others do look slightly ridiculous.  The only one that looks remotely like they have ever punched anyone is Boris Johnson, which is hardly a surprise, given his public school upbringing.

So why do we have these worn-out messages still being played out in 2019. Wouldn’t it be better is they showed someone replying to a facebook message with “LOL. Yeah Totes Babe! ROFL” or taking a selfie with a cat filter?

OK, just leave it to me then……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update: 27th November 2019 Donald Trump himself sends out this picture.

You can’t make it up can you? Have you been reading this blog Donald?

Trump as Rocky

The Eye Of The Tiger?2019-11-27T21:25:51+00:00

Mainstream Podcasting Fails To Deliver

This week the Radio Times promised us a review of The 20 Best Podcasts of 2019.  Yay!! I thought. Let’s see who’s made it to the ears of the judges!

Not a simple music-oriented podcast made it to the list.  All were “professionally” produced podcasts by celebrities, sports people, comedians or journalists, who have clearly spotted that commissioning a podcast is a lot cheaper (and quicker) than commissioning a Radio or TV series .

This is where podcasting is these days.  Every celebrity is a podcaster.  My wife and always smile when a new podcast is announced on the TV.

“Oh really?  A Podcast?  Tho’d have thunk it?”

Podcasting is no-longer the purview of the passionate amateur who does it for the love of their topic.  Or rather it still is their purview, but they are completely drowned out by the sheer quantity of podcasts produced by “mainstream” antertainment people we already know.

I know it sounds like sour-grapes when I whinge about podcasts.  The award I won for podcasting was back in 2010 and the podisphere has changed a lot since then.  I never expected to win anything then, and I certainly have no chance now.  But I’m not whinging about me, I’m whinging that there are some serious good Podcasts out there that deserve to be discovered by a wider audience.

Surely the Radio Times reviewer could have spent just a little more time digging into the “independent” podcasts that are out there, and have been out there for years.

I guess I’m going to have to start my own review……

 

Mainstream Podcasting Fails To Deliver2019-12-12T15:56:03+00:00

PCP#626… Wetter….

Wetter…with tracks by… Dubioza Kolektiv, DreadFul, Prabumi, Al:x, Les Etoiles, Pandacetamol, Skeja, Elvii Marten, Cookah, Likkle Ferguso, Roots Raid, Orenda, Anna Mystic, AMP Outernational, The Oracle Model, Interaction In Action.

  1. Volio Bih (Live at Pol’and’Rock 2018), by Dubioza Kolektiv.
  2. Climate Emergency, by DreadFul. France. [ODG]
  3. Sama by Prabumi. Jakarta, Indonesia. [Shika Shika]
  4. Babylon Man, by Al:x. Singapore. [Skalator Music]
  5. Empty Carriage (Return Journey), Les Étoiles. Shropshire, England. [Records On Ribs]
  6. Down Where It’s Wetter, by Pandacetamol. Glasgow, Scotland. [Kahvi]
  7. Halibut Of My Dream [Part II], by Skeja. [Section 27]
  8. Suzanne Flying Asleep, by Elvii Marten. Lithuania. [Enough Records]
  9. Africa (feat. Cookah & Likkle Ferguson), by Roots Raid. Bourges, France. [ODG]
  10. Reverie, by Orenda. Denver, Colorado. [Gravitas Recordings]
  11. Jahovia, by Anna Mystic & AMP Outernational. Athens, Greece. [Reggaewise]
  12. Baclashes, by The Oracle Model. London, England. [Kahvi]
  13. Io Con Te, by Interaction In Action. Italy. [Enough Records]

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-NT-NC-ND 4.0) License 

PCP#626… Wetter….2019-11-21T11:53:11+00:00

Hava Nagila! (Let Us Rejoice!)

 

I quite like the daytime show Countdown. A simple words and numbers based competition between two nerdy competitors that has been running since the first minutes of Channel4’s existence. There’s also a night-time bawdy version called Eight Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown, where comedians lark about whilst trying to do the quiz (usually badly).

Both feature Rachel Riley who is of Jewish decent, now married to a Russian.  She’s been very vocal on anti-Semitic (and anti-Zionist) issues over the last few years. Of course my position on this has been made abundantly clear.

But now she’s done too far. Firstly she has tweeted a photo of herself with a T-shirt saying

“Jeremy Corbyn is a Racist”

and then shortly afterwards photoshopped the message out of the picture.

Earlier in the year someone had tweeted that the Durham Miners Gala Brass Band played “Hava Nagila”, the folk song sung a Jewish celebrations. Rachel Riley then tweeted

“About as tasteful as showing Black Panther at a Klan Rally”.

I’ve already commented that Jewish music is part of my podcast lexicon, and will remain so. I have Jewish friends and would like to think I could enjoy their music as much as they enjoy mine.

There are calls today for Rachel Riley to be sacked.  Others have taken to Social Media to re-photoshop her T-shirt with alternative messages.  Is this the end of her career?

Rachel Riley Rachel Riley Rachel Riley

The fact is she’s due to go on maternity leave soon, and will, presumably, be off our screens for a while.  How long is not clear. I’d be happy with a period of say….. 50 years?

Bye Rachel!  You’ve been cancelled. At least in my house. Bring back Carol Vorderman!

 

Hava Nagila! (Let Us Rejoice!)2019-11-21T12:41:03+00:00

Dig Your Own Hole

Katie Hopkins, the ultra right-wing columnist and broadcaster recently said in an interview in The Times, that “Speaking my mind cost me my career” and that “her views have left her unemployable and living in the shadows”.  She was forced to sell her last house for £950,000 to pay off a legal bill in excess of £500,000. A bill she could have settled early by giving £5,000 to a migrant’s charity. Something she refused to do.

She is hated by many people and never really has a good word to say about anyone, apart from other ultra right-wingers, and, of course, Trump.

Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote, in a quote often attributed to Voltaire said: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it“. This is the foundation of the freedom of speech in a democracy.

But is it true to say she has lost her career as a result of her right to a freedom of speech? She claims that 50% of her income comes from public speaking engagements, so there are definitely some people out there who want to listen to her.

She lost her job at LBC after tweeting there needed to be a “final solution” after the Manchester Arena terrorist attack.  Since then she just tweets words and videos as she sees fit, mostly unpleasant attacks on other faiths, races or people.

But is it OK to say such things? In a free society we all should be allowed to say these things (or the complete opposite) and take the rough with the smooth. This, she obviously has done.  It’s not as OK for an organisation such as LBC to continue giving her a salary to say such things.  Although, that said, they continue to have Nigel Farrage on their station.

My view is she deliberately overstepped the mark, in the full knowledge of what would happen.  Losing a job and a house is a natural consequence of that deliberate action.

Should she be allowed to continue to overstep the mark?  In my view, yes.  We don’t need to silence her. The more rubbish she spouts the less likely she is going to be listened to.  Let her dig her own hole.

Dig Your Own Hole2019-11-19T16:47:01+00:00

Do you wanna be in my gang?

Last night the “Grand Old Duke Of York” told the world that he wasn’t a paedophile and instead of having sex with an under-age girl he was having a Pizza in Woking.  Normally the “Royals” keep their mouths shut in the face of a scandal, but he decided to break protocol and give his side of the story.

It failed spectacularly. Today’s commentary is awash with people saying he failed to give a convincing performance, didn’t have good enough answers and couldn’t explain away the damning photograph of him with the victim.

Before the interview it was made clear the questions had been vetted by the security services, and was not under any oath, so getting to the “heart of the matter” was going to be impossible. The interviewer Emily Maitlis, tried her best to dig deeper, but left no doubt of her own position by looking deeply uncomfortable throughout.

So is it right to brand him as guilty before even a charge has been brought against him?  Clearly he’s lived in a complete bubble throughout his life. He was never the “heir” and just the “spare” for many years until the younger Royals have pushed him down the succession.  He was nicknamed “Randy Andy” by the press years ago and has been under a cloud ever since.  But is he guilty of something?  Can we ever find out? Can a charge of paedophilia ever be brought in a British court where it is The Crown versus …. The Crown?  It seems unlikely. Should we therefore presume innocence until guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubt?

But why did he join Jeffrey Epstein’s circle of friends?  Surely he knew what was going on?  Any self-respecting person would run a mile from a situation where they could be linked to paedophilia, wouldn’t they?  Especially after they have been found guilty in a US court.  This is not just bad judgement.  This is someone who was reluctant to give up a lifestyle that they enjoyed.  They stayed friends and hoped that the Royal connection would keep it all hidden.  Being part of Epstein’s “gang” was something that should never have come out.

Scandal is nothing new to the Royal family, or to Britain.  Boris Johnson’s claim that he did not have an affair with Jennifer Arcuri  looks likely to blow open in the next few days.  Little is likely to change as a result of these revelations. Soon it will be buried under new stories in the broadcast media’s frantic search for 24×7 news.

But the big question is whether a “normal” person be allowed to get away with the same level of duplicity and survive unscathed. We really should be holding our “leaders” up to the same level of scrutiny as we hold for ourselves and asking of they are fit to hold the office that we, the country, pay for.

Do you wanna be in my gang?2019-11-17T12:55:43+00:00

PCP#625… Codger, Beer and Bob 2….

Codger, Beer and Bob 2…with tracks by… Greenness, I Am Warface, Fragile Creatures, Pussy Liquour, Los Albertos.

Quite a short podcast this week, featuring the Bands from the Best Of Brighton 2 “mini-festival”.

  1. Dance Wth The Light, by Greenness.
  2. Fear The Future, by I Am Warface.
  3. Stowaways, by Fragile Creatures.
  4. Pretty Good For A Girl, by Pussy Liquor.
  5. Excerpt of Les Bods
  6. Fall From Grace, by Los Albertos.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-NT-NC-ND 4.0) License 

PCP#625… Codger, Beer and Bob 2….2019-12-12T15:56:31+00:00

So here it is …. Merry Christmas

The John Lewis 2019 Christmas Advert has just been released.  It features a dragon called Excitable Edgar, who proves to be a bit of a liability with anything flammable until Christmas Day when he sets alight to the brandy on the Christmas pudding. Already people are saying how it’s bringing a tear to their eyes, especially with the tag line:

“Show them how much you care”

But of course, it’s the cost of such an extravaganza which also captures the attention.  This year the cost remains roughly the same at £7 Million. The same as last year’s Elton John love-fest (of which Elton got £5 Million), 2017’s Moz the Monster and 2016’s Buster the Boxer.  That’s a cost of £19,178 per day, £799 per hour or £13.32 per second.  Given inflation, I suppose the cost is getting cheaper in real terms, but  given that the store who made a loss of £25.9 Million in the six months prior to 27th July 2019, and have made a lot of staff redundant, it seems a bit strange.

So why do firms do these things? Do they see it as a necessary service to provide? Is it a good return on investment, or is it a terrible thing to do to waste so much money that could be spent on good causes?

In 2018 filmmaker Phil Beastall re-released his own 2014 video called “Love Is A Gift” which he made for £50, which left more people in tears with a simpler, more heartfelt message. Many people suggested he create the 2019 John Lewis advert. Obviously he hasn’t been invited to do so.

Maybe 2019 will give us another alternative video message from a budding filmmaker?  One who understands that the Christmas message is about real people and real love and not about dragons, superstars or other monsters?  

Update 17th November. He’s done it again, and it’s brilliant!

I don’t mean to be a killjoy, but the poor, the elderly, the sick and the homeless could do a lot more with £7 Million pounds than John Lewis.

So here it is …. Merry Christmas2019-11-17T21:14:27+00:00

Clampdown

All of us have bands or tracks that we used to like, but which now seem a little embarrassing.   I have a copy of “Billy Don’t Be A Hero” by Paper Lace somewhere in the Garage.  Just awful.  In my defence, Is was only 13 when I bought it, and later that year I did go on to buy “Dark Side Of The Moon”, by Pink Floyd and “Autobahn” by Kraftwerk.  It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.

But it’s always a shock when someone you dislike ends up liking a band that you love.  When Johnny Marr found out that David Cameron liked The Smiths he said:

“David Cameron, stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don’t. I forbid you to like it.”

No comment from Morrissey on that at the time, but then again his views are appalling right-wing these days, so he may have been happy.

Now we find out that Boris Johnson likes The Clash.  Really?  Did you listen to the lyrics?

Did you really sing along to “Daddy was a Bank Robber” when your Pappa was at the World Bank?

Did you listen to “I Fought The Law” and thought…. actually I have ways to avoid all that?

Will you ever listen to “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?” and think OK, I’ll bugger off then?

What would Joe Strummer think of this revelation? I doubt he’d be happy.

When Joe was asked what he favourite lyric was he “Vacuum Cleaner Sucks Up Budgie” (from “The Magnificent Seven”) probably because it’s the least political and because he was being playful.

Well Boris, I don’t believe you like The Clash. I think its all spin. This vacuum cleaner sucks up Bullshit!

 

“We will teach our twisted speech
To the young believers
We will train our blue-eyed men
To be young believers”

Clampdown2019-11-13T12:15:13+00:00

It’s up to you, not to heed the call up

White Poppy for PeaceOnce again it’s Remembrance Day and I find myself conflicted.  

I give thanks that I live in a free society that I can say what I want, believe what I want and agree to disagree with the government.  That took a struggle, like WWWII. A struggle that cost lives and that probably was the only way to stop global rise of fascism. I fight I would have been expected to join, if I had lived at the time of my father.

Yet I would never fight for such a cause. I would never kill anyone to maintain one nation’s right to rule of another.  I’m a conscientious objector.  I will not pick up a gun because my government tells to do it.

So I would probably have gone to jail, possibly even shot.  Maybe I’d have gone “to the front” as a non-gun carrying stretcher bearer, determined to support the cause but not all of the means? Undoubtedly I’d have been labelled a coward. Afraid to fight. Those that know me well will know that I’m not afraid to fight. Quite the opposite. I have to maintain my anger sometimes to maintain my beliefs. I think all humans are capable of murder.  That doesn’t mean we should do it.

My father, thankfully, never saw active service in WWII. He was always “behind” the action. It’s an interesting story, which I may tell here one day. My maternal grandfather went to war in WWI. He won the George Cross for Heroism, after single-handedly taking out a German machine-gun emplacement after all his friends were killed. But was it bravery or a case of momentary madness.  He came home with what we would probably call PTSD these days. He never got help and was killed in a mining accident in 1928. He was 38. My mother was 4.

But when I see the politicians standing by the cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday I remember that wars are not started by men such as my father or grandfather. They’re started by fools who strive to get their own way at any cost. In the middle-ages Kings used to fight with their men. Not anymore. Now they watch from the sidelines and watch lines move from side to side on a map.

So when our leaders talk about the “sacrifice” that people have made to keep us safe I feel sickened. War is failure. The failure of leaders to give up on peace when more can still be done.  OK, you might not get what you wanted, but at least nobody dies. That’s the kind of “sacrifice” I want.  Compromise.

Remember your dead if that’s what you want to do, but I will be remembering the peace I had today, the peace I’ve had all my life and hoping the politicians will do the same.

It’s up to you, not to heed the call up2019-11-09T15:32:18+00:00

We can be heroes, just for one day

I spent two very happy years commuting back and forth to Berlin between 2010 and 2012. I’d never been to the city before and didn’t know what to expect. I was working in Mitte, the central district that featured The Brandenburg Gate, Alexanderplatz, Checkpoint Charlie and Bernhauer Straße, scene of people jumping out of windows to get to the West in 1961.

It was a interesting place. The history was there for all to see.  Bullet holes still in buildings that had been there since World War II, and which had subsequently been used by the Stasi.  Plaques in the cobbled streets showing where holocaust victims had been taken to death camps. Sections of “Die Mauer” turned into art galleries. Disused factories and air-raid shelters that were used by squatters and turned into clubs, skate parts and climbing wall.  All sat next to a fenced-off railway siding that had still not been cleared of unexploded allied bombs.

During the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, I spent an unscheduled weekend wandering around bits of the city I’d not seen before.  But apart from a short walk through Kreutzberg I never really saw “The West”. After wards people asked me if I’d seen Kurfürstendamm, or if I’d been to The Zoo. I had no interest. The East was more interesting.  More different.  There were still some sad things to see, such as a dreadfully thin, clearly drugged up prostitute plying her trade and the armed guards standing outside the Synagogue on Oranienburger Straße in case of trouble. But, all-in-all, it was educational and emotional.

The other thing about Berlin that fascinated me was the population.  I was told the place was built for 8 million people, but has only housed around 4 million. You could be exempt from National Service if you lived in Berlin, so naturally it was full of lefties, artists & musicians. My idea of heaven. You could walk safely around the streets and see very few people.  Those I did talk to had great stories from the days before the Wall came down.

I know that many of the places I visited have now gone. Mitte was the prize in the eyes of so many real-estate agents and companies, the value of land being so cheap.  These locations will be homogenized into a typically western city look-and-feel. Close your eyes and you’ll have no idea where you are.  This is sad for a city that is as unique as Berlin.

So as 30 years since the fall of the Wall is celebrated, remember that this history will be gone soon, as will the people that lived it. If you get the chance, go and visit.  Experience it or yourselves, if only just for one day.

We can be heroes, just for one day2019-11-09T15:35:42+00:00

PCP#624… Bloody Bloody Border….

Bloody Bloody Border…with tracks by… Peanut Butters, Sista Livity, Manu Chao, Dubioza Kolektiv, Al:x, Ondubground, Chill Bump, Rust Cohle, Les Etoiles, Dennis Alcapone, Dubmatix, Irina Mikhailova, David Starfire, A  Narri Nerro, MOC, Tamana Ramen, Yuri, Brown Noise. .

  1. 夕方から (From The Eveing, by Peanut Butters. Tokyo, Japan. [Anotracks]
  2. Stop Babylonians, by Sista Livity. Barcelona, Spain. [Molts Records]
  3. Cross The Line (feat. Manu Chao), by Dubioza Kolektiv. Bosnia and Herzegovina. [Dubioza.org]
  4. Velvet Like, by Al:x. Singapore. [Skalator Music]
  5. Going Nowhere (Ondubground remix), by Chill Bump. Tours, France. [ODG]
  6. In The Zone, by Rust Cohle. Jamaica. [Dusted Wax Kingdom]
  7. Song For A Reluctant Soldier (In Memory Of Harry Joseph Foxall, 1886-1917), by Les Étoiles. Shropshire, England. [Records On Ribs]
  8. Struggle (feat. Dennis Alcapone) (2019 Re-Dub), by Dubmatix. Ontario, Canada. [Dubmatix]
  9. Oj Mome (feat. Irina Mikhailova), by David Starfire. Los Angeles, California, USA. [David Starfire Music]
  10. Movi Festi, by A  Narri Nerro. Berlin, Germany. [Ringe Raja Records]
  11. Kim, by MOC. Munich, Germany. [Phonocake]
  12.  存在 feat. 玉名ラーメン (Existence feat. Tamana Ramen), by Yuri. Japan. [Anotracks]
  13. Be Happy, by Brown Noise. Taiwan. [Sociopath]

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-NT-NC-ND 4.0) License 

PCP#624… Bloody Bloody Border….2019-11-07T21:17:39+00:00

An Island In An Ocean Full Of Change

I’ve always been hard-left in my politics. If I believe in something, I tend to be “all-in” or not bother at all. As my mate Rowley says (about music I should add) “There’s only one way and that’s ALL-THE-WAY!”

The Centrist way got us Tony Blair (or Tony Bliar as I usually write it) which was good in parts (The Good Friday Agreement) but not so good in others (The invasion of Iraq). I thought Thatcher was an extremist in her policies, leading to some of the self-centred attitude of modern Britain.  I’d prefer something more socialist, more about the good of all, not just the pursuit of wealth.  But I appreciate I’m in the minority and as such I’ll rarely be heard above the centralist noise.  Until now.

Centralist MPs seem to be leaving their parties left-and-right.  Both say that their parties are becoming dominated by far-left or far-right factions.  All very wall, you might say.  At least there’s a clear alternative between the parties rather than the view that “they’re all the same”.  This is true.

What I suppose I had not considered is that with such polarized positions, the country would send up becoming split in the same way.  I had this hopeful view that common sense would prevail and extreme views would become ameliorated by the majority.  How naive of me.  We now have a divided society, which will continue to be divided long after we “get brexit done” and Britain is “dead in a ditch”.

So I’ve looked at tactical voting.  Can we get a consensus on at least righting the far-right in the Conservative and Brexit Parties?  Several websites have now appeared that suggest they can help you decide which party to vote for.  However they too disagree over the recommendations. Getvoting.org suggests I vote Lib Dem.  Tactical.vote suggests I vote Labour.  Bother argue about their data being more accurate. Both disagree.  Where does this leave me?

In some locations the decision to form an electoral pact may help me. The Lib Dem, Plaid Cymru and the Green Parties are working together to limit competition in some seats.  Sadly, not my constituency.

Maybe the opinion of the tactical voting sites will converge as the campaign continues?  However I feel I will have to “wing it” as usual, hope others do the same and hope The Conservatives lose the election. 

An Island In An Ocean Full Of Change2019-11-07T09:42:59+00:00

Sacrifice

I like reading autobiographies.  It always seems that someone else’s life is more interesting than my own.  The last couple I’ve enjoyed were by Elton John and Edward Snowdon.

The first revelation was that Elton John is actually quite funny. I had a suspicion that the book “Me” was dictated from audio conversations and ghost-written, and indeed it does appear that GQ’s former music editor Alexis Petridis did the honours.  That said, both Alex and Elton have produced a thoroughly entertaining book that is funny, sad, and does not hold back anything.  If you’ve seen Rocketman then you’ll be familiar with parts of the story, but the book tells the whole tale without fast forwarding or missing out the later chapters.  He may have “been a cunt since 1975” but he’s not anymore and he’s making amends.

The second revelation is that Elton John is still alive.  The sheer amount of cocaine and alcohol the man consumed, the number of partners he had sex with during the AIDS outbreak, his insane temper tantrums and his struggles will bulimia make you appreciate he’s got an iron constitution (and is bloody lucky).

All-in-all it’s a happy ending for both Elton and the reader. 

This is in contrast with Edward Snowdon’s “Permanent Record”.  Snowdon’s revelations send shivers down your spine.  If you’ve ever thought (as I have) that your political views may have been singled out at some point by the security services then you can rest easy.  In fact everyone’s views, political or not, have been captured by the NSA.  Not just the loony-lefties like me, but everyone.  If you’ve got a computer with an operating system from Microsoft (check), or a Google email (check), have purchased anything from Amazon (check) or entered any details into an Oracle database (hell, I worked for them for 17 years!) then you’re in the system.  The fact that it’s a crime is irrelevant. It’s happened.

It doesn’t mean that they’ve taken an interest in you just yet, but they have collected your data, just in case you do something in the future. Just as the Wayback Machine can show you what a website looked like back in the day, they can recall all your digital history and just like Minority Report your “pre-crimes” will be planned out if you do become a person of interest.

How do you become a person of interest?? According to Snowden if you type in XKEYSCORE into a browser then “then congrats: you’re in the system, a victim of your own curiosity”.   To be honest you’re probably in the system just associating with me.

What gets me is how Snowden decided to sacrifice everything to be the whistleblower on these crimes.  He gave up his country, his family, his girlfriend. Everything, just so we could all know the truth.  I know I couldn’t do that.  My wife is my rock, the only solid piece of ground in a society built on shifting sand.  I could not afford to leave that rock behind.

As it turns out Snowden’s girlfriend followed his to Russia, where he is now exiled, and they are now married. I’m not sure it’s quite a happy ending, but it’s as close as you might expect given the circumstances.

Maybe one day I will write my autobiography. I’m still not sure Gateshead in the 1970’s is quite as cool as you might think!

Sacrifice2019-11-03T12:37:10+00:00

Dirty Cash

According to an article in the Guardian Super-rich prepare to leave UK ‘within minutes’ if Labour wins election.  Not all of these super-rich will be UK citizens of course, and are free to chose where they want to live based on all manner of things.

But let’s take a look at those that are UK citizens.  Labour singled-out 5 individuals who would be targeted with by a Labour government.  Mike Ashley, the billionaire owner of Sports Direct and Newcastle United, is one of those targeted. Another is Rupert Murdoch, although the “charge sheet” against all of them is pretty damning.

So would the country be worse off without these people?  No doubt they are already practicing tax avoidance schemes already, so the lost tax revenue will be minimal. The real question is whether they will close down their UK businesses?

Personally I doubt it. Ashley needs his Sports Direct Empire to remain in the UK despite any government action. I personally never shop there as I find their good to be crap and their sales staff incompetent (no doubt because of little or no training) so it will have no effect on me.  In fact I’d rather someone else took the business over and put a stop to all the bad practices.

As for Murdoch, his business will never leave the UK.  He is addicted to selling the masses a political fiction in support of the right-wing and that will never change.

But will the country be poorer for having these people move abroad? We’re always told that we need entrepreneurs to make money and let the “trickle-down” effect mean that the money goes into the pockets of the average person. I’m not sure the person on a zero-hours contract at Sports Direct would agree with that,  or the person who’s been evicted by Hugh the 7th Duke of Westminster , to make way for luxury apartments.

No, if these gentlemen (and let’s face it they are usually men) want to leave then feel free chaps. I want a better society where people like you don’t exist anyway, so they will be doing me a favour.  

We deserve better people, with better values who contribute to society, not just their own pockets.

Dirty Cash2019-11-02T13:22:54+00:00

PCP#623… Swingtime….

Swingtime…with tracks by… Ultramerda, Evil Wiener, A Human Expressing Experience, 99ers,  Lykke Li, Dub Bred, Guchon, XSEOS, Expozed, The Swapsies, Mista B, Jabbadub, Jiang Liang, Jerry Coox, Manika Kaur.

  1. Corpo nel cellophane, by Ultramerda . Casazza, Italy. [Gufo Records]
  2. Kettle Drum, by Evil Wiener. Carrboro, North Carolina, USA.
  3. Alien Popsicle, by A Human Expressing Experience. Los Angeles, California, USA. [Bandcamp]
  4. Sweet Nothings, by 99ers. Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA.
  5. Dance Dance Dance, by Lykke Li.Stockholm, Sweden. [RCRD LBL]
  6. When The Veil Falls, by Dub Bred. South Africa. [Big Wave Records]
  7. Dream Island Seaside Line by Guchon. Japan. [Maltine Records]
  8. Fishy Smell (Raw Mix), by XSEOS. Thessaloniki, Greece. [Art-Ak]
  9. Geistesabwesenheit (Absent Mindedness), by Expozed. Daruvar, Croatia. [Groove Caffee]
  10. Oh Me!, by The Swapsies. Liverpool, England. [Ear Drums Pop]
  11. Nuff Stylin (feat. Mista B), by Jabbadub. Wroclaw, Poland. [ODG]
  12. Pure Asian Dub, by Jiang Liang meets Jerry Coox. China.[Fresh Poulp]
  13. Ram Japo Ji, by Manika Kaur. Melbourne, Australia. [StoryAmp]

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-NT-NC-ND 4.0) License 

PCP#623… Swingtime….2019-11-01T16:33:52+00:00

TDZ#214… To Boldly Dub …..

To Boldly Dub … with tracks by ….The Dubbstyle, Askan Vibes, Mayan Steppers, Claudi Cuxart, Black Market, Zombie Mastah, Burning Babylon, Banati Crew, Jabbadub.

This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-NT-NC-ND 4.0) License

TDZ#214… To Boldly Dub …..2019-11-01T09:05:36+00:00
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