Altered States… an exploration of ambient and minimalist music… with tracks by… Angelina Lambrikht, Fahmi Mursyid, Bing Satellites, Ethereal Ephemera, Lee Rosevere, Rangga Purnama Aji, Chris Zabriskie, Cousin Silas, Kevin Lyons.
Songs for Sleepless Lovers…with tracks by… Wonderflu, Aleckat, Voi Vang, Leg Puppy, Dakha Brakha, GROA, Fm Outt, Colour Me Wednesday, OX, Seine, Smooth Genestar, Minds of Infinity, Federico de Gennaro, Volfoniq, Kh3rtis.
Today is the day I’ve been dreading. It’s a black day. Our last day as part of the European Union. Tomorrow are now a “sovereign nation” as the Brexiteers tell us, one free to “take back control” of our own borders and our own government.
So now we make new trading agreements with everyone. Everyone that now knows we stand alone, unsupported, not part of an alliance, without allies and without muscle. We won’t be getting good deals, we’ll be getting the deals that the far-right want. Deals that Trump wants. Deals that will put America first and the UK much further down the pecking order.
We’ve already seen firms collapse or move their headquarters out of the UK. London will no-longer be the gateway to Europe.
But it’s much worse than that. I have a few predictions:
Scotland will vote to leave the UK and re-joins the EU, thus rendering a political swing in what remains of the UK to the right-wing, permanently.
A new faction of the IRA will restart the war in Northern Ireland as tensions mount over the border with the Republic.
What’s left of the UK signs a trade deal with the US, leading to:
Further privatisation of the NHS to American Healthcare and Insurance companies.
The influx of genetically modified beef, genetically modified grain and Chlorinated Chicken into the UK.
The lowering of European “standards” in safety and employment law.
Hundreds of thousands of Europeans will leave the UK rendering the Building and Farming Industries and NHS short of workers, amongst other industry sectors.
The pound will fall against the Euro, causing the cost of goods to rise in the UK, leading to:
More UK companies go bust as the cost of good and transport goes up and the number of UK citizens travelling goes down.
A rise in inflation and the number of unemployed
A sustained recession
It will take us years to get back to the level of “prosperity” we used to have, and in the meantime what’s left of the “welfare state” will have been sold off. Perhaps is 10 years time we will be able to hold our heads up high again. The brexiteers will tell us “we told you so” and conveniently forget the years of pain that we had to endure.
Farage and his cronies have waved goodbye to the EU Parliament, making the UK look small and foolish.
Do Androids Dream Of Endless Vacations?…….with tracks by… Baby, Robby Megabyte, Dubioza Kolektiv, Aima The Dreamer, Robin Jackson, SaQi, Stefanosis, Samson Benji, fsks, Explicites, Marya Szaur, Rorschack, Boxing At The Zoo, Dubanko, Aquatone, Ondubground, Million Ear, Mikael Fyrek.
Random…with tracks by… Wonderflu, Nitty Scott, Ryan Herr, The Polish Ambassador, Nous III Ensemble, Kwisatz Haderach, Colour Me Wednesday, Pharroh House, saQi, Secret Archives of the Vatican, Tahir Qawwal, Temple Step Project, Lang, Adam Balusik, Aleckat, Hynamo, Giuseppe Paradiso, Deserved, Chump Change.
Dreamtime…with tracks by… Colour Me Wednesday, Don Hadriannos, Panda Dub, Ondubground, Vassili Gemini , Vladimir Cosma., Dream Puppet, The Wrong Sister, T-Rex Cyborg, Black Market, Marco Lucchi, Antonio de Braga, Andrea Esperti, Dark Subtemper, Faction S, Svarteskerm, Cosmogranic, PortedMoss.
I admire Jess Phillips. She seems to be a truly honest politician. She says what she feels, and”speaks truth to power” even if some people call her a “Gobby Cow”.
Today I read that she’s “been forced” to suspend her aide Salma Hamid for supposedly anti-Semitic messages.
Apparently she said the following (in 2015):
“Because Israel obeys human rights/law? Hilarious! Isis are terrible too. So really there is no difference.’”
“We must show the world that “Israel” is the murderer!”
“Israel IS inflicting Holocaust conditions on Palestinians! Oppressive, racist and violent!”
She also drew a distinction between Judaism “a faith based on peace and love” and Israel or “Zionists”.
I’ve made all these points myself, so I guess I’d better not apply to assist with Jess’ campaign!
I completely understand that Jess Phillips wants to stand apart from any claims of anti-Semitism in her campaign to be the new Labour leader.
However I’m saddened that it now seems to be impossible to say what I believe; that these are two different issues. Jews are beautiful people and Israeli government are pure evil.
Conflating the two issues is exactly what the Israeli government want us to do: Keep it simple just call everyone that disagrees with them anti-Semitic. No-one wants to be associated with anti-Semitism so they shut up.
Well, based on what I’ve read, I stand by Salma Hamid , and remain pro-Jew and anti-Israeli.
It’s been a while since I posted in the “opinion” section of this blog. It’s been a stressful period, culminating in the loss of the final “elder” member of the extended Cogle family. As the song says, there is …..
A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep
Certainly it’s been a time for reflection. So much has happened over that short period.
In Australia, the wildfires have intensified. More Aussie land is currently burning than exists in the entire country of Belgium. The smoke is causing breathing problems in New Zealand, 2,000km away. Half a billion animals have been killed. Eight people are dead. The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, seems to care little about the effect on his country. He even took a vacation in Hawaii during the crisis.
In the US, Donald Trump had bombed Iraq, in order to assassinate Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, who was in Iraq at the time. There is talk of Iranian retaliation and disproportionate US counter-retaliation. The world waits with baited breath to see who blinks first. In the meantime we hear from Trump that he is “Heaven Sent” and we see US Christian leaders hands-on praying for him. On the flip side he was impeached by the House of Representative.
In the UK, Boris Johnson has taken an extended vacation in Mustique, amongst wealth press-barons and other businessmen; no-doubt to say thank you for the donations to the Tory party and the lies they help spread. He didn’t even come back early after Soleimani’s assassination despite the obvious implications on UK troops in Iraq.
Whilst he was away his unelected strategic advisor has put out a call to hire a new kind of staff into Downing Street: super-talented weirdoes, unusual mathematicians, economists, scientists or software developers. People who need to need to commit two years of their time, but who could be sacked within weeks if you don’t “fit” the profile – although he says he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. Is this a refreshing new take on recruitment requirements, or given his hatred of the UK political machine and a desire to dismantle government as we know it, just a cynical way of trying to circumvent the civil service?
So I have to ask….. Is this the kind of leadership we really want in our world?
Do we just say “well they were elected” and leave it at that? Do we believe in the political process and accept that those that have the majority can do what they want?
Or is it becoming increasingly obvious that we need to take direct action and state what we want?
