Monday, May 03, 2010

Long May You Run




I have to confess that this election is depressing me, as fascinating as it is. The hammering that Brown has been getting is fucking outrageous and the easy ride that Cameron has had from big media is equally outrageous………it was interesting to see the Clegg love in, until the point that he had to be taken seriously, when the devils of the 4th estate turned on him. I still harbour a faint and naive hope that labour can pull it out of the bag, as the nation wakes up to what it is about to inflict upon itself.

Clegg has got on my nerves a bit from his perch on the moral high ground, saying he could not support the party that came third in a hung parliament, but being quite willing to throw his weight around even though his party is neck and neck with Labour. I predict that the Liberals will finish a comfortable third. As for the tories, despite a benign media and the countless millions of Ashcroft, they still can't pull away. What is clear is that the overwhelming majority of British people want nothing to do with the party of Gideon……….I doubt if they will reflect much on that if they win.

Charlie Brooker has brilliantly dissected the personalities of the three leaders

I have Bob Piper to thank for alerting me to a speech by Neil Kinnock in 1983……it is as apposite now as was then, apart from the Thatcher bit, obviously






If Margaret Thatcher is re-elected as prime minister on Thursday, I warn you. 

I warn you that you will have pain–when healing and relief depend upon payment.

I warn you that you will have ignorance–when talents are untended and wits are wasted, when learning is a privilege and not a right. 

I warn you that you will have poverty–when pensions slip and benefits are whittled away by a government that won’t pay in an economy that can’t pay. 

I warn you that you will be cold–when fuel charges are used as a tax system that the rich don’t notice and the poor can’t afford. 

I warn you that you must not expect work–when many cannot spend, more will not be able to earn. When they don’t earn, they don’t spend. When they don’t spend, work dies. 

I warn you not to go into the streets alone after dark or into the streets in large crowds of protest in the light. 

I warn you that you will be quiet–when the curfew of fear and the gibbet of unemployment make you obedient. 

I warn you that you will have defence of a sort–with a risk and at a price that passes all understanding. 

I warn you that you will be home-bound–when fares and transport bills kill leisure and lock you up. 

I warn you that you will borrow less–when credit, loans, mortgages and easy payments are refused to people on your melting income.





 If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday–
- I warn you not to be ordinary
- I warn you not to be young
- I warn you not to fall ill
- I warn you not to get old.

And that quote, reminded me of Nye Bevans attitude to the Tories, which resonates even more:

That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. Now the Tories are pouring out money in propaganda of all sorts and are hoping by this organised sustained mass suggestion to eradicate from our minds all memory of what we went through. But, I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying now. Do not listen to the seductions of Lord Woolton. He is a very good salesman. If you are selling shoddy stuff you have to be a good salesman. But I warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were.

 Look to the left a bit, on my twitter doodah, and there is a link to very good spoof video of Cameron.

Meanwhile the football season has, more or less come to an end, and Blues will finish in the top ten. It would be churlish to complain at such an achievement, but I really hope that Eck spends wisely in the summer and brings in some players who are capable of creating, and converting, some chances. At times, we have passed the ball well and played with a bit of patience and guile, but we are, essentially, defensive, too defensive in my view. We have shown when we have gone a goal down that we are capable of getting forward in numbers and creating problems for the opposition; I would like to see us do it more often

I went to see the Duke and the King in Brum a couple of weeks ago…….a bit of a trek after finishing work in Abertillery of a Friday night, but well worth it. They are an extraordinary band. Simone Felice will be doing some solo shows later in the summer and you would be mad to miss them, especially as they are all in small venues and will cost threepence halfpenny to get in.

It was my first trip to the O2 and probably my last. I thought we had gone on the wrong night to start with, as the street outside was chock a block with green haired, pot bellied punks. Turned out that there were about 3 bands on at the same venue, one of them being the Dropkick Murphys, whose fans had turned out in force. The room itself was not too bad,: it was small and intimate but lacking in character. The gents was out of order so you had to queue for the disabled bog, and if you managed to get there without there being a queue, you had to locate the bouncer for a key. The beer was expensive and tasted like piss, and there was only one barman on. I am used to a better standard these days.

I have just read two Tony Black novels in short order. Brilliant stuff………….like a Scottish Ken Bruen.
Almost like a Scottish Ken Bruen……….he's not that good yet, but there is only a gnats cock in it.