Look, I’m getting fed up of the sideline sneering at Corbyn. The bloke was reluctant to stand in the first place but thanks to Blair’s scorched earth policy which deliberately prohibited talent from all sides of the supposed broad church of the Labour Party, he is the only option we’ve got - the one candidate who was prepared to vote against the Welfare Bill, something your Andy Burnhams, Dan Jarvises, Yvette Coopers, were unwilling to do, out of some ingrained, spineless expediency which until earlier this year passed for “grown up” policy in the Labour Party - ie, it’s all right to believe in Labour ideas in principle, but reckless and immature to actually propose putting them into practice.
Even now, with the issues as urgent and stark as they are, there are still people who wish to judge Corbyn in the X Factor, soap operatic, Andrew Rawnsley/Neil terms of “performance” - like that matters one fucking shit right now. It’s not the 1990s. We’re not in some snug, well-to-do, wry, jogging along, chamber music-accompanied political situation, despite the ambience the BBC insist on sticking by even now. Things are polarised. Evil, privileged, cancerously aggressive cunts like Osborne rule the roost. The days of smirking about the follies of trying to apply socialism in the “real world” are over. The days of imagining that there is a middle ground of convivial reasonableness we can all meet on and smirk genially and grown-uply are over. We go with Corbyn because he’s the only one right now and really, he is very decent indeed but very soon we get past Corbyn and usher in the new, angry, shit-your-pants talent that will explode our baby boomer consensus, demand of us why the fuck we allowed the political goalposts to drift so far towards the right, offer no resistance in the ideological tug o’ war process whereby that happened because we were too smirking and grown-up to deign to do so.
Anti-Corbynites: What do you actually THINK about such issues as Trident? Renationalisation of the railways? Selling arms to right wing regimes, including Saudi Arabia? Trade Unions and their role in modern society? The welfare state? Are you happy with things as they are? Because you NEVER EVER SAY.
Be advised: Uncertain as the electorate are about Corbyn, they’re actually a bit ahead of you in terms of accepting him, as Oldham showed. Produce someone. Produce a candidate. Propose something. Do something more than chortle at the follies of the “left”. Or actually put your considerable talents and energies towards the cause that’s presently being fought. Don’t regard it as beneath your dignity to show some solidarity. Ahh, but Hamas. Friends, Hamas. Hamas, friends. Know what? If Corbyn was fervently pro-Israel, I’d still vote for him. If Corbyn said, “I am against the selling of arms to right wing regimes, except Israel, of course, that’s an exception, because Islamofascism, etc”, I’d STILL vote for him. I’d think it was a bit bloody weird but I’d vote for him. Because domestic politics is all that counts. We haven’t the faintest fucking hope of influencing events in The Middle East, frankly, so so what? British people dwelling on foreign policy is a form of deluded, neo-imperialist displacement, however well-meaning - there’s shit closer to home we should be dealing with.
Seriously. I know, George Galloway, George Galloway, isn’t the left dreadful, George Galloway, George Galloway, is that what you want, President for life George Galloway? Look, here are the active, actually influential people we’re ranged against. Cameron. Richard Branson. Kay Burley. Rupert Murdoch. Katie Hopkins. Paul Dacre. Louise Mensch. Trump. Boris Johnson. Richard Desmond. Nameless twats who remain all the more effective for being nameless, quietly, behind the scenes. Cunt after cunt after cunt after cunt after cunt after cunt after cunt after cunt.
Seriously. Things promise to get very serious. Get on the right side of history.
Thursday 7 January 2016
A message from Mr Agreeable
CUNT AFTER CUNT AFTER CUNT AFTER CUNT AFTER CUNT AFTER CUNT AFTER CUNT - A STATEMENT.
La Fête (est Finie): Music by 3D & Young Fathers
A short, immersive film exploring the embers of a party that has to end. Directed & produced by Mark Donne & Joe Morris
I do wish I was heading to Young Fathers tonight...oh well
Stockhaussen (ft. Keren Batok) - Void
I really like this and NOT just because it features my Georgian friend Keren Batok and as Keren said:
I have too many emotions and difficult feelings and in fact want to say "Thanks" to Angel, because as you all know I am not singer and I do not have any practice in working on song or working with music so for me it was first time and we were doing everything possible to make our collaboration happen since Angel asked me to write lyrics and sing it, instead of thousand kilometers which lay between us and time zone which is absolutely different!More from Angel Stockhaussen here http://www.stockhaussen.com/
Tuesday 5 January 2016
Paul Bley R.I.P.
His international career has spanned seven decades. He's played and
recorded with Lester Young, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus,
Chet Baker, Jimmy Giuffre, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, Pat
Metheny, Jaco Pastorius and many others. He is considered a master of
the trio, but as exemplified by his solo piano albums, Paul Bley is
preeminently a pianists' pianist.
He is survived by his wife of forty three years, Carol Goss, their daughters, Vanessa Bley and Angelica Palmer, grandchildren Felix and Zoletta Palmer, as well as daughter, Solo Peacock. Private memorial services will be held in Stuart, FL, Cherry Valley, NY and wherever you play a Paul Bley record.
Via
He is survived by his wife of forty three years, Carol Goss, their daughters, Vanessa Bley and Angelica Palmer, grandchildren Felix and Zoletta Palmer, as well as daughter, Solo Peacock. Private memorial services will be held in Stuart, FL, Cherry Valley, NY and wherever you play a Paul Bley record.
Via
Monday 4 January 2016
Sunday 3 January 2016
The Clash - Guns of Brixton (The Bug ft. The Spaceape Unreleased Remix)
As Kevin said on Facebook:
This was an officially commisioned remix, as sanctioned by Kyle/Microsoft...
Stephen (The Spaceape) loved this, as did Kyle and I, but the Clash member's family estates wouldn't agree to it bein released due to internal wrangles...
Shame...c'est la vie...
+
The Bug ft Spaceape - Systems (Unreleased Dubplate)
The Bug ft The Spaceape - Crossfire (Unreleased Demo)
This was an officially commisioned remix, as sanctioned by Kyle/Microsoft...
Stephen (The Spaceape) loved this, as did Kyle and I, but the Clash member's family estates wouldn't agree to it bein released due to internal wrangles...
Shame...c'est la vie...
+
The Bug ft Spaceape - Systems (Unreleased Dubplate)
The Bug ft The Spaceape - Crossfire (Unreleased Demo)
I posted these three unreleased Bug/Spaceape tunes to say 2016 will be another year when Stephen Gordon, aka The Spaceape will not be forgotten...
Friday 1 January 2016
Contrast and compare
Via
Happy new year from all of us at Exile Towers
გილოცავ ახალ წელს
buon anno
šťastný nový rok
godt nytår
幸せ新しい年
幸せ新しい年
gelukkig nieuwjaar
manigong bagong taon
hyvää uuttavuotta
新年快樂
新年快樂
godt nytt år
szczęśliwego nowego roku
с новым годом
feliz año nuevo
chúc mừng năm mới
bonne année
Frohes neues Jahr
ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος
שנה טובה
नया साल मुबारक हो
selamat tahun baru
laimīgu Jauno gadu
laimingų Naujųjų metų
كل عام وأنتم بخير
새해 복 많이 받으세요
Ghetto Priest - Auld Lang Syne/The Slave's Lament Live mix by Adrian Sherwood
Have fun and cause trouble XXX
Wednesday 30 December 2015
Lemmy
Anyway getting up to Deb's place I'd forgotten that Roddy from the Specials was crashing up at our place that night. Now I'd always loved Roddy's company especially when I found out he was called Roddy Radiation because his face turned red when he drank beer!!! I also really liked his post Specials band The Tearjerkers and I still have my old denim jacket with that logo on the back, prob doesn't fit me anymore but hey ho...
Anyway on the walk we'd chatted at my instigation about hippies (as one thing I cannot stand...) and it was interesting as Hawkwind were never hippies in my book (and the amount of times I fell asleep to Space Ritual with those big mid 70's 'cans' stuck to my head. Boy did my head hurt the next day...) and there was some other stuff after asking about his dad etc...anyway get to Deb's place oh and fuck me Roddy is in tears...he'll never get back to the USA again to get great clothes again etc etc. A bit of speed in Roddy's blood and a wee bit of the vodka that suddenly appeared and oh man...one of the best nights ever. Rock'n'roll tales, talking about this and that with all of us with the biggest smiles. I at that time had a particularly good relationship with a (some would say well dodgy but I wouldn't)) kebab place around the corner and they are STILL there come 8AM or so...and so it went on until about midday. One of my fave nights for sure...as he left Lemmy gave me the address of his flat in Notting Hill/Ladbroke Grove (wherever) and said come round anytime but it was not my stomping ground at all and besides he was nearly always round at my workplace.
He was a fugn gentleman.
Tuesday 29 December 2015
Monday 28 December 2015
It is time for Australia to set the refugees free
The Age (Editorial 27/12/15)Not since the Second World War has there been displacement of people on the scale that occurred in 2015; nor it seems, since that dark nadir of the 20th century, has there been such ugly division over how millions of people fleeing war and persecution might be helped.
They sailed in tiny rubber boats or wooden fishing vessels. They tramped through fields and along railway tracks, with children slung over their shoulders and old people leaning on canes. Some nations built wire fences and walls to keep them out. Some deployed armed forces, water cannon and dogs to deter them at border crossings.
Terrorism and civil wars have destabilised the governments of their nations, and always the wickedness of persecution rolls on. But instead of demonstrating compassion and care for the disadvantaged and dispossessed, political opportunists and fear-mongers have fomented wicked cynicism, racism and malice.
In Australia, our government continues to use the most despicable tactics to deter asylum seekers. For the past two years, this nation has turned back boats at sea, directing them to other countries. It has detained asylum seekers on naval vessels and handed them back to nations that persecute them for fleeing. Have we shown these people that this is a nation governed by wise and kindly people, or by political grandstanders pursuing their own interests?
The Age believes strongly, and we will say this until the policy ends, that the strategy of turning back boats carrying asylum seekers is ignoble. It demonstrates a paucity of imagination. It has been ruthlessly executed, without proper regard for the asylum claims of those people intercepted. And it has brought this nation into disrepute around the world.
The asylum seekers who arrive here have not broken the law. We will say it again: they are not "illegals". They have used the avenues allowed to anyone under international law – under the United Nations covenants to which Australia subscribes – to seek refuge from all forms of persecution.
It is time to call an amnesty, to end the imprisonment of people who came here seeking help and a better life. It is time to recognise that jailing people in detention facilities for years on end, denying them hope or any alternative, and treating them without compassion, is the most inhumane thing that we could do – short of shipping them back to the situation that they fear in their own countries.
No good can possibly be served by detaining people a day longer in camps in Third World nations. No good is served by denying refugees who are living in Australia the right to work. No good comes from demonising refugees, by ostracising them from the mainstream community.
Good will come by dissolving the oppressive, offshore prisons, by allowing the 827 people who have been detained for more than a year (436 for more than two years) to be let free and to be given a chance to make their way in this country.
The policy of locking up those who did arrive on Australian shores before late 2013, and detaining them on Nauru or Manus Island – where their options, if resettled, are extremely limited – defies common sense. It is costly, and it is a corruption of our vows to pursue humanitarian principles.
We call on the Turnbull government to allow all asylum seekers who are found to be refugees to join our community, on Australian soil. Give them the freedom to be productive members of our democracy, and show the world that we are made stronger by doing so, that we are a compassionate and free people, a resolute and confident nation that properly respects the full range of human rights.
How to end our nation’s shame
Sunday 27 December 2015
George Galloway meets Brian Eno (RT 26/12/15)
Gawd help us eh? Starts at 12:45 after Quentin Letts. If that's not enough Eno for you then here's another 11 hours and 45 minutes from 1988
Saturday 26 December 2015
John Murry - Holocaust
Featuring Grum Gallagher, Cait O'Riordan, Alan Dawson, John Hegarty and myself. Recorded quickly and filthily in Kilkenny, Ireland
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