Obviously most of you are aware that there is a referendum looming for us folk in the UK. It is a vote on whether we as a country should stay a part of the European Union or whether we should leave and go it alone. Personally I fundamentally disagree with the need for a referendum; if an elected government can’t make big decisions then why are they there? Give the people a referendum on all big decisions from keeping Trident to MPs pay. That would be much fairer and a true reflection of what people want. But no; we are lumbered with making a massive decision on a subject that no one really knows the answer to Just listen to all the drivel spouted by both the Brexit (incidentally I despise that invented word) and Remain camps. If anyone truly understands this decision and all its implications then I have never heard of them. Do I understand it? Of course not, although in some sleepless moments I might think that I do. But I am enjoying the spectacle of the Tory party tearing itself apart over it. Anyway I thought I would put a helpful list together of the reasons to vote Remain and the reasons to vote Brexit on June 23rd. I hope that you like it and feel free to add to it and share your opinion. I have also added a referendum poll if you wish to cast a vote here. Oh and obviously there is some (in)appropriate music too. Feel free to suggest your own referendum stay or leave songs.
Reasons to vote Remain
Reasons to vote Brexit
1 Brexit is a shit word concoction which shows no imagination
5 It will annoy the Biffers of Britain First and their ilk immensely
5 Gideon will be upset
6 Donald Trump won’t like it
6 UKIP will have no reason to exist
7 To stop Boris Johnson succeeding in his reality TV interview for the Prime Minister’s job
7 Millions of UK ex pats will be returned to the UK from Europe. (Incidentally why aren’t they called immigrants?)
8 To cling on to a very thin chance to ditch the unelected House of Lords
8 To lose all the lovely foreign folk that clean for us, work in our essential services, pick our food and serve our food. You know those people that do the jobs no native of this country wants to do
9 To cling on to a slim chance of seeing the end of the monarchy in the UK
It’s great news that David Cameron and his dreadful Conservative government have at least postponed the vote on the repeal of the fox-hunting band. Having been out foxed Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP he is now a little like a fox on the run himself. Some UK newspapers are even referring to this as a humiliation for him. I’d like to think that he does feel humiliated but somehow I doubt that he does.
Well if you won’t let us posh arseholes hunt and kill foxes we’ll bloody well hunt vicious lambs instead!
For me the idea of chasing after a fox with a baying group of red jacketed toffs on horseback and a pack of dogs is not vermin control. It’s sadism. Anyway we and the foxes, live to fight another day. But don’t let the subject drop! This is but a small victory.
As I have said before this is a music blog so let’s celebrate with some fox related songs.
Cameron as the fox in a fox hunt? I’d pay to see that!
I recently had the misfortune to come across a FaceBook page for the Chilton Patriots. They refer to themselves as a white patriotic community in County Durham. Their pages are filled with hate posts and ironically I was accused of sending hate mail from York when I commented on their page suggesting that they are arrogant, uneducated twats. Clearly I don’t know that for certain and my judgement was based on the largely thoughtless and hate filled posts on their pages. So I have had a good long think and I have decided to send them an apology for calling them arrogant, uneducated twats. That apology is included in my open letter below. Incidentally the number of likes on their FaceBook page equates to around half the population of Chilton and more than twice as many as subscribe to this blog. So clearly there are a lot of similarly minded people around. To be fair their FaceBook page states (IN CAPITALS) WE DO NOT WANT TO HEAR YOUR LEFT WING MULTICULTURALIST BULLSHIT ON HERE, SO IF THOSE ARE YOUR VIEWS… PLEASE DON’T BOTHER EXPRESSING THEM. WE DON’T CARE !!! So I suppose they won’t be particularly bothered by anything I say. Including, and I am being a bit pedantic here, it should read LEFT WING MULTICULTURAL BULLSHIT
I think I know what the response of the Chilton Patriots to this letter will be. But in order to have some balanced views I would appreciate comments from all parts of the world, whatever your sexuality, ethnicity or religion. Regular readers will know that I am not a bigot, as for these patriots, well I’ll let you form your own opinion on them.
An Open Letter to the Chilton Patriots Group
Dear Representative(s) of the Chilton Patriots FaceBook group,
I realise that my nasty comment on one of your posts must have struck a nerve so I wholeheartedly apologise for referring to you as arrogant, uneducated twats. Clearly that is not the case entirely as you did reply and suggested that you had received hate mail from York. Hate mail? Really? Just three words is hate mail? Wow. I also find it quite ironic that a group based upon hatred of anyone who may be different to them can see my phrase arrogant, uneducated twats as hate mail. So I believe that I should reword my comment on you and précis it down to perhaps one word; racists.
You also said that you saw no condemnation of the murders committed by ISIS on my FaceBook pages. This is probably true. However getting anyone to read any kind of political post is difficult on a social networking site such as FaceBook given that people seem to spend most of their time talking about Katie Hopkins, X-Factor, sharing Britain First posts (more on that later) and watching cute kitten videos. Anyway for your information I do condemn any terrorist atrocities under whichever flag they are committed. The people who carry out these murders are not religious they are evil, murdering scum. The same goes for those who shot holiday makers in Tunisia and the man who shot and killed many people in the church in America recently and those that are currently burning black community churches in the USA. Indeed the same can be said of the IRA murders in the 70s and 80s. You need to move away from the ridiculous idea that all Muslims are terrorists in the same way that all Irish Catholics were not terrorists.
Am I a patriot? Well that depends on your definition of the word my friend. I am proud to be English, proud to be British, proud to be European, proud to be an Earthling and proud to be a human being. I am proud to live in a country that enables free speech, even if it does give the likes of you a platform to espouse vitriolic hatred of groups that do not fit your definition of normal. I am a white, straight male and I have friends who are the same. I also have friends who are gay, and friends whose skin is a different colour to mine. I have friends that are religious and that includes Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews. I also have friends that are atheists. Personally I don’t believe in god. Just in case you might think that I am sexist I also have a number of friends that are women.
I also love all kinds of music; rock, soul, reggae, punk, rap and most other things apart from perhaps opera. Doesn’t it annoy you that they don’t do operas in English? I’m sure it must do
I also note with interest that your Facebook group makes liberal use of the English flag, the flag of Saint George. That is a flag that I am also very proud of. Although an American comedian once said that pledging allegiance to a flag is about as useful as reciting a love poem to a sock. I tend to agree with him. I assume you know that Saint George was not English and that he is from Greek and Palestinian descent? Some histories have him as Lebanese. Not only that he is also the patron saint for a number of foreign countries; Georgia, Malta, Bulgaria among others. Among all the saints he is also a bit of an exception in that he is often venerated by Muslims. He also slayed a dragon, well ok perhaps the last part isn’t true, but I suppose one never knows.
I also note with interest the phrase ‘true English blood’ that appears on your page. Can you explain what you mean by this? Clearly Saint George never had true English Blood. Are you suggesting that there are indigenous English people here in our green and pleasant land? Somehow that is very unlikely given that this island has been invaded raped and pillaged over thousands of years by the Romans, the Vikings, the Angles, the Saxons and perhaps more. Many of us are probably 40th generation Roman or 30th generation Viking. Let’s not forget the Scots either, they once held York. I assume that being English means that you also hate the Scots? If so that is a shame as I am half Scots and very proud that my Scottish father served in the Royal Navy for 12 years.
During the Second World War this country might well have been overrun by those evil, scumbags the Nazis. I believe that they too hated anyone who was different to their definition of normal. They killed millions of people; Jews, blacks, gays, gypsies, disabled people and probably others. It seems to me that knowingly or perhaps inadvertently you seem to share some of their ideology. But I am very pleased to see that you haven’t stooped to using the swastika yet, well not as far as I can tell anyway.
You are free to hate me and you probably will, but I don’t hate you I pity you. I assume that someone so full of hatred must surely have some serious issues. Maybe if you stopped reading (and believing) the tabloid newspapers and supporting UKIP, BNP and the like it might help with those issues.
Incidentally if like Britain First you are in fact a brilliant satirical joke put together by Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker then I salute you for putting one over on me. Click here to read that story!
Also my sentiment and opinions regarding hate groups or communities built on hatred are the same whatever their flavour; from right wing English thugs to ISIS
Peace and Love and proud to be full of left wing multicultural bullshit
William xx
P.S. This is largely a music blog so please enjoy the following tunes which are largely related to the subject matter above
I would like to use this post to send my congratulations to the people of Greece for voting Oxi or No to more austerity and humiliation at the hands of their so-called European partners. Whatever the outcome over the coming days, weeks and months I believe that this was the right way to vote. I am sure that it took courage those who voted and belief and passion from Greek ministers. If only UK politicians had that level of passion! Have Alexis Tsipras and Yanis Varoufakis played a better game than Angela Merkel and her cronies? Only time will tell I suppose
Anyway this is a music post so celebrate the Oxi vote by listening to the Eagles with “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks” (or Merkels, or more austerity!)
OK here goes with possibly my shortest gig review ever. Julian turned up at the venue complained about the lighting and fucked off home! Mr Cope you are not just a talented eccentric as I used to think; you are a twat, a diva, an arse, a tosser and someone who really couldn’t give a shit about his fans! Julian Cope you are the second biggest cunt in the world!
OK it’s a big day for all my UK readers, yes it’s General Election Day. I would like to urge you to turn up and vote and if you were thinking of sitting on your arse and not voting please think again. Spoil your paper if you believe that is your only option but make sure you turn up to vote. A couple of months ago I was in the depths of apathy about the election, I am pleased to say that I am no longer there. I will be voting to rid us of the current regime.
It is not for me to tell you who to vote for but may I suggest that you ask yourself the question can you really and honestly be prepared to put up with another five years of Tory rule? I certainly can’t. So vote for whoever you like but if you’re undecided then avoid the Tories and UKIP like the plague!
OK this is essentially a music blog so here is a, hopefully appropriate, song from the Style Council. Enjoy it and then get out there and bloody well vote!
I really can’t bear John Lennon’s“Imagine” although I am a big fan of much of what Lennon has recorded solo and with the Beatles. I believe this dislike of “Imagine” puts me in a minority so I was very pleased to come across someone else who doesn’t like it. None other than the brilliant John Cooper-Clarke.
He says ‘I regret ever hearing it in the first place. It’s nausea-inducing. The shallow sentimentality of it is ghastly. When I heard it I thought, maybe he’s just never been any good’. He goes on ‘I love the Beatles and John is one of the great voices, so it’s tragic that he should put his name to such drivel. The fact that it’s Britain’s number one song is suicide-inducing’
Very well said in my opinion Mr Cooper-Clarke. How many you agree or disagree or don’t really give a crap about it?
Not content with picketing the funerals of servicemen and women, gay people and Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman those arseholes at the Westboro Baptist Church are now attacking Taylor Swift. They have called her the ‘poster girl of the young whores of doomed-America‘
Taylor sends a message to those twats at the Westboro Baptist Church!
Clearly these fundamentalists have shit for brains and how come the Christian right isn’t shouting them down for at least being unpatriotic; ‘doomed-America’? How would these fuckwits react if we picketed their funerals and constantly pestered them with hate messages? Would anyone care if the Westboro Baptist Church was destroyed? I doubt even god would care. I suspect that if he/ she exists (and I don’t believe he/ she does) he/ she would break into a wry smile when hearing the news. But equally the fact that arrogant religious nutcases like this exist helps prove to me that there is no god, because if there was why would he/ she create such a bunch of moronic, bigoted wankers as those who are a part of the Westboro Baptist Church?
The same people who picket funerals send their kids out like this? That really is obscene!
The video has sacrificial goats 🙂
If God exists I suspect he would carry a placard that says GOD HATES THE WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH!
Many of us in the west are very lucky. A large majority of us have shelter and plenty of food. But we need to remember that millions of people around the world are not that lucky. Far too many people live in poverty with barely enough to eat. I do not believe this is right and I am sure that many of my readers will share that opinion. So let’s do our bit to stamp out poverty and malnutrition on our planet. We need our so-called leaders to act and we need them to act now. All you need to do right now is to sign an on-line petition that will send a message to the G8 group. We need them to get off their fat arses and do something for the world. Click here for the petition.
This is not the first time I have posted about protest songs and I doubt that it will be the last. If you’d like to read my last protest post click here. My good friend Nick Horslen switched me on to the excellent work that one.org do; In particular a superb recent piece providing an extensive playlist of protest songs which range from the classic to the obscure. There are also some very interesting cover versions included. Click here for the protest playlist
The protest song has been around for many years but for this post I’d like to focus on protest songs from the sixties onwards. The song in this genre that most people know is probably Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind”. The song has been covered by many people and remains a standard for buskers all over the world. The lyrics are essentially a set of questions which I am sad to say are still pertinent today. I recently watched the U2 documentary film, ‘Rattle And Hum‘ and was reminded of how powerful the song “Sunday Bloody Sunday” is. There is a heartfelt speech from Bono during that version where he berates Irish terrorists. This was filmed on the day the IRA murdered 11 innocent people at a remembrance day service in the town of Enniskillen in 1987.
Whilst the early songs of the rock era, including Dylan, were rooted in folk music the fight for many causes has subsequently been taken up by almost every genre from rap to reggae and from soul to punk. I would like to focus on a few of my favourites in particular some that don’t get played too often and currently are not included in the one.org Agit 8 playlist. But before that I should mention two protest songs that I return to often; Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”
I believe that Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, who wrote many classic Temptations songs for Motown were never recognised widely enough for their protest songs; The Temptations recorded “War” before Edwin Starr had a global hit with it. Whitfield and Strong also wrote “Ball Of Confusion” and “Take A Look Around”. But perhaps one of the bravest given when it was released was “Message From A Black Man” from their 1969 album ‘Puzzle People’
Many singer songwriters from Guthrie, Seeger and Dylan through to Neil Young, Billy Bragg and more recently Frank Turner have written and recorded some very strong protest songs. One of my favourites of that type is Jackson Browne‘s “Lives In The Balance”. In my opinion he was one of too few voices that were constantly critical of the Reagan regime in the 80s. This particular song focuses on America’s ongoing involvement in foreign wars which frankly they should not have been anywhere near!
My last song choice for this post is the very topical “Same Love” from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. A slow hip hop style song about being gay. In my opinion this is one of the finest rap protest songs that has been released for some time. It also helps to prove that rap can handle gay issues. It is a long way removed from the Tom Robinson Band‘s late 70s gay anthem “Glad To Be Gay” but no less powerful. If any budding songwriters are reading this and you have a protest song you’d like me to air, you know where I am. I would also love to hear from you with your own protest song suggestions.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 