Captain Ska are back with a wonderfully brutal take down of this scummy, vile UK government! Johnson and his Cabinet most definitely have blood on their hands. Let us not forget that the next time we get the chance to vote. However good the vaccine roll out is, let us not forget that the NHS is organising that, not SERCO or some new company set up by a cabinet members mate! This government is the most inept and evil pack of scumbags I have ever experienced. More than 100,000 dead? That is an absolute fucking disgrace. Don’t give me all that “aw but they are doing their best”, no they’re fucking not! Everything Johnson and his gang have done during Covid has been self centered or arse covering. They are liars who refuse to take responsibility for their actions! Never forget these times, hold these bastards to account and share the fuck out of this video!
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Hillingdon has never really been known for its contribution to the rich history of British rock and pop music. Sure there is Ronnie Wood born in West Drayton, Steve Priest bass player from the Sweet, Bryan Connolly of that band lived in Harefield and course there is Claire Richards of Steps. So it is so refreshing that now there really is a band to be proud of from that often ignored area of west London, yes the Tuts have finally got around to releasing their début album, ‘Update Your Brain’, following a really successful campaign on Pledge Music. I for one can hardly wait for my physical copies to arrive having made my pledge months ago. But I have listened to the album on download and Spotify since Friday.
The Tuts as we now know them with Nadia Javed on guitar and vocals, Beverley Ishmael on drums and Harriet Doveton on bass formed back in 2010. This album is the culmination of their hard-working DIY approach to what they do. They really know their fans and use social networking to engage excellently with them. They have had some inspirational support slots notably with Kate Nash back in 2013, which was when I first saw them at dear old Fibbers in York. They have also toured with the Selecter and played support to the Undertones and Adam Ant among others. They really are a proper band in that they work well off and with each other and everything that they have done so far is a step up from what came before. ‘Update Your Brain’ is no exception and twenty or thirty years ago it would have been a banker for the album chart top ten. But sadly the music industry no longer works like that. But charts or no charts this is a bloody good album.
Tuts fans will have heard many of the tracks before but as a cohesive set of twelve tracks that makes no difference. From opener “Let Go Of The Past” right through to the albums final track “Back Up” the punk, the power and the pop are turned up to eleven. It is great to see a young band with no fear of wearing their beliefs on their sleeves; hitting out at music industry sexism on one of my favourites “tut Tut Tut” and the uncaring one party state we have in the UK “Give Us Something Worth Voting For”. They also put their money where their mouth is with an anti Boris Johnson protest at Uxbridge Library a while back. Sadly it wasn’t enough to prevent arch moron Boris from being parachuted in to become their local MP. But perhaps having such an arse as their member of parliament will lead to more excellent anti Tory songs from Nadia, Bev and Hat Tut!
“Con Man” is a proper rock out song and “Dump Your Boyfriend” has become a Tuts classic and is a certainty for inclusion on the Tuts Greatest Hits when it is released five or ten years from now. To paraphrase that song if you have a shit favourite band that never delivers then dump that band and start getting to know the Tuts. You will not regret it. They are touring the UK in support of the album I will be seeing them in Leeds later this month. Where are you seeing them? If you’re not planning on seeing them then I suggest that you change your plans now and that is an order. If you don’t follow that order then I will have no choice than to send the Tuts round to sort you out!
Many of you reading this review will be among the many pledgers who will already have the album. But don’t worry if you’re not, you can still get your hands on it. I don’t usually give stars or marks out of ten for albums on this blog. But I will make an exception for the Tuts with an 8 and a half out of ten. Why not ten? Well first I never give a ten and secondly I expect their next album to be even better so I want to leave room for a higher mark! We should also start a campaign to have the Tuts appear at Reading and Leeds Festivals next year. It will be a big start in breaking the male domination of the bill. Now stop reading this shit and get listening to ‘Update Your Brain’……… NOW!!!!
According to Joe Anderson, the Mayor of Liverpool, his city’s artists can claim more UK number one singles per head of population than any other city in the world. There have been 57 so far, including 17 from the Beatles. Let’s stick to cities and not smaller towns and villages though, otherwise Westlife might put Sligo on top of the list with their 14 UK number one singles. Incidentally I wonder how many number one singles London has had? Or any other city for that matter.
Joe was writing in Q Magazine to counter London Mayor Boris Johnson‘s ridiculous claim that London ‘made’ the Beatles. Surely it was Liverpool and possibly a degree of Hamburg that ‘made’ the Fab Four? What do you think of Boris’ comments? I think he is a complete arse!
Here are those Liverpool acts and their UK number ones;
14 March 1953 : Lita Roza – “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?”
25 January 1957 : Frankie Vaughan – “The Garden of Eden”
14 February 1958 : Michael Holliday – “The Story of My Life”
29 January 1960 : Michael Holliday – “Starry Eyed”
7 December 1961 : Frankie Vaughan – “Tower of Strength”
11 April 1963: Gerry and the Pacemakers – “How Do You Do It?”
2 May 1963: The Beatles – “From Me to You”
20 June 1963 : Gerry and the Pacemakers – “I Like It”
8 August 1963: The Searchers – “Sweets for My Sweet”
22 August 1963: Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas – “Bad to Me”
12 September 1963 : The Beatles – “She Loves You”
31 October 1963 : Gerry and the Pacemakers – “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
28 November 1963 : The Beatles – “She Loves You”
12 December 1963 : The Beatles – “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
30 January 1964 : The Searchers – “Needles and Pins”
27 February 1964 : Cilla Black – “Anyone Who Had a Heart”
19 March 1964 : Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas – “Little Children”
2 April 1964 : The Beatles – “Can’t Buy Me Love”
7 May 1964 : The Searchers – “Don’t Throw Your Love Away”
28 May 1964 : Cilla Black – “You’re My World”
23 July 1964: The Beatles – “A Hard Day’s Night”
10 December 1964 : The Beatles – “I Feel Fine”
22 April 1965 : The Beatles – “Ticket to Ride”
5 August 1965: The Beatles – “Help!”
30 September 1965 : Ken Dodd – “Tears”
16 December 1965 : The Beatles – “Day Tripper”/”We Can Work It Out”
23 June 1966: The Beatles – “Paperback Writer”
18 August 1966: The Beatles – “Yellow Submarine”/”Eleanor Rigby”
19 July 1967 : The Beatles – “All You Need Is Love”
6 December 1967: The Beatles – “Hello, Goodbye”
27 March 1968 : The Beatles – “Lady Madonna”
11 September 1968 : The Beatles – “Hey Jude”
11 December : 1968 The Scaffold – “Lily the Pink”
23 April 1969 : The Beatles with Billy Preston – “Get Back”
11 June 1969: The Beatles – “The Ballad of John and Yoko”
30 January 1971 : George Harrison – “My Sweet Lord”
3 December 1977 : Wings : “Mull of Kintyre”
20 December 1980 : John Lennon – “(Just Like) Starting Over”
10 January 1981 : John Lennon – “Imagine”
7 February 1981 : John Lennon – “Woman”
24 April 1982 : Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder – “Ebony and Ivory”
14 January 1984 : Paul McCartney – “Pipes of Peace”
28 January 1984 : Frankie Goes to Hollywood – “Relax”
16 June 1984: Frankie Goes to Hollywood – “Two Tribes”
8 December 1984 : Frankie Goes to Hollywood – “The Power of Love”
9 March 1985 : Dead or Alive – “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”
15 June 1985: The Crowd – “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
29 August 1987 : Ferry Aid – “Let it Be”
20 May 1989 : Various artists – “Ferry Cross the Mersey”
22 July 1989 : Sonia – “You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You”
26 May 1996 : Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds – “Three Lions”
14 June 1998: Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds : “Three Lions ’98”
March 26 2000: Melanie C featuring Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes – “Never Be the Same Again”
August 13 2000: Melanie C – “I Turn to You”
February 4 2001: Atomic Kitten – “Whole Again”
July 29 2001: Atomic Kitten – “Eternal Flame”
January 20 2002: George Harrison – “My Sweet Lord”
April 28 2002: Sugababes – “Freak Like Me”
August 18 2002: Sugababes – “Round Round”
September 1 2002 : Atomic Kitten – “The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)”
October 19 2003 : Sugababes – “Hole in the Head”
September 30 2007 : Sugababes – “About You Now”
Christmas number one 2012 : The Justice Collective – “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother”
So the London 2012 Olympics is over, at least until the Paralympics anyway. I truly believe that this has been an amazing Olympics and for me usurps England winning the 1966 football world cup as our greatest sporting achievement. What do you think? OK I know the Scots won’t agree with that in the first place, but I would still like to hear your thoughts.
I realise that this post comes some 24 hours after the closing ceremony, but given the musical nature of that ceremony I felt I had to post something. The Olympic stadium was once again amazing; decked out to show a London skyline that included the London Eye, Big Ben and the Gherkin to name but a few. It all kicked off with the delicious voice of Emilie Sande accompanied only by a pianist, who was playing a piano covered in newspaper. After that the tempo really took off with forty members of the cast of Stomp dancing, drumming and percussing (is that a word?) on the recreated mini London Eye in the stadium. On top of all this there was a choir singing Beatles songs.
Next up was cellist and Churchill appearing out of the top of Big Ben and reciting words from Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ which was a great link back to the superb Opening ceremony. Obviously it wasn’t really Churchill, it was Timothy Spall. This was followed by newspaper clad crowds depicting the hubbub of London. The whole thing then slowed a little for the arrival of the VIPs; Jacques Rogge (President of the IOC) who seems to make even the dullest accountant I have ever met seem exciting and prince Harry representing the Royal family. Clearly he was never going to match his grandmother’s arrival at the opening ceremony! Obviously this was followed by our rather uninspiring, in my opinion, national anthem.
The whole show was a celebration of Britain and the next vignette was real class. It was the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 countdown by Michael Caine from the ‘Italian Job’ and then the iconic three-wheeled van of Trotter’s Independent Trading blew apart and out jumped, yes you guessed it, Del Boy and Rodney in their Batman and Robin costumes. A sublime moment and a nod to one of Britain’s greatest ever comedy shows; Only Fools And Horses.
The mood then turned very much to party as madness were driven around the arena playing “Our House” from the back of a truck. This tempo was kept up by the Massed Guards Bands with a wonderful rendition of Blur’s “Parklife”. Just when you thought it couldn’t get better the stadium was filled with cyclists wearing the most amazing geometric and fluorescent hats. Two of them on tricycles which had Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe as passengers. So we were treated to a fabulous version of “West Ends Girls” on bicycles and tricycles. Could this happen anywhere but the UK? I doubt it!
One Direction were next, like Madness they were on the back of a truck, which sadly wasn’t headed to the tip. OK I have to begrudgingly admit they were at least in tune, but I still don’t like them. Interestingly they were one of just a few acts whose name was flashed onto the screen when they appeared. After that it was back to another great number from the cast of Stomp. That percussion sounded like “Spice Up Your Life” to me. was that deliberate? Who knows? An incredibly talented dance troupe who I think were called Spelbound were next to take the stage. They performed a great routine to the Beatles Sergeant Pepper classic “A Day In The Life”
To keep up the 60s vibe Kinksmeister Ray Davies came on to sing his timeless and classic love song to London; “Waterloo Sunset”. eliciting some great ‘sha la la-ing’ from the audience in the process. Emilie Sande made a return next, minus the newspaper piano and sang over a film montage of some of London 2012’s most tearful moments. The three hundred or so flag bearers entered the arena after that, including super sailor Ben Ainslie fo Britain. Elbow soundtracked this whole piece with a great little set that included the beautiful “Open Arms”. The athletes followed the arrival of the flag bearers and they were corralled into the sections of the union jack which formed the floor of the stadium. Apparently this version of the flag was designed by Damien Hirst. Indian drummers then accompanied the construction of a large structure made up of more than three hundred white boxes. One to represent each Olympic event. The backing track to this was Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”. I had momentary butterflies while wishing and hoping that Kate might actually appear herself. But alas she didn’t.
Apparently one of the traditions of the closing ceremony is that it contains the last medal presentation. It is for the Mens Marathon which took place earlier in the day and was won by Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda. This was followed by a thank you and recognition for all the volunteers, or Games makers as they were known from all the athletes. This was followed by a spectacular light show to the unmistakable sound of Queen’s mighty “Bohemian Rhapsody” followed by a children’s signing choir singing John Lennon’s “Imagine”. This segued into a film clip of Lennon singing the song himself. Apparently Yoko Ono commissioned a special remaster of the song for the ceremony. At the same time a 3D image of John Lennon’s face was built on stage. This was a prelude to the main musical events.
George Michael took to the stage for his first live performance since his life threatening illness he sang “Freedom 90” his new single “White Light” which is in fact all about his brush with death. He seemed fit and well and on really good form. I’m not sure I like the new facial hair style though, perhaps it will grow on me! Ricky off of the Kaiser Chiefs was driven to the stage as a scooter pillion passenger singing “Pinball Wizard”. I have gone off the Kaisers of late, by I must admit they did a storming version of the Who’s classic. The next part had me positively tingling with anticipation; A series of short film and audio clips of David Bowie. Would he actually appear? Surely not? And surely he didn’t. But his 1980 hit “Fashion” was used as a backdrop to a showcase of British fashion which included a weird march around the stadium from a series of models including Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss.
George couldn’t master Mo Farah’s Mobot so he invented the Georgebot
A huge skeleton of what might have been a viking boat was pulled on stage and the hidden figurehead was none other than Annie Lennox. She performed “Little Bird” which was used on the soundtrack of Coppola’s film version of Bram Stoker’s classic story Dracula. The much rumoured Pink Floyd appearance turned out to be nothing more than Ed Sheerhan, Nick Mason and Mike Rutherford doing the Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” accompanied by a tightrope walker who recreated the Floyd album cover with the flaming man.
Russell Brand arrived on stage in what looked like the Scooby Doo van and he was singing, he’s not a bad singer either. He got out of the van to perform the Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus”. The van begat a giant inflatable octopus from which Fatboy Slim did a brief DJ set featuring his own hits “Right Here Right Now” and “Rockerfeller Skank”. Jessie J then sang “Price Tag” in an open top car she was joined by Tinie Tempah then Taio Cruz with “Dynamite”. All in open top cars. Then all three of them took the stage for a creditable performance of the Bee Gees disco classic “You Should Be Dancing”. As they were performing in front of a drum kit marked up with the name of Beady Eye it was obvious who was going to be on later!
A group of London Black cabs entered stadium and performed a kind of synchronised dance. Then five of them moved to the centre of the arena and were lit up with some spectacular lighting arrays. This wasn’t the best kept secret of the show, but guess who the passengers in these five cabs were? Yes it was Scary, Sporty, Baby, Ginger and Pouty…. oops sorry I mean Posh. It was the return of the Spice Girl. They kicked off with possibly one of the greatest pop singles of the 90s (OK that doesn’t mean you have to like it); “Wannabe”. They followed this with the samba rhythmed “Spice Up Your Life” which they performed while being driven around the stadium atop the cabs that brought them in. As expected after seeing their drum kit earlier Beady Eye were next. Thankfully they didn’t play any of their own stuff, just a cover of “Wonderwall” which seemed to go down really well as a sing along with the crowd. Liam seemed quite nervous to me and is his voice a little rough these days?
ELO’s “Mr Blue Sky” was played as a backdrop for a section pioneering flight. This included flying bikes and a failed human cannonball who just happened to be Monty Python star Eric Idle who led the audience in a marvellous sing-alonga-python version of “Always look On The Bright Side Of Life”. he even made a great comedic attempt to join in with some Bollywood style dancing. This whole piece was perhaps the equivalent of the Mr Bean set in the opening ceremony. It ended with the real and successful firing of a human cannonball.
Matt Bellamy and the boys from Muse were the next to appear and they performed their song “Survival” which was commissioned for the Olympics. It’s good and their performance was excellent as usual but this is a long way from being my favourite Muse song. Interestingly, as some have likened Muse to Queen they were followed by a film clip of Freddie Mercury performing some improv jazz scat and despite being dead for more than twenty years the audience were enraptured and joined in the whole Freddie call and response thing. This proved to be the overture to Brian May’s appearance and it’s fair to say that he’s quite a good guitarist isn’t he? 😉 As the unmistakable riff to “We Will Rock You” began and Brian was joined by Roger Taylor I was briefly worried that Adam Lambert or someone similar might step onto the stage. Thankfully it was Jessie J, and inspired choice in my opinion. She did a great vocal on the song which never tried to emulate the late, great Mr Mercury.
It was then time to return to the formal activities which meant the Greek national anthem followed by a Welsh Male Choir version of the Olympic Anthem. This was sealed with the Brazilian national anthem and a formal handing over of the Olympic flag from London’s Mayor Boris Johnson to the Mayor of Rio De Janeiro via Jacques Rogge. The Brazilians then put on a samba fuelled show to let the world know what to expect in 2016. This culminated in an appearance by one of their greatest sports ambassadors; Pele. Then we had more formal stuff with speeches from Seb Coe and Jacques Rogge. Seb was quite inspiring Jacque was once again the definition of dull in my opinion. The remaining action was the extinguishing of the flame. This began with Take That (thankfully without Robbie) performing the appropriate “Rule The World”. It continued with Darcy Bussell flying in as a Phoenix to join two hundred other ballet dances for an exciting modern ballet.
The petals of the cauldron where the Olympic flame burned were then lowered and were slowly extinguished and at this point I thought that was the end. However there was more to come in the shape of the Who. They were on top form and for a pensioner Roger Daltrey’s vocal power is still damned good. They closed with a rousing version of “My Generation” accompanied by yet another magnificent firework display.
I fell a little deflated after such a brilliant two weeks but so very proud to be British. I truly believe that we really showed the world what we are capable of as a country. Not just in the Olympic events but by how we put on such a brilliant event in itself. In spite of the little hiccups before the start (G4S etc) we really delivered this in style and won a whole treasure box of medals too. So let me take this opportunity to congratulate and thank everyone in Team GB, the organisers, all the other competitors, the BBC, the volunteers/ Games Makers and anyone else who was involved in this remarkable event.
Was this the best Olympics ever? I believe it as. Rio follow that!
Most of the film clips from the ceremony are IOC copyright and therefore difficult to show. So here are two songs that sum things up in a simple way.
this man is a Knight of the Realm................ no seriously, he is!
I think it would be fair to say that there is one area of my life that my Mother may be disappointed in me. That is my dislike of the institution of the British Royal family and all condescending pomposity it has. Yes in case you hadn’t noticed I am very much a Republican (not in the US political sense obviously) and most definitely not a Royalist. Having posted recently about Mick Jagger (aka Sir Michael Philip Jagger) turning down afternoon tea with ‘Call Me Dave’ Cameron and Boris Johnson it’s strangely appropriate that a story about those who turned down Royal Honours appeared in the news today. Following a freedom of information request by the BBC a list of those now deceased who have turned down various Royal Honours form 1951 and 1999 has been published. There are 277 people on the list including artists Henry Moore, Francis Bacon and LS Lowry and authors Roald Dahl and Aldous Huxley. There are no rock or pop stars on the list. Read the full story on the BBC site by clicking here.
Sir Tom shows off his first house
However it got me thinking about those rock and pop stars who have accepted honours and those that haven’t. The obvious list of those who have are the rock and pop ‘Sirs’ Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Tom Jones and Bono and Bob Geldof who as Irish citizens are Honorary Knights of the British Empire (KBE). Add to that list Dame Shirley Bassey. A large number of British musicians have received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), which is the highest honour a British subject can receive below a knighthood or damehood. Those include: Annie Lennox, Roger Daltrey, Eric Clapton, Sting, Robert Plant the Bee Gees and Rod Stewart. It was alleged that at the time of Elton receiving his knighthood Rod was just a little jealous.
Macca ponders his failure to win top score in Rate My Mullet
What really interests me though are those rock and pop stars who turned down Royal honours. David Bowie turned down a CBE in 2000 and a knighthood in 2003 and was quoted as saying that “was not what he spent his life working for”. George Melly and Paul Weller also turned down the offer of a CBE in 2001 and 2007 respectively. Thankfully Keith Richards also turned down a CBE; I’d have been gutted if he had accepted! His comment on Jagger’s knighthood was that he felt it was ludicrous. Influential guitarist and stalwart of the Shadows Hank Marvin turned down an OBE as did Dub Poet Benjamin Zephaniah. At the time Zephaniah publicly stated ‘I get angry when I hear the word ’empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised’ An MBE was offered to John Lydon who turned it down. I’m pretty amazed that they offered him one really.
Never a Knight of the realm but the only one who came close to looking the part as opposed to looking like an anagram of part
The four Beatles all received the MBE in 1965. John Lennon later returned his to the Queen in 1969 accompanied by a note which read ‘I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts’. It has been alleged that his Aunt Mimi who brought him up and upon whose mantelpiece the award lived was not amused!
Sir Michael Philip Jagger has turned down an invitation to partake afternoon tea in Davos, Switzerland with ‘Call me Dave’ Cameron and Boris Johnson among others. The meeting was allegedly set up to help promote Britain and British industry. However Sir Mick has claimed that inaccurate comments and suggestions have been made about his political allegiances. This is the reason he has subsequently declined the offer.
The whole thing smacks of hypocrisy to me. Why take a knighthood in the first place if you are not prepared to be a tool of the highest order for the government, the royal family and associated flunkies? What has happened to the anti-establishment, rebellious nature of rock n roll? Would Mick argue that he is trying to change things from within? Maybe, but turning down a chance to imbibe warm milky drinks and crust free sandwiches with a bunch of toffs is not that rebellious is it? It’s hardly like depicting the Queen with a safety-pin through her nose or emptying an ice bucket over John Prescott.
What happened to the Stones of old? What about some “Sympathy For The Devil” or “Gimme Shelter” instead of ‘Sympathy For The Coalition’ and ‘Gimme Earl Grey’. Mick you chose to wear the ermine robes you must have known this kind of thing would happen. Keef would never have found himself in this position he remains a true rock n roller who would almost certainly publicly turn down a royal award if it were ever offered!
Does rebellion still have a place in rock music? I believe it does, what do you think? In the meantime click here to read more about it on the BBC site.
This post has a very loose transport theme based on a few news stories that I have read over the last couple of weeks. They all relate to a slightly different form of transport too. There are cars (well a lack of them actually), Tube Trains, Buses, a ship and balloons! is that last one just me being full of hot air? Well read on to find out is what I would suggest.
Parker chauffers Lady Penelope and in breach of parliamentary rules presumably her box as well!
Firstly in a very admirable move David Cameron has banned the use of chauffeur driven cars by MPs, ministers have been told that they must use second class rail travel. Well at least they will learn how bad the rail services actually are, like us normal people who use trains almost every day. However it has become it a bit of a farce as instructions are that for security reasons MPs red boxes must travel in a separate car. When some MPs asked if they were allowed to travel with their boxes they were denied. Perhaps Dangerous Dave should get his bag carrier Naughty Nick to carry the boxes. Read all about it in this article from the Guardian
“Cars” – Gary Numan (He could have just as easily fitted into an aeroplane story too)
Nelson looks down on his ship as it takes to the bottle
Next up we have a ship, not just any ship but actually a model of Admiral Nelson’s HMS Victory. But not just any model either, it’s actually in a bottle. But not just any bottle, it’s actually a giant bottle. It’s not on any old mantlepiece either, it’s actually on the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square. Not just any Trafalgar Square though, well actually it is just the old Trafalgar Square. It is a piece of art by artist Yinka Shonibare. It is a scale model of HMS Victory which uses African fabric for its sails. Read all about it here in another article from the Guardian.
“Ships In The Night” – Be Bop Deluxe (a band led by the appropriately named Bill Nelson)
The new Routemaster, partly designed by Aston Martin. So more James Bond than Reg Varney then!
Thirdly there is the rather excellent news that those bloody awful bendy buses are being phased out in London. They’re being replaced by a new version of the classic Routemaster bus which for me was always a true London symbol. It has been designed by architect Sir Norman Foster and Aston Martin, what a superb combination that is! Does this prove that Boris Johnson actually has some redeeming features? Probably not and definitely not if you’re a Liverpudlian. Read all about it here in an article in the Guardi……….. ok in the interests of impartiality read about it in this article in the Mail OnLine, the newspaper that is more right wing than the BNP. (Well just because I’m trying to be impartial doesn’t mean I have to like it.
“(Are You Ready) Do The Bus Stop” – Fatback Band (It has to be 30 years since I last heard this, what a top tune!)
Jonathan Trappe had said to his wife that he was just popping out
Finally Jonathan Trappe crossed the English Channel in a chair carried by masses of balloons. Apparently this is called cluster ballooning. He flew from Kent and eventually landed in a cabbage patch in France. The whole thing is very reminiscent of the wonderful Disney Pixar movie ‘Up’. Well I suppose it beat’s beardy Branson and all his hot air and balloon escapades. But it made me wonder, what about all the dudes who sell helium balloons in shopping precincts at weekends and in school holidays, do they wear divers boots or something? Read all about it here in an article from the Times (see I’m still doing the impartial stuff)
“My Beautiful Balloon” – Nancy Sinatra (Just how camp are the dancers in this video?)
And let’s end with a song that sums all this up, it’s Sandie Shaw with Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Trains And Boats And Planes”
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 