because the night's too young for punk rock kids like us to grow old

At Zanzibar on Thursday (28/07/11) I saw an amazing new band going by the name of Stealing Sheep on the advice (and thanks to the ability to drive me there) of a good friend. They didn’t disappoint. Supporting Hot Club de Paris (a band who don’t get nearly the level of recognition they deserve – for their witty Liverpudlian repartee if nothing else - and whom my friends and I misspent many a youthful evening following round the country) at the ‘It’s Miller Time Presents …’ the all-girl trio had a laid-back, D.I.Y feel and echoes of Best Coast in their sound. Officially genred as ‘Psych-Folk’ – not a bad label for all that it means – they do represent the rise and potential quality of modern, popular English folk music. Placing them, in my mind, alongside Florence + the Machine and Patrick Wolf (though with a less ‘folktronica’ sound than Wolf) whose fourth and fifth albums (The Bachelor and Lupercalia respectively – much more than a one-hit-wonder many suppose him to be) deserve more recognition than he usually garners and whose recent appearance on 4Play (available on 4OD) I would recommend all to take a look at. The almost drums-led sound of the band and delicate, harmonious vocals make for an eerie, often haunting presence. The lyrics are often delicate and highly feminised giving them a unique beauty. I keep listening to ‘I am the Rain’ on repeat for the singular line:

“make it through the rain/I am the rain. If I dry will I be/what will I be?”




The frail insecurity of the lyric speaking to a depth of youthful indecision at a crossroads.

More of this please Liverpool, and Britain generally, I don’t think this specific sound (despite some Californian flavours) could come from anywhere else. Recommendations of similar acts I might well enjoy are more than welcome on the comments (in fact they are thoroughly encouraged).

Not so GaGa

Can't decide what to think about GaGa's latest offerings. Upon first hearing both 'Born this Way' and 'Judas' I was relatively unimpressed.  They seemed to lack a certain something that made both 'The Fame' and 'The Fame Monster' (with their respective singles  and 'Just Dance', 'Paparazzi', 'Bad Romance' and 'Telephone' in particular) excellent pop music albums. However, since they have got stuck in my head and I've began to like them more.  My problem is if it's a case of them being justified in my affections.

'Judas' without doubt seems a little unfinished and unrefined in a way not true of her earlier work. At times it feels like two different songs pushed together.  Whilst I have no illusions about the limits of GaGa's artistic merit and talent, 'Paparazzi' had a lyrical complexity and sincerity ("I'm your biggest fan i'll follow you until you love me" creating a recognisable image of youthful infatuation) that 'Judas' doesn't.  Even it's extended syllables, "Papa-papa-razzi", seem to have more purpose than those in 'Judas' which feel more filler.

  Similarly I felt the emotion in 'Bad Romance' - "I want your loving and your lover's revenge" spoke to me of a dysfunctional relationship you couldn't give up, crescendoed with the cry "I don't wanna be frieeeeends!!! - want your bad ro-mance!" a desperate plea.  In comparison 'Born This Way's' affirmation of self love and respect felt flat.  I certainly appreciate the sentiment, and its purpose as an anthem for gay pride but feel it's just a generic gay disco track.  Good to dance to but without the flair and depth (as deep as any of the relatively superficial issues she deals with can be) of her earlier work.  

I heard a clip of her proposed third single, 'Hair', and loved it instantly.  Nevertheless it's counterparts in self-reflection -'Brown Eyes' and 'So Happy I Could Die' as I see it - on her other two records have something that 'Hair' lacks in approachability and relate-ability.

All the same I am at least left with "ooh oh oh oh, ooh oh I'm in love with Judas-ah-as, Judas!" on a loop in my head and it doesn't feel so bad...

You rang m'lord?

I fear that the debate on the House of Lords is going to go the same way as the referendum on AV, being reduced to in-fighting between the Tories and the Lib Dems rather than an actual consideration of the position of the Lords.  It particularly concerns me as both this and the issue of electoral reform are some of the most galvanising issues for young people of my generation.  Whilst I was out of step with most of my peers in opposing AV (and generally supporting first past the post rather than a PR or hybrid system) the issue was one on which there was some serious consideration by many of my friends and acquaintances.  I don't personally subscribe to the view that my generation is apolitical or largely apathetic (indeed even the proposition of cuts demonstrated how active people of my age bracket can be - interestingly enough both for and against) - but it pleased me to see so many engaging with the issue where they might  not with others. 

Thus I was sad to read online that Clegg's unveiling of his reform package was already dogged and dominates by conflict within the coalition. It seems that the issue may well fall onto to sane ground as AV with Tories scoffing at the proposals as some Lib Dem nonsense destined to fail  as the Lib Dems themselves use it as one in which to distinguish themselves from their coalition partners and try to offset their deteriorating public image.

The truth is, the position of the House of Lords within our legislature and constitution is an important one.  It is without doubt one of the major potentially anti-democratic elements within our system. A vestige, and testament to the classic Whig narrative of slow evolutionary change over revolutionary change.  Personally I don't find an unelected upper house particularly offensive to my democratic ideals - The Parliament Act and Salisbury Convention seem to offset the worst of it's position and leave it as a largely advisory body - if a conservative block on radical policy.  Obviously the presence of hereditary peers and the bishops is a particular problem and potentially undermines the democratic nature of our system.   Nevertheless I feel the other issues are up fit grabs and - much like electoral reform - have not been widely debated. 

What we need to decide is what we want from out second house. Or indeed if we want one at all. There seems to be a consensus, in the Commons at least if not countrywide, that we don't desire the Upper House to have a mandate of it's own to challenge the Commons, and indeed much like the house of representatives in the USA that the Commons should ultimately have predominance over the budget and taxation legislation. But what do we want from our second  house? A discussion chamber? A house able to propose its own legislation wholly independent of the government in the Commons? How will it be elected - by what system and with what relationship to constituencies, if it has constituencies at all?  It is these questions that should be widely debated and, I would argue, put to public referendum so that we can get what we really want out of 'the other place'. 

I realise that it is necessary for governments to have concrete policies for the Commons to debate (such broad debate proposed above is obviously not suitable) and that the parties have considered what they want to some extent.  However, even the Liberal Democrats who have most ire as a collective for the current state of the Lords only had a vague manifesto commitment of a fully elected House. Furthermore as elections are seldom won or lost on the issue (the economy dominated the last and I personally remember only cursory reference made to the Lords) it needs more consideration.  Rushed policies - based on a compromise which few end up enthusiastically supporting - will see the issue founder on the same rocks as the  debate on electoral reform. The issue will end up not being the Lords but the position of the coalition, its partners within it and the future and character of the Liberal Democrats.  Lords reform is an important issue for the future of our democracy and deserves thorough consideration rather than being used in political point scoring or to save the position of one man and his party. 

Skool Daze

It has been an inordinate amount of time since I last posted. To be honest the blog kind of fell by the waste-side what with third-year and the general feeling that I was merely talking to myself. However, now that I have more time on my hands and very little intellectual or spiritual expression given my bar-job and waiting out the six months I have until I go travelling I thought I'd start it up again, particularly as I have more time to discover new music and also to discover (and get angry about) new depths of the ConDems' pitful attmepts to run the country. They've been in power for about 100 days and yet have had SO many awkward 'climb-downs' even a jaded Labour supporter like yours truly is dumbfounded.

As if the Queen's Speech wasn't vague enough they keep releasing (potential) policy and then rescinding it - graduate tax anyone? The tax is a particular bug-bear as it's essentially a lifestyle tax, something imposed to curb certain socio-cultural practices (i.e. smoking, drinking - both of which carry their own taxes). Apparently education and attmepting to better oneself, whether in terms of affluence or enlightenment is something parts of the coalition thouroughly disagree with. However, when it comes to education it is their ideas for schools which concern me most. I wasn't greatly in favour of the Labour's 'Academies' or their support for 'faith schools' but at least the former were only designed to bring new energy to the lack-luster results of deprived areas (though i'm always suspicious of pirvate-sector involvement) it was not intended as a scheme to be rolled out everywhere merely to increase the disunity in our current education system and its standards. This is all predicated on the ridiculous idea that parents know better than professionals what their children should be learning. The truth is that most of them have forgotten the lager-part of what they ever learnt at school and that they are more likely to be prejudice as to which subjects should be taught. This for me means the disappreciation of the Arts and what they have to offer becuase they don't have an immediate use or demonstrate a strong connection with one particular career; securing a career for 11 year-olds seems an oddly prevalent obsession of the middle-aged,(ok so I'm an Arts graduate myself and thus prejudiced but what is politics if not a game of interests?) becuase they don't have an immediate use or demonstrate a strong connection with one particular career; securing a career for 11 year-olds seems an oddly prevalent obsession of the middle-aged. What's more is that PSHE and Citizenship (and their ilk) will inevitably be further down-graded. No matter how much I loathed and ridiculed the latter two whilst I was taught them they have an important place. If nothing else teenagers and young-adults have the right to full access to information concerning sex, beyond scientific reproduction, the potential health risks and indeed the emotional side of conjugial relations. As our society becomes more bureaucratic and as community ties are understood less and less in terms of geographical position, young people need to be taught about the legal and politcal systems and more importanty those liberal democratic values (the various freedoms, sexual equality etc etc) that underpin our society. Their rights and responsibilites in a society dominated by electronic communication (look at me ranting over the internet ffs) need to be outlined. No matter how lame the videos are.

These things are lost in faith schools and I feel would be further jeopardised by so-called 'free schools' over which the state would have limited control of the curriculum. Now I realise that my Napoleonic vision of a centralised school system where all kids learn the same thing at the same time is probaly out-dated and unrealistic but schools of whatever colour need the impartial, independent scrutiny of the state and to ensure that, no matter how uncomforable priests, parents or imams are made by it that kids get the proper access to information ranging from contraception, the rights of the individual to a proper understanding of the theory of evolution. The Channel 4 programme 'Faith School Menace?' which aired last night was a thought-provoking one. I personally disagree with Richard Dawkins over many things, but he's got it baout right here. If we are going to have state-funded faith schools (or 'free-schools' God forbid) they need proper regulation, something that is clearly not happening given the science teacher's inability to field questions about evolution (I haven't studied science in about 5 years but still know that the theory holds we didn't evolve from chimpanzees themselves but the both of us from a comman ancestor!).

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This is totally stolen from Joe Oliver byt the way but I love to see that Judas Nick Clegg get his comeuppance:

http://politicalscrapbook.net/2010/08/nick-clegg-childrens-centre-visit-video/

I hate the Lib Dems even more than the Tory's because either they're deluded and believe that all these cuts are necessary or they are just too afraid to out themselves as Neo-Thatcherites like Gideon and the Gang.

the end is nigh...

Not posted in an absolute age, so I thought it was about time to. usually i have a very well thought-out and written piece to post (i'm pretty pedantic at times..) but this time i thought i wing-it so i apologise in advance if this is a bit ramble-y and will probably contain like 100 typos...

anyway i was struck the weekend past by how much the Christmas no#1 still motivated the British people's imaginations (and their vitriol) what with the Joe McElderry vs. Rage Against the Machine chart battle. Though overcome myself, as many of my friends were, by a sense of apathy over the fight and result I thought it a little bizarre how much people both wnated to show their rejection of the domination of reality TV, and Simon Cowell over their musical culture. Perosnally I wanted Joe to be number 1 both becuase i'd watched x-factor and thought he was adorable and because new music, however weak and soppy (though I have shamefully identified with the lyrics of 'The Climb' in times past...)should surely be given a chance, no-matter how strong a musical hertiage we have. In the end, however, I didn't really care as I never actually listen to the chart during the rest of the year. As such I found it weird how much attention it got. Aren't we living in an essentially post-genre, post-chart musical culture that makes the official chart more or less redundant as an indicator of what the most popular contemporary music is? People, including members of Rage, claimed that they were sick of being spoon-fed ballads at the hands of Simon Cowell and his ilk. This to me seems a bizzare argument to make, no one was foricng anyone to watch the x-factor, listen to Joe McElderry or buy the single and I have never exactly found it an onerous task to find out music that speaks to me. Thus opposing Joe McElderry on an anti-corporate front doesn't seem to make much sense to me. If anything myspace, facebook, online downloads have torn down the monolithic power of the singles chart (and the big companies) and has made the music industry more accessible. If anything a meritocracy has been formed through these new methods of breaking into the industry so why the hubbub over the domination of the 'manufactured' over the Christmas singles chart? If artists can now make a living through making 'real' music surely it doesn't matter that pre-packaged pop still rides strong at Christmas?

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It's New Year's soon which I always find one of the most anti-climactic holidays, so in an attempt to curb this i'm having a house-party at my student residence and me and my mates are inviiting some of our home friends up which should be fun.

More importantly i'm looking forward to what 2010 will bring, totally does not feel 10 years since the turn of the millenium. I remember 'celebrating' it at one of the most dull-dinner parties I have ever been to (ok i was 11 and at my mum's friend's house and i've not been to all that many dinner parties but...) the end of the night could not coem quick enough and frankly all the millenium-bug hysteria had come to a big-fat and rather unexciting nothing. the potential apocalysm of the moment was not lost on me and a morbid part of me would quite liked to have been at the edn of time...

anyway it's not really new year, as i will be continuing on my third-year of my degree after it, which hardly feels like a departure at all, not least as the season shall be spent (or should anyway) going over notes for my 'special' (history dept. words not mine) subject and my dissertaion both of which carry into the next semester, a semester that my house-mate happily worked out for me would see me tested on 100 credits (i take 120 over the year) of this year... joy

BUT 2010 does hopefully signal some interesting times, Lady GaGa pretty much has 2009 sewn up will she last? (I hope so i've got tickets for March) I wonder who'll dominate the scene? The next UK General Election is due which will lead to all sorts of excitement. I'm largely a Labour supporter and no critic of Brown's - he's had to make some tough choices and some he's got some right and some wrong - he was probably the best man for the job. Personally I think Labour would do well to get David Milliband to lead the party, they might secure mroe than a hung Parliament that way and save us from Cameron's lack of direction. However, he might be reluctant, a failure in his first run could signal the end to his hopes of ever becoming PM, or so it seems to go these days...

a few thoughts...

I absolutely love this song at the moment and am listening to it non-stop:



It's the catchiest tune I’ve heard for a while and an phenomenal sample of Echo Beach

I also adore the new album from the Gossip, Music for Men. Beth Ditto once again fuses dancefloor pop-punk with a political message without coming over at all heavy-handed or preachy - a talent that no doubt made Standing In The Way of Control a favourite of the otherwise largely politically apathetic 'Skins generation'. The album's larger objective is to expose the privileged position that white, middle-class, straight men enjoy in our society (it goes deep kids, fight the power), but it is in the second single Love Long Distance and the phenomenal Vertical Rhythm that the Gossip's talents are best demonstrated. I always felt that Ditto's voice was the most distinctive of my generation and her soulful, strong-yet-world-weary vocals on both tracks allow the listener a level of empathy that is reminiscent of Dark Lines on the Standing in the Way of Control LP and as ever accompany the thumping beat perfectly to make it a thoroughly danceable tune if nothing else! Some have seen the Gossip as merely 'one-hit-wonder' but this follow up to their 2007 release (which is one of my favourite albums) surely discredits any such notion.

Along with Ditto, Lily Allen is holding the flag for the sisterhood with her latest single 22 and somewhat predictably I am rather taken by this little number too. Her vocals well reflect the sense of despair and injustice with which women yet to have bagged themselves a husband/long-term partner face when approaching 30; no longer considered prime-stock for the marriage market but also supposed to uphold a facade of strength in a society which with tells them they are to be iron-women of industry and independence whilst it worships still at the altar of the cult of motherhood and female domesticity. The lyrics are witty and well chosen, amongst a follow up album which hasn't as of yet grabbed me to the extent that Alright Still did.

Singles in my line of fire at the moment are Battlefield by Jordin Sparks and Soulja Boi’s Kiss me Thru the Phone. Sparks' comparison of love with war has to be the most contrived pop-music simile to date and frankly a little part of me dies when she suggests her boyfriend-come-nemesis should ‘go and get your armour’. What does that even mean? There’s more depth to your standard under 5s paddling pool than to this song, so I was very surprised to find it among this month’s Attitude magazine’s ‘Turn-Ons’, surely even the most stereotypically shallow of my brethren couldn’t actually enjoy this song, even on a level one might enjoy Britney etc. As for Soulja Boi’s Kiss me Thru the Phone here is a song that sounds like it was merely written so it could sell its own ringtone. I haven’t got anything against personalised ringtones, I don’t have one myself because I’m a bit of a miser, but at the risk of sounding middle-aged this merely appears to be a rather cynical commercial exercise, but then maybe it's a reflection of the extensive use of communication technology in our culture... no I’m not convinced either. I also take issue with the line ‘Baby I know that you like me, you my future wifey’. I sincerely hope that 'wifey' was only employed for reasons of poetic convenience; otherwise it is almost too offensive to countenance.

Something about being back at home politicises me, maybe it's the Daily Mail culture in my home time or maybe i have too much time on my hands left to thinking which turns me into a PC bore...


anyway kids that's all for now =)

Agnes Release Me

Absolutely LOVING this song at the moment, it was released last November apparently but I only recently heard it featured, as it was on a dance compilation, that I don't necessarily recommend. However this little gem is a ball of eurodance loveliness and has a bit of a 'Cher' feel to it (something I mean as a good thing - honest). It's set to become a dance classic I’m sure and would make an excellent summer #sigh# anthem (the term ‘anthem’ is SO overused I know). Anyway I recommend you take a listen as I can't get it out of my head!

Two La Roux posts in quick succession I know, but every time I listen to 'Quicksand', I keep hearing the lyircs to Prince's 'When Doves Cry' in my head alongside it, and just wondered if I was alone...?...

In anticipation of any potential 'La Roux vs Prince' remixes to emerge I of course reserve the rights to the creation of the idea... ;)

where the depth of your ignorance leaves you ashamed

Charlie Brooker's latest television offering comes in the form of the genius that is Newswipe. Exposing how ridiculous the news has become in his usual sarcastic manner the best bits of the first episode are when he demonstrates how we are shamed into keeping up with current events and how every insignificant event is now tied to the ‘credit crunch’. Here’s a taster but I fully recommend you download it on i-Player.

funny blog

she's mental

I kinda love her... ;)

http://french-graffiti.blogspot.com/

two hearts with accurate devotions

I saw La Roux a couple of weeks ago at our union’s indie night. They were one of the very few decent bands to play there (not many bands are prepared to play an event which costs £4 a ticket) and I thought they were absolutely amazing. I love Elly Jackson’s look, it’s quite androgynous and very reminiscent of Annie Lennox in her Eurhythmics days (before she took the weight of the world’s problems upon her own shoulders and became the female version of Bono). Recently I’ve become obsessed with ‘In for the Kill’ and particularly Annie Mac’s ‘mash-up edit -- as it’s called on YouTube. It’s essentially just a sped up version of the remix by Skream but I think its faster tempo helps to encapsulate the sense of urgency in the song. However, it’s definitely Jackson’s haunting voice that makes the song. It almost sounds like she sang it in a vacuum, physical impossibilities aside.

I have found watching Channel 4’s latest documentary series ‘Christianity: A History’ to be particularly interesting and thoughtful, presenting (although a rather simplistic) history of the impact of the rise and spread of Christianity throughout the world. However, I found the first episode at best faintly ridiculous and at worst somewhat insulting. Howard Jacobson’s premise seemed to be that Christianity was ashamed of its Jewish roots and had sewn anti-Semitism into its core beliefs and practices so as to shake off this connection. It essentially held the spread of Christianity responsible for the atrocities committed against Jewish people throughout history. Whilst everyone must acknowledge that much evil has been perpetrated against Jewish people in the name of Christ this is very different from holding the religion itself responsible for the murder of Jews over the centuries. He rightly noted that the development of the idea of the ‘blood libel’ was a despicable development of the Middle-Ages that created a doctrine which justified persecution, but essentially misunderstood why it emerged. Medieval anti-Semitism wasn’t about Jewishness or Judaism but about difference and all people who were marked out from society in one form or another (from heretics to lepers) became the victims of a society that struggled to create uniformity and that eliminate threats to this ideal. This is not to excuse attacks and pogroms against Jews, but to highlight that it was their difference rather than the specificity of their religion that made them a target. Jacobson throughout the program also seemed to suggest that Christians should continually refer to their religion through a Jewish paradigm, forgetting that whilst in many ways Jesus did not intend to create a new religion, His reforms were perhaps too extensive for those who believed in Him and His teachings to remain inside mainstream Judaism and that a new religion was indeed formed, with its own beliefs, practices and objectives. The idea that Christians should persistently refer back to Judaism in the practice of their own religion seems absurd to me, not least as it does not hold the same things to be important. Christianity is its own religion and differs radically from Judaism in many respects and so cannot refer to Judaism at every point. The fact that Jesus was Jewish and indeed that Christianity is in some measure a reformed Judaism is important and central to the religion as I understand it but doesn’t mean Christians must take heed of Judaism at every turn because it has developed its own priorities and its own faith. This does not mean that Christianity and Christians are ashamed of their Jewish roots, nor does it mean that the religion itself has adopted anti-Semitism so as to define itself. In that Christian education I did receive in a household of atheists with Presbyterian roots, I would argue that in many ways I was influenced much more by anti-Catholic ideas than anti-Jewish ones. Jesus’ own Judaism was important as were tenants and teachings such as the Ten Commandments and I was made aware of the Jewish legacy in Christianity, a legacy that was neither something of shame nor something that was hidden or underplayed. However, it remained a fact that it was where Jesus’ teachings departed from Judaism which marked one out as a Christian and defined the religion. I, and I doubt many Christians are or were, wasn’t brought up to understand my own religion as defined through hatred of Jews or Judaism. Thus to some extent Jacobson’s ideas were offensive to Christians, reducing their religion to mere Jew-hating. Its tone was also rather patronising towards Christianity making it appear as merely a flippant offshoot of Judaism that does not properly adhere to its tenants, rather than a complex and developed faith in its own right.

Kidda - Under the Sun

Having finally worked out what that song from the bacardi advert was, i thought i'd share it with you. Kidda's Under the Sun is everything good about dance music. Fantastically up-tempo and upliftingly joyous:

Duffy - Rain on Your Parade

I’ve got to start this blog with the mandatory face-saving statement, declaring that ‘I’m not really into her other stuff but…’ so that you might take me seriously (and hopefully not judge me too harshly) but I really like Duffy’s latest single ‘Rain on Your Parade.’ As coffee-table and ‘Winehouse photocopy’ as she might be, the girl-from-the-Valley’s current offering has me hooked. The lyrics are not exactly dextrous and it certainly doesn’t mark much of a divergence for Duffy, it is essentially another song about heartbreak, although this time girl bites back! (That was said in jest… obviously…) What is perhaps sounding like a potentially rather wet answer to the ‘jilted in love but coming out fighting’ genre of Destiny Child’s back catalogue actually has a vengeful, malevolent tone which is captivating. I have always had a penchant for the theatrical, something that undoubtedly bodes well for ‘Rain on Your Parade’ as it wouldn’t be out of place sung by a musical villain plotting retribution, and to this extent Duffy fully delivers with this catchy release.

So yeah I like it.

Shut up.

vicious circle

No one expects Israel to stand by and do nothing whilst its people are attacked, and indeed the missiles launched at Israel by Hamas for the past 6 months are wholly reprehensible but then so to is Israel’s reaction, which will once again only escalate violence in the region. Too often those of us who question Israel’s actions are charged with either anti-Semitism or naivety as to the character and aims of political and military Palestinian groups such as Hamas. I certainly do not question the right of Israel to exist and am under no illusions about the potentially oppressive nature of the Hamas regime, but this does not excuse Israel’s actions over the last week. I, like many others, welcomed Barak Obama’s condemnation of the Hamas sponsored attacks upon Sderot recently, however, Israel’s reaction as it always is, was to create a humanitarian disaster. The Israeli military has seemingly made little attempt to target Hamas military bases and indeed the strikes at 11.30am on Saturday 27th December 2008 were implemented, as far as I can see, only to spread fear. The killing of 290 by Monday 29th and wounding of 700 appears to be a rather heavy-handed response to hundreds of rockets sent into Israel from Hamas militants which killed one Israeli in six months. The presumption that all Palestinians are naturally Hamas loving terrorists is of course a ridiculous notion, and yet it is consistently one, which the Israeli government follows to justify the killing of innocent civilians, adults and children. The Palestinians do of course have those reactionary militants who wholly oppose the state of Israel but so too are there reactionary Israelis who oppose a Palestinian one. The Two-State Solution is the internationally accepted answer to the Israel/Palestine problem and yet the Israeli government only ever half-heartedly endorses it. From the building of a wall that does not follow the internationally agreed upon boarder between the two states in the West Bank (an area they have been occupying illegally for 41 years) to the blockades, and trade embargos on Gaza and the targeting of those buildings which would have made the Palestinians there ready for state-hood over the last 6 days, Israel has hardly demonstrated itself to be a cooperative and compromising force. By attacking Gaza in this way they are not eliminating support for Hamas. Indeed they run the risk of heightening it (most Palestinians in the Gaza strip are not affiliated to any Palestinian political group). Hamas will appear to offer the Palestinians a strong front to Israel, which now appears to be entirely hostile to the Palestinian cause. A front that will seem hard to ignore given the often corrupt and incompetent alternative in Fatah that many see now as submitting to Israel at every opportunity. Thus the Israeli air-strikes on Gaza will only result in vengeful terrorist attacks upon innocent Israeli citizens, adults and children. Israel will conveniently forget, however, how it slaughtered hundreds of innocents in Gaza and refuse to work with the Palestinians, particularly Hamas. What Israel forgets is that whether or not one likes the powers-that-be with whom one is attempting to reach a peace, one has no choice but to work with them particularly if they have been elected. Only by showing full support for the two-state solution will Israel achieve the peace it has been looking for. This is not demonstrated through iron-fist policies, which alienate the people of Palestine and only continue the vicious circle in which the Middle-East crisis has been embroiled for 40 years.

...now there's a temporary solution

6 posts on one day after a massive gap between my first posts and today's - i'm a binge blogger :-S

The Devil's Whore

I just felt I had to note the fantastic drama, broadcast on Channel 4 that was The Devil’s Whore. A fresh take on dramas on the English Civil War it presented the story of the fictional Angelica Fanshawe and her many adventures. Married three times, once to a close cousin, friend and aristocrat, then to a Leveller and then to a reformed mercenary soldier with a heart-of-gold. It all seems rather far-fetched but was highly successful, not only being acted well but also I feel for readdressing commonly held ideas about the Civil War and that arch-hypocrite Oliver Cromwell. Too often Oliver Cromwell is remembered as some sort of classic English liberator, an all too simplistic, if not wholly untrue, depiction of the man. Cromwell was a religious radical and fought for freedom of worship and the rights of Parliament only as far as they suited him. This is well demonstrated in the drama where Cromwell betrays all those who had supported him and became King in all but name making a mockery of all those who sacrificed themselves for freedom from suppression and tyranny. Don’t get me wrong I’m not about to portray Charles I as some sort of saint (although I believe he has been canonised by the Anglican Church for defending its marriage of catholic and reformed principles against rabid puritanical Protestantism – no I’m not convinced either) but at least he – as shown in The Devil’s Whore – is a man of his principles, no mater how repugnant they may have been, unlike Cromwell who sold his down the river at the first opportunity to exert full power and authoritarianism. It is of course folly to make moral judgements about the past, we can never wholly understand those people we study, but Oliver Cromwell’s popular reputation is undeservingly good for a man who was essentially the English Early Modern equivalent of Colonel Gaddafi or President Musharraf. For those of you who are turned off by such affected debates on dead white men, the drama had little of this and married love stories and great battle sequences well so I can recommend you 4OD it!

Bush - urgh -

Bush brushed off the recent shoe-pummelling he got saying "All I can report is it is a size 10” and hailing it as an expression of democracy in Iraq - moron.

I once laughed at 'Bushisms' in my rather Guardian-ista patronising way. I now bear a bitter resentment, finding them mildly insulting.

Father it has been three months since my last confession...

I love Christmas songs! There I’ve said it now and can finally embrace myself ;)
Everything from 'God Bless Ye Merry Gentlemen' to 'All I want for Christmas is You' brings the biggest grin to my face and makes me incomprehensibly giddy! Perhaps it's my love of Christmas generally that makes it so, the cold weather only makes staying warm inside with a snowball all the more enjoyable and as a confirmed glutton I cannot get enough of Christmas dinner - with all the trimmings! However, I have a great love affair with Christmas songs of all types and genres. Whilst writing my final essay of 2008 (and listening to Radio 1 on the library computers) 'Fairytale of New York' came down my headphones - it was the beginning of Christmas for me (f**k the coke advert, the song's a classic!). Yes they're cheesy and often unbelievably contrived but they take me back to a time when Christmas was... wait for the clichéd description... magical. Only being 19 years old (although I’m very much on the verge of a quarter-life crisis) such a time was not all that far away but a Pan-esque fear of growing up - or is that of embracing responsibility #vomit# - makes me run to these songs at Yuletide to make me feel about 5 again. So shout your favourite Christmas songs loud and shout 'em proud!

SantoGOLD!

A recent questionnaire circulated at my university asked some students to vote for their favourite album of the year. Whilst the nominees certainly deserved (or at least I imagine they were, some of them, I must shamefully admit I hadn’t heard of) their place on the list, I felt that a major omission was Santogold’s debut album. This is without doubt my album of the year. Track after track demonstrates her lyrical dexterity wowed me to such an extent that I could complain the album wasn’t long enough. In some ways the album does appear to end too soon and the final (non-bonus) track didn’t leave me wholly satisfied with my musical fix but then that can surely only be a shrewd commercial move come the arrival of her next album. All the same the album delighted me at every turn, but the stand-out track for me was ‘You’ll Find a Way’. It achieved that musical feat of encapsulating the psychological ‘fight or flight’ complex. This might appear an odd comment to make about a track (panic attacks might not seem to characterise a good song) but I definitely mean it as a compliment. It’s the sense of urgency in the song that I love and which makes it my favourite on the album, it runs with the listener and raises their heart-rate, these all seem good aspects to me! This all seems to be turning a little pretentious in its language but the album is amazing and I would urge you, if you haven’t already, to buy and listen to it. I await her (difficult?) second album and hope it doesn’t disappoint.