Showing posts with label Brexit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brexit. Show all posts

Saturday 28 September 2019

Strictly Not Strictly


I do find Strictly Come Dancing as tedious as Come Dancing was, but that is life, we like different things and why I am not watching the big telly at the moment and writing this post. I would rather do anything (within reason) than watch a Dancing program.

The contestants all work hard and I appreciate this but they really don't catch my attention so I would rather write , listen to music , watch other TV and TED Talks  on my computer or portable device. I loved Groucho Marx' quote about TV:

"I find television very educational , every time it's switched on I go into another room and read a book"

That's roughly what he said and is both funny and educational in itself. It's great when things cause you to do something that results in the creation of something. So Strictly caused me to think about things and write this and watch an educational TED talk about satire today which is both informative and funny and educates you with some great ideas by Patrick Chappatte , so I've included it below. It includes some excellent cartoons taking on Trump, Brexit and more.

The song I was going to include is obviously "Come Dancing" by The Kinks, so I hope you are having a great Saturday night whatever you are watching.


Wednesday 19 June 2019

Another Rainy Day


So another day where I don't have to water the garden. One the things about the Facebook ban is the fact you cannot communicate with anyone unless you play a game with them (I can message people in Scrabble but as I only have two people I play with not very good and I can contact both of those outside the game). A friend messaged me asking if I was OK but I cannot reply in Messenger. Just a warning make sure you have your import friends phone numbers or emails, and, although it may open you up to spam, put some alternate contact on your Facebook profile.

Today is grey and hardly uplifting, but I am being positive, have a course in Durham tomorrow and I see by daughters for a Father's Day get together tomorrow at Bar Loco which is always good.

I've just finished watching Chernobyl, an absolutely stunning mini series, and was struck by the similarities between the Soviet Government of that time and our current Tory Government with Brexit. Both refusing to acknowledge reality so their version of events is the one that's pushed. Having said that I've worked with a few managers who have had that attitude and one once said to me, "You might be right but I am in charge". They crashed and burned.

So what should we play this morning? What about "Go" by Public Service Broadcasting as it is a huge injection of positivity guaranteed to lift you out of any apathetic or lethargic state.

Yes we will GO!

Sunday 5 May 2019

5AM Sunday Morning


This is ridiculous. I should be asleep. My body is tired, my brain is tired but my mind is wide awake. So I wasn't sure what to do, so like always when I am not sure what to do, I thought I would come an blog about it. It is could that I can do this and know that I am compos mentis enough to string a few words together, but it is a bit of a pain when I just want to sleep.

I had been dreaming and was in a queue at Boots for some tissues in possibly Leeds, and the serving person was chatting with other servers and trying to serve others before me so I decided to go elsewhere and vaguely remember some huge indoor area like a market or mall  before waking again and deciding to maybe read a bit. I've finished "The White Wolf's Son" by Michael Moorcock and enjoyed the all over the the place swirl of the writing, making for a thoroughly enjoyable read with lots of flashbacks to earlier themes as well as referencing the a area of North Yorkshire where I enjoy going for a relaxing holiday.

I has a slideshow of my last two holidays in Settle and am using the photographs as my computer wallpaper and every one gives me a lift, it is a wonderfully relaxing place. You can see most of the photographs here if you are logged into Facebook.

I'm now starting "How To Be Right: … in a world gone wrong" by James O'Brien which addresses the situation in post brexit-vote / Trump UK via encounters with callers on his radio show. Some of the people he interviews are polarised by the media and unfortunately I hear these sort of things every day, but it is a great read to provide an insight into what is happening in society today. That reminds me of this excellent TED talk by Carol Cadwalladr about Facebook's involvement in allowing untruths about the EU to be spread to push the Brexit agenda.

The music I've chosen for this is the excellent piece of social commentary from the latest Specials album "Embarrassed By You" and I was surprised to see the "Stereotypical" collection which is sitting not two feet from where I am typing going for £225 on Amazon, but as I always say, it's only worth that if you have a buyer.

So enjoy your Bank Holiday Sunday everybody.

Friday 29 March 2019

Today Is So Gorgeous ...


...that I went out in the garden and refilled the bird feeders before seven am. When I first started blogging that would have been enough for a post, and as it's more like a diary than anything else, it should really be enough for a post now, but although my posts are still bite sized, one sentence is never enough.

Lots of friends start blogs and come in with a big excellent piece and then that's it. On the one hand they may think that's enough or they may just realise what they have let themselves in for. Here's a few:




These are just a few that seem to have been abandoned, but what they contain is still worth taking time to read and enjoy.

So yes a very short post and I'll leave you with "Eye Know" by De La Soul  because it just came on 6Music and sort of goes with the mood.

Have a great Friday everybody we aren't leaving the EU today and hopefully the whole Brexit thing will crawl away into a corner and die.

Wednesday 20 March 2019

Nightmiddling and The Spring Equinox


I woke up at 2:30 this morning and was wide awake. I had been really tired at 9:00 last night , and had a low blood sugar reading which may have been something to do with me feeling sleep, but I thought at 2:30 I might just write a blog post. Then I thought, no I will try and go back to sleep, and obviously that worked because when the alarm went off it was very unwelcome indeed.

I've been advised by my doctor to store up insulin because of the uncertainty of supply with the possibility of brexit (which I hope crashes and burns as it's driven by xenophobic self servers) so I have reduced my dose, so last night's low blood sugar reading did come as a surprise.

Today I can have a shower as the guys at HandymanNewcastle came and sorted the shower and next week will be sorting out a few other little jobs.

So to tie in with the fact that today is the Spring Equinox I will share the opening piece from Jean-Michel Jarre's "Equinoxe" album. I always thought that "Oxygene" was incredibly pedestrian with awful artwork, although listening now it's not as bad as I thought at the time.

When I heard "Equinoxe" I was shocked because it was such a step up, in my opinion, from "Oxygene". I still play the album a lot and noticed that there is an "Equinoxe Infinity" album, which may be worth investigating, I particularly like the cover of it with the Stone Watchers. I'm also tempted by the CD compilation "Planet Jarre" but I will hold out on that one for the time being.

I've always liked Jean-Michel Jarre , and his reputation went up several notches when he staged the Millenium concert in Egypt which you can watch nearly five hours of , complete with penguins here ,  I mean who does he thing he is , The Grateful Dead?

ANyway enjoy your Wednesday.


Saturday 17 November 2018

We Want Our Empire Back!


After finishing Michael Moorcock's "History of The Runestaff" I've continued with the follow up trilogy "Chronicles of Castle Brass". The first is set in a post apocalyptic world (so post that the human race is now functioning again) with the British Empire re imagines as a mad, evil, ever expansive war mongers (which really is close to what it really was, and at the start of the next book there is a resurgence of desire for a return to the "Dark Empire" which closely reminds of the brexit mindset of isolationism while expecting everyone to do what they want.

The best analogy for brexit is the Netflix one from David Osler (@finance_LL):

"I'm going to cancel Netflix and negotiate with each film producer separately, to get the best deal for me and my family #Brexit" 

A Little of the genius of David Osler
 That's it in a nutshell, I don't need to say anymore. You can read more here.  and some of his tweets you can see to the right. Brilliant.

I still haven't got Netflix and was thinking of the time it takes if you want to download a series from an illegal site, with the risks involved, maybe two or three hours. For £5.99 you can get a month of Netflix and watch as much as you want. An hour of my time is worth a lot more than £5.99 so really it's no contest, I will be subscribing eventually.

That's enough of that, today I have to go and pick up some Bowie vinyl that the GPO decided to deliver at mid day on Friday and I do intend to have a most relaxing weekend although that seldom happens and there will be things to do.


 have just started the last episode of series three of "Black Sails" so I have plenty of ways of spending my time.

I was going to choose a Bowie piece as I'd mentioned him, but thinking on "Black Sails" we'll go for some Alestorm to wake us all up.

Have a good Saturday.

Saturday 23 December 2017

Christmas Eve Eve


Well tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and it's just an excuse to post another vaguely seasonal song, though as I write this I'm not sure exactly what it will be.  I watched the last leg and they pointed out that there are 14 million people in this country in poverty, that's over 20% which shows how completely incompetent our government are.

Did you know that the  two most important things that leavers want from Brexit are Blue Passports and The Death Penalty, and Th eDaily Mail are having a meltdown because the new passports may not be produced in the UK.


I've given some stuff to our local foodbank and it pains me that I have had to do that., but I hope my contribution can help to brighten a few people's Christmas, but it's what happens after that.

Anyway enough of my gloom at the state of things, and I am ridiculously tired, so bed is calling me. I've enjoyed a reasonably relaxing day meeting with my daughter and son in law and discussing sound and TV with them while drinking tea.

It's dark and windy out and for #SuddenlyItsChristmas I think I will choose something not by  Jethro Tull, we should have Bob Dylan's piece of seasonal silliness "Must Be Santa Claus", sleep well my friends.

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Post Office and Customs Tarot and a 747 - #ALifeInNumbers #47



Yesterday I got home and saw a note through the door. from the Post Office. There was apcakage for me but I have to pay £8 Customs Duty and an £8 fee to the Post Office to administer the Customs Duty. This is on to of the £37 I paid for the item , which is a Goth Rock Icon Tarot, which looks absolutely beautiful, so yes a lot of money for a small package but I've just had a thought, if Brexit goes through there will be a hell of a lot more instances of this I think.

Psychobilly Tarot
Still, at the weekend I will have the thing in my hands, so I am looking forward to that. I don't know much about Tarot, but have a beautiful Psychobilly Tarot set. These are both limited editions and things of total beauty.

Anyway we are up to Number 47 in #ALifeInNumbers and again  this is a slight kludge which was bound to happen the further we get from Number One.

I'm still disappointed I forgot to include "Map Ref. 41°N 93°W" by Wire for number 41, but hey we are up to 47 and for this I am going for "747" by Joe Louis Walker, so enjoy this slice of Rhythm and Blues as you venture out this Tuesday.

Monday 7 November 2016

Toot and Smile - #ALifeInNumbers #46



This is the first blog post I've done since I got home. I try to keep things positive, but I am sad that Brexit and Donald Trump are causing many people to think aggressive bullying, racism and misogyny , as well as the demonisation of the weak and poor is now ok. Farage, the tories and Trump do it so it must be OK.. Well you know what, it isn't, and I hope I am never brought that low.

Anyway I want to be positive, and I will be, despite the storm clouds there are lots of great things to look forward to, like spending time with friends and loved ones, getting out to great gigs (although Blyth is a bit awkward for The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, still one of my favourite live bands), and in Newcastle we have so much to enjoy and savour.

I am thinking of my friend Craig who is going through a difficult time at the moment, but he is the most loving, positive , inclusive person you could meet and he is the sort of person that makes life worth enjoying. We need to all follow that example, put a smile on other people's faces, that is a great way to live.

I've just realised that I missed at least one great song from my list because my list was on my home PC. Bugger.

Anyway we hit Number 46 and it's a bit of a kludge but it's "54-46 Was My Number" by Toots and The Maytals, and it's an excuse to fit one Toots song in. I found this live cut , but click on the title if you want to download the studio version.

Anyway that is Monday over with, enjoy your week my friends.