TONY JUDT Says....

....“Those who assert that 'the system' is at fault,or who see mysterious manoeuvrings behind every political misstep, have little to teach us. But the disposition to disagree, to reject and to dissent-however irritating it may be when taken to extremes-is the very lifeblood of an open society. We need people who make a virtue of opposing mainstream opinion. A democracy of permanent consensus will not long remain a democracy.” - in ILL FARES THE LAND

HAVING A FIGHT ON BOXING DAY!

Members of Parliament mass-debate, watching porn at the taxpayers expense. Another sex scandal, another distraction as Benefits freeze in cold Brexit times. The poor get no more, but will have to pay more if the food banks don't provide, and the wankers talk of social mobility when the reality is an increase in the numbers of the young and old living in poverty. 

A Nobel Peace Prize winner presides of ethnic cleansing, as a Racist, Sexist Bigot leads the so called free world. This isn’t fake news, this is the fucking truth! It's a crazy world, cos those that run it are crazy people with egos driven by power and greed.

Populist fuelled self protection and self-preservation. On one level isolationism and inward looking politics, but on an economic level Donald Trump, with his roots in business knows that there's still more money to be made and an ideology to be sold.

Tears are wept across the world after Donald Trump declares that the US recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. There's nothing like being diplomatic when it comes to the geo-politricks in the Middle East, the same goes for North Korea. After a year why has no-one assassinated this Global Village Idiot? Well it's not time to cut the puppets strings yet, he's still got a job to do for the powers and forces that really run the world, because there's still money to be made.

Robert Mugabe, removed from power with help from the Chinese and other powers. New markets and supply’s can be forged and mined; minerals for the mobile phones that have taken over the lives of people across the world.

It's time for intervention in the peoples heads before they surrender their minds to accepting everything they have been told and are continued being told; packaged in the wrapping of progress when Smart Phones make people thick!

How much longer will people buy the shit that the idea of having economic choices means people are free. The poor have no choice! And if those that can afford to have a choice thought about it and realised that their Monthly Credit card and mortgage repayments were shackles that kept them chained to the machine sentenced to either a 9 to 5 stretch, flexitime or working from home in a prison cell, with no time for anything else. Children farmed out to to Nursery's and Day Care Centres, cos one person can't pay all the bills. Benefits for mum's to return to work. Who am I to judge? Because we all make our choices, or take our chances!

A few years back people were told Diesel Cars are good, and just like good consumers they succumbed to the seduction of car adverts a reality where Sex sells sports cars to men with small penises. Dissatisfaction guaranteed, because now the people who bought into the idea are now gonna be charged more in congestion charges as diesel is now become bad!

Free market global economics with its liberal checks and balances have left the world unbalanced. Where the few have a lot and the many have nothing. The someone’s get something for nothing when money is banked in offshore tax havens. The more the quantity the less the quality some make do and mend others discard and spend. The more you have the more you don't really need.

Affluence and opulence shoved down peoples throats in magazines and on TV; The lifestyles of the rich and famous; ideals for the people to attain to Champagne lifestyle on Lemonade wages; credit cards provide for what people have been deceived to think that they need. It's all up for sale.

Grenfell Tower stands; a burnt out shell in London’s richest borough where the poor paid a high price for the riches vanity. Royal Family porn throughout the media of both the living and dead, another wedding to distract the nation, another royal mouth for the people to feed, but hey they are good for Ukplc as they bring in the dollars and yens. A nation seduced by a new breed of media savy royalty and their middle England normality. The only say they'll ever have is the one they are allowed to have, another bunch of puppets in a higher powers hands.

Terrorist attacks; Here's a couple of recent news stories 1) Those that committed the acts of terror in Manchester and London this year were known to MI5. 2) MI5 foiled a plot to kill the Prime Minister. What does this tell us, well....1) They are doing a shit job! 2) They are doing a great job, or 3) We shouldn't believe a word MI5 or the media are telling us. Or possibly even 4) That it's all one big conspiracy that has been going on and is still going on post 9/11. Go figure!

Conflicts and Wars across the world. The displaced people denied by those that deplaced them. Dead children and drowned babies, collateral damage, population control, humanity starts to go AWOL charities tug at heart strings and bank accounts to pay the price for governments involvement in the massacres and atrocities. The Armed rebels and Foreign Army’s are firing guns and dropping bombs supplied by the West. Both sides are fighting for power with the arms manufacturers greed. Conflict equals cash and death sells on the battlefields of Political and Religious ideology.

I'm puzzled. All these puzzle-books, brainteasers that people do. If they are developing their brainpower, why are many of them thick? It's all about thinking....The brain should be used to think out of the box we have been put in.  Who benefits, who pays, and what's the cost. Follow the money! Who really is in control? The puppets caught with their trousers down who lie and say what they want the people to hear to get their vote, or the big businesses that people buy from.

JD HANGOVER - Self-titled E.P (*A REVIEW*)

No digital recording techniques here, just 100% pure analogue, just like Rock'n'Roll used to sound; Rough, Raw, Reverberating and Real. A simple drum machine keeps the basic beat going as the guitars slide and scratch their way into your skull. Spit dribbling vocals drool and drawl  the nightmare tales that make up JD Hangovers self-titled EP.  It  is collection of six songs all delivered with a mean, moody, minimal and monotone menace. It's....“a deadly wasted sound.” Think Primal Scream, Suicide and Lightnin' Hopkins and then some, because JD Hangover have created and crafted their own sound; This is music to make Jools Holland shit his pants! Go check 'em out at their facebook page. You wont be disappointed!

REMEMBRANCE....LEST WE FORGET!

Words....

A GUILTY SILENCE TO THE USE OF STATE VIOLENCE / LOOKING THROUGH A LENS AS PEOPLE ARE ETHNICALLY CLEANSED / IT'S NOT PROJECT FEAR IT'S REALITY / ANOTHER UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH THEY DON'T WANT THE PEOPLE TO SEE / STITCHED TOGETHER WITH DIVIDE AND RULE / IT WOULD FALL APART IF THE PEOPLE WEREN'T BEING FOOLED / EVERYONE'S WATCHING WHAT THEY CAN SAY / THE THOUGHT POLICE ARE ON THEIR WAY / PROMISED LANDS HAVE BEEN BUILT ON LIES / FROM BRITAIN TO KENYA AND CATALONIA //// DEMOCRACY DIES !!//

A Thought for today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, then the day after that, then the next day, and the next day....

FIGHT THE POWER!

GENERAL RANTINGS AND PRIVATE RAGEINGS!

In a scared new world disorder the suffering and pain of others is also entertainment and pleasure for others, people seek solace that their live may be shit, but it's not as shit as others. You've been framed by the police interceptor nightmare neighbour from hell! Reality shows just how fucked up things have become. A hundred+ TV Channels 24/7 viewing. The Technological Valium and chewing gum for the eyes has made people blind and turned them stupid they see and hear nothing. Even the so called fake news is fake; statistics are interpreted and manipulated to support whatever narrative they are being used to support.

Brexit-Smegxit; Lies and more lies brings the truth closer, that the powers that we let be haven't got a fucking clue about any Brexit Deal, they are making this shit up as they go along, and at the end of the negotiations the people are gonna be expected to live in it. Hey Ho Lets go Remoaners of the world unite we have nothing left to lose because the power of the media and the manipulating politicians created and then preyed on the fear and ignorance of people who voted everything away in a belief that Britain is so Great we can go it alone, well here's some news for you....we can't and history will show that this was the case. Truth or lies, fact or fiction, it's all a mass of contradictions.

THE CRAVATS - Dustbin Of Sound (*A REVIEW*)

Uncompromising and unconventional, a mangled musical master piece. This is The Cravats first album in 37 years, and the 13 tracks stand up there with anything for example Precinct, Your Driving Me, Rub Me Out and many more that The Shend and his cohorts in The Cravats have recorded over the years. Original sax player Svor Naan has returned to the fold for their latest mishmashup. It is a pulsating  riot in toytown: wound up and wired, weird and wonderful; the saxophone squeaks, squeals and squalls. Guitars slice'n'dice as the rhythms twist, turn and throb. Dustbin of Sound takes the listener to a place of post punk peculiarity, avant guard, jazz and mutant rock'a'billy. Dark, dense, and almost gothic in places with abstract and surreal lyrical statements that fit, reflect and comment on the mixed up and messed up 21^st Century world that we are living in where “Jingo Bells go clang clang clang” This is excentric Rock'n'Roll at its most excellent.

If you like The Cravats you'll love it, if its all new to you because you fancied something a bit different, you'll love it. If you're into; The Fall, Hawkwind, Nick Cave or Frank Zappa, you've guessed it....you'll love it. Available Now on Overground Records.

In Englands Green and (un)pleasant Land Post Brexit and in The Wake of Recent Terror Attacks....

SURPRISE,SURPRISE

HATE CRIMES RISE.

DIVIDE AND RULE. 

SURPRISE,SURPRISE

PEOPLE ARE FOOLS!

RANDOM, RAPID, RETRO-GRADE, RANTING, REACTION!

We need to maintain the momentum, says he who hasn't posted a word for a good many weeks.

Any way here's a few thoughts about a few things since the last time.

The Conservatives may have won the battle, but the war is still being fought!

There are different and alternative ways of thinking....Humans have two ears and one mouth; we need to listen twice as much as we talk, and try and find some common ground

The DUP; a political party stuck in the dark ages with archaic views on homosexuality and abortion. During the election campaign JC was crucified for having talked to the IRA, I'm talking Jeremy Corbyn here not Jesus Christ. (although some might say there are similarities.) Beard, the saviour of the dispossessed and downtrodden.

A burnt out tower block in West London stands as a legacy and symbol to the cost of free market global capitalism. From the charred remains of the economic migrants living in poverty on the 25^th floor, while across the road others live in luxury to the penny pinching council and profiteering contractors and manufacturers who for reasons of beautification clad a block of flats with flammable material. Capitalism Kills! and it's the poor that always die!

A Prime Minister so out of touch that by the time she announces financial support for Grenfell Tower survivors the community have already just given and pledged the same amount, and had mountains of clothes and supply’s donated by people from across the country. Power to the people! And Fuck the power!

Misinformation about the numbers of dead, the local people weren't stupid, they knew how many people where really living there. Residents concerns about safety were ignored, all in London’s richest borough

More terror on the streets enemy’s from within and enemy’s from without. Cars, sulphuric acid and mopeds; new weapons of choice.

Discontent is growing. Public sector workers are better paid than those in the private sector; Divide and rule, don't be fooled.

We are being sold our own slavery if we are dumb enough to buy it. DNA Databases, the stupid fools buy into it; Ancestory.com have a kit available (at a price no doubt) so that people can use it to trace their family history through a world wide....database of everyone who has signed up for the service's dna. Insurance company Aviva have a 'smart phone' app that monitors how save a person drives in order to save themselves money on car insurance. Homes are secured by cameras that watch our every move, Head cams record journeys and computers, mobile phones and social media hide no secrets. Total Surveillance and Total Control! What price freedom?

Immigrants are still drowning and wars keep raging. Yemen, Ukraine, Syria. North Korean Dicktator Kim Yong ill keeps firing off Unclear Warheads at a rapid rate. It's all a bit unstable

Brexit negotiations begin, can't say I've got a good feeling about the outcome in two years time of these talks. NO WAY TO NO DEAL! Should the people get another roll of the dice when the deal has been decided, is it what they voted for? Is hard enough or is it too soft? and will we be able to stop Johnny Foreigner from crossing our borders! Because that's what the bottom line will be....Immigration and that's when the trouble will start unless we get a grip on the Racist dicks that seek to fuck up our society. YOU HAVE A CHOICE!

DO THE RIGHT THING....VOTE LEFT!

The Media manipulate and manufacture fear. Terror threat critical, Troops on the Streets. The Government cares about kids when they are blown up, but wants to stop free school meals and Youth Services are cut back. Don't fear the(ir) fear It is known that psychologically it is easier to control people if they are scared. Interesting times continue, as it all explodes in the middle of a General Election campaign, one in which if the Conservatives win by a huge majority will see Britain turn into a one party state, the media once again manipulate and manufacture. Bullshit broadcasts blind the already partially sighted. The politicians promises will manifest into lies when they get into power. It all comes down to trust and who the people belief will protect their self interests and beliefs the most. I hope enough people don't vote Tory, A Conservative consensus would see our freedoms taken away in the name of democracy, and more of our money being used to pay for this while the railways grind to a halt and the NHS falls sick. It's about the policies not the people. Strong stable leadership, or Labour co-operation, policies for the few, or for the many? Teresa May or Jeremy Corbyn? No...it's about the party; one that is for the few or one that is for the many! Together we are stronger, and don't let the media tell you anything else. If people really looked, they would see that there is more that unites us than divides us. We have more in common than the powers that we let be would like us to think we have. Divided we are ruled, together we make the rules!

Once again the British Security Services let a terrorist escape their sights, this happened on the Tory's watch, it also would appear that they haven't used special powers to 'keep out' terrorists; Temporary Exclusion Orders have only been used once to stop Jihadists returning from Libya and Syria entering Britain. How do the Conservative Party address these facts? They attack Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Dianne Abbott for talking to the IRA, (back in the day when terrorist left messages warning of an attack.) really, well I've got news.... the Northern Island Peace process didn't happen without all concerned parties putting aside their differences and talking. Our strong and stable leadership doesn't sound very strong and stable when in the wake of the recent attack in Manchester it accuses Labour leaders of being terrorist apologists, rather than admit their own failings in doing nothing to protect it's own citizens, or are some attacks seen as inevitable and the victims just collateral damage when there aren't the resources to watch all those suspected of being Radical Islamists, then just to complete some strange circle Internment is suggested as a means to control the terror threat, yeah look how well that worked at Longkesh in Northern Ireland.

Intern them and have troops on the streets is that really their answer? and the Conservatives say the Labour party that wants to take Britain back to the 1970's.

WHERE WERE YOU HIDING WHEN THE STORM BROKE?

ARE YOU PART OF THE PROBLEM OR PART OF THE SOLUTION?  EVERYONE WANTS AN EASY LIFE, BUT....THERE COMES A TIME TO TAKE  A STAND.... THE CLOCK'S TICKING AND THE ALARM WILL BE GOING OFF, SO WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!!

SOME THOUGHTS ON SOME THINGS!

A check up from the neck up. If the health of a nation can be judged by the rate of suicides, then we are not in a very good place; According to Gov.uk in May 2016 they were are at their highest for 20 years. I don't think things have got any better for the British people, cos that was before Brexit, Trump, more terror, Syria, North Korea etc, etc, so who knows how many more people have ended it all, with feelings of alienation and anomie. Due to social stigma the recorded stats for suicides are also a lot lower. In Jan 2017 some sections of the media said it was a 'national crisis' as miss recording of stats was hiding the full extent of suicide in Britain. In March 2017, prior to President Trump there was a report that said the USA was facing an epidemic of “deaths of despair.”

So there you go the pursuit of total free market capitalism with it's focus on individualism and competition kills.... as suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness!

£12 million of British tax payers money has been spent on the hunt for Madeline Macann, all because a couple of selfish middle class parents didn't look after their child, she wasn't stolen, they just cared more about themselves, and as a result during all the economic hard times the people have been paying for this couples mistake. Most decent people would have said enough is enough, the money could be spent for the good of a lot more people than just us, but hey who said the Mccanns were decent people, because if they were then they wouldn't have left their child alone while they went to stuff their faces. They are the epitome of what has been wrong with this country for the last ten years; selfish, indulgent, inward looking and a sense of over importance.

There are two sides for the few or for the many. The individual or the collective, but it will always be about the money and how to distribute it public or private. Work together or get torn apart. The individual has ruled for too long. Time for a collective reaction and some action. Fuck the few and up the many! We've been shafted for far too long now!

As our leaders take us into Brexit negotiations, they still believe that they are gonna be in control of the table with their no deal is better than a bad deal for Britain attitude. Well I've got news....they aint and it wont be! Teresa May declares the forthcoming General Election’s gonna be a “Brexit election” and promptly none of the parties say anything, it's all about the NHS, Taxes etc, well I've got more news, there wont be much money for anything if we don't get a good deal sorted out with the EU They can try and get our votes with promises of increased funding for this and that and having to have a strong economy, but with what? and from where, when for the next few years we don't know were the pennies and pounds are gonna be coming from. What about the shortfall in funding that we used to receive from Europe? If during this election campaign no-one addresses the elephant in the room that is Brexit then we will be crushed by it, and if our leaders accept no deal then they will be committing Britain to a slow suicide.

CAPITALISM CREATES / CAPITALISM TAKES

TV EYE - 1977-1978 (*ARTICLE/REVIEW*)

A couple of weeks back I got a surprise package through my letter box. It contained a CDR and some photocopied info on a band called TV Eye. My instant reaction....WOW! and.... YES! Why you may ask well let me tell ya.....Birmingham legends TV Eye first came to my ears back in 1984 on the rather brilliant first What A Nice Way To Turn Seventeen compilation album with the track Stevies Radio Station which is a piece of swooning pop'n'roll since then I've wanted to hear more from 'em. Now thanks to those good people at Seventeen records and Stephen Duffy for preserving the recordings I can, and so can you. 1977-1978 is a collection of lost studio and rehearsal recordings by TV Eye.

“2017 is going to see many bands celebrating the 40^th anniversary of their 1977 debut records. There won't be nearly so many from 1977 making their debut 40 years later in 2017. Here is one which is, TV Eye” - Seventeen Records Press Release.

So after waiting 33 years to hear more TV Eye, what do I think? Well....once again let me tell ya....

Opening track Repartee is a short sharp and sweet blast of Power pop Punk. It's followed by the beautiful and brilliant uplifting pure pop of Stevies Radio Station which in turn is swiftly followed by the strutting and swaggering Citizen Then we have the angsty and angular, taunt, tense and narcissistic proto post-punk Let Me Win, more Voidoids than Heartbreakers. The last of the studio recordings is the intense and grandiose Dreaming of Your Cars. The fact that none of these songs saw the light of day at the time is a rock'n'roll crime. The rehearsal tracks (Roses, When You're Gone, Cry, Cry To You and Kites are more unearthed gems, Rock'n'Roll relics that still sparkle and shine through their rough'n'ready no-fi state, they sound in places like something the Cuddly Toys would come out with a couple of years later.

TV Eye sound like The Stooges meet the Stones with a slice of Sparks added to the whole Rock'n'Roll Molotov cocktail mix. Switch-blades swish and slash as the alley cats screech, even at their most sensitive these songs scream with a spikey fuck you attitude and abandon. Dave Kusworths razor sharp guitar riffs'n'licks duel with the rhythmic chops of Paul Adams guitar, while the simple and solid rhythm section of Dave Twist's Drum's and Eamon Duffy's Bass hold it all together and Vocalist Andy Wickets wired and wild whelps, whoops wails and woo woos, add some theatrics to the whole show, which unfortunately was a rather short one.

The demise of TV Eye came shortly after Duffy and Twist joined up to help out The Prefects, Duffy opted to stay, but Dave Twist returned to TV Eye, who stumbled on but eventually fell apart by the middle of 1979 and the rest is, as they say.... history; The Subterranean Hawks, The Rag Dolls, The Jacobites, and Duran Duran....Friends'n'fans of the band Nick Rhodes and John Taylor, soon to be a future member of Duran Duran used to visit the band at their Cheapside rehearsal space and had been taking notes; Stevies Radio Station later evolved into Rio, and there is speculation that many other TV Eye ideas were taken by Duran Duran, once again the rest is history and what could have beens, but never weres but without these there might never have been The Bounty Hunters, The Tenderhooks or The Black Bombers.

TV Eye were new romantic glam punksters; ahead of their time. 1977-1978 is a timeless collection of Rock'n'Roll and it's time is now! Available from 24^th March as a very limited red vinyl pressing of 300 copies on Seventeen Records, you also get a four page photo insert and essay by Dave Twist. A CD release with a couple of extra tracks will follow. What ever the format this album must be heard at all costs, it's a newly discovered masterpiece to shake the wall not to hang on the wall. Lovingly presented and packaged by people that care. This album is indeed a thing of beauty a work of art, and a must have for anyone with a luv of Rock'n'Roll at it's most primal and feral.

For more details hit the TV Eye 1977-1978 Facebook Page.

Acknowledgement to Nikki Suddens book The Last Bandit for background info to this piece.