Nelson Mandela

Obviously there was some celebration on the demise of Margaret Thatcher.  Oddly she did inspire a lot of great music.  When British industry closed down in favour of the Kingdom of Spivs a lot of us had a lot of time on our hands to make music.  But this post is about Nelson Mandela.  I'm just wondering if those middle aged Tories who were young Tories back in the late 70s and early 80s will be polishing their 'Hang Nelson Mandela' badges and putting on their 'Nelson Mandela is a Terrorist' t-shirts and preparing to party?

Back then there was a mining department at Leeds University (remember mining!?) and you'd occasionally see me at a picket of job interviews.  Yeah I know, not exactly freedom fighting but better than doing absolutely nothing I like to think...If I remember rightly Rio Tinto Zinc were employing (white) mining engineers to go and live in big houses with swimming pools while the South African police gunned down (black) children for wanting to go to school.  That was when moderate Tories suggested that we 'engage' with South Africa - by investing in Krugerands and playing them at sport while supposedly telling them that this violent racism stuff wasn't really cricket apparently.  The phrase 'playing the white man' springs to mind.  At the time many saw apartheid as a bit weird but not really any of our business and there was a tendency to believe the authorities' stories that young black men were beating themselves half to death then throwing themselves out of office block windows when the police weren't looking.

We should admit that there was an element of 'wind up the lefties' in the young Tories, but they were the ones actively supporting the apartheid regime.  They remain a bunch of evil bastards if you ask me and I suspect that some of them are in the current government.  They effectively supported racial violence and gunning down children in the street. And when Nelson Mandela goes, which I hope is still some time away please beat up a Tory for me.  And for Nelson.  It's the only language they understand.

Chris Packham goes nuclear!

In common with presumably a large proportion of the coolest sections of the UK population I’ve been following Chris Packham sneaking Clash songs into Springwatch – today he actually blatantly name checked the Clash.  Weirdly, I’d just been saying ‘he’ll never squeeze White Man in Hammersmith Palais in’ – and he did!  Within seconds – (with a crowbar I have to admit) along with Rock the Casbah and Janie Jones a couple of minutes later.  I’ve since checked and he’s been getting absolutely loads of them in!  I guess he had to be blatant to get the difficult ones in.

Anyone who knows his Clash is OK by me.  And he’s been logging the whole thing!  And the whole Springwatch nature / animals thing?  Can take it or leave it, me...

 

His opinion / assessment of the Clash is spot on and weirdly mirrors my own experience - except that I saw them in Sheffield and the shop was WH Smiths in Grimsby...

 

http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/news/blog/chris-wild-encounters/the-story-of-the-springwatch-clash-volume-1

This is a plug - but it is for cherriddy

It's the internet and there's a picture of a cat on this link! C,mon, we all know that's what everyone wants! I'd like everyone who can to sponsor Mike from Cloth Cat in Leeds who is doing one of those crazy amount of miles run things along Hadrian's wall or something (70 miles or something really daft). Just a few quid so if he dies we can say it was worth it...

Here's a bit of blurb about Cloth Cat. After that I promise to shut up. For a bit...Thanks for listening 

Cloth Cat aims to increase the quality of people living in deprived inner city areas of Leeds by promoting, supporting, inspiring and encouraging them, using music as the tool.

Central to our activities is a programme of practical music based community courses covering subjects from singing and instrument tuition to music production, DJing and the business of music.

Cloth Cat also works with groups such as the homeless, those with mental health problems and disenfranchised youth, providing the necessary support for rehabilitation, therapy and as a positive social outlet.

We also are committed to people who have not had access to these types of opportunities in the past, helping them develop their skills through mentoring, performances and signposting to other agencies.  In some cases students have developed through Cloth Cat to become teachers in their own right.

https://www.facebook.com/events/129174253945652/

Spambot Stats

Sad to say that the stats for this 'ere JP blog thang are still totally mucked up by the spambots and their fake comments.  They're quite easy to spot (for a person anyway, apparently not for an antispambot bot) and can be quite entertaining for a short while.

Apologies if you do make a comment and don't get a response - though if you are human and it looks like you're genuine I may well reply!