Sunday, 5 July 2009
as anyone knows Simon has it right with calling Britpop how he sees it, especially wrt the mainstream journalism coverage at the time ignoring (at least relatively speaking) other then-fabulous currents in British popular song. but given how Blur played apparently corking shows last week (my brother and a mutual mate were raving about their Hyde Park set-up), this got me nostalgic. (and i personally know about nine million people who enjoyed Oasis gigs in Sunderland or Manchester earlier in the year.)
so, search and destroy Britpop? keeping it to the first list here.
the Elastica debut and Elastica gigs: saw them once and live they are as sweaty and sexy and hot as their best tunes suggested. (oh also quite a fun Fall-inspired 6 track EP was a laugh.) though heck! this is a bit random.
lots of Pulp.
lots of Blur.
the Oasis song 'Cigarettes & Alcohol'. (tbf to Oasis, they are sort of a classic rock band now, almost, growing into the songwriter thing. Noel Gallagher has got a bit of a brain too.)
oh Supergrass were lively.
there, that's not a bad line-up.
the person who has put the below YouTube up on their channel writes "Elastica perform Waking Up on Top Of The Pops in 1995, accompanied by Damon Albarn on keyboards and some rather scantily clad men".
indeed.
so, search and destroy Britpop? keeping it to the first list here.
the Elastica debut and Elastica gigs: saw them once and live they are as sweaty and sexy and hot as their best tunes suggested. (oh also quite a fun Fall-inspired 6 track EP was a laugh.) though heck! this is a bit random.
lots of Pulp.
lots of Blur.
the Oasis song 'Cigarettes & Alcohol'. (tbf to Oasis, they are sort of a classic rock band now, almost, growing into the songwriter thing. Noel Gallagher has got a bit of a brain too.)
oh Supergrass were lively.
there, that's not a bad line-up.
the person who has put the below YouTube up on their channel writes "Elastica perform Waking Up on Top Of The Pops in 1995, accompanied by Damon Albarn on keyboards and some rather scantily clad men".
indeed.
the final sentence from Geras there that i link to, is such good sense. it is outrageous how Benn is a national treasure these days given the amount of gratuitous, absurdly woeful and idiotic drivel he spouts. i know people correctly appreciate his diaries and adore him for his general grand-fatherly qualities but when he opens his mouth it is very often, sadly, an opportunity for people to take him less seriously.
and they would be right to do so.
and they would be right to do so.
"It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that a soldier from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment and a soldier from The Light Dragoons were killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan yesterday, Saturday 4 July 2009.
The first soldier was killed by a rocket propelled grenade attack and the second soldier by a contact explosion. Both incidents took place whilst the soldiers on a deliberate operation near Gereshk, central Helmand Province yesterday evening."
The first soldier was killed by a rocket propelled grenade attack and the second soldier by a contact explosion. Both incidents took place whilst the soldiers on a deliberate operation near Gereshk, central Helmand Province yesterday evening."
STUPID HORRIBLE LAUGHABLE HOMOPHOBIC BUFFOON NEWSFLASH
Scientists have announced that well known stupid horrible laughable homophobic buffoon Dr Michael Nazir-Ali remains a "stupid horrible laughable homophobic buffoon of the worst order and should probably be sacked for being a bit of a wally".
Nazir-Ali was unavailable for comment, though supporters pointed out that regrettable homophobes crowd the Church and that, oddly enough, nobody at the Guardian courts them (although Muslim anti-gay bigots are fair play, one wag piped up as he sank into his next gin).
Scientists have announced that well known stupid horrible laughable homophobic buffoon Dr Michael Nazir-Ali remains a "stupid horrible laughable homophobic buffoon of the worst order and should probably be sacked for being a bit of a wally".
Nazir-Ali was unavailable for comment, though supporters pointed out that regrettable homophobes crowd the Church and that, oddly enough, nobody at the Guardian courts them (although Muslim anti-gay bigots are fair play, one wag piped up as he sank into his next gin).
Terry Glavin makes an incredibly, incredibly wise and important point about an extremely malign Iranian influence in Afghanistan
But while everybody's chasing down ludicrous "it's all about oil" conspiracies, all the real plotting and sedition goes largely unreported.
Saturday, 4 July 2009
from an Observer article by Carole Cadwalladr on 'Dubai's dark side'
Thursday, 2 July 2009
How to smell manure from a mile away
Press TV is a Tehran-based English language news service.
Matthew Richardson - who is described by the British Broadcasting Corporation World Service as the legal advisor for Press TV's UK operations - says that Iran is "a young democracy" and "a rising democracy" (further to these gems, you can also hear in his same awful World Service interview the judgment that the recent protests in Iran were “started irresponsibly"*; the interviewer sounds like Nick Higham, although i am not sure).
the man himself, in this BBC television interview, says he is someone from Press TV Ltd, an independent UK-based company.
if you are unable to watch the above BBC TV Newsnight conversation between Richardson, another guest, and anchorman Jeremy Paxman for technical reasons, suffice to say Richardson gives a real car-crash of an interview, not least when confronted with basic facts from Paxman about Press TV's website being a bit, shall we say, lacking in coverage of recent events from Iran. (when it is not lacking - and that is a kind word - it is downright dishonest, of course. consider what the other guest, journalist Martin Bright, notes about Press TV's take on the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, for example.)
Bright also raises some good points, correctly criticising Richardson's absurd, pathetic, and wholly redundant bluster about the separateness of the Press TV website, and Press TV Ltd's television channel (which happens to broadcast unhindered on a major British independent commercial station).
incidentally, someone should tell Richardson of the basic fact - given he is so insufferably pompous about facts in the above Newsnight television interview - that the BBC is paid for by the British public, thanks to a tax referred to as the licence fee. (note that the somewhat different BBC World Service is state-funded, through a Parliamentary Grant-in-Aid administered by the British Foreign Office. The BBC, like Press TV, claims to be impartial from its national government, by the way.)
it is not the case that the BBC is directly funded by the British state, as Richardson casually - and unforgivably - remarks on the telly: although Press TV is directly funded by the Iranian state.
hmm.
cough.
would an Iranian parliamentarian be allowed - by the theocracy, that is - to have a regular gig with the BBC, as a correspondent?
Press TV pundit George Galloway is, after all, the current representative for an east London constituency.
this should not need stating, but i will: one must have a pretty awry moral compass if you're willing to do the job Matthew Richardson does for Press TV Ltd, in the first place.
oh.
P.S.
LONDON (Reuters) - Iran should release an ailing reformist detained during last month's protests or move him to specialist care as harsh prison conditions are putting his life at risk, a U.S. human rights group said Wednesday.
Human Rights Watch said prominent reformist journalist and politician Saeed Hajjarian, who was detained on June 15, was severely disabled and required constant medical care.
"It's bad enough that the authorities would detain a man as ill as Saeed Hajjarian in their crackdown in the protests," HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said in a statement.
"But the conditions, harsh treatment, and intense pressure to make a false confession are putting his life at risk."
*he's got a great - not at all politically illiterate, totally worthless and ethically bankrupt, oh no - line about all countries having their own media rules and regulations.
why, i bet he's got loads of reports from RSF in his loo.
Press TV is a Tehran-based English language news service.
Matthew Richardson - who is described by the British Broadcasting Corporation World Service as the legal advisor for Press TV's UK operations - says that Iran is "a young democracy" and "a rising democracy" (further to these gems, you can also hear in his same awful World Service interview the judgment that the recent protests in Iran were “started irresponsibly"*; the interviewer sounds like Nick Higham, although i am not sure).
the man himself, in this BBC television interview, says he is someone from Press TV Ltd, an independent UK-based company.
if you are unable to watch the above BBC TV Newsnight conversation between Richardson, another guest, and anchorman Jeremy Paxman for technical reasons, suffice to say Richardson gives a real car-crash of an interview, not least when confronted with basic facts from Paxman about Press TV's website being a bit, shall we say, lacking in coverage of recent events from Iran. (when it is not lacking - and that is a kind word - it is downright dishonest, of course. consider what the other guest, journalist Martin Bright, notes about Press TV's take on the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, for example.)
Bright also raises some good points, correctly criticising Richardson's absurd, pathetic, and wholly redundant bluster about the separateness of the Press TV website, and Press TV Ltd's television channel (which happens to broadcast unhindered on a major British independent commercial station).
incidentally, someone should tell Richardson of the basic fact - given he is so insufferably pompous about facts in the above Newsnight television interview - that the BBC is paid for by the British public, thanks to a tax referred to as the licence fee. (note that the somewhat different BBC World Service is state-funded, through a Parliamentary Grant-in-Aid administered by the British Foreign Office. The BBC, like Press TV, claims to be impartial from its national government, by the way.)
it is not the case that the BBC is directly funded by the British state, as Richardson casually - and unforgivably - remarks on the telly: although Press TV is directly funded by the Iranian state.
hmm.
cough.
would an Iranian parliamentarian be allowed - by the theocracy, that is - to have a regular gig with the BBC, as a correspondent?
Press TV pundit George Galloway is, after all, the current representative for an east London constituency.
this should not need stating, but i will: one must have a pretty awry moral compass if you're willing to do the job Matthew Richardson does for Press TV Ltd, in the first place.
oh.
P.S.
Human Rights Watch said prominent reformist journalist and politician Saeed Hajjarian, who was detained on June 15, was severely disabled and required constant medical care.
"It's bad enough that the authorities would detain a man as ill as Saeed Hajjarian in their crackdown in the protests," HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said in a statement.
"But the conditions, harsh treatment, and intense pressure to make a false confession are putting his life at risk."
*he's got a great - not at all politically illiterate, totally worthless and ethically bankrupt, oh no - line about all countries having their own media rules and regulations.
why, i bet he's got loads of reports from RSF in his loo.
Mafiwasta .pdf
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