There's a few things going on this week so far one of which is the New Tumblr that more or less corresponds to the spirit of this blog is gradually picking up traction and has has made its 1,300th post which isn't bad given the reasons why as explained on this blog that came into being.
Another kind of connected thing to that is arriving back from Littles Camp which of course meant the post meter would gone around sooner than if it had been the case I was at home but actually just a total digital detox isn't a bad thing at all to be honest.
Let's face it. We all managed pretty well before all that in our everyday lives so being more selective in how much time we use for it and only picking the things that actually benefit us to use it for is no bad thing. Nor is a total switch off.
I'm not so convinced total connectivity from dusk to dawn with the expectation of being available at the drop of a hat is altogether healthy for us mentally and psychologically with some folks having addictions to status updates and playing multi player games all night.
In the crazy world of British Politics we appear to be seeing elected Members of Parliament resign from the parties that provided their manifestos to an independant grouping with so far 8 Labour members resigning mainly around the Anti-semitism row that most feel the leader Jeremy Corbyn has failed to really address, the perception he is unpatriotic not backing british interests and is pro Marxist with some feeling not backing a second Brexit referendum who for three Conservatives who also left their party is the chief reason.
This so reminds me of 1981/2 when the Labour Party was faced with the "Bennite" and Militant Tendency attempt to control constituency party branches, de-selecting popular Labour Members of Parliament for not supporting their far left political agenda, a move it has to be said kept them out of office from 1979 to 1997 and whose nadir was the Expulsion of the then Liverpool City Council leader Derek Hatton who setting unplausible budgets spending money they did not have, breaching goverment rules on council tax borrowing then issued masses of redundency notices (P45's) by taxi to council employees.
It took Liverpool decades to recover from the damage he had caused and yet he was readmitted to the party in the very same week as these 8 mps all left.
Frankly I can't see Midland labour supporters returning M.P's come the General Election Mr Corbyn so much wants and certainly as someone who has supported labour before now he won't be getting MY support. With friends like Hatton and Momentum linked to much abuse including racial, who needs enemies?
Friday 22 February 2019
Thursday 14 February 2019
Time Flies
Sometimes you just don't get around to doing things until several years later we it through inertia or just putting it off but recently I had been thinking back to the 1990's and some of the things I recall about that period such as the Tracy Island make on Blue Peter with Anthea Turner and the music of that era which was very colourful.
I did move a bit over this period and one consequence was some of my albums and singles such as those by the Manchester band Oasis, have been missing in action for a period and one reason I hadn't done much about it was the group had three attempts at making the 'ultimate' compilation but I never felt any one has enough for me to buy it outright.
Part of reason lies in the band feeling their third album Be Here Now issued in late August 1997 fell well short of what they wanted due to band tensions and the worse for taking certain substances to the point 2006's Stop The Clocks double cd compilation had none of the singles from it and seemed to give more space to album tracks and b sides.
I relented recently aided by finding a inexpensive copy used of Time Flies which is just ALL the singles and the odd b side so a track like Whatever that never was one a studio album is included together with D'Yer Know What I Mean from Be Here Now and includes their later singles I didn't collect.
Oasis recordings are a long way removed from Hifi, sadly being the poster child from that unrelenting wall of loudness that has been called the "Loudness Wars" with next to no quiet spots but this compilation does sound as good as some of those tracks most effect ever will.
It was nice to hear those track again.
Part of reason lies in the band feeling their third album Be Here Now issued in late August 1997 fell well short of what they wanted due to band tensions and the worse for taking certain substances to the point 2006's Stop The Clocks double cd compilation had none of the singles from it and seemed to give more space to album tracks and b sides.
I relented recently aided by finding a inexpensive copy used of Time Flies which is just ALL the singles and the odd b side so a track like Whatever that never was one a studio album is included together with D'Yer Know What I Mean from Be Here Now and includes their later singles I didn't collect.
Oasis recordings are a long way removed from Hifi, sadly being the poster child from that unrelenting wall of loudness that has been called the "Loudness Wars" with next to no quiet spots but this compilation does sound as good as some of those tracks most effect ever will.
It was nice to hear those track again.
Friday 8 February 2019
Giving Nipper new teeth
Between Donald Tusk insulting UK politicians which could just be the kerosene to be poured on Brexit with a free match as if we didn't need any more animosity, some good news did emerge on Tuesday regarding one of stories late 2018.
Canadian record retailer, Sunrise agreed to pay for 100 of HMV UK's stores with closures of 27 least profitable, planning to stock a higher amount of vinyl records which generally have a higher mark up than cds and less at risk from people streaming instead of buying which has been the case with dvd and blu-ray's as much as some such as myself do buy titles that wish to own.
Sunrise in 2017 bought out HMV Canada that was failing and has managed to turn the store group around although like the proposals here, a number were shut in what was a black period for music retail in that country with Sam The Record Man being shut a couple of years before with reduced sales and higher rent charges in places like downtown Toronto.
Great Britain is the second biggest player in popular music and a major one in English language arts in general home of course not just to the vast expanse of London Theatreland but to Pinewood, the UK's Hollywood often use by American owned film companies.
To that extent we absolutely need a shop front for our creative arts where artists can do signings, 'pop up' short performances and places where staff do know and share knowledge about music.
I am and strongly support independent music retailers as until the arrival of HMV in 1992 in this district we had a good number of our own such as the much missed Mike Lloyd Megastores in Stoke City centre, Newcastle under Lyme, Stafford and Wolverhampton and their encouragement in exploring music set my passion off buying albums.
Most went when firstly supermarkets started selling top sellers off cheaply and then Amazon were selling back catalogue titles for less than they could manage but HMV survived until 2013 and after then our two branches in Stoke and Wolverhampton still did good business until the recent administration and were where I bought new vinyl albums by bands I liked.
The staff when I went in twice recently were very friendly, there is something about handling and looking through a rack that's just not the same as going on a web site so I hope this is successful.
Sunrise in 2017 bought out HMV Canada that was failing and has managed to turn the store group around although like the proposals here, a number were shut in what was a black period for music retail in that country with Sam The Record Man being shut a couple of years before with reduced sales and higher rent charges in places like downtown Toronto.
Great Britain is the second biggest player in popular music and a major one in English language arts in general home of course not just to the vast expanse of London Theatreland but to Pinewood, the UK's Hollywood often use by American owned film companies.
To that extent we absolutely need a shop front for our creative arts where artists can do signings, 'pop up' short performances and places where staff do know and share knowledge about music.
I am and strongly support independent music retailers as until the arrival of HMV in 1992 in this district we had a good number of our own such as the much missed Mike Lloyd Megastores in Stoke City centre, Newcastle under Lyme, Stafford and Wolverhampton and their encouragement in exploring music set my passion off buying albums.
Most went when firstly supermarkets started selling top sellers off cheaply and then Amazon were selling back catalogue titles for less than they could manage but HMV survived until 2013 and after then our two branches in Stoke and Wolverhampton still did good business until the recent administration and were where I bought new vinyl albums by bands I liked.
The staff when I went in twice recently were very friendly, there is something about handling and looking through a rack that's just not the same as going on a web site so I hope this is successful.
Friday 1 February 2019
Politicians and the B word
I've been reluctant to say much about Brexit for the last six months or so simply because it's been so unpredictable that had I of typed something up then within six hours it all would of changed again and in some ways that uncertainty has been a real drag around it whatever you might think about leaving or the many ways people have suggested we could.
Equally I know pretty much from "insider" emails at least one national political party has amongst it own supports made no bones about preventing the referundum result and the election of government with a mandate to achieve it from doing just that.
Their take seems to be one of "We the politicians know best" and yet it was those Mp's who give us that question to decide.
Indeed a quote from former Labour Prime Minister Blair suggested that as elected politicians spend more time in the commons, then they should do what they think rather than what it is we, the voters instruct them, in elections and the like.
Is it so so surprising that public dissatisfaction with politicians is as high as it is when they feel actually they don't spoke for them nor act on what it is they bring to the attention of those who are elected?
The other thing is very few politicians have worked in everyday fields or even those was past member of all parties have such as doctors, teachers, engineering and agriculture but instead have spent their time from 4 1/2 to 24 in Education and then chasing doing political research positions.
How much does that person really know about the world of work, commerce, education and healthcare in its widest sense?
That's why I can't buy this notion of Mp's being uniquely qualified about those things around brexit that have proven so difficult and regardless of how you voted damn taxing such as how imports and exports work, the way the single market works (and why the EU sees moving people in the same light as moving goods) and that chunks of it go on the basis a resumption of full sovereignty political count for at least as much as the economics and they also include medium to long term potential advantages and disadvantages as well as the short term.
It's taken over forty years for trading patterns to change from where we were before 1973 and those changes bought advantages as well as disadvantages so it seems upon leaving it may take time for those to change and as before it will be swings and roundabouts.
It is possible to grow many fruits and vegetables here but as things were there was little commercial interest as the supermarkets source cheap supplies from Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands but if they were to be potentially more expensive then we may see more UK produce being grown and stocked on the shelves.
Sometimes I think because some are so used to life as it is now with the EU, they don't see how life can continue without it as I'm sure no one who voted to leave simply wanted to disengage with the people in Europe so much as they had issues with how the EU was run.
We'll see if talking with the EU about the 'backstop' really achieves anything or this will run and run to the eleventh hour before being finally resolved.
Equally I know pretty much from "insider" emails at least one national political party has amongst it own supports made no bones about preventing the referundum result and the election of government with a mandate to achieve it from doing just that.
Their take seems to be one of "We the politicians know best" and yet it was those Mp's who give us that question to decide.
Indeed a quote from former Labour Prime Minister Blair suggested that as elected politicians spend more time in the commons, then they should do what they think rather than what it is we, the voters instruct them, in elections and the like.
Is it so so surprising that public dissatisfaction with politicians is as high as it is when they feel actually they don't spoke for them nor act on what it is they bring to the attention of those who are elected?
The other thing is very few politicians have worked in everyday fields or even those was past member of all parties have such as doctors, teachers, engineering and agriculture but instead have spent their time from 4 1/2 to 24 in Education and then chasing doing political research positions.
How much does that person really know about the world of work, commerce, education and healthcare in its widest sense?
That's why I can't buy this notion of Mp's being uniquely qualified about those things around brexit that have proven so difficult and regardless of how you voted damn taxing such as how imports and exports work, the way the single market works (and why the EU sees moving people in the same light as moving goods) and that chunks of it go on the basis a resumption of full sovereignty political count for at least as much as the economics and they also include medium to long term potential advantages and disadvantages as well as the short term.
It's taken over forty years for trading patterns to change from where we were before 1973 and those changes bought advantages as well as disadvantages so it seems upon leaving it may take time for those to change and as before it will be swings and roundabouts.
It is possible to grow many fruits and vegetables here but as things were there was little commercial interest as the supermarkets source cheap supplies from Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands but if they were to be potentially more expensive then we may see more UK produce being grown and stocked on the shelves.
Sometimes I think because some are so used to life as it is now with the EU, they don't see how life can continue without it as I'm sure no one who voted to leave simply wanted to disengage with the people in Europe so much as they had issues with how the EU was run.
We'll see if talking with the EU about the 'backstop' really achieves anything or this will run and run to the eleventh hour before being finally resolved.
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