Boris vs the left

Much of this last week in the news has been taken up with events that kicked off on Saturday when it was reported Boris Johnson, the main contender for Conservative Party leader and his partner Carrie Symonds were heard to be shouting with the sound of objects being thrown in their flat in London.
A neighbour reported what they heard to the Metropolitan Police who having spoken to Mr Johnson and partner and others concluded that they were 'all right', nothing that had broken the law had taken place, neither were pressing charges so they need take no action.
You might of thought whatever had gone on - and I have no time for abuse within relationships - that would of been it perhaps with the odd word to mindful of publicity next time and work on any difficulties within their relationship as it isn't uncommon for people to row like cat and dog but in twenty-first century Britain it's not like that.
Neighbour Tom Penn and Partner had recorded  this which of itself isn't necessarily wrong as such recordings can be of use to the police in investigations and prosecutions where there are concerns about well-being or abuse but after the police had decided not to take any further action, they sent it to the Left-Liberal  Guardian newspaper to be published.
Tom Penn and several other residents are Labour Party Members and activists against Brexit who have campaigned against Mr Johnson both of which are supported by said newspaper.
Their explanation runs they felt it was in the public interest to release the (unauthorized) recording even though in deciding what they did the Police were saying actually it was NOT in the public interest to act as no offence had been  committed. They also added this was now a Liberal area and they didn't belong there anymore.
Not surprisingly a good number people feel the action by left wing activists were less about public interest and very much politically motivated as there was no public interest defence in publication.
Moreover this lead to more activists setting up camp outside the flat effectively forcing Mr Johnson and partner to flee so what was a domestic row that the police had decided warranted no attention had now become an attempt to hound out a politician out of their home because they disagreed with his views.
To me it just sums up where we are at with social justice warriors who cannot respect differences of points of view and feel it is acceptable to publish the  private matters of others who hold differing ones.

Blasts from the 70's in four speakers

Sometimes on here we don't do things by halves and this week we're going back in time to some 70's albums that recently remerged.

 MFSB stood for "Mothers, Fathers, Sisters and Brothers" and were the backing band on many of the soul label Philadelphia International Records distributed through Columbia/CBS rather like the Funk Bros were to Motown and this is a pairing of their 1975 album Philadelphia Freedom that features their recording of the  Elton John hit and 1976's Summertime* which is just summer inspired compositions in a more jazz influenced Funk style which I like.
This for me is a great replacement for my so-so 2010 edition issued by Edsel on regular cd.

 The Guess Who were formed in 1969 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and were a very popular hard rocking band in North America.
This features their very polished 50's influenced  Rockin' album of 1972 and Best of Vol: 2 album of 1973 in Quadraphonic and stereo.
Volume 1 of The Best of was issued in 2014 by now deceased Audio Fidelity in stereo and quad too and I was able to pick up a copy recently which contains earlier hits like American Woman and Laughing.

I do like some Jazz and got this recent issue of Herbie Hancock's Sextant album in stereo and quadraphonic sound from 1973 that features the ARP synthesizer.

1973's Head Hunters which is acclaimed by many was re-issued by Analogue Productions in stereo and quad too in 2016.
You'll note all of these releases are on Super Audio cd also playable on regular cd playing equipment and all apart from *  which is just in stereo also have the original Quadraphonic surround sound versions issued on record and Q8 tape on the Super Audio cd layer.

Summer memories

As this is being typed up, the weather is in a dryish spot compared to much of week that's been anything but reminding me more of one family holiday when it rained for nearly all the time we were way to the point we HAD to leave as where we were staying was flooded out.

One memory of that era in the summer was playing out which didn't just include the park which was prone to flooding too but of woodland and not untypically for this district the local canals where we'd watch the narrow boats coming in, chat with people and offer to help for a bit of extra pocket money operating the lock gates.
At that point there were two locks as thanks to salt mining subsidence which is a major problem around these parts a Steel Lock was made and installed in 1958 to get around the effects of subsidence on the conventional lock which was quite notable in England but sadly it proved to be both hard to work and unreliable.
Eventually it was taken out of commission by the then British Waterways Board, the government department responsible for canals and associated infrastructure  but that didn't stop it being a magnet to local children which after a number of incidents lead to it being be demolished.
Looking to the far right, you can just make out the ridge where a prominent folly in North Staffordshire can be found.

Eden Of The East

Recently I bought Eden Of The East directed by Kenji Kamiyama that originally came out in 2010 on dvd but was able to get the Blu Ray double disc edition cheaply on Amazon

The story goes something like this:

On November 22nd, 2010, ten missiles strike Japan. Known as "Careless Monday," this attack does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, three months later... Saki Morimi, a young woman currently Washington D.C. on her graduation trip, is saved by a mysterious man, who has lost his memory, and has nothing except for a gun and a phone with 8.2 BILLION yen in digital cash. At the heart of the story is the fate of young disenfranchised Japanese people and their struggle against the conservative and traditional ruling establishment that holds them back from realising their true potential in a modern globalized world, represented here not only by Saki and her friends who are developing a revolutionary computer program, but by the existence and the role of NEETs or Shut-ins, young men who have dropped out of conventional society in favour of a locked-room, computer-oriented existence.

It's this that lifts this 11 part anime from being a run of the mill apocalypse story which is not uncommon as a subject.

Post European Parliament elections

In what might, in these chaotic fast moving days no one can be sure of anything  anymore be last political post for a bit we have seen the Prime Minister submit her resignation on Friday sooner than expected here but expected nontheless and the internal process of eleven so far Conservative Members of Parliament putting themselves forward to be party leader.
This is usually fought over in stages until one emerges but the feuds have already started and a "Stop Boris" (Johnson) campaign has started .
Meanwhile after the last voting on Sunday elsewhere in Europe was concluded, vote counting started in Great Britain with Northern Ireland which used a different voting system to us plus the Western Isles of Scotland starting Monday.
Scottish politics has been different since devolution and while the actual seats allocated care of the D'Honda kinda proportional but not quite  system won't be know for sure by Monday the strongly pro EU Scottish Nationalists look likely to take all but one seat and the other going to The Brexit Party as Scottish Labour and the Conservatives hemorrhaged votes badly.
Meanwhile in England and Wales the ruling Conservatives achieved the lowest proportion of the popular vote since 1832 and Labour lost a good deal of support in pro leave areas and not help by having a confused message for those who did wish to remain.

 In this region, the West Midlands the single largest party was The Brexit Party who got 37.5% of the popular vote, with similar results in our near neighbours in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Stop anyone on on the streets of Stoke, Aldridge, Wolverhampton, Cannock, Wednesbury, Stourbridge, Birmingham, Rugby and Telford and they'd tell you they voted to leave and even those who didn't have little time for those responsible for us not leaving so people voted Brexit Party to make it plain what they want - to leave - and to which we were promised would be respected and acted upon.
We don't have time for people fighting to deny what people voted for here regardless of our own views and that attempt to do so is something that has left people quite angry.

(photo credits:BBC)
It was no surprise to me Rupert Lowe, Martin Daubney and Andrew Kerr of the Brexit party won seen here at Birmingham's ICC celebrating where our count was held were declared representatives.
Labour got no one elected and there was one each for the Green Party, thePro EU Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.
The only major exception was London where four Liberal Democrats were elected but as the only area where there was a big majority to remain in the 2016 Referendum, that would not surprise me give it was their party's clear message.
In Wales where at one time thanks in part to devolution and Welsh Language culture the Plaid Cymru ("The party of Wales") lost out to the pan British Brexit Party as did labour and the Conservatives.
It would appear the British public used the election in effect as a referendum on leaving or remaining in the European Union and voted the Brexit Party in indicating clearly when they said they wanted to leave in 2016, they meant it.
It also shows however there are a significant minority who are adamant it will not be allowed to happen.
It illustrates the need whoever becomes the next Prime Minister before any General Election happens the need to make a clear choice to leave or remain as it simply cannot be fudged and in the words of many of us in this region, darn well get on with it and be straight with people.
Another issue is because this transcends party politics,  some people voted for parties that normally they would not this includes a good number of Labour people and because Alastair  Campbell former Prime Minister's Tony Blair's PR person did vote for the Liberal Democrats and said before the count he was, he's been expelled from the party that people who have been Anti-Semitic have at best been merely suspended for a brief point.
For me the Labour Party's deputy leader Tom Watson got it right in saying the action was 'spiteful' and former Labour MP and speaker Betty Boothroyd said as much too.
Given this was an issue that divides the party and his reason was because he felt their policy was not clear, to me it would of been enough to had said "and don't do it again".

EU too

Yesterday, we voted in that election we were not supposed to had been taking parting in for 73 seats in the European Parliament because we were supposed to had left it in March and it has cost us something like £156 million and cost the parties some can ill afford too with few prepared to make contributions to pay for offices, staff, election expenses and so on.
Given the unfolding events in Westminster it may be literally be the last days of Theresa May as Prime Minister as the calls for resignation reach fever pitch and the kind of ruling but lacking a majority Conservatives will no doubt go through a process of choosing its leader that for now at least will become Prime Minister. That's how the constitutional set up works because we don't vote for them thank goodness.
This said it may be the case some might be tempted to push for a early General Election with that new leader just about in place, facing the same beeping conundrum of delivering brexit in a  hopelessly split party that reflects the sharp polarization in the country.
There is no middle ground.
Results from that European Parliament Election won't come in until late Sunday and possibly Monday because being a pan-European election others are holding theirs on different days but as this is typed (phrase of the year for this blog) it looks like the Brexit party will get about 38% of the popular vote and something like 36 of the 73 seats accuring to OPINIUM poll tracker (Brexit Party 38%, Lib Dem 15%, Lab 17%, Green 7%, Con 7%, Change UK 3%, UKIP 3%) based on a sample of 2,004 adults).
Most pollsters show a clear lead for Brexit party with most of the pro Leave voters behind it.
One thing anyone seriously contemplating a third set of elections this year - a General Election UK wide - should consider is the parties may not have the money to fully field and run one with candidates for every seat because the donors aren't donating and in the instance of the Conservatives ones are severely hacked off because of way Brexit has been handled.
We'll see how it turns out next week but don't say you haven't been warned...

And now the thing we weren't supposed to be in

In little over a week in Britain we go to the polls in an election few wanted nor expected to take place at all since the referendum to leave in 2016 and had the timetable to leave been kept to simply would never had happened.
But it certain doesn't feel like an election is taking place with posters, meetings featuring local party leaders with candidates and leaflets of any sort coming through the door to the point only on Monday May 13 did we have the first Party Political Broadcast for it shown on public tv.
The two main parties were trounced soundly in the English local government elections with the ruling Conservatives losing over 1,300 seats more than they had in a quarter century and the opposition Labour party failing to capitalize on the sheer chaos over Brexit to the point they too lost seats.
In my region three council areas are in No Overall Control, two more than last time that cover the North Staffordshire Region ditto much of the Cheshire area.
Part of the reason why things nationally as the way they is the European Union doesn't divide the parties themselves into different groups it divides each individual party more so with such a sharply polarized take that even last minute attempts between senior Labour and Conservatives to find a withdraw look likely to fail because each parties regular Mp's and members are hostile to it and each other.
This would explain the so low key you wouldn't know it was happening lack of campaigning by both parties they don't have their heart in something each party is hopelessly split over to the point labour were even struggling to cobble together a manifesto that wasn't being condemned by its own members.
To me there is strange thing haunting the political scene and it appears to be the effective demise as single coherent parties of Labour and the Conservatives who cannot 'fudge' this issue of our time and the emergence of newer groupings with clear cut positions such as The Change UK party  (The Independant Group) who are pro-remaining in the EU and the Brexit Party who are for leaving as the majority of people voted for with no special relationship or agreement with the EU.
As it is independent opinion polls suggest the Brexit party would gain a lot of votes which with the proportional representation system would produce a lot of European Members of Parliament who would be very embarrassing for the current government and add fuel for changing the way the EU works as not everyone on Continental Europe agrees with it even if they don't wish to leave unlike us.