Tangentially prompted by a recent posting in the R&B Q&A section (specifically about Van Morrison and his lack of presence in the Primer section of this website), I have somewhat precariously decided to place an R&B music derived article into the main musings section – although, in my defence, this is fundamentally about more than one artist’s simple inclusion in a fan’s on-line tribute to a musical genre…it goes beyond the specifics of Larry’s question and debates the merits of valuing an artist’s work, irrespective or in spite of the individual’s own personal characteristics. As such, it has a far broader reach than Van The Man and yet he remains very much at its core. A complicated and divisive topic, but I’ve started now…..
Politics
The Demon Redeemed?
Watching Iain Duncan Smith outline his rationale for quitting the government front benches on the Andrew Marr show, it was a little disturbing to discover a creeping respect developing for the man so beloved by the left as a poster boy for all that was wrong with this government and its demonisation of the poor – this was after all a man whose policies had been denounced and ridiculed by the left leaning commentators and writers with whom it’s my natural inclination, in the broadest sense, to agree.
Conflicted by Corbyn
Watching the race for the leadership, you couldn’t really be less than impressed by the Labour party’s ability to make something ostensibly so straightforward a little bit of a mess. But, even allowing for the accusations of ‘infiltration’ in registrations – from the left if anti-Corbyn and from the right if, let me see, anti-Corbyn, the margin of the man’s victory is still astounding.
Dementia Friends
Having watched my dad’s battle with dementia, this subject is close to our hearts and this initiative has been developed by the Alzheimer’s society. The video alone is a definite must watch and should dispel a few myths about this horrendous disease. The focus on how it can attack the relatively young is particularly affecting, …
The NHS and the Elderly – Setting The Wrong Agenda
As Karol Sikora wades into the debate over rationing health care for the elderly (in his case, specifically the allocation of life extending cancer drugs), it seems that the power brokers in the NHS are once again self-limiting any robust analysis by hiding behind the dogma that the NHS is operating within constrained resources and competing priorities. Which, of course, to a degree is true, but only if the solutions that are presented to the rest of us continue to be rooted in the political status quo.
Conservative Foot Shooting!
It’s an easy and cheap shot and has been said many times since this was posted by the Tory chairman
The Politics of Envy Apparently?
Long time no post for reasons too boring to detail here.
So, what’s been happening while the blog has stayed silent. Amongst a raft of what can only be “is it me” surreal moments, the reaction to Ed Ball’s proposal to reintroduce the 50% tax rate has to take the biscuit.
Conviction Politics, Legacy and Controversy
As we await Margaret Thatcher ‘ceremonial’ funeral and continue to witness the ludicrous level of debate around the playing or not of a certain song on Radio 1, it’s a salutory lesson to rethink one’s own opinions of the Thatcher legacy and, importantly, her approach to political delivery. Sadly for me, the character traits I reluctantly admired in Thatcher appear, on reflection, to be shrouded in ambiguity……
The Leveson Report at local level
I sent an email to my local MP (Daniel Poulter) outlining my support for the general recommendations and findings of the Leveson Report and arguing, no doubt quite pompously, that there was no intellectual rationale to the arguments that statutory underpinning would necessarily inhibit press freedom.
Four more years in the White House…..reaction
Whatever his failings, perceived or otherwise, can’t help feeling that electing Obama for a second term makes the world a slightly saner place. It remains to be seen whether or not the worryingly deranged extreme right take control of the Republican Party as a result of another defeat. Speaking of deranged, here is Melanie Phillips’ …
The New Politics!
As I was reading the detail around the proposed changes to my ex-employer the NHS, I began to cogitate on the wonderful, clean and transparent politics promised by the coalition – sad but true….
Decisions, Decisions….Follow-Up
In the end I suspect that most commentators will say that this was the only practical solution. Still difficult to reconcile the ‘progressive’ left of centre ideals that the Lib Dems hold so dear with the compromise coalition which the party has now engineered.