I don’t know if the AW has many Bangladeshii members. In their likely absence I have taken it on myself to say…

Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, Victor Trumper,Robert Forster, Evonne Goolagong, Margot Robbie, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Steve Irwin, Julia Gillard, Germaine Greer, Rupert Murdoch, Nick Cave,Julian Assange, Kerry Packer, Nellie Melba, Billy Hughes, Kylie Minogue, your boys took a helluva beating etc..

Cheered me up no end.

Kevin Keegan has died. I am sure many of will have memories of him as a footballer and / or manager. Thr one that has stuck in my mind was when he came off his cycle in an episode of Superstars. We can’t go back, yet there is something I kiss about a time, 50 years ago, when famous sporting stars took part in t.v. competitions. And when, having come a cropper, the first move before getting patched up seems to be to have a swift half. Good on you Kev.

https://youtu.be/n4OzPrskdqU?is=gowqi1mPXhmU1xwF

Cancelled this year, should anyone have been planning to go

A 33% fall this year, according to the article.

https://consequence.net/2024/10/vinyl-sales-dropped-2024/

and this one from Sky Arts is sure to entertain.

https://www.skygroup.sky/skyarts/the-sky-arts-top-50

As time goes on it seems increasingly likely that it might be years before gigs, particularly very large indoor arena shows, can be held. Social distancing restricting audiences to a fraction of capacity, allied to the ever-present possibility of short-notice cancellations or quaranting will doubtless persuade many a promoter to keep their cash in their pocket. All of which means that we have, perhaps, seen the last of many of our more venerable performers. Ah well, thanks for the memories.

Perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me, but I seem to recall that in the not so distant past there would be a post-mortem after the Mercury Awards ceremony. Now, not a mention thus far, unless I have missed it. What, if anything does th it tell us ?

One of the more depressing aspects of political debate and the recent race to populism has been the attack on the foreign aid budget. You know the sort of thing I mean, not the usual and understandable debate about the effects timeless of individual projects, but the morality of spending any money abroad when we should be ‘ looking after our own’.

In certain sections of the media it seems to be the nexterm target followingredients Brexit and certainly has a lot of traction on social media amongst conservative current and former Labour voters where I live. I sense that the more it dawns on them that Brexit won’t actually materially improve the lives anytime soon, if at all, the more the focus shifts to the billions that might be freed from the aid budget and how that might solve everything at a stroke.

I have you say I find this all terribly depressing. Not least because if anything it makes me less inclined to want to contribute more towards helping ‘ our own ‘ people. It also frustrates me that whilst I am berated for supporting the foreign aid budget, I equally harangued if I question the point » Continue Reading.

This is the first year since RSDs inception that I have lived somewhere with a record shop. It only opened last year and is run by a couple of lovely people, so despite my misgivings about the event, I turned up this morning to show my support. There were half a dozen things I would have willingly bought, including the Bowie, Springsteen and DBT live sets, the Turtles box and the Randy Newman box, Kate Tempest and so on. The whole lot would potentially have cost me hundreds of poundstores, , which I would have paid willingly, and then wondered how I was going to afford them. In the event, they didn’t have any of them, or they were bought by the handful of people ahead of me.

So, I went away empty handed and whether I end up spending all or any of money that stayed in my pocket on records remains to be seen. Now, I am fully aware that RSD is a lifesaver for many shops and there are loads of people that enjoy the experience. But for someone like myself who wants to but some music to listen to rather than collect it is frustrating to » Continue Reading.

… have both died. No real connection, but that would have been some rhythm section.

Talk of redundancies all over social media. Not clear to me whether all the titles have been closed, but infer3nce is that they might have been. Anyone about to renew a sub might want to check afore doing so.

Or so it would seem according to quotes from a Canadian interview. Does this mean I have to send her latest record back? Perhaps other readers can advise.

died earlier today. He was 78.

One potential fallout of the week’s events is the renewed prospect.of Scottish independence. Without getting into the pros and cons of that, let’s assume for a moment it happens.

So, what would we call the rest of what was the UK or Great Britain and Northern Ireland? Neither of those names would be accurate or make any sense. England, Wales and Northern Ireland is a real mouthful and sounds like a freight rail company. RUK, a term.used during the 2014 referendum, sounds like a small Oi! record label.

I can’t think of any obvious historical name that could be rejuvenated for modern use that encompasses the three remaining countries. Even if NI decides to go there still isn’t much choice – Britain without Scotland is about as attractive a name as the SAHB without Alex. Avalon might do as a stretch for England and Wales,, but it’s a bit Middle Earth.

So what do we do? Perhaps the only answer is to adop a symbol in the manner of the recently departed PRHM.

Surely someone must have a better idea!

I am sure that most if you ( or at least those of you in the UK) will be familiar with the T-shirts bearing this slogan.

I am intrigued as to what message or image the design is intended to convey and/or the meaning taken by those who wear them. When I first saw the design I thought it was simply a statement of the obvious, given that old men do indeed rule in most parts and countries of the world. is it intended to be an ironic statement? Is it an affirmation of the status quo? What is going on?

Any theories?

Now I have always been a supporter of the principle of a PR electoral system of some sort. And I appreciate that there is more than one method or approach. But when someone like Neil Hamilton can slide into something on the back of being top of a regional list, I do start to wonder.

…according to my local paper.and the Bestival festival organisers

How will you be celebrating?

…killed (sort of) by a weasel,

I would just like to say that I am not, nor have I ever been, involved in a celebrity threesome.

Do other contributors have anything they want to either confirm or deny? ( In general, not just threesome, celebrity or otherwise)

My question is prompted by a Sunday Times journalist saying today that they didn’t print the story about John Whittingdale and the dominatrix because their readers “didn’t know who he was”. Do we think this is really the case ? Not a household name, for sure, but a relatively well-known person to anyone with a modest interest in politics, not least from his role in pursuing Rupert Murdoch whilst he (Whittingdale) was Chair of Culture Committee and Leveson was kicking off left, right and centre.

So, if we accept that right of centre people with a reasonable knowledge of current affairs don’t read the Sunday Times, who does ?

Answers on a postcard, please

Following on from David Bowie’s death earlier in the week,, a younger generation will be mourning the passing of Professor Snape.

Me, I always had a soft spot for Truly, Madly, Deeply.

I saw Bobby Gillespie in Smiths today. Have any other readers spotted a pop star in the paper shop ? What were they buying ?

And what do you think Billy was snapping up ?

Elvis Presley’s laterst album is number one in the UK album charts, slapping old Rod into second place. Now, I confess that I am a little surprised to find Elvis back at number one in 2015, but I suppose the same probably happened with Vera or Bing back when I were a kid. No, the thing that surprised me was that it sold 79,000 copies, which seems a lot in this day and age.

Who is buying ? Where are they buying it ? I am assuming it’s a lot of relatively ‘mature’ folk snapping it up in Tesco or Asda. ( Downloads amount for 400 odd sales).

But am I barking up the wrong tree ? Have you lot sneaked out and bought it whilst I wasn’t looking ? Has a new army of middle-aged Teds emerged ?

Any theories ?

…has died, aged 84. Hot on the heels of the death, at the same age, of Brian Close. Is this the ‘curse of 84’ for English iconoclasts ?

has died. 84 years old, so not unsurprising.

I don’t suppose any of us who saw him standing up to the West Indies bowlers in 1976 ( age 45) will ever forget it. Nor entirely ever be happy with more recent histrionics, feigning injury and the like.