tisdag 11 Maj 2010, 17:24
Track: The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum) [ Full stream: We7 ]
Artist: The Specials and Fun Boy Three
Album: The Very Best of the Specials and Fun Boy Three
Tags: political, ska, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic…
http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/fmLnGw-b6JI/default.jpg YouTube audio upload
I don't even know where to begin.
How do I summarise the surprising twists and turns in UK politics in the last seven days? I can say this much: the country is anxious.
In the thick of it, it's hard to step back and get an overview. After the 18 hours it took for votes to be counted and for a hung parliament to be announced, the three parties closed the doors for talks. There was much speculation over what deals would be made and between whom.
The assumption was naturally lefty Liberal Democrats would come to some arrangement with Labour, leaving the Conservatives without a hope. But as they say, you should never assume, because you make an ass of u and me. Gordon Brown made asses of all us with yet another bad decision made (in my opinion) rashly and petulantly. With three minutes notice to David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, Gordon Brown announced his resignation this evening, around 7pm.
Some people watching and listening live to Gordon Brown's resignation speech were moved to tears. I wasn't. I wanted to smack him. How could he be so irresponsible? So much for caring for the country. In many people's opinions, he was the worst Prime Minister the UK ever had. He is known for his bad decisions. What a great parting shot, giving us the Tories.
I saw no grace in Gordon Brown's departure. I saw vindictiveness and spite. He hinted he wanted to step down during his speech when his constituency votes came in and I got the impression he wanted to go sometime soon. Whenever he spoke, he said he was planning to step down in coming months, maybe later this year. But out of the blue just after 7pm on a Tuesday evening, just like that?! Why?
Clearly he wasn't getting his way. He is as unpopular in government as he is with the people. I knew he would be pilloried by the press and he was. But this is just the beginning, there's more to come. Ted Heath was villified for years (in the 1970s after his hung parliament), so much so it was hard not to feel sorry for him even if you didn't like him.
The difference is, Harold Wilson, who took over from Ted Heath, was a likeable and charismatic character. Today, right now, we have precisely nobody. We have no adequate leader capable of taking the world stage. Forget embarrassing, it's terrifying.
What we have are two posh boys, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, two former public school pupils who were both coached and mentored through the system to get to where they are today. Silver spoons and privilege. They have no concept of ordinary people, ordinary problems or minority issues. They don't know what normal is, they've never seen it. We're looking at an elitist government.
So Gordon Brown resigned and invited David Cameron to take over. The Conservatives had to sit down and work out a deal with the Liberal Democrats in one evening, something they had not been able to manage in four full days.
There was no outpouring of joy in Twitter all evening as we followed events. Not from anybody. Everyone was stunned. The hashtag of the evening was #ConDemNation. People who vote Tory are worried about how much they will be forced to compromise away under the new deal with the Liberal Democrats. And vice versa with people who voted for the Liberal Democrats.
Talks were concluded by midnight with mostly unanimous votes. A deal was made for a new coalition. Full details will be disclosed over the next few days but so far, Nick Clegg has stated we are looking at a new kind of government. He used words such as diverse and plural and kept repeating the word fair. The MPs who had attended the meeting appeared happy, euphoric even, which was astonishing in itself. What are the Lib Dems doing being happy after talks with the Tories?
It shouldn't be like this. It's all upside down and inside out.
And thus endeth my fair assessment of the last seven days.
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/44172595/The+Specials+Specials.jpg
The song: The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum) was originally written when The Specials were still together but wasn't released as a single till 1981, after they had split and the Fun Boy Three had formed.
The lyrics are political: the cowboy is Ronald Reagan, European food mountains had just become news, which sat uncomfortably alongside growing reports of starvation around the world. "Take away my right to choose / Take away my point of view", it didn't feel like anyone had a voice under Margaret Thatcher's Tory government. Nothing anybody said seemed to make the slightest difference.
The music is pared back and skeletal, minimal and on a monotone, as if catatonic. There is little energy or enthusiasm from the band, little expression or emotion. The version I have chosen is one with The Specials, not the one by Fun Boy Three which is even more lifeless and almost trip-hop which you can listen to at Hype Machine here: The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum - hypem stream.
Have we gone back 30 years? Is this an 80s revival proper? Are we right to feel anxious, nervous, scared to go to sleep? Exciting times, interesting, fascinating and frightening all at once.
Further reading:
David Cameron - Statement in Downing Street
The Guardian: Tory-Lib Dem coalition threatened by secret hardline memo on Europe
The Guardian: David Cameron and Nick Clegg lead coalition into power (comments are worth a look)
The Guardian: David Cameron sacrifices inheritance tax policy to win Liberal Democrat deal
The Independent: Cameron begins to work out the colour of a two-tone Cabinet
UK Press Association: Clegg vows 'new kind of government'
Babs
- My Gang
Disclaimer: Mines
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01632/split-article_1632308c.jpg
Source: The Telegraph
Admin: Stats as of today:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 260
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 487
Position in Last 7 Days: 2 / 5
Position in Last 6 Months: 1 / 107
Video
Date Added: November 10, 2009
Views: 824, Comments: 4, Ratings: 4, Favourited: 10 times
Stats after 7 days:
Last.fm listeners of this track - 264
No. of plays scrobbled in Last.fm - 493
Position in Last 7 Days: 2 / 6
Position in Last 6 Months: 1 / 107
Video
Views: 914, Comments: 4, Ratings: 6, Favourited: 11 times
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