A New England

Where do you start?

‘New England’, sung by Kirsty McColl, is one of my favourite recordings ever.

I’m not a great Billy Bragg fan, but he wrote an excellent song here – the music and lyrics are brilliant – and Kirsty’s lead vocals and double tracked harmonies are just sublime. If there really were angels then I’d like to think they sounded like this when they sang.

The arrangement is great – a clever bass line and some beautiful electric 12 string, and I’m a real sucker for that Byrds-type jangle.

And of course, dear Kirsty is gone – killed in a tragic accident in Mexico and the exact circumstances still haven’t been tested in a court of law.

I was 21 years when I wrote this song
I’m 22 now but I won’t be for long
People ask me when will I grow up to understand
Why the girls I knew at school are already pushing prams

I loved you then as I love you still
Though I put you on a pedestal you put me on the pill
I don’t feel bad about letting you go
I just feel sad about letting you know

I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl?
I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl?

I loved the words you wrote to me
But that was bloody yesterday
I can’t survive on what you send
Every time you need a friend

I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them but they were only satellites
It’s wrong to wish on space hardware
I wish, I wish, I wish you’d care

I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl?
I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl?

My dreams were full of strange ideas*
My mind was set despite your fears
But other things got in the way
I never asked that boy to stay

Once upon a time at home
I sat beside the telephone
Waiting for someone to pull me through
When at last it didn’t ring I knew it wasn’t you

I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl?
I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another?
I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl?
Looking for another girl?
Looking for another girl?
Looking for another girl?
Girl?
Girl?
Girl?

Billy Bragg’s manager on the EDP’s ‘celebrity endorsements’ scam

‘Outraged’

I’ve just had a chat on the phone with Billy Bragg’s manager at Sincere Management – a very nice guy called Peter Jenner – about the English Democrats Party hijacking Billy’s name for their ‘celebrity endorsement’ Facebook pages.

He already knows about it and he and Billy are – and I quote – ‘outraged’ and is actively working to get any references to Billy removed from any EDP Facebook pages.

As many of us have heard, Facebook – whilst being a very popular social networking tool – does cause certain ‘issues’ for people and Peter Jenner was finding dealing with them very frustrating.

As a direct approach seems ineffective, he’s now going to take whatever legal action he can to get Billy’s name removed from the relevant pages.

If anyone reading this has any further suggestions about how Billy Bragg’s name can be cleared off the EDP Facebook pages, please contact me and I’ll pass them on to Mr Jenner who will be very grateful for any help.

The English Democrats, Will Carling, Billy Bragg and Fakebook celebrity ‘endorsements’

‘Bastards’

Over on the anti-Davies Facebook group there have been some very exciting developments.

Yesterday we got visited by a couple of EDP stooges who seemed to be on a sort of ‘shift’ system.

One appeared and started giving it all the ‘loony lefty’ stuff – with appalling spelling and punctuation, but eventually left when I insulted him by suggesting that he wasn’t ‘the sharpest chisel in the tool box’.

Then another one appeared almost straight away. More literate this time, but still obsessed with thinking that anyone who opposed the EDP was a socialist. He stayed but either couldn’t or wouldn’t back up some creative statistics he was parroting.

Just another evening on Facebook you might think.

But then it got very interesting indeed.

I’d seen the EDP celebrity endorsements before, but shelved closer examination because I was a tad busy with Davies on here, but Joanne* on the group had obviously thought this was worth pursuing so she contacted one of them – Rugby star Will Carling.

She told him that his name was being used in connection with the EDP.

He actually replied, saying:

“I do not endorse any bloody political party! can u send me a link and I will tell the bastards to take me off their page”

The second EDP stooge who was present at the time commented:

Btw, you are right about those bloody stupid celebrity endorsements, who ever thought of that is in need of a kick up the arse.

So, let’s get this straight…

The EDP are using dodgy celebrity endorsements on Facebook.

It isn’t only Will Carling.

It looks as if other celebrities are unwittingly ‘supporting’ the EDP.

So far, we’ve found

• Will Carling
• Jeremy Clarkson
• Cheryl Baker
• Hugh Grant
• Sir Bobby Charlton

and many more.

This page is particularly interesting.

Look through the list there and you’ll notice many famous faces, all with English Democrats after their name.

If I wrote my name and then appended ‘English Democrats’ to it, then most people would assume that I was a member or at least a supporter.

Fair enough, let’s give the EDP the benefit of the doubt and say that they are endorsed by dozens of celebrities.

But if you look closely, amongst those celebrities you’ll find Billy Bragg.

WTF?

To think that our Billy supports the EDP isn’t so much a test of one’s credulity as a giant leap of faith challenging all the known scientific laws in the universe.

Billy ‘Red Wedge’ Bragg?

Here’s what Billy ‘says’ on his own EDP Facebook page:

I am English & Proud – Are YOU ?

Strangely – or not by now – it’s exactly what other EDP ‘celebrity endorsers’ also say – including people as diverse as John Cleese, Mick Jagger and Jeremy Paxman.

Now, either the EDP has celebrities queuing up to endorse them, or there’s something a bit suspicious going on here and I don’t think you have to be Einstein to realise what it is.

It seems that you can set up a sort of  ‘fan’ page, include celebrities and then add whatever you want – even giving them quotes that say anything you want.

Members of the EDP even ‘talk’ to the celebrities on their own celebrity page.

Here’s what a couple of EDP members say to Jeremy Paxman:

Now you would give the till dippers something to Worry about.Good on you.

Aha, the bulldog of political journalism; go bite ’em Mr P and get the words “English Democrats” onto Newsnight sometime soon!

I contacted Jeremy Clarkson and Sir Bobby Charlton last night and I’m going to carry on going through that EDP Facebook list.

Stay tuned – things could start to get even more interesting.

*Virtual bottle of champagne to Joanne’s virtual table, please waiter!

Billy fucking Bragg

From the Guardian’s G20 blog:

8.56am:
Billy Bragg needs someone to help him transport his gear to Bank so that his musical protest can go ahead.

Why am I not surprised that the well-known social commentator – with the rather swish pile on the Dorset coast – was at the G20 show today?

I wonder how much people had to pay him to SHUT THE FUCK UP?

There’s a tenner here for the hat.

Incidentally, Bank station that Billy could have used was shut – due to some little protest going on in the area…

Next thing we know, Julie fucking Felix will appear singing ‘We Shall Overcome’.

If she does, stone the bitch.