That's last Thursday night. The awaited return to London of the Drive by Truckers. With just one or two omissions this was a near perfect set for me.As I wrote on the Americana forum the Cooley tracks were really the stand-outs for me. From Uncle Frank to Women without Whisky, Gravity's Gone to Self Destructive Zones, and of course Zip City, Cooley delivered. This is all a bit harsh on Patterson Hood, but sometimes some songs just work. Patterson still delivered on Putting people on the Moon, which remains one of the most "political" songs I know.
I wasn't sure how the " Go Go Boots" songs would entwine themselves into the set, but I was still humming "Used to be a Cop" 90 minutes after the show as I got home.
It was election night and this year I took my place in front of the TV and watched results from councils up and down the country pour in. In fact given that my local council is likely to remain Tory till "hell freezes over", it was elsewhere that took my attention. I retreated to bed sometime after 1am with the news that the Brighton ballots wouldn't be counted till Friday morning.
At work, one half of my brain engaged with revision classes and the other focussing on council election results and the news gradually trickling through that the Greens had become the largest party on Brighton & Hove Council. A great achievement and the first time the Greens have achieved this level of success in the UK.
Home to watch the AV referendum result come through, no surprise but a great disappointment. The Yes Campaign never caught fire and was badly managed. Amazed that they believed the No campaign would play fair and not use lies and distortions. For the Conservatives the preservation of FPTP is fundamental to them retaining power. That's really the end of the story. Conservatism is about obtaining and keeping power. I remember Tony Benn always talking about how the ruling class have never surrendered power voluntarily and throughout history the people have had to wrestle it from them. How naive of the Lib Dems to think the Tories would play fair. Politics in that sense isn't a game a cricket. That said the Tories needed a shield to give them cover and the old tribalists in the Labour Party delivered it with aplomb. Take a bow Prescott and co, no new politics there. Just the old belief in fact that government is like a cricket match and after the Tories have batted, it will be Labour's turn. The only flaw in this analysis is that the two party system is in terminal decline, with only 65% of voters choosing the tories or Labour in 2010. Using FPTP as a means of retaining power was the name of the game. Calling for "Fairer Votes" was wrong, there's little fair in our current system.
I wasn't sure how the " Go Go Boots" songs would entwine themselves into the set, but I was still humming "Used to be a Cop" 90 minutes after the show as I got home.
It was election night and this year I took my place in front of the TV and watched results from councils up and down the country pour in. In fact given that my local council is likely to remain Tory till "hell freezes over", it was elsewhere that took my attention. I retreated to bed sometime after 1am with the news that the Brighton ballots wouldn't be counted till Friday morning.
At work, one half of my brain engaged with revision classes and the other focussing on council election results and the news gradually trickling through that the Greens had become the largest party on Brighton & Hove Council. A great achievement and the first time the Greens have achieved this level of success in the UK.
Home to watch the AV referendum result come through, no surprise but a great disappointment. The Yes Campaign never caught fire and was badly managed. Amazed that they believed the No campaign would play fair and not use lies and distortions. For the Conservatives the preservation of FPTP is fundamental to them retaining power. That's really the end of the story. Conservatism is about obtaining and keeping power. I remember Tony Benn always talking about how the ruling class have never surrendered power voluntarily and throughout history the people have had to wrestle it from them. How naive of the Lib Dems to think the Tories would play fair. Politics in that sense isn't a game a cricket. That said the Tories needed a shield to give them cover and the old tribalists in the Labour Party delivered it with aplomb. Take a bow Prescott and co, no new politics there. Just the old belief in fact that government is like a cricket match and after the Tories have batted, it will be Labour's turn. The only flaw in this analysis is that the two party system is in terminal decline, with only 65% of voters choosing the tories or Labour in 2010. Using FPTP as a means of retaining power was the name of the game. Calling for "Fairer Votes" was wrong, there's little fair in our current system.
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