Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra’s Proms concert

Two observations, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the protest last night (for the record, I don’t think the actions inside were particularly helpful or desirable):

1. The response by some that the protestors were either complete idiots who had no ( Read more... )

Jimmy Hamilton

Further to the photo of the Wilson government I posted last week, this was one of the obituaries published when my grandfather died. It mentions my gran several times. It’s quite awe-inspiring, really. Reading it make me very proud to be their grandson.

Money busts the convenient myth that social class is dead

The convenient political myth says class is dead. Downton Abbey deference is no more, and look how differences among the young meld into universal estuary and mockney. Classlessness may be modern and hip - yet birth determines destiny more certainly than 50 years ago.

Polly Toynbee has ( Read more... )

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British public supports harsher sentences over riotsWe always should be wary of polls but this one is terrifying. It paints a society incapable of rising above fear and prejudice, bent on retribution and eager to throw thousands on the scrapheap to satisfy their fury ( Read more... )

Reality TV: A blood sport that must changeBottom line: Everybody who participates in this show is the electronic-age equivalent of a gladiator or boxer. The genre has been around in a big way for over two decades. Everybody - the combatants, the arena owners, the power brokers in the box seats, and the crowd in the virtual stands - knows full well ( Read more... )

Meet the richHow much, we asked our group, would it take to put someone in the top 10% of earners? They put the figure at £162,000. In fact, in 2007 it was around £39,825, the point at which the top tax band began. Our group found it hard to believe that nine-tenths of the UK’s 32m taxpayers earned less than that. As for the poverty threshold, our ( Read more... )

Happy birthday, Madonna. Corny as it is to say so, no words can express the influence this woman and her music have had on me. To borrow her own phrase, she’s my ‘mother brother sister lover daughter little baby jesus’. Here are a few of my strongest Madonna memories:

• Seeing the video for ‘Like A Prayer’ for the first time and being completely in ( Read more... )

First things first - I don’t condone any of the rioting, looting, arson, muggings and general thuggery whatsoever. I think it’s frightening, horrible and hugely counter-productive. I hope that those involved are held responsible for their actions. I feel I have to put this because any attempt to move beyond stock responses to all of this seems to ( Read more... )

Seriousness needs to be pursued and protected. It cannot be magicked into life by august committees, as each crisis unfolds in our public life. It ultimately comes down to our own individual choices and priorities.

This is quite an interesting article and ties in quite neatly with some recent conversations I’ve had about the “Age of Irony”. I don’t ( Read more... )