Friday's Playlist #14

An ongoing series:

Richard Hawley, 'Something is . . . !' (Late Night Final)

Super Furry Animals, 'Run! Christian Run!' (Rings Around the World)

Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 'The Long Honeymoon' (Imperial Bedroom)

Rose Royce, 'Magic Touch'

Elvis Costello, 'Baby Plays Around' (Spike)

Delta 5, 'Mind Your Own Business'

Scott Walker, 'The Ballad of Sacco & Vanzetti' (The Moviegoer)

Patsy Cline, 'Why Can't He Be You'

Kirsty MacColl, 'Treachery' (Tropical Brainstorm)

Phil Ochs, 'Ringing of the Revolution' (Phil Ochs in Concert)

Will, don't even start on me

Lookee . . . he can score goals.

Later Than July - This month's Socialist Standard

Editorial

The Profit System Must Go

Regular Columns

Pathfinders Upload, Download, Freeload!

Cooking the Books #1 Oliver in Blunderland

Cooking the Books #2 Who Will Verify The Verifiers?

Greasy Pole Blair Bites The Hand That Feed Him

50 Years Ago Socialists and the Press

Main Articles

Suicide Bombers: Heroes and Villains? On the morning of 7 July 2005 the inhabitants of London awoke and prepared to go out for the day. Fifty-six of them were to die the victims of terrorist bombings. For twenty years in countries across the globe members of our class have been subjected to other such murderous outrages. What motivates the bombers and who supports their actions?

Back To Power-Sharing What thirty years of death and destruction in Northern Ireland brought?

The French Elections: Mr Nasty Wins The recent round of elections in France resulted in the rout of the French Left. Were the workers wrong not to vote for them?

The Hanging Gardens of Bombay In India, the Prime Minister's is worried about the way the rich flaunt their wealth . . .

The Haves and the Have-Yachts . . . in Britain Blair and Brown make the super-rich welcome.

Free Access to What? Some Problems of Consumption in Socialism How will the range of goods and services to be supplied be determined in a socialist society?

Letters, Reviews & Meetings

Letters to the Editors 'The Panama Canal'

Book Reviews The Progressive Patriot by Billy Bragg; A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr; Brave Community: The Digger Movement in the English Revolution by John Gurney; Operation Supergoose by William Hart

Meetings Birmingham, Swansea, West London, Manchester & Norwich.

Voice From The Back

Hard Times; Moral Majority Nonsense; USA: Fantasy and Reality; Merchants of Death ; Let Them Suffer; Capitalism Distorts Science; Growing Old Disgracefully

Friday's Playlist #13

An ongoing series:

Heaven 17, 'This is Mine' (How Men Are)

The Sound Team, 'Back in Town' (Movie Monster)

Le Tigre, 'Les and Ray' (Le Tigre)

Propaganda, 'P-Machinery' (A Secret Wish)

Heaven 17, 'Soul Warfare' (Penthouse and Pavement)

Malcolm Middleton, 'No Modest Bear' (Into The Woods)

Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 'I Wanna Be Loved' (Goodbye Cruel World)

Japan, 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids' (Gentlemen Take Polaroids)

Human League, 'Brute' (Secrets)

The Chameleons, 'Singing Rule Britannia' (What Does Anything Mean? Basic)

A Kiss of Seedcake

When in Birmingham, do what the Brummies do: drink Black Country beer and bar-bar at Fircroft.

Follow Follow . . . us into Scottish League Division 3*

Archive still of Hong Kong Souey from his playing days at Ayresome Park, where he demonstrates his sliding tackle technique to an out of shot Bobby Murdoch.

The Scottish Patient has a hunch about the Huns, and the current ongoing corruption investigation involving themselves, Newcastle Utd (poor old Fat Sam; wherever he parks his arse, you know that the headlines are not just for the back pages) and 'Play Pay Up' Pompey.

I'm not going to do the old 'no smoke without fire' routine. I'm simply going to sit back and revel in any potential disruption it may cause a currently resurgent R*ngers team for the coming season.

The Hib'ster's Case For A Prosecution?

Back in 2004, R*ngers sign Jean-Alain Boumsong on a free transfer from Auxerre and, little more than six months later, sell him to a Souness managed Newcastle Utd for eight million pounds.

Granted, splashing out eight million squid on a player who then proceeds to have the worst run of footballing form this side of San Marino reserves does, at first glance, look a bit iffy, but I think Kev's looking at it from the wrong angle.

If slapping a black and white jersey on Boumsong, planking him in the penalty box at St James Park, and then whispering the simple instructions in his ear: "If the ball comes within five yards of you, run away . . ." was what it took to make Titus Bramble look half-competent in the centre of the Newcastle Utd defence by comparison and by default, then I'm sure we can all concur that it was money well spent. It just meant that Will Rubbish and his bretheren had to fork out for a few more XXXL 'Toon replica kits that season to make up for the shortfall in NUFC finances.

Not even Kev throwing in the little matter of the Barry Ferguson questionable transfer to a Souness managed Blackburn Rovers in 2003 for seven and half million pounds, only for him to be sold back to R*ngers eighteen months later for a set of tracksuits and a job-lot of fire-damaged zippo lighters can help revive the case for the prosecution.

Souness the Manager's talent for spotting a decent player was always in inverse proportion to Souness the Midfield General's talent for spotting an opponent's shinguard-less ankle with the studs of his boots.

Remember this was the bloke who, when he was manager of Benfica, didn't think Deco was worth a place in his side, but with a straight face signed Steve Harkness and Brian Deane.

Shame, that in all probability, there isn't any substance to the specualtion, 'cos I was looking forward to spending the next 97 minutes - 90 minutes + 7 minutes of injury time in homage to Souness - racking my brains, trying to think up an apt title for the post that somehow played on Souness's nickname with a seventies cartoon character.

Maybe next time.

*Wishful thinking for one of Kevin's commenters that Rangers finally achieve an apt comparison with Juventus.

A Man Out of Time

The tubes at Tribune still won't join the 21st century by putting a decent archive on their website, but this sideline page/blog of theirs looks promising in a leftish trainspotterish kind of way (can't be arsed to link to their other sideline blog, a cartoon page, 'cos the cartoons in general aren't up to scratch).

Nice self-deprecating touch by leading off their historical page with a wee political hand-grenade thrown the way of the late Woodrow Wyatt; a man who, in his political life, started out as part of the Tribunite/Bevanite left in the Parliamentary Labour Party in the immediate post-war period, only to end up with a peerage courtesy of Thatcher for journalistic services to her Government's policies.

The sub-heading of the piece on the Tribune page is 'Lech, Toady and Turncoat' but one can't help feeling that the late bow-tied duffer's has been a bit hard done by.

A lech and a toady? Yep, his published diaries and his weekly column for the News of the World in the 1980s, 'The Voice of Reason', testify to the fact that he was enthralled by power, but a 'turncoat'? The bloke was New Labour when Blair was still reading the liner notes to the Tom Robinson Band's 'The Power in the Darkness', as if it was official Labour Party policy.

The poor sod was simply born before his time.

Rangers 1 Celtic 5!!!

OK, so it was in fact Julian's Rangers who got gubbed 5-1 in a friendly, and not the forces of darkness from the south side, but a dreamer can dream, can't he?

I know it means nowt, but nice to see Brown and McDonald on the scoresheet.

Bring on the Chicago Fire and the MLS All Stars next week. Surely history won't repeat itself?

Going Postal In Brooklyn 11218

Just up the road from Kara and myself, a scene from our local Post Office. I know how the bloke feels. The queues and general bad humoredness of all concerned once you get in that building would try the patience of a saint.

I love the non-reaction of all the other customers - 'Oh, a scene. . . I'm not really here . . . This isn't really happening . . . if I stare into the distance, it will all go away . . . . la la la'.

Who thought so many English people lived in Brooklyn?

The Little Black Book of Religion

Via Alan J's blog - who got it from someone else - a wee factoid about the wrath of that bloke who looks like Jerry Garcia.

Also looks like Satan is misunderstood (or just crap at his job). Maybe he can get Matthew Freud to do some PR for him to turn around his image.

Genuine names from Glasgow's 5-a-side league

Hat tip to Will Rubbish and 'SP'.

My favourites have to be Bayern Bru, FC Copenbadly and *cough* Torpedo Belgrano.

I believe that there's a bit of a tussle at the moment between Hajduk Spliff and LSD Eindhoven over the signature of Richie Hart.

Steaua Needarest

Dyslexia Untied

Fatzio

Red Star Bellend

Sporting Lesbian

Grass Smokers Zurich

Hajduk Spliff

LSD Eindhoven

Albion Hungovers

Real Sosobad

Shackthar Senseless

Hardly Athletic

St. Mirnoff

Real Ale Madrid

Fred West Ham

Unreal Madrid

Rapid Viagra

Barearselona

Bayern Bru

Athletico Madras

Deportivo Lack a Talent

Bayer Neverlusen

Borussia Nosobad

Sparka Fag

Graham Rix U16's

Big Bertha Berlin

Inter Masister

Substandard Liege

Torpedo Belgrano

Bayer Leverarchfile

FC Copenbadly

Sporting Abeergut

Dinamo Mince

Red Stripe Belgrade

Fake Madrid

Unathletic Madrid

Outer Milan

Friday's Playlist #12

An ongoing series:

Mission of Burma, 'Academy Fight Song' (Signals, Calls and Marches)

Manic Street Preachers, 'This is Yesterday' (The Holy Bible)

Mick Ronson, 'Only After Dark' (Slaughter On Tenth Avenue)

X, 'Johnny Hit And Run Pauline' (Los Angeles)

The Auteurs, 'Lights Out' (How I Learned To Love The Bootboys)

The Coup, 'Five Million Ways To Kill A CEO' (Party Music)

Melanie C, 'Goin Down' (Northern Star)

Westworld, 'Sonic Boom Boy' (Once Upon A Time)

Haircut 100, 'Fantastic Day' (Pelican West)

OMD, 'Souvenir' (Architecture & Morality)

Christ, I need to start listening to some new music.

UPDATE

On second thoughts, with choices 1 through 7 I was doing so well, as well.

A wee bit muso . . . a wee bit obscure. The recent announcement of the one-off reunion tour affording me the opportunity to splice in a solo song from the most talented Spice Girl to come off as oh so ironic (but secretly liking the song . . . the cynics can take a running jump off of Ger's old platform shoes). Throw in a bit of revolutionary hip hop from The Coup to impress any passing American student r-r-r-revolutionary politico who stumbles across the blog on their way to the next cute agit-prop event, but I fuck it all up by revealing my true colours in choices 8, 9 and 10: Laminated Smash Hits magazines parked neatly in the back of the wardrobe alongside my K-Tel compilation albums.

" . . . . the best fans in Europe"

It's been a protracted business, but R*ngers have finally got their man.

However, on spotting the cheeky juxtaposition of quotes on the online BBC Sports page, I can't help but wonder if the website tech geek at the Beeb is a Celtic fan with a sense of humour?

Btw, R*ngers are going to win the SPL title next year. Wish I was joking, but my sense of humour doesn't extend that far.

A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

Poor old Wolf Blitzer. Playing out the role of impartial journalist, whilst MM rips him a new one. One wonders if Moore would have been allowed to steamroller his way over a journalist on Fux News in the same fashion?

Killer One-Liner

"Tanaka just happened to be the unlucky cockroach on the kitchen table when the light was switched on."

Love that line from Michael S. in the latest post from the Socialism Or Your Money Back blog.

Knocking That Post Off The Bottom Of The Page

What I wrote on the 28th May Xs 10

'Dave'

Waving, but not blogging:

McAteerisms