Still looking for a couple of the Coleman 'Socialist Thinkers Series' talks to repost but, in the meantime, I've been pleasantly surprised so far by the response to the posting of the Socialist Audio Files:
And at least it tides me over whilst I continue to be in the midst of the current bloggers block.
Damn, too far down the line to just go ahead and delete the blog. Not too far gone that I can consider submitting the blog to the Smithsonian Institute for preservation for future posterity.
Hands up time.
Despite my best intentions, the last post was a bit of a garbled mess. So, for clarifications purposes:
I'd bet my milk bottle top collection that really is JAMC's Jim Reid.
Hat tip to Yadogg. More laugh out loud inspiration over at the Facebook Group dedicated to rescuing vinyl for a meaningful purpose.
Old Etonian Oxbridge academic was apparently a member of the Militant Tendency in the 70s and the 80s? How did that square with their much celebrated workerism during that period? Mmm, where's that quote again from the 'Communist Manifesto'? There it is:
Finally, in times when the class struggle nears the decisive hour, the progress of dissolution going on within the ruling class, in fact within the whole range of old society, assumes such a violent, glaring character, that a small section of the ruling class cuts itself adrift, and joins the revolutionary class, the class that holds the future in its hands. Just as, therefore, at an earlier period, a section of the nobility went over to the bourgeoisie, so now a portion of the bourgeoisie goes over to the proletariat, and in particular, a portion of the bourgeois ideologists, who have raised themselves to the level of comprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole."
That's the one. I bet he had it typed up in bold, laminated and carried it dangling from his neck at Millies get togethers. It would have helped avoid misunderstandings.
As a pre-eminent economist in his day, I wonder if he reined in Ted Grant's 24/7 millenarianism during that time, or did hee supply the number-crunching to back it up?
OK, enough waffle from me. A few links about the recent passing of Andrew Glyn are in order:
Finally, I did like this comment attributed to Glyn by one of the commentators over at Crooked Timber:
"Towards the end of the term in which I was taught by him, the film ‘Rosa’, about the life of Rosa Luxemburg, came out. After remarking on how the film made no mention of Luxemburg’s criticisms of Lenin, Andrew’s next comment was something like: ‘Her life shows that it is actually possible to be both a serious revolutionary socialist and a human being."
Sounded like he was a decent bloke.
'This Charming Man': The greatest pop song of all time?
Quite possibly. It depends what day you catch me when asking that particular question.
Professional irritant Paul Morley tests my patience to the limit with his trendy sixth form English teacher deconstruction of the lyrics of 'This Charming Man' on his BBC4 programme, Pop! What is it good for? Simon Armitage is excused from my bile, as I love his prose - though I do wish he wouldn't go to the same barber as Stuart Maconie - and Mike Joyce? . . . well Mike Joyce has the best line of all in the clip.
Hat tip to Urban 75 for bringing the programme to my attention.
UNLOVABLE
Ian Bone reports on Smiths fans in Salford getting spikey at the thought of David Cameron securing a photo-op outside the Salford Boys Club.
Doesn't matter if Cameron claims it's his favourite album of all time, it restores my faith a tad.
Mixing Footie and Lists
Midfield Dynamo is the new addition to the footie blogroll. With its mixture of the humorous and the off-kilter it's nearest we'll ever get to a half-decent When Saturday Comes website. (Yeah, I know that WSC has a website, but it's a bit tight-fisted with the material it makes available to the reader.)
A few lists to give you a flavour of MD:
MIXING POP & POLITICS (I)
Via Leftpost blog comes the intriguing news that The Beatles recorded a track as long ago as 1962 in support of Tommy Sheridan. On reflection, it does makes sense and not just because of Lennon's protest music in the early seventies. Hamburg and Manchester should have been twinned if the film, Backbeat, has any veracity to it.
UPDATE
No truth in the rumour that Tommy's partner, Gail, is returning the compliment with a cover version of 'Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey'.
