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Archive for September, 2014

Johnny Marr: A lot of people are afraid

Sunday, September 28th, 2014

With the Smiths Johnny Marr blazed a trail for music with a political conscience. Now a successful solo artist, he still thinks its a musicians job to ask awkward questions. But why is he such a lone voice?

When the definitive history of David Camerons time in office appears something which may happen rather sooner than he would like a few paragraphs will surely be devoted to his self-professed love of the Smiths. The prime minister has quoted their song titles in the House of Commons, chosen their 1983 hit This Charming Man on Desert Island Discs, and even made a point of visiting the location of the photograph printed on the sleeve of their album The Queen Is Dead and all with little apparent sense of the awful inappropriateness of it all. Who knows? When he takes the podium at next weeks Tory conference he may try something similar again: it would be nice to hear a reference to I Know Its Over (1986), though one fears the atmosphere will be more suggestive of the 1987 stomper A Rush and a Push and The Land Is Ours.

This was a band, let us not forget, who embodied no, led the left-leaning 1980s counterculture that set itself against everything the Conservative party stood for, then and now. To play any of their songs is to be reminded not just of the chilly, polarised tenor of those times, but the absurdity of anyone with Tory inclinations finding something to latch on to. That point was curtly made in December 2010, when Johnny Marr the bands former guitarist and co-songwriter took to Twitter to demand that the prime minister should shut up. Stop saying that you like the Smiths, no you dont, he declared. I forbid you to like it.

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Scotland has shown how the left can finally find its purpose | John Harris

Saturday, September 27th, 2014

SNP and Scottish Green party membership has surged as women and working-class voters demand change

Last Friday, having spent a long night at a count in Falkirk, I whiled away a bleary-eyed afternoon on George Square in Glasgow. Though the day would end with ugly scenes as packs of pro-union thugs appeared, in the afternoon peaceful yes supporters had the place to themselves.

Soon enough, the defiant Twitter hashtag the45 (as in percent) would be in full effect, but at that point, a sense of sadness and lost opportunity was inescapable; at times, what with the vulture-like presence of the Socialist Workers party and the odd person getting lost in conspiracy theory, the whole thing threatened to put me in mind of the decline phase of the Occupy movement. That said, there were also sparks of vitality, usually of the kind one doesnt find at, say, a Labour party conference: it sounds unlikely, but a massed out-of-tune version of the Proclaimers hit Im Gonna Be (500 Miles) brimmed with an infectious sense of defianceand purpose.

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Britain after the referendum: welcome to the political future video

Wednesday, September 24th, 2014

John Harris samples the aftershocks of Scotland’s vote to reject independence, and a passionate new politics that wants to take back power from Westminster. From Glasgow to Leeds and on to Manchester, people are engaged, fired-up, and disconnecting from the big three parties, not least Labour, whose party conference takes place this week

Scottish independence: ‘It’s all going hell for leather’ video
Here comes Plaid Cymru: could Wales follow Scotland on the road to independence? video
Ukip’s rise in the east of England: a world turned upside down video Continue reading…

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The left must answer the English Question before the Tories do | John Harris

Thursday, September 18th, 2014

The Tories are reheating their arguments for English votes for English laws. We should all be very worried

Live blog: Wednesdays Scottish referendum developments

On the assumption that Scotland narrowly votes to remain in the UK which still seems like the most likely outcome, though you never know get ready for a great outpouring of Tory noise. In response to the three main parties panicked embrace of increased powers for Scotland which remain somewhat unclear, even if youre being kind the early rumblings are already upon us: one Tory backbencher has warned of a Conservative bloodbath as and when parliament votes on plans for increased Scottish devolution, while other Tories are reheating their arguments for Westminster business that applies only to England being the exclusive preserve of English MPs, aka English votes for English laws.

Yesterday, David Cameron pushed things along, acknowledging that boosting Holyroods status would reopen big questions for England, and making reference to last years report by the McKay commission a plan that offered a somewhat underwhelming vision of compromise rather than conflict, but set out a future in which: Decisions taken in the Commons which have a separate and distinct effect for England (or England-and-Wales) would largely be taken only with the consent of a majority of MPs sitting for constituencies in England (or England-and-Wales).

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Scottish independence: ‘It’s all going hell for leather’ video

Thursday, September 18th, 2014

From packed meetings on out-of-town estates to cultural circuses in coastal towns, John Harris travels across Scotland and finds politics to be suddenly alive, while Westminster recedes into the distance. He also picks the brains of the undecided voters who hold the key to the UK’s future

Here comes Plaid Cymru: could Wales follow Scotland on the road to independence? video

Ukip’s rise in the east of England: a world turned upside down video Continue reading…

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