FRIDAY MUSIC: Silly Wizard, by JD

Silly Wizard were a Scottish folk band that began forming in Edinburgh in 1970. The founder members were two like-minded university students—Gordon Jones, and Bob Thomas. In January 1972, Jones and Thomas formed a trio with their flatmate Bill Watkins and performed under various band names in Edinburgh folk clubs.

In the spring of 1972, Watkins returned to Birmingham and, in June 1972, Chris Pritchard (vocals) came in as his replacement. In July 1972, this newly formed trio were offered their first paid booking at the Burns Monument Hotel, Brig O’ Doon, Scotland, and needed a band name in a hurry. The name “Silly Wizard” was chosen and the continuing stream of bookings ensured that the name became permanent. In September 1972, the trio recruited Johnny Cunningham (1957–2003) (fiddle, viola, mandola, vocals)[1] and Silly Wizard started to take off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Wizard

Silly Wizard: Lover’s Heart

Silly Wizard Live - Donald McGillavry

The Ramblin’ Rover, Andy M. Stewart & Silly Wizard

Bridget O’Malley

Silly Wizard Live - Land O’ The Leal
“Scotland is one of the few places left that cigarettes and fried breakfasts are still good for you” - Andy M Stewart

This song was written by Lady Carolina Nairne of Perthshire, Scotland (1766-1845) in about 1798. The air that she set her words to is a very old Scottish tune. In “The Scottish Review,” Vol. 27, Pg. 115, published 1896, the air is called “Hey Now The Day Dawes.” Subsequently an “anonymous versifier” set lyrics to the tune, which became known as “Hey Tuttie Taitie” or “Hey Tuttie Tattie.” Robert Burns then set “Scots Wha Hae” to the tune, saying “I have met the tradition universally over Scotland, and particularly about Stirling, in the neighbourhood of the scene, that this air was Robert the Bruce’s March at the battle of Bannockburn, which was fought in 1314.”

Thereafter, Lady Nairne set “Land O’ The Leal” to the same tune. This information can be found in “The Scotish* Musical Museum, Consisting of Upwards of Six Hundred Songs, Vol. II,” published 1839, pages 162-168, which contains the musical notation for the original tune, “Hey Now The Day Dawes.” Please note that the lyrics to “Land O’ The Leal” are introduced with the statement: “The ingenious author still unknown to the editor.” The lyrics were later often attributed to Burns, until after Lady Nairne’s death, when her sister published, in 1846, her collected works in a book titled “Lays from Strathearn.”

Silly Wizard members in this clip:

Andy M. Stewart: lead vocals, tenor banjo, whistle
Phil Cunningham: accordion, piano, synthesizers, whistle, cittern, vocals
John Cunningham: fiddle, vocals
Gordon Jones: guitar, bodhran, vocals
Martin Hadden: bass guitar, keyboards, guitar, vocals.

Satanism is not a new moral panic

The internet is fizzing with demonisation of senior US political figures as the Epstein files are leaked. There are fantastic allegations of perversion and even cannibalism. Here in the UK it is possible to believe that our Prime Minister actually works to harm our country in several ways.

Can all this be simply the hysteria of ninnies?

Yet forty years ago Michael Bentine published a novel whose foreword reads in part:

I have been pondering for many years on my own encounters with the forces of evil during war and peace… newspaper headlines about drug smuggling, satanism and corruption in high places show daily that the kind of events described here are all too probable.

Bentine was a firm believer in the paranormal and yet was nobody’s fool. He was at the liberation of Belsen in 1945 and saw Hell there; like William Blake he believed heaven and hell are states of the human soul, but not merely that. Here he is in discussion with Bishop Richard Holloway (BBC1, 19 August 1988):

Either the spiritual cross-currents now flowing so vigorously are baloney or they’re not; if not, they scare me. There are reports of increased church attendance and conversions (ex-Muslim then atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali adopted Christianity in November 2023.)

Evil may be a real force and if so blasé sophistication may not be enough to counter it.

Hannah Spencer - plumb lucky?

Jealous eyes are cast on the new MP for Gorton and Denton. The Daily Mail digs away at how this relatively young (34) plumber has come to co-own property “worth over £1m.” Apparently her mother helped her buy her first house ten years ago so that got her on the ladder early by today’s standards; and it also helped to have a (now ex-) partner who must earn well as a professional biochemist.

But Hannah’s acceptance speech touching on the poor rewards of hard work was not hypocritical. Many of those who voted for her will be putting in long hours in their small businesses and wondering when they will break through to the good times.

Part of her success may be down to “working as a specialist in heat pumps” where the profit margin is big. Google’s AI says an installed heat pump costs “an average of around £12,500 for a standard 3-bedroom home” ChatPT says an air source inverter costs US$1,200-2,500 to manufacture - say under UK£2,000 at the top end.

If supplying and fitting costs a further £3,000 (would it be as much as that?) the Government’s £7,500 subsidy would appear to be “pure gravy” as PG Wodehouse would say. Plenty there to share with a skilled employee, assuming Spencer was not running her own show and taking the lot. This is another case of the State being happy to burn taxpayers’ money to ride a hobby horse.

But fair play to Hannah for having the wit to exploit it. She was less likely to become a demi-millionaire just from unblocking toilets.

Vote for War

A repost from 2021:

Outside St Mary’s Church in Totnes stands a rough stone war memorial. At the foot of the cross are named over 100 men killed in the Great War, including three men from one family and two from another, in a town of fewer than 6,000 souls.

Who voted for the slaughter to begin? Nobody. The electorate comprised 5.2 million men (some 60% of all adult males, and no women at all), but they were not consulted. Instead, the order was given by King George V at a Privy Council meeting in Buckingham Palace attended by only two court officials and Lord Beauchamp. As historian AJP Taylor explained https://global.oup.com/academic/product/english-history-1914-1945-9780192801401?cc=gb&lang=en& , this reflected ‘a general view that war was an act of state, if not of prerogative, with which ordinary citizens had little to do.’

By 1918, after nearly a million British servicemen had died (with another c. two million permanently disabled) https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/1914-1945/war/ , it was thought that the people might be entitled to more of a voice.

The Home Secretary introduced the Representation of the People Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_Act_1918#Background saying that the war

‘has made it, I think, impossible that ever again, at all events in the lifetime of the present generation, there should be a revival of the old class feeling which was responsible for so much, and, among other things, for the exclusion for a period, of so many of our population from the class of electors.’

Nevertheless, while the Act extended the vote to all men only some women qualified - about 40% of them. The rest had to wait until 1928 to be included. Universal adult suffrage in Britain has yet to celebrate its centenary.

Even modernised democracy didn’t stop the repeat use of the royal war-making prerogative in 1939; and it remains to this day the constitutional position for the United Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_parliamentary_approval_for_military_action .

While we complain about minor infringements of our personal freedom, the government reserves the right to kill us (and the people of other nations) wholesale, so long as some pretext can be found that circumvents Nuremberg principles. ‘Gandalf’ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9569815/You-looked-like-Gandalf-Tony-Blair-admits-lockdown-mullet-mistake.html bounced us into war with Iraq, and ‘Dodgy Dave’ https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/on-this-day-dennis-skinner-thrown-out-of-the-commons-after-calling-cameron-dodgy-dave-263883/ only desisted from bombing Syria because he chose to ‘respect’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23892783 a Commons majority opposing it.

The US Constitution attempted to restrain the Executive with a specification that it should be Congress that declares a war. Despite the country being almost continuously involved in armed foreign conflicts since its foundation, that declaration has been made only eleven times, the last in 1942 https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/War-Powers/ . The use of the notion of ‘authorisation’ has allowed this power, like so many others, to drift towards the Chief Executive, and in any case the next Big One may happen so suddenly that there will be no need for a call-up before a general incineration begins.

The US President’s nuclear football is ever at hand; Britain is now stocking up with more atomic weapons https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/03/18/britain-is-adding-nukes-for-the-first-time-since-the-cold-war ; the winds blow around the old granite cross. And we have the vote.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Bosko Baker, by JD

“Street Swing. Bozo Blues. Often times with my fiddle playin’ pal Birdie & our band the Do Makers. You can also catch me in New Orleans with the Hobo Gadget Junk Band at certain spectacular moments of the year.”

“Bosko Baker is a roots musician blending American music — country blues, ragtime, folk, swing — into what he calls “street swing” or “bozo blues.” Drawing inspiration from legends like Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Blake, Jimmie Rodgers, and Mississippi John Hurt, his music combines raw energy with timeless tradition.

“With a spontaneous stage presence honed from years of busking, Bosko’s shows are where his music truly comes to life — an infectious mix of blues, swing, and folk that speaks to the heart of American roots music. From festival stages to intimate venues, his dynamic blend of storytelling, finger-picking guitar, and a deep respect for tradition makes every show a unique & foot stomping experience that has gained him a loyal following.”

https://www.boskobaker.com/

Bosko Baker - Be Here Now (With Me)

With Friends Like These (Live)

Bosko Baker // Business for the Business Man (Live in New Orleans)

Lookin’ For Trouble - Bosko Baker’s Do Makers

Dinah

Bosko Baker’s Do Makers // Puddle of Joy // NPR Tiny Desk Contest 2026

Fresh Garbage: PMQs / Chagos 25th February 2026

The PM gave us the usual stuff today.

Edward Argar (Con): Would Starmer scrap impending business rate changes?

PM [effectively]: …

Mrs Badenoch, LOTO (repeatedly): Would he cut interest rates on student loans?

PM [effectively]: …

Fleur Anderson (Lab): Would Starmer remain committed to the Equality Act?

PM: Natch. And [irrelevantly again] would Nigel Farage apologise for what one of his Party said (“she should be shot”) about Bolsover’s Natalie Fleet (Lab)? [The Speaker has recently told off Sir Keir for asking the Opposition a question, but hey, who cares?]

Farage: What about the right of Chagossians to live on their land?

PM: “So the hon. Gentleman has neither the decency nor the backbone to condemn a death threat against a Member of this House.” Reform’s Gorton and Denton candidate denies non-whites can be English and “has been endorsed by Tommy Robinson.” Vote Labour tomorrow. [As for Chagos, his reply was: …]

I have just bought a copy of “Punch & Judy Politics: An Insider’s Guide to Prime Minister’s Questions.” Sir Keir regularly turns the baby of a serious question into sausages and his nasal twang is already halfway to being a swazzle. How we long for the day when we can have politics for grown-ups.

More interesting was the next session, Farage’s “Urgent Question” about Diego Garcia / Chagos.

The relevant Minister should have been the Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper but she was returning from the USA; in her stead was Hamish Falconer, PUSS for foreign affairs and more specifically the Middle East. In rugby terms he had been given a “hospital pass,” (says my wife.) James Cartlidge (Con) noted Falconer’s deflections and said ”Surely we should have a Minister in front of us who can answer our fundamental legal questions on the treaty.”

Falconer betrayed the pressure he felt under by twice addressing Farage directly (“you”) which of course should be the (Madam Deputy in this case) Speaker, who picked him up on it.

For pressure there was. Four different MPs asked him about Article 298 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which says in part:

a State may… declare in writing that it does not accept any one or more of the procedures… with respect to one or more of the following categories of disputes: […]

(b) disputes concerning military activities, including military activities by government vessels and aircraft engaged in non-commercial service…

Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh noted the “apparent” discrepancy between answers given on 22 May 2025, when it was said that without a quick resolution on Diego Garcia HMG would run into problems with international law, and written answers given on 4 and 12 February 2026 that acknowledged this opt-out. He gave notice that he would table an Urgent Question on this discrepancy for Monday.

The earlier role of Jonathan Powell was also an issue - he may have been given confidential information on the “deal” before his appointment as special envoy to the British Indian Ocean Territories. Ben Obese-Jecty (Con) had previously asked about it re Chagos and a reply was due 12 February but not received as of even date. “One can assume that a response will be forthcoming very quickly,” said a stern Madam Deputy Speaker.

Nor was it just the Conservatives who turned up the heat. Labour’s Graham Stringer quoted the Labour manifesto on protecting the British Overseas Territories and “defending their sovereignty and right to self-determination” - but noted that the Chagossians had not been consulted. The Lib Dem spokesperson Dr Al Pinkerton also supported Chagossian rights.

There was a further complication, said Farage, in that the Maldives might be about to launch a counterclaim on Chagos via the ICJ .

However much Falconer harped on eleven previous rounds of discussion on Diego Garcia and Farage’s stunt trip to the Chagos Islands, it was clear that the matter remains far from settled.

Thank goodness Parliament is still capable of holding Government to account. What was the point of capturing the Crown in 1689 if all it achieved was to allow the Prime Minister carte blanche? We need another John Dunning, he who said in 1780 “The influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished”; but this time to address the shogunate that has taken over from the monarch.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Renaissance, by JD

Renaissance are an English progressive rock band, best known for their 1978 UK top 10 hit “Northern Lights” and progressive rock classics like “Carpet of the Sun”, “Mother Russia”, and “Ashes Are Burning”.

They developed a unique sound, combining a female lead vocal with a fusion of classical, folk, rock, and jazz influences. Characteristic elements of the Renaissance sound are Annie Haslam’s wide vocal range, prominent piano accompaniment, orchestral arrangements, vocal harmonies, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, synthesiser, and versatile drum work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_(band)
https://repertoirerecords.com/artists/renaissance/

Renaissance - Northern Lights [totp2]

Ocean Gypsy

Renaissance - Forever Changing

Renaissance - Carpet of the Sun

RENAISSANCE - Can You Understand? [LIVE IN STUDIO] 1974 RARE

FRIDAY MUSIC: Alan Price and Georgie Fame

This week features the collaboration between Alan Price and Georgie Fame. There are not many videos on youtube with both of them together. There is a comment beneath one of the videos asking why they are never featured on the many ‘golden oldie’ shows on radio or TV. Another simply says ‘from the old days when pop stardom needed real musical talent.’

The final video here is one of their TV shows - 29 minutes long. I hope that is not excessive but fans may feel it is just right!

Alan Price and Georgie Fame starred in their own BBC2 television series titled
“The Price of Fame” (sometimes referred to as Fame at any Price) in 1969. The series was produced by Stanley Dorfman for BBC2, starting with a special in late 1969 and featuring episodes into 1970.

The show featured musical performances and sketches written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. Guests included Delaney & Bonnie (with Eric Clapton and Dave Mason), Thelma Houston, Doris Troy, Billy Preston, and Zoot Money.

The partnership between Alan Price and Georgie Fame began on a November night in 1970 at the London Revolution Club. There was a positive atmosphere among the Georgie Fame fans attending one of his rare concerts. Few of them however, were prepared for the musical fireworks which were about to come.

As Georgie Fame began to strike up the old Animals classic “Bring It on Home”, it was all over for the former Animals organist Alan Price. When Georgie - who recognized Alan Price in the audience- invited him to come onstage, he readily took up his offer. Both delivered a rock show to a stunning crowd, one that people seldom experience.

Songs such as “Rave On,” “Great Balls of Fire,” and “Oh Boy “ were full of energy and the entire club was electrified with excitement. Continuing this partnership was a logical consequence. Whoever limits this collaboration to their smash hit “Rosetta” is making a big mistake. “Together” proves that this duo has so much more to offer.

https://propermusic.com/products/georgiefamealanprice-together

1971 Alan Price & Georgie Fame - Rosetta

Alan Price & Georgie Fame - Good Day Sunshine

Alan Price and Georgie Fame - “We Was Rockin”

Alan Price & Georgie Fame - Boney Maroni

Alan Price & Georgie Fame on Sez Les - 6 September 1971

The Price of Fame - Alan Price & Georgie Fame

“An episode of BBC television’s The Price of Fame from 1969. Alan Price and Georgie Fame sing solo and together. Songs include Great Balls of Fire, Good Day Sunshine, Searching for Love, Here, There and Everywhere, Walk On By, and Bring it on Home to Me.

“Special guest Thelma Houston. Also features some crazy dancing and hairstyles. Plus Georgie Fame performing a song in a bathrobe….”

Rubbish: PMQs 11th February 2025

As the Prime Minister rose both sides of the House cheered. “I did not think that the Prime Minister was so popular on the Opposition Benches,” remarked the Speaker. Cheering and jeering have similar sounds but different meanings. Tory hands flapped at him while David Lammy and Rachel Reeves smirked.

As Quentin Letts describes, the mood became sombre as Kemi Badenoch laid into Sir Keir on the key people the PM has been “throwing under the bus” including Matthew (now Baron) Doyle (another of Blair’s old team) who had campaigned for a sex-offender Scottish Labour councillor yet was still given a peerage. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey finally triggered Starmer into a rant (says Letts) by referring to the same matter.

How embarrrassing for Labour, whose activists “have been branded “paedo lovers” on the doorsteps.” Government backbenchers must be seething inside, knowing that they had to hang together or would hang separately in the snap General Election that Starmer threatened in order to force his Cabinet back into line behind him.

Yet the Puritans may console themselves with the prospect of another three years of keeping the Tories out and only another three months before a local elections debacle that will likely trigger a leadership challenge. One more push! …. and then, as with Mohammed’s prophecy of his legacy, a battle of seventy-two sects will begin, each convinced it is the only correct one.

This is why, as Blair and his horrid crew understood, you cannot unite the Left, you have to dominate it. Zealous Muslim convert Jody McIntyre tells us:

“When Morgan McSweeney first joined Labour in 2001, he was assigned to Peter Mandelson’s Excalibur database, used to monitor “internal political rivals”. Mandelson would show Labour MPs their “Excalibur printouts” and threaten them with action if they stepped out of line.”

According to McIntyre, who in 2024 very nearly ousted Jess Phillips from her traditionally rock-solid Labour seat, “an MP who served on Labour’s frontbench has passed [JMc] details of an unknown and unelected group who “rule with a rod of iron” and are fighting to retain control of the party.”

McIntyre names Baron Doyle as one of McSweeney’s “inner circle” and goes on to allege “Starmer’s Labour is now infested with sexual predators + child rapists.” The pro-Palestinian activist is clearly hoping to widen the gap between Labour and the Islamic political faction that is developing as the Left Balkanises.

Did we miss an opportunity to stabilise the electorate when rejecting the Alternative Vote in the 2011 referendum? “Her party is dying,” said Sir Keir to Kemi; that makes two, at least.

In connection with the Mandelson affair Ed Davey’s second question urged the adoption of the “Hillsborough law” imposing “a duty of candour for anyone and everyone in public office.”

A British glasnost would be welcome, especially since the tendency appears to be in the opposite direction, what with the Goverment’s cancelling its agreement with Courtsdesk and so making searches of criminal proceedings (and e.g. collation of migrant crime data) more difficult. Debating this on Tuesday the Minister, Sarah Sackman, dressed it up as a procedural matter based on data protection.

The SNP’s Stephen Flynn made transparency a personal matter for Starmer, asking him in relation to Baron Doyle to release the House of Lords Appointments Commission’s confidential advice given to the PM “on the propriety of the proposed nominees.” Sir Keir replied “I have made my position clear. The right hon. Gentleman knows how the system works” (convention of confidentiality, another procedural escape hatch) and typically for him launched a distracting counterattack against the SNP. PMQs as Blind Man’s Buff.

Isn’t procedure wonderful? It can give you a monstrously unrepresentative majority in Parliament based on the technicalities of a flawed electoral system.

Independent Ayoub Khan lightened the mood when his question on the Birmingham bin strike began “Rubbish is building up right beneath my very nose.” There was general laughter.

Yet there is so much else building up under our noses that is not being cleared up.

Only disaster can save us

If the fuses keep blowing maybe the toaster needs replacing. Morgan McSweeney, Tim Allan, who’s next? Has the PM’s position become un-Number-Ten-able?

Belatedly Twitterites are starting to worry about who might come after Starmer. Sir Keir is being described as moderate and restrained by comparison.

They’re wrong.

The choice is between socialist hotheads who rush like a bull at a gate and will be defeated by a horrified populace, and crypto-communists who proceed more slowly and thoroughly - the Fabians, the Gramscians, the Pabloites.

Blair’s influence within the Labour Party continues. His Institute for Global Change is said to be deeply influential. Although Andrew Neil protests “Blair has never been Starmer’s mentor. Never. And recently they’ve barely been on speaking terms” you have to look at who has been working with the PM: tentacles of the New Labour octopus.

If TB is disappointed in KS it will be because Starmer is a clunker in presentation. We see it weekly in PMQs but here is Sir Keir in Hastings where while passing judgment on the Prince of Darkness he gives us this hostage to his own political fortune:

“No one — however well-connected, however experienced, however senior… should hold public office if they cannot meet the basic test of honesty.”

Some are saying there should now be a General Election.

Wrong again.

In the first place it is unconstitutional, as barrister Steven Barrett explains: out of the massive Parliamentary majority someone can be found to lead the Government on the King’s behalf.

Secondly the people are torn. Labour has shown its ghastly colours, the Conservatives are deeply unforgiven but Reform is still “an emotional spasm.”

The Right is split between the Tories, Reform and other nascent parties such as Advance UK. If Labour went to the country now it could destroy Reform who have an unlicked bear-whelp of a manifesto and a leader who has yet to prove he can assemble a Cabinet with strength in depth that could survive his departure.

The Left is also fragmenting - some are off to the Greens who are a combination of eco cranks and revolutionary Islamists, some to the Lib Dems, some to independents.

A GE now might be dangerous. A heartbroken electorate might stay away from the polling booths on such a scale as to realize what Tony Benn warned against in 1991:

“Apathy could destroy democracy. When the turnout drops below 50 per cent., we are in danger.”

- and again ten years later:

“The real danger to democracy is not that someone will burn Buckingham Palace and run up the red flag, but that people will not vote. If people do not vote, they destroy, by neglect, the legitimacy of the Government who have been elected.”

Already the dangerous question of legitimacy has arisen, when a Government acts as though it has a mandate for radical change when only a fifth of the voting population cast their ballots for them and many of those are suffering buyer’s remorse.

Such a crisis could scarcely come at a worse time. Starmer seems keen to get our weakened military involved in Ukraine. The rich are being driven out of Britain, many entrepreneurial types in the prime of life are emigrating. Businesses are going to the wall, manufacturing is dying because of Net Zero. Both Peter Hitchens and Rupert Lowe (see 31:25) are expecting a run on sterling at some point.

Our economy is threatened by an international trade imbalance against a background of Britain’s crippling Net Zero commitment and doctrinaire hostility to business. Unemployment is rising for these reasons and also because of mechanisation and AI. In this context the use of immigration to swell GDP can only be seen as lunatic. We are heading for a State where many millions will be long-term welfare dependants and the system will break.

It is odd that Starmer claims to work for the working class defined by him as those who do not have savings, when the public sector workers whose pay has recently been greatly boosted have not only greater job security but pensions that embody future financial benefits that personal schemes cannot match.

Foreign relations are also an issue. Why is China being allowed to build a Lubyanka-like fortress in central London? Why does it look as though the Chagos giveaway is likely to go ahead, after a period of US opposition? Did Starmer fly halfway around the world merely to get a lower tariff on Scotch whisky exports or did he give certain private assurances to the Chinese Government? Would that explain why he didn’t take his Foreign Secretary with him but instead his “national security adviser” Jonathan Powell who served a decade as Blair’s chief of staff (1997-2007)?

We seem to be weakening in every way. Is that the big idea?

As Starmer gave us his delusionary vision in Hastings we have to remember the significance of that place where almost a thousand years ago the flower of Anglo-Saxon nobility faced invasion, defeat and systematic oppression. Is Sir Keir standing on Senlac Hill or is his back to the sea?

Perhaps only a swift and full disaster will give us the opportunity to rebuild.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Tejedor, by JD

Tejedor is a folk music group from Avilés, Asturias, Spain, consisting originally of three siblings (Jose, Javier and Eva Tejedor). Eva left the band in 2010, being replaced by Silvia Quesada on vocals. Tejedor’s members play traditional Asturian styles of music using traditional instruments such as bagpipes, flutes, accordions and guitars.

Tejedor has become known on the international Celtic music scene, the two brothers of the group winning on several occasions the McCallan bagpipe awards at the Inter Celtic Music Festival in Lorient, France.

Their first album, Texedores De Suaños, was produced by Phil Cunningham and features musicians like Michael McGoldrick, Duncan Chisholm, James McKintosh and Kepa Junkera.

https://tejedorweb.blogspot.com/p/bio.html

Xota Villacondide

“Xota la Punta” - Tejedor

Tejedor - Gaites del infiernu (Bagpipes from hell)

Tejedor - El veleta

Chalaneru [Víctor Manuel, Tejedor, Chus Pedro, Ramón Prada]

Tejedor: Andolina

Just out of interest the word tejedor means weaver so they are, in a way, paying homage to Pete Seeger and his ‘Weavers’ from years ago. And andolina means swallow (the bird).

Interesting Times

 Some points arising out of the events of the last few days:

1. Why has Peter Mandelson been given so many chances over the years?

2. Would Starmer’s resignation change much? Or would it be the trumpet call for a clearout of the Blairites? In which case, would the general political programme remain the same?

3. Some are calling for a fresh General Election. Could that inflict serious damage on Reform, who have yet to work out what they will do and how, and how to set up and run a Cabinet?

4. If Reform are not ready and both Labour and Conservative are mistrusted, even hated, could we see the constitutional crisis thatTony Benn warned against, a voter turnout below fifty per cent and people questioning the Government’s authority to govern?

5. Such a crisis could scarcely come at a worse time. Starmer seems keen to get our weakened military involved in Ukraine. The rich are being driven out of Britain, many entrepreneurial types in the prime of life are emigrating. Businesses are going to the wall, manufacturing is dying because of Net Zero. Both Peter Hitchens and Rupert Lowe (see 31:25) are expecting a run on sterling at some point.

6. Mandelson’s insider financial tips to Epstein maybe be treacherous in a non-legal sense but not necessarily treasonous as they did not impact on the State’s security. Arguably the (planned) giving away of the Chagos islands with its implications for national defence, might be considered worse, though Starmer is not solely to blame: talks with Mauritius were instituted under the last Conservative government in 2022. Nevertheless the ICJ’s rulings are not binding; why was Sir Keir so interested in pushing the process onward?

7. Starmer’s recent visit to China resulted in a reduced tariff on our whisky exports and an easement of visa requirements for Chinese citizens visiting the UK. But while he was there might he also have agreed with the Chinese government some Memorandum of Understanding on other matters of mutual interest? Why did his National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell accompany him, but not the Foreign Secretary?

Should we abandon hope in this country, as Hitchens has, or hold onto it - remain “Klingons”?

FRIDAY MUSIC: Slim Gaillard, by JD

This time from Slim Gaillard. The comments to these videos show that most people have never heard of him which surprises me. The man was a genius! Unique, a one off, never to be repeated!

Bulee “Slim” Gaillard, also known as McVouty, was an American jazz singer and songwriter who played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone. Gaillard was noted for his comedic vocalese singing and word play in his own constructed language called “Vout-o-Reenee”, for which he wrote a dictionary.

This man’s life is remarkable. He spent his childhood in Cuba cutting sugarcane and picking bananas. At age 12, he accompanied his father on a round-the-world trip but was accidentally stranded on the island of Crete. He spent four years sailing the Mediterranean, learning the basics of Greek and Arabic, and eventually boarding a ship bound for North America. During Prohibition, he drove a hearse carrying a coffin full of whiskey for the Purple Gang. As an adult, he taught himself guitar and piano, earned the respect of such big names in jazz such as Charlie Parker, Flip Phillips, and Coleman Hawkins, and he was capable of speaking six languages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_Gaillard

Slim Gaillard Trio in Burghausen 1986

SLIM GAILLARD

George Melly & Slim Gaillard - Part 1 - Jazz Juke Box

George Melly & Slim Gaillard - Part 2 - Jazz Juke Box

Hellzapoppin’ in full color Slim Gaillard & Slam Stewart, the Harlem Congeroos

Slim Gaillard - Flat Foot Floogie (Live 1988)

Davos and PMQs, 21st January 2025

To adapt the My Fair Lady song, “Why can’t a Yankee be more like a Brit?” It was fun watching Andrew Neil sizzling ever hotter on X as President Trump spoke at Davos - “If the folks at Davos had a spine they’d be walking out en masse now. Leaving him to an empty room.” Neil seems to prefer the English habit of cautious precision, apology and understatement; I once unintentionally misled a Californian when I told him Colman’s mustard was “fairly warm” and watched him impressed as he slathered it on his hot dog.

Richard North takes a different angle: “Most of [Trump’s] speeches are self-aggrandising waffle with multiple factual inaccuracies. You have to listen to the song and not the lyrics.”

North is correct. The WEF, EU and Starmer’s Ingsoc are still playing with their citizen-paralysing legal architecture while China is bulldozing its way around the world. By contrast Trump is combative - who will ever forget his reaction to being nearly killed in Pennsylvania?

When Montgomery first met Churchill in 1940 and Winston overmatched him the General later said he’d thought “we’ve got our man.” Churchill didn’t get everything right either - Alan Brooke did great service in moderating most of the PM’s ideas; but what counted, and what still counts, was the fighting spirit and sense of direction.

But how Trump ruffles feathers! Suddenly Starmer has discovered “values and principles” in relation to Greenland and told the Commons he “will not yield.” To clarify, on Monday he said “any decision about the future status of Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone.”

That prompts us to ask, “which of those two?” For the Danes have not made themselves loved among the Inuit, on whom the Copenhaven government inflicted forced contraception decades ago, apologising only last August.

Naturally some people say, if the people of Greenland must make their own decision about national sovereignty, shouldn’t we also respect the result of the Brexit referendum? (And as Badenoch said, what about the Chagossians?) But don’t expect Starmer to have consistent principles on that, any more than with free speech, trial by jury and liberty generally.

Turning to national defence, where Sir Keir boasts of boosting funding, we struggle to square that with giving the Chinese the go-ahead on building a fortress-like embassy in central London, and yielding (to use his new favourite word) the strategically important Chagos islands to China-aligned Mauritius. On Monday the PM shared custard cream biscuits with Samaritans representatives; perhaps he should offer Cowardy Custard Creams to the FCO and intelligence services?

This week’s PMQs was rowdy. The Speaker issued multiple warnings to his unruly class but shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden persisted and was ordered out. Holden has been an MP since 2019 so ignorance could not be an excuse; did he want to bunk off for a fag behind the bike sheds?

He’s not the only one to transgress protocol. Starmer once again introduced the session with a party political broadcast and when the Greens’ Dr Chowns asked about agricultural water pollution she was treated to an aggressive interrrogation of Zack Polanski’s policy toward NATO. Speaker Hoyle brought him up short - “We do not ask the Opposition questions” - but after eighteen months in power surely the PM should know how not to be a hooligan.

The first query was a softball about the new Warm Homes plan. Even if the figures are right the £15 billion investment might take over a decade to pay for itself but that doesn’t solve the problem that our energy prices are four times higher than in the US and consequently our industry is withering. Does the unyielding PM have the spine to cancel Net Zero and redeploy Miliband the Mad?

It’s odd how Starmer is willing to pay for palliative measures rather than seek fundamental cures when it comes to energy, immigration and wealth production. Instead his radicalism comes out in cowing and de-democratising the people.

On the other hand Trump is resented for his willingness to use America’s might in order to tackle systemic matters. Would-be statesman Ed Davey said today that the Don is a “crime boss”; Labour’s Steve Witherden called him a thug and bully. One supposes they prefer the bureaucratic gradualism of their European political colleagues, the ones who so dragged their feet when Ethiopia was starving and needed Bob Geldof’s popular support to galvanise them into action.

It’s not just that Trump is an old man in a hurry. Like his predecessors he is under the gun, having only two years (if that) to make his mark before the mid-term elections (all members of Congress and a third of the Senate) that could change the balance of power and hamstring his efforts to restore the Republic and cleanse its institutions of subversive zealots (both Left and Right.) He is a flawed and fallible man but we need to rise above soap opera judgmentalism to consider the great challenges in this newly multi-polar world.

FRIDAY & BURNS NIGHT MUSIC, by JD

This week something different (again!) The music comes from Kenneth McKellar, known as ‘the Scottish tenor’ and because Sunday night will be Burns night I’m sort of combining the two by including a couple of Burns songs.

===============================================

Kenneth McKellar (23 June 1927 – 9 April 2010)

McKellar studied forestry at the University of Aberdeen and after graduating he worked for the Scottish Forestry Commission. He later trained at the Royal College of Music as an opera singer. He did not enjoy his time with the Carl Rosa Opera Company and left them to pursue a career singing traditional Scottish songs and other works.

In 1965, the BBC selected McKellar to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg. He sang five titles from which viewers selected “A Man Without Love” as the 1966 entry. According to the author and historian John Kennedy O’Connor’s The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, the Scottish tenor – who had changed into a kilt at the last moment – drew gasps from the audience when he appeared on stage.

The Irish jury gave the UK song top marks, one of only two occasions the Irish have done so in Eurovision history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_McKellar_(singer)
https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/kenneth-mckellar/

The Midges

Ae Fond Kiss

MY LOVE IS LIKE A RED, RED ROSE - Kenneth McKellar

Flower of Scotland

YE BANKS AND BRAES KENNETH MCKELLAR

Skye Boat Song

Comedy Club: PMQs 14th January 2025

Too much of our political judgment is simply visceral. If Starmer were a teacher the class would begin playing him up out of instinct, sensing him to be “different.” But there is little point in complaining about his personality. A battering-ram does not need character. What counts is who is using him and for what.

Granted, it would be easier for his Party if he were a slicker like Blair. Failing that he has a team who write jokes and insults for him as he trudges through the inconvenience of Prime Minister’s Questions.

Who is on that team? Judging by the material they feed him they are half-educated and louche. Here is Sir Keir on the Tories’ frequent management changes:

“They had more positions in 14 years than the Kama Sutra. No wonder they are knackered; they left the country screwed.”

That is bar-room talk, not Commons decorum. Soon after he turns to sneering at

“…the Ikea shadow Cabinet. The trouble is that nobody wants to buy it, it is mainly constructed of old dead wood, and every time you lose a nut it defects to Reform.”

Yuk, yuk, yuk. How we nearly laughed.

Not as good as the old one about Cecil Parkinson impregnating his mistress: “Why are the Tories like MFI? One screw in the wrong place and the whole cabinet falls apart.” But again, that wasn’t said in the Debating Chamber.

How much further will the PM’s ground crew take it? Will they start inserting jokes alluding to drug-taking, which I assume is as rife in Spadland as in advertising and PR? If they really want to get edgy they can come up with something about colostomy bags (if you know, you know.) It could be a sell-out performance…

… like Chagos, which Trump has finally criticised as “an act of total weakness.” Can the country recover from the structural damage inflicted by this administration?

The evisceration of PMQs continues. Yet again Sir Keir padded-out his introduction with remarks on Iran, deploring brutality to protestors there (but not to those in London) and Labour’s development plans for the North of England. Another time-filler was thanking before answering - Starmer did it eleven times to questioners and once to an NHS hospital.

In the main exchange with Badenoch his gibe about defections to Reform was given further point the next day when Robert Jenrick crossed over - officially he was sacked though one rumour has it he left his draft resignation lying around to bounce Kemi into action. I heard Jenrick’s name muttered as a possible Conservative leader in a side meeting at the Birmingham conference several years ago; perhaps his moment passed when Badenoch’s Parliamentary performances began to strengthen.

Nevertheless his subsequent speech at Reform’s presser confirmed what we see weekly at Westminster: the two main parties have ruined us. If Kemi’s October conference comment is right, that Labour acting on its principles must fail, then the question is why the Conservatives copied them for so long.

A blue reset (rinse?) might be possible, but only if the “broken Britain” failure is frankly addressed and according to Jenrick’s account of a recent shadow Cabinet meeting a few of them

“… had a third view. It is broken but we can’t say so because the Conservative Party broke it.”

If they don’t say so then Labour will, and does it regularly.

Worse still, reform with a lower case “r” may now be unachievable. The several crises that beset us may not be resolved by a little tax-cutting here and a little benefit-pruning there. Drastic action is needed, on a scale that the general public may not feel able to support and that certain elements may oppose vigorously, even violently. Look at Minnesota and at Democrats like Bernie Sanders fanning the flames.

In the meantime we must endure Labour acting on its principles, the first being to maximise its chances of re-election. In this session Badenoch called for the sacking of the West Midlands’ Chief Constable but in the event the easy way was taken instead: his early retirement. Politics is personalised and this scapegoating is useful to distract attention from how the decision to exclude Jewish fans from the Villa match was made, and what that reveals about influencers within the safety committee as well as the organisers of mob intimidation outside the ground itself. No Grunwick grit here and weakness invites more and worse.

The Opposition leader also had fun twitting Starmer with his alleged U-turns, missing what is really going on: not a turning around but a stepping back to jump higher. Inheritance tax on farmers has not been abolished entirely, nor has digital ID or the crushing business rates on the hospitality industry. The ground has been broken.

The Seventies dreamers spoke of “smashing the system” and we are getting to the point of having a smash but possibly no working system after that.

There is a deal of hope riding on Farage’s creation but he has steep hurdles to jump. If he is to be ready by 2029 he has to attract experienced individuals so that he does not take over with ignorant ingenues like Labour did. But can he control them? And can he control himself - is he able to run a Cabinet without firing dissidents? Farage has spent decades as a political heckler; will he be able to stand in the spotlight and deliver? Does he have it in him?

Do we have it in us?

FRIDAY MUSIC: Julio Iglesias, by JD

This week in the videos we are among hot blooded latin ladies and the dulcet tones of Julio Iglesias.

Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva is a Spanish singer and songwriter. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record sellers in music history, having sold more than 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julio-Iglesias

On a personal note, I was aware of Iglesias; difficult to avoid really. His devoted fans call him Agosto Catedrales i.e. one step up from July Churches.

And then I was persuaded, very reluctantly, to see him in concert at The Bernabeu, Real Madrid’s stadium. And I’m glad I went, he was very good. Not that I will ever buy any of his records but he is worth seeing in concert.

Julio Iglesias Canta - Videomatch

Julio Iglesias - La Gota Fría

Willie Nelson, Julio Iglesias - To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before (Official Video)

Julio Iglesias - Agua Dulce, Agua Salá (Video Oficial)

JULIO IGLESIAS- 2001--MAL ACOSTUMBRADO

Julio Iglesias - La Carretera

"The Archers" and the EU

A couple of days ago I watched a TV interview about a British radio serial called “The Archers.” It features a fictional Midlands community and began 75 years ago as an entertainment vehicle to convey useful information on farming matters, as our country needed to modernise agricultural practices.

The BBC interviewee said that the educational role was removed in 1972. OpenAI offered me a number of reasons, mainly that it had achieved its aim.

But then I realised that we were just about to join the EEC aka the Common Market which we did formally on 1st January 1973.

Imagine if farmer Dan Archer had to muse daily on the impact on his business of European legislation, grants etc. Perhaps a coastal fisheries contact could also have been telling him of the disastrous Heath government’s decision to let EU nations - especially the French - catch fish in our waters right up to the shoreline.

So, was the remit of this narrative modified simply to suit the political narrative of that time?

Law vs custom :PMQs 7th January 2026

He’s done it again. Defying the Speaker’s displeasure, Starmer indulged in yet another time-wasting preamble, starting with a crack at Reform:

“I begin by saying that I hope all colleagues had a happy Christmas. It probably feels quite a long time ago now, but not for Reform, of course, because today is the day that they celebrate Christmas in Russia.”

The fool who wrote that for him invites comparisons that are not entirely to our advantage, whether in balance of trade, governmental debt-to-GDP, assertion of national sovereignty or democratic validation of the leader. Pound shop Russophobia isn’t enough to win elections. No wonder Labour is busy disenfranchising 10 million Britons.

Sir Keir ploughed on, first with what Labour has done for the people of Reading, and then about his “coalition of the willing” in support of Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian leader is now unelected, what with a war being on. (PM: hmm…)

At last Starmer delivered the short conventional formula about ministerial meetings and let MPs get a word in edgeways.

After an initial puff from Labour’s Ruth Cadbury inviting the PM to speak about the forthoming leasehold and commonhold reform Bill, Kemi Badenoch was invited to begin the session proper.

She did not disappoint, targeting Starmer’s disregard for long-established protocols. Kemi asked why he had not made a statement to the House that day about his commitment to put British troops in Ukraine.

Chiding Labour ‘chunterers’ the Speaker concurred: “I have also requested an early statement; the House should always be informed first.”

Badenoch said:

“His comments about making a statement in due course are frankly not good enough. It shows a fundamental lack of respect for all of us here, and for the people we represent... Why is today not the earliest opportunity? The truth is that the Prime Minister does not want everybody in this House to be able to ask him questions.”

Ah, “the people we represent”! That opens a can of worms. Who listens to the people? Christmas is coming for uniparty turkeys in May; that is, wherever voting is permitted.

Sir Keir even thinks it is for him to speak for the Opposition:

“She has six questions, and she is not even asking a second question about what we did yesterday. She has the opportunity.”

Sir Lindsay quickly put him right (“That is their job.”)

Funny how a punctilious lawyer is happy to trample custom and tradition underfoot.

Starmer over-reaches in other ways. He is threatening to ban X under the pretext of child protection and not at all because it is a talking-shop for his critics. Why not go further? Iran has shut down the Internet to help maintain its authority. There must be many good central-control ideas flying about at Davos, which (like the UK) Tehran’s Strategic Affairs VP attended last year; certainly the PM feels more comfortable there than here.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey quoted Geoffrey Robertson KC as saying President Trump’s intervention in Venezuela “is in breach of the United Nations charter.” This is an era in which the legitimacy of government and law - especially international law - are coming into question and this video by barrister Steven Barrett may help clarify our thinking.

We need less jabbing of fingers at rule books and more concentrating on realism and social cohesion; less commanding and more leading, conciliating and persuading.