Friday, February 23, 2024

FRIDAY MUSIC: Aegean Jazz: Dig the Thessness! by JD


The Speakeasies' Swing Band! are a seven piece Swing/Jazz band based in Thessaloniki, Greece. The line up features Caterina Sisinni (vocals), Panos Karnoutsos (Electric Guitar), Manolis Stamatiadis (Piano), Panos Voularakis (Upright Bass), Giannis Ntalianis (Acoustic Guitar), Christos El. Papadopoulos (Clarinet) and Grigoris Oikonomou (drums). The Speakeasies' Swing Band! formed in 2010. The band's preview Extended play, Bathtub Gun, was released in 2012 and their debut album Land Of Plenty in 2015

the Speakeasies' Swing Band! - St. James infirmary

O Pasatempos - the Speakeasies' Swing Band! (Official Video)

Walkin' Away Blues - the Speakeasies' Swing Band! (Official Video)

Bright Lights Late Nights

Exile Train (Traino Exorias) - The Speakeasies' Swing Band!

the Speakeasies' Swing Band! - Why don't You do Right?

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Excess deaths

The UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) has changed the way it calculates ‘excess deaths’ i.e. whether weekly recorded deaths are more (or less) than expected. The methodology had remained the same for at least half a century: to compare latest data with the average of the previous five years - a simple arithmetical task. Now a new system is used, weighting various factors and interpreting the results with statistical analyses that are far beyond the layperson’s grasp.

The change has been noted with suspicion by (for instance) Youtube commentators Simon Webb and Katie Hopkins. They and others think the government is keen to play down the figures because of the potential for public criticism. The inquiry into Covid and official actions taken started in 2022 and is still ongoing; will it be a face-saving whitewash?

Popular theories abound to explain the apparently anomalous increase in mortality. One, it’s fair to say, is the subject of systematic suppression in the media: the idea that the mRNA vaccines have adversely affected many people, sometimes fatally.

Other reasons are already provisionally accepted: that the lockdowns and other methods of social isolation led to delays in diagnosing and treating cancer, and to ‘deaths of despair’ as people harmed their health with overindulgence in alcohol and drugs. There was also the disastrous decision to ‘clear the decks’ in hospitals by moving elderly patients into care homes where they might infect others and where staff were afraid to look after them appropriately.

However there are a few additional possible reasons why the raw data for deaths in this country might have changed and will continue to change. You may be able to think of more.

  1. The population is ageing
  2. The real number of people living in the UK may be higher than the official estimates. Indirect evidence may come from supermarket purchases or even Facebook usage
  3. There are differences in health and life expectancy among ethnic groups that may become more significant as first and second generation immigration increases. Aside from genetics, people born in less developed countries may not have had a sound foundation in diet and medical assessment/treatment for continued good health as they age.
  4. Drug deaths in the UK are soaring
  5. Economic inequality is increasing and poorer people live less long, for various reasons. The statistics vary around regions of the country
  6. For 2020-2022, male deaths outstripped female - the first time since 1981. Does this indicate that men, traditionally family providers, feel greater pressure and sense of failure in a declining economy and use less approprate coping strategies?
  7. The NHS is failing, especially in the provision of GP services. The contract agreed under the Brown premiership released GPs from the obligation to provide evening and weekend cover and there is an increasing tendency for them to deal with queries remotely - that’s if one can get through on the phone in a reasonable time.
Not all of the above would explain the recent spikes, but it is clear that a subtler analysis is needed.

Saturday, February 17, 2024

WEEKENDER *REPOST*: To Vote Or Vote Not, by Wiggia

Blogger is acting oddly and I recall that MS Word has been censoring drafts for a year or two. Are Gates' myrmidons interfering here? So I submit this again in the hope that everything can go through as intended.
___________________________________

The energy that is being expended by the Conservative party in a vain attempt to stave off political annihilation in the forthcoming general election is but a sideshow in their path to oblivion. I could be wrong but even Lazarus would be hard pushed to save the day such is their state.

Should we care?

“An unelected body like the WHO, controlled and run by multibillionaires, should never be allowed to act in place of a democratically elected government."

~ Christine Anderson MEP

https://twitter.com/i/status/1746788586895086079

I cannot remember a similar disclaimer such as the following on the government’s petition site, not exactly inspiring confidence in support of the sovereign nation over a signed treaty with an  organisation  that again is elected by no-one but sponsored largely by Bill Gates!

“The UK Government will not end our WHO membership. We are committed to working with the WHO to tackle the world’s health issues. We do not and will never cede sovereign powers through our partnership.” 

If the UK signs an international treaty with the WHO then we will cede all sovereign claims as we do with so much else when international law is quoted.


IN OTHER NEWS…

Netherlands:

After the Upper Chamber fraction of the Conservative party (VVD) voted this week IN FAVOUR of compelling all local authorities to accommodate set quotas of asylum seekers (flying in the face of its own election manifesto policy and its Lower Chamber fraction's vote AGAINST this), the latest polling shows Geert Wilder's Freedom Party (PVV) would now gain 49 seats in Lower Chamber elections.

This is an increase of 12 seats since the election last November, all taken from the VVD, which now would only have 12; making the PVV fraction four times larger (!) than the VVD, which was the dominant party in the outgoing coalition ...
Coalition formations talks due to continue tomorrow.

This poll result will only strengthen Geert's position.

Decarbonisation:

Still at least the march towards Net Zero is going well, alongside having to pay for gas and nuclear to be on standby for when the sun does not shine and wind does not blow, examples ad nauseam. We now have from the horse’s mouth so to speak another reason not to want to go the net zero route.

Energy bills must rise to pay for net zero, says Siemens Energy boss

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/energy-bills-must-rise-to-pay-for-net-zero-says-siemens-energy-boss/ar-BB1h1Dx1

Davos:

"The WEF is a fanatical political organisation that uses fear and manipulation, like Covid hysteria, like the hoax of global warming, to really facilitate people thinking that somehow they're the saviours, but really all you're doing is helping them accomplish their goal, which really is a global public-private fascist movement, and fusion of big government, big tech [and] big money, to create a technocratic ruling elite, which conveniently is them."

"They want to create feudalism 2.0, in which we are serfs, and they are the lords ruling over us… That's what they're aiming for."

https://twitter.com/i/status/1751222339663008187

Covid remorse:

An MP sees the light but only in a vain attempt to save his job, it’s the cynic in me…

We MPs Need to Recognise That What We Did to the Country During Covid Was Wrong

https://dailysceptic.org/2024/01/30/we-mps-need-to-recognise-that-what-we-did-to-the-country-during-covid-was-wrong/

‘We’re finished’:

Alistair Heath in the Daily Telegraph describes the Western slide into an impoverished state:

The continent is incapable of recovering from its present economic, military and demographic crises.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/31/europe-is-finished-condemned-third-rate-elites/

Enoch Powell on the Dick Cavett show in 1971, predicting the future:

"Large parts of parts of our cities will by the beginning of the next century will be occupied by a population which has nothing in common with the people of this country."

https://twitter.com/i/status/1753743204136976652

The WEF and WHO

The strange and dangerous WEF is a magnet for the elite who spout endless garbage about how to run the world, every year  virtually all the western leaders make a pilgrimage to Davos to mix with like minds, the WEF is an unelected forum with ever increasing influence, nobody voted for any of its members yet western leaders flock to Davos despite the nonsensical and elitist statements that emerge.

Why? We left the EU because those that voted leave wanted out of an over ruling self appointed body that gives itself ever more powers, why would we want to take notice of a world wide organisation or at least a western world one after having left a similar body, what is behind it all.

The same can be said of the WHO, run by a man associated with terrorists in his past it has no more justification than the WEF to exist, yet again we are in danger of signing up to treaties that are binding.

Where is the push back to all this, there is none and the pressure for changes that affect us all grows, just this week a couple of ‘elites’ made statements under the banner of the WEF…

Jane Goodall thinks the world would be better if the population were reduced by 90%.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1707944863000314249

Klaus Schwab says the world will no longer be run by superpowers like America… it will be run by the World Economic Forum stakeholders, such as BlackRock and Bill Gates.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1755899189282890137

And regards the WHO, we can only hope this is true…

‘The WHO Overplays its Hand and Watches Support Drain Away’

https://dailysceptic.org/2024/02/09/the-who-overplays-its-hand-and-watches-support-drain-away/

That gives a flavour of the group think within.

Un-democracy

A comment from elsewhere sums up the lack of true democratic rule.

“The Biden farrago only further exposes how the USA has silently reverted to a monarchical system.

Biden has no power, but the position of President does. Those powers are exercised in the name of the President by an inner coterie that includes officials and elected representatives using Presidential Executive Orders.

In Britain it is called the Royal Prerogative and Privvy Council using Statutory Instruments.

They live in a Republic, we live in a Monarchy. Neither of us live in a democracy.

It matters not whether the President is a drooling senile geriatric, or that the King is on his deathbed. They decide nothing and need to be capable only of breathing as everything is decided in their name.

The EU doesn’t even pretend that it’s a democracy.”

In many ways it all gives the impression that the elites have handed over power to a higher authority. Judging by recent events they can’t even be bothered to go through the motions of governance.

It has all become too easy. Layer upon layer of authority is created and ‘friends’ get the opportunity to suck at the taxpayer’s teat without ever putting in a shift. Grift at all levels becomes the norm.

We are insulted with appointments of people we would not in the real world have running a whelk stall. David Cameron, yes he of the ‘I will implement the result of the referendum post haste’ who then immediately resigned has returned as Foreign Secretary. He who had to start a war to cement his legacy alongside his idol Blair is now thought to be ‘the man’ to do deals to cement peace. He is already acting as though he never went away and this piece of largesse from a country in deep poo monetarily will shoulder the cost. He even has eyes on the NHS helping Gazans with flying in children for treatment.

Cameron - "We have found homes for 300,000 Ukrainians and a solid future for them in the UK"

We were told they would only be here temporarily. These homes could have gone to our thousands of homeless people.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1758436722621223291

The NHS

As if the NHS has time on its hands not enough people to treat! Of course all MPs will back any measures of this type, but then they all have private medical insurance.

A short aside about the NHS: while waiting in the GPs surgery for my wife to be assessed I was drawn to the TV screen above the reception area that showed an endless series of slides on how to help the NHS by basically not using it or save it money by buying your own medication over the counter.

It finished with two slides telling non-nationals and immigrants that they can sign on here and it is not a problem. The second slide showed  two documents crossed out and the words “If you have no documents you can still sign on and access NHS services it is not a problem.” Occasionally you really could not make it up.

The list of failure and false claims for improvement in society and the general population grows daily and all the time the antisemitic party waits in the wings to take over. Is this the best the country or any other of the major powers can do, or are we just going to succumb to the inevitable?

I see nothing that would make my cross on a piece of paper worth the effort to make the trip to a polling station. The third rate occupiers of the green benches don’t deserve to be there and at least I can take the George Carlin attitude to it all.

Editor’s note: the results of this week’s two by-elections seem to show no significant increase in support for Labour; instead there was a big stay-away by disillusioned Conservative voters. Analaysis by veteran journalist Richard North here. A friend recently surprised me when he said he thought Labour could lose the next General Election.

WEEKENDER: To vote or vote not, by Wiggia

The energy that is being expended by the Conservative party in a vain attempt to stave off political
annihilation in the forthcoming general election is but a sideshow in their path to oblivion. I could be
wrong but even Lazarus would be hard pushed to save the day such is their state.

Should we care?

“An unelected body like the WHO, controlled and run by multibillionaires, should never be allowed to act in place of a democratically elected government."

~ Christine Anderson MEP

I cannot remember a similar disclaimer such as this? On the government's petition site not exactly
inspiring confidence in support of the sovereign nation over a signed treaty with an organisation that
again is elected by no one but sponsored largely by Bill Gates!...

“The UK Government will not end our WHO membership. We are committed to working with the WHO to tackle the world’s health issues. We do not and will never cede sovereign powers through our
partnership.”

If the UK signs an international treaty with the WHO then we will cede all sovereign claims as we do with so much else when international law is quoted.



ELSEWHERE................

After the Upper Chamber fraction of the Conservative party (VVD) voted this week IN FAVOUR of
compelling all local authorities to accommodate set quotas of ' asylum seekers (flying in the face of its
own election manifesto policy and its Lower Chamber fraction's vote AGAINST this), the latest polling
shows Geert Wilder's Freedom Party (PVV) would now gain 49 seats in Lower Chamber elections.
This is an increase of 12 seats since the election last November, all taken from the VVD, which now
would only have 12.

Making the PVV fraction 4 x larger (!) than the VVD, which was the dominant party in the outgoing
coalition ...

Coalition formations talks due to continue tomorrow. This poll result will only strengthen Geert's position  Still at least the march towards net zero is going well, alongside having to pay for gas and nuclear to be on standby for when the sun does not shine and wind does not blow, examples ad nauseam, we now have from the horse's mouth so to speak another reason not to want to go the net zero route.


Davos:

Fox News guest PERFECTLY summarises the World Economic Forum's 'Great Reset' agenda, in just one minute: "The WEF is a fanatical political organisation that uses fear and manipulation, like Covid hysteria, like the hoax of global warming, to really facilitate people thinking that somehow they're the saviours, but really all you're doing is helping them accomplish their goal, which really is a global public-private fascist movement, and fusion of big government, big tech [and] big money, to create a technocratic ruling elite, which conveniently is them." "They want to create feudalism 2.0, in which we are serfs, and they are the lords ruling over us… That's what they're aiming for."
https://twitter.com/i/status/1751222339663008187

An MP sees the light but only in a vain attempt to save his job, it’s the cynic in me.......

We MPs Need to Recognise That What We Did to the Country During Covid Was Wrong


https://dailysceptic.org/2024/01/30/we-mps-need-to-recognise-that-what-we-did-to-the-country-during-
covid-was-wrong/

Alistair Heath in the DT describes the western slide into an impoverished state.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/31/europe-is-finished-condemned-third-rate-
elites/uhttps://twitter.com/i/status/1753743204136976652

The strange and dangerous WEF is a magnet for the elite who spout endless garbage about how to run the world, every year virtually all the western leaders make a pilgrimage to Davos to mix with like minds,
the WEF is an unelected forum with ever increasing influence, nobody voted for any of its members yet
western leaders flock to Davos despite the nonsensical and elitist statements that emerge.
Why? We left the EU because those that voted leave wanted out of an over ruling self appointed body that gives itself ever more powers, why would we want to take notice of a world wide organisation or at least a Western world one after having left a similar body. What is behind it all?

The same can be said of the WHO, run by a man associated with terrorists in his past it has no more
justification than the WEF to exist, yet again we are in danger of signing up to treaties that are binding.
Where is the push back to all this, there is none and the pressure for changes that affect us all grows, Just this week a couple of ‘elites’ made statements under the banner of the WEF........


And regards the WHO, we can only hope this is true.....
..

That gives a flavour of the group think within.

A comment from elsewhere sums up the lack of true democratic rule.

“The Biden farrago only further exposes how the USA has silently reverted to a monarchical system.
Biden has no power, but the position of President does. Those powers are exercised in the name of the
President by an inner coterie that includes officials and elected representatives using Presidential
Executive Orders.

In Britain it is called the Royal Prerogative and Privvy Council using Statutory Instruments.
They live in a Republic, we live in a Monarchy. Neither of us live in a democracy.
It matters not whether the President is a drooling senile geriatric, or that the King is on his deathbed. They decide nothing and need to be capable only of breathing as everything is decided in their name.
The EU doesn’t even pretend that it’s a democracy.”

In many ways it all gives the impression that the elites have handed over power to a higher authority, they can’t, judging by recent events even be bothered to go through the motions of governance.
It has all become to easy , layer upon layer of authority is created and ‘friends’ get the opportunity to suck at the tax payers' teat without ever putting in a shift, grift at all levels becomes the norm.

We are insulted with appointments of people we would not in the real world have running a whelk stall,
David Cameron, yes he of the ‘I will implement the result of the referendum post haste’ then immediately resigned has returned as foreign secretary, he who had to start a war to cement his legacy alongside his idol Blair is now thought to be 'the man’ to do deals to cement peace, he is already acting as though he never went away and this piece of largesse from a country in deep poo monetarily will shoulder the cost, He even has eyes on the NHS helping Gazans with flying in children for treatment:


As if the NHS has time on its hands not enough people to treat! Of course all MPs will back any measures of this type, but then they all have private medical insurance.

A short aside about the NHS: while waiting in the GPs surgery for my wife to be assessed I was drawn to the TV screen above the reception area that showed an endless series of slides on how to help the NHS by basically not using it or save it money by buying your own medication over the counter.

It finished with two slides telling non nationals and immigrants that they can sign on here and it is not a
problem, the second slide showed two documents crossed out and the words “if you have no documents
you can still sign on and access NHS services it is not a problem”; occasionally you cannot make it up.

The list of failure and false claims for improvement in society and the general population grows daily and all the time the antisemitic party waits in the wings to take over, is this the best the country can do or any other of the major powers, or are we just going to succumb to the inevitable?

I see nothing that would make my cross on a piece of paper worth the effort to make the trip to a polling
station, the third rate occupiers of the green benches don’t deserve to be there and at least I can take the
George Carlin attitude to it all.



Friday, February 16, 2024

FRIDAY MUSIC: Joe Brown, by JD

Back we go to the 'good old days' when we were young and enjoying the new sounds of skiffle (Lonnie Donegan, Chas McDevitt, Johnny Duncan and others) and Rock and Roll which introduced young new British performers such as Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard, Billy Fury and many others. 

But the one who stood out from the crowd was Joe Brown because he could actually play the guitar and play it rather well, as can be heard in the first video here. He has now been performing for more than six decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and has primarily been a recording star since the early 1960s.


Joe Brown - Seguidilla (Joe Brown Show, 08.09.1970)

Joe Brown, Vicki Brown & Lonnie Donegan - 
Wasn't That A Party (Starburst, 1981)

Joe Brown - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Live In Liverpool

Joe Brown - Later With Jools

Joe Brown - I'll See You In My Dreams - Live In Liverpool

Friday, February 09, 2024

FRIDAY MUSIC: Scandiravia! Robert Wells, by JD

 "Robert Henry Arthur Wells (born 7 April 1962) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician best known for the musical Rhapsody in Rock, which contains elements of rock, classical and boogie-woogie.

"Wells was born in Stockholm. He attended the Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm at the age of 7 in 1969 and four years later, at the age of 11, became the youngest person ever to attend the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. At the age of 16 in 1978, Wells won two major Swedish talent contests.
Wells's music was chosen as the official television theme music for the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing."
Hungarian Rhapsody! Robert Wells & Linda Lampenius

Robert Wells & Rhapsody Symphony Orchestra . Royal Albert Hall Nov 2011. 
Rhapsody In Rock no 1

Robert Wells - Nut Rocker (and other improvisations)

"Route 66" Performed by Maria Wells & Robert Wells Trio from Swedish TV Show Bingolotto TV4. October 11 2015

Robert Wells Trio - China Moon

Friday, February 02, 2024

FRIDAY MUSIC: Russophonia Dva, by JD

 This time from the Otta Orchestra I mentioned a few weeks ago, a seven piece all female 'orchestra' often supplemented by 'real' symphony orchestras on stage and in their albums:

"OTTA-orchestra is a Russian female instrumental group. Li Otta, whose name formed the basis of the band's name, is the band's composer and arranger. The group plays her music. The mention of the word orchestra is also not accidental. Music is based on the orchestral style of new age, world music.
The origin of the group dates back to 2007. At this time, Li Otta was brought in as an orchestrator to work with Russian guitarist DiDuLay. This is how his album “Music of Unmade Films” was born in 2007, which began the close collaboration of these two creative people working in the genre of instrumental music."
OTTA-orchestra - Dejavu (Unofficial Video)

OTTA-orchestra "Bolero Gorgona"

Otta-Orchestra & SaadiAnvar - "Arabica"

OTTA-orchestra "Husky"

OTTA-orchestra "Royal Safary"(FullHD&HiFi audio)