This is from today’s Times. Another article wallowing in World War 2 nostalgia designed to appeal to an older generation who find that the C21st makes them anxious and who have retreated into a fantasy world of Spitfires and Union Jack bunting. Personally I don’t think bringing back national service is such a terrible idea… Read More Bring back National Service | Another daft idea comes round again
Dream Academy – Life in a northern town Tracy Chapman – Fast car The Housemartins – Think for a minute Martin Stephenson & The Daintees – Crocodile cryer The Colourfield – Thinking of you Lotus Eaters – The first picture of you Kirsty MacColl – They don’t know The House of Love – Beatles and… Read More Jangly Pop | The Answers
This weeks pop quiz is inspired by the works of Palestinian literary critic and activist Edward Said. It explores 80s pop music’s obsession with far off exotic countries, sometimes with slightly dodgy results.: These are times at which each of the 24 tracks starts. One of them is slightly tenuous. Sorry 0 42 1.22 2.07… Read More Pop Quiz | Orientalism
This is the last in a trilogy of posts from the era of Big Government. A cautionary tale of NHS procurement. Harold Wilson came to power in 1964, ending over a decade of Conservative Governments. He inherited a long running dispute between the NHS and the Pharmaceutical Industry over the price of drugs, dating back… Read More Harold Wilson gave me bad teeth | Why the NHS is short of PPE
Remploy was started by the Attlee Government to provide sheltered employment to people with disabilities. It opened it’s first factory in 1946 making violins. Only 15 years ago it operated 83 factories across the UK. The sheltered employment model became less popular as years went by and the emphasis changed to supporting disabled people into… Read More Remploy | Ian Duncan Smith & John Cooper Clark
Sorry, but no pop quiz this week as I have been too busy making hand sanitiser. Back next week, promise!
As a follow up to last weeks adventures with Hugh Dalton and the onesie this week we have another look at the era of the big state. After World War 2 Clement Attlee shrunk the state prodigiously as Prime Minister, reducing the share of GDP taken up by Government spending by more than any PM… Read More Did Harold MacMillan cause Gluten intolerance?
This weeks mix is mellow and jangly, featuring an Oboe, and the longest piano solo in pop history I’ve included the track start times for people who don’t like piano solos. There are 25 tracks, no tricks this week, and an obscure bonus track at the end for people who really know their jangly pop… Read More 80s jangle-pop | And a very long piano solo
The last few weeks have marked a massive change in the way we view the role of the state. Government is shifting to the kind of interventionism we haven’t seen since Harold Wilson or even Clement Attlee. Very quietly a few weeks ago the Railways were brought back into state control, with the whole free… Read More How Hugh Dalton invented the onesie