DEMOCRACY!

This is the desperate cry going out on Twitter and blogs with the recent voting in of the Digital Economy Bill, as if democracy is something you buy down at Tescos, and is always instantaneous and as fast as our broadband connections. The moaning cry seems to suggest this is the end; and that we have no hope.

Forgetting strangely we have in less than a month a chance to kick the politicians in the ballots? Remember that these politicians that have ignored 20,000 of your letters and have made it clear that their interests are purely corporate are looking for re-election, some with marginal seats.

You CAN do something: vote them out. YOU can make them aware that you’re not happy, and make sure your local candidates don’t support the DE Act by asking questions. Make sure they know YOUR vote hangs on it.

So let’s mash cross reference some data – marginal seats data is from Electoral Reform and newspaper sources, and attendance for the vote is from Hansard.

Unfortunately the main protagonists who voted yes are all in fairly safe seats, still worth voting against as you never know, a large swing could destroy their majority:

• Jeremy Hunt – SW Surrey – turncoat and lastminute supporter of the bill
• Ed Vaizey – Wantage & Didcot
• Lyn Brown – West Ham – teller for the Ayes

but quite a few are marginal – here’s the Hall of Shame of London MPs that voted for DEBill who are in marginal seats:

• Glenda Jackson – Hampstead & Kilburn – my MP
• Ann Keen – Brentford and Isleworth
• Tony McNulty – Harrow East
• Gareth Thomas – Harrow West
  
• Frank Dobson – Holborn
• Saadiq Khan – Tooting
• Martin Linton – Battersea
• Clive Efford – Eltham
• Alan Keen – Feltham & Heston
• Jim Fitzpatrick – Poplar & Limehouse

Other marginal, 3 ways or possibly close marginal seats whose MPs voted for DEBill include (some might be standing down, sorry I don’t have time to check each one!) – vaguely alphabetical on constituency:

• Mark Tami – Alyn & Deeside
• Geoff Hoon – Ashfield – Liberal Dems longshot, maybe vote for them?
• John Hutton – Barrow in Furness
• John Mann – Bassetlaw
• Simon Sion – Birmingham Erdington
• Joan Humble – Blackpool North
• Dave Anderson – Blaydon - Liberal Dems longshot, maybe vote for them?
• Ruth Kelly – Bolton West – she’s standing down though
• Barry Gardiner – Brent North
• Ian Cawsey – Brigg
• David Lepper – Brighton Pav. - standing down this election
• Kerry McCarthy – Bristol East -  Twitter csar and party drone – teller – LD longshot, could fall? Hope so.
• Doug Naysmith – Bristol North West - standing down
• Kitty Ussher – Burnley
• Janet Dean – Burton – standing down
• Tony Wright – Cannock Chase - standing down
• Martyn Jones – Clywd South – standing down
• Kali Mountford – Colne Valley- standing down
• Jamie Reed – Copeland
• Phil Hope – Corby
• Jim Cunningham – Coventry South
• Laura Moffatt – Crawley – standing down
• Howard Stoate – Dartford - standing down
• Bob Laxton – Derby North - standing down
• Margaret Beckett – Derby South – Liberal Democrat longshot
• Ian Austin – Dudley North
• Ian Pearson – Dudley South
• Stewart Hosie – Dundee East
• Gavin Strang – Edinburgh East
• Andrew Miller – Ellesmere Port
• Liz Blackman – Erewash – standing down
• Ben Bradshaw – Exeter
• Paul Clark – Gillingham
• Ann McKechin – Glasgow North
• Michael Jabez Foster – Hastings and Rye
• Tom Levitt – High Peak – standing down
• Greg Pope – Hyndburn – standing down
• Chris Mole – Ipswich
• Ann Cryer – Keighley – standing down
• Des Browne – Kilmarnock – standing down
• Roger Berry – Kingswood
• Gillian Merron – Lincoln
• Kelvin Hopkins – Luton North
• Doug Henderson – Newcastle North – standing down
• Dan Norris – North East Somerset
• Michael Wills – North Swindon
• Mike O’Brien – North Warwickshire
• Charles Clarke – Norwich South
• Phil Woolas – Oldham East
• Linda Gilroy – Plymouth Sutton
• Sarah McCarthy-Fry – Portsmouth North
• Martin Salter – Reading West – standing down
• Richard Caborn – Sheffield Central – standing down
• Derek Wyatt – Sittingbourne & Sheppey - standing down
• Angela Smith – South Basildon
• Stephen Ladyman -South Thanet
• David Kidney -Stafford
• Barbara Follett -Stafford
• Alan Williams – Swansea West - standing down
• David Wright – Telford
• Andrew MackinlayThurrock - standing down
• Alan Campbell – Tynemouth
• Mary Creagh – Wakefield
• David Winnick – Wallsall North
• Bruce George – Wallsall South - standing down
• Bob Blizzard – Waveney
• Mike Hall – Weaver Vale - standing down
• Rosie Cooper – West Lancashire
• Karen Buck – Westminster North
• Ben Chapman – Wirral South – standing down
• Stephen Hesford – Wirral West
• Michael Foster – Worcester
• Barbara Keeley – Worsley
• Albert Owen – Ynys Mon

And here are the heroes who voted No on DEBill who have marginal seats – maybe you should thank them by supporting or campaigning for them? After all, these were part of the 47 who are our friends (well friends of Internet freedom, anyhoos).

• Paul Burstow – Sutton & Cheam
• Lynne Jones – Birmingham Selly Oak – Liberal Democrat long shot
• Dai Davies – Blaenua Gwent
• Nick Palmer – Broxstowe
• Mark Lazarowicz – Edinburgh North
• Andrew Dismore – Hendon
• Andy Reed – Loughborough
• John Leech – Manchester Withington
• Lembit Opik – Montgomeryshire
• Dr. Evan Harris – Oxford West
• John Grogan -Selby
• Colin Breed – South East Cornwall

Cmon kids, let’s show them how angry we are – remember you never cross a pirate cos s/he never forgets? Let your campaigning PPC or MP know how unhappy you are…and also ask why they didn’t vote, if they didn’t.

The London Line (mashup) from Reborn Identity on Vimeo.

Starting tomorrow, I think Radio Clash will be called the London & Gav Blog

No srsly I wish I’d had this video before I’d have posted it with the London podcasts…also a massive Elastica (pre-skag) fan back in the day. Londonbeat, less so LOL. Quality work, definitely…

From the underground to the Underground, from the pirates patois to piccadilly palare, the bright lights of Londonium  shine on for the last of the London shows.

“Nothing is certain in London but expense.” (69Mb, 92Mb)

• London Radio montage inc Radio London and Pirate Radio 1994/95
• Blur – London Loves (GHP ‘Londinium Loves’ bootleg mix)
• Sid James – Look at Life – The Market
• Television Personalities – Oxford St., W1
• Philip Lynott – Solo In Soho
• Members – Solitary Confinement
• Soft Cell – Bedsitter
• The Kinks – Muswell Hillbilly
• Frank Tovey – Bridge Street Shuffle
• The The – Heartland
• The Real Tuesday Weld – Last Words
• Polly Perkins of Paddington Green by SpokenVerse (originally Harry Clifton)
• Leslie Hutchinson (Hutch) – A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
• Flanagan & Allen – Where The Arches Used To Be
• Sid James – Bermondsey
• The Mint Juleps – Docklands
• London Conversation with Andy Hackett
• Morrissey – Piccadilly Palare
• Catatonia – Londinium
• Specials – Bright Lights (Peel session)
• London – Amen Andrews (part)
• Pulp – Bar Italia

Really digging this mix by GYBO and 72 regular Tizwarz, an audio history of Suburban  Base records from 1991-1997 – a journey from rave and ‘ardcore to darkcore, ragga jungle and what eventually became what is now known as drum and bass.

Suburban Base were right in the centre of that maelstrom from the ravey piano of Danny Breakz aka Sonz of a Loop Da Loop Era, jungle from DJ Hype and Krome and Time, pirate dark rave of Run Tings, ragga jungle of Phuture Assassins, rolling drum and bass/jungle of Remarc, even the wonderfully chart-bothering pop breakbeat of Rachel Wallace and toytown rave of Smart E’s!

If it rumbled and rattled, it was probably Suburban.

I love it ‘cos it reminds me of those wonderful pirate radio stations I listened to in the early 90′s in London on my visits there – I used to scan the dials for interesting shit, and heard music like this. So a nostalgic flashback – but also a history lesson; this was the come down of the ecstasy generation into Criminal Justice Bills and gang warfare. Also it does seem only the UK (maybe Jamaica too?) loves that syncopated subbass sound so much – it’s become so synonymous that it has just been called UK Bass in the past.

As Sonz of a Loop da Loop Era said, this kid’s gonna be far out Full tracklist over at The All New Singing And Dancing Hotblack Desiato Flavoured GYBO.

London Bridge
Is Broken down,
Dance over my Lady Lee.
London Bridge
Is Broken down
With a gay Lady.

Take a key and lock her up,
Lock her up, Lock her up.

Build it up with silver and gold,
My fair lady.

Gold and silver I have none,
I have none, I have none.

Silver, and Gold
Will be stolen away,

Stone so strong will last so long,
Last so long, Last so long.

Second part of the now 3-part London series with a darker, greyer and less shiny podcast including rain, riots, rail, revolution and race; and also a LUL FU. So just another day in the city, then!

As before, thanks to The London Nobody Sings, Bob Levingbird, Ian Fondue and anyone I’ve forgotten for their suggestions/posts.

Gold , Silver or Oyster Card I Have None, My Fare Lady! (72Mb, 97mins)

• Professor Bumble’s Magic Machine – London Bridge Is Falling Down
• George Mitchell Singers – Swinging London
• Wendy James – London’s Brilliant
• Blur – London Loves
• Gene – To The City
• Bitter Springs – Moving to the City
• London Conversations  – Sheena MacKay
• Mike Proctor – Mr. Commuter
• Ian Dury -  Busdrivers Prayer
• Big Audio Dynamite – Harrow Road
• XTC – Towers of London
• Rotten & Reynebeau: Finsbury Park – Part 1
• Linton Kwesi Johnson – Di Great Insohreckshan
• Blak Twang – Real Estate
• Demon Boyz – Law Abiding Citizen
• Ivor Cutler – British Museum
• Linton Kwesi Johnson – Reggae Fi Peach
• Smiley Culture – Cockney Translation
• The King Blues – Let’s Hang The Landlord
• Bevis Frond – South Hampstead Rain
• Spike Milligan – Wormwood Scrubs Tango
• Saint Etienne – Side Streets
• The Real Tuesday Weld – London
• The Real Tuesday Weld – I Loved London
• London Bridge (Chinese version)

P.S. following on from my discussion of Blair Peach, I found out that the CPS are reviewing the case – read the comments about the weapons and items they found afterwards – including Nazi regalia. Horrific.

And it seems 30 years later, like with the riots and Kevin Gately and more recently Charles De Menenez and Ian Tomlinson, nothing has really changed. A few of many reasons why I don’t trust the police. In my opinion, any police officer that is violent towards the public and/or hides their identity should be fired, prosecuted and jailed.