Silent Sunday: Remembrance

Out On Blue Six: Buggles

Forty years ago today, this song was number one - Video Killed the Radio Star by Buggles

And forty years ago today, I arrived in the world. Yup, I turn 40 today.

End Transmission

Theme Time: Edwin Astley - Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)

It was fifty years ago this week that one of ITC's most enduring crime dramas Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) arrived on our screens.

Starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope as Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk, private investigators who won't let a little thing like death get in the way of their business, whilst Annette Andre starred as Marty's widow, Jeanie.

Unlike much of its stablemates at ITC, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) was, by its very nature, fantastical, and yet at the same time much more down-to-earth in its downbeat depiction of the then swinging London. Perhaps it's that slightly more recognisably real world vibe that has ensured it hasn't dated as much as Department S or Jason King say, whilst the fact that Reeves and Mortimer remade it for two series in the early '00s proved that this was a show that the public still had a lot of time for. 

And then there's that theme tune. A wonderfully evocative, atmospheric track from ITC composer supremo Edwin Astley. It's the sonic equivalent of a tingle running down your spine.

Out On Blue Six: The Undertones

John Peel would have been eighty today.

It's impossible to find the words to mark such a momentous occasion or to remark upon the tragedy that he isn't here to celebrate it and to continue changing people's lives by introducing them to whole new worlds of music. So here instead is his favourite song

Teenage dreams, so hard to beat indeed. Happy birthday Peelie

End Transmission

Out On Blue Six: Oasis

It was twenty five years ago today - the release of Definitely Maybe

That makes me feel old! But the music is of course timeless. Indeed, you could say that it will Live Forever

End Transmission

Out On Blue Six: Sleeper

It was fifty years ago today that Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon and made history. So what better song to play to commemorate the anniversary than this track from Sleeper's second studio album The It Girl from 1996; Good Luck Mr Gorsky...

Why?

Well, the Britpoppers' song is based on a risque urban myth concerning some words of well wishes Armstrong allegedly said for an old neighbour during the moon landing, which began doing the rounds in the early days of the internet in 1995. The story (or more truthfully, joke) has it that as a child Armstrong was playing baseball in his yard when he overheard his neighbours, the Gorskys arguing. 'A blow job?' Mrs Gorsky exclaimed to her randy husband, Mr Gorsky. 'I'll give you a blow job when the kid next door walks on the moon!' 

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Out On Blue Six: Bryan Adams, or It Was Twenty Years Ago Today...

If my calculations are correct (to be honest I may be out a week) I think that today marks the twentieth anniversary since I started my first proper job at the age of 19, working for the Employment Service (now of course known as the DWP) in St Helens. 

I think I started a thirteen week casual contract there on Monday June 28th. It would go on to become the longest job I have ever had, going on to work at Ashton-in-Makerfield over the winter and early 2000, and then at the Huyton office until 2005.

I cannot believe that twenty years have gone by since that summer of 1999, but I have nothing but happy memories of it. Whenever I think back, I remember so many fun times, brilliant friendships and team camaraderie. But I'll always remember one girl from my time there. Like me, she was a casual working over the summer but just a teensy bit older than I was. Her name was Cath Davies, she was from Golborne and she was arguably my best mate there. She had the same hairstyle and looked very similar to Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the richer who had a big hit around that time with Kiss Me. In fact I probably had a little (not so secret) crush on her. Her favourite song was Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams. Back then, the jobcentre would have a supply of tapes that would be played across the office for staff and clients alike and Adams' track was on there. Each time it played, she'd beam a great big smile and start dancing around the claims! Her contract finished before mine and I remember her drinks party taking place in the (much missed now but then newly opened) Bear and Barrow pub in St Helens. When she was leaving, we hugged and she promised us all that she'd be back for my leaving do and the Christmas party.

Needless to say, I never saw her again.

Whenever I hear this song, I think of Cath Davies, and the best days of my life - the summer of '99

End Transmission

Windrush Day: Out On Blue Six: Lord Kitchener

Today marks the 71st anniversary of the Empire Windrush arriving at Tilbury docks. To commemorate this, here's Lord Kitchener with a song that became synonymous with Windrush 

Always remember that the Windrush generation, and the generations that followed, have done and will continue to do more for this country than any Tory government or right wing opportunist. Shame on them for what they have done to these valuable and valued citizens

End Transmission

Wordless Wednesday: D Day

One Red Nose Day and a Wedding

Four Weddings and a Funeral is a film that means a hell of a lot to me. Indeed, it remains one of my all-time favourite movies. So believe me when I say I felt rather apprehensive about this one-off fifteen minute long reunion special for this year's Comic Relief - especially as I can't think of anything worse than sitting through the seven hour long live telethon.

Thankfully, the BBC condensed the whole thing into a 'Best Of' compilation this afternoon, which gave me the opportunity to see this. It was really nice to see so many of the original cast members back together and there were lots of nice little touches, such as the reveal that Charles and Carrie (Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell) never got round to marrying, Bernard and Lydia (David Haig and Sophie Thompson) still at it like rabbits, and Laura (Sara Crowe) throwing her usual, distinctive dance moves whilst still wearing the gaudy plastic ring that Scarlett substituted on her wedding day when best man Charles forgot the actual rings.

Which leads me to Scarlett. I know that twitter - being primarily a young person's arena - exploded with 'feels' at the reveal that this featured the wedding of Lily James (Charles and Carrie's daughter) and Alicia Vikander (Fiona's daughter), but my heart utterly melted at the brief, yet respectful and tender nod towards Scarlett not being here. I wept buckets the day that Charlotte Coleman died at the age of 33 and I nearly filled up again at her mention. 

But this needed to be more than just a reunion and unfortunately it wasn't. Richard Curtis essentially recycled the same jokes from Four Weddings and it's no surprise that what worked there, doesn't actually work here, feeling rather lazy instead. Don't get me wrong, it really tried to be its own thing in the rather nice sketching of James' and Vikander's relationship in their vows, but the whole thing was just too short to make either them or their own social circle in any way multidimensional. I've heard a bit of criticism online regarding Rowan Atkinson's return to the character of the bumbling vicar Gerald and I can see why. In Four Weddings, Gerald makes so many slips because, this being the first wedding he is officiating at, he's suffering from 'first night nerves'. The decision to make this his first same-sex marriage allows Curtis to recycle the gags, but with an undercurrent of bafflement at what he is officiating that has led to some questioning a slightly homophobic angle. Now, I don't personally think that that is the case or that it was ever intended as such, but I will argue that Richard Curtis often has poor judgement and a lapse in tact and diplomacy when it comes to his writing as many iffy sequences in his otherwise enjoyable films can attest to. Another criticism I heard which I can certainly agree with is that this just wasn't funny enough. Touching yes, but actually funny? No.

Elsewhere, this being Comic Relief and a reunion for something that is 25 years old, there's an attempt to tap into things with present day appeal. So, John Hannah's Matthew now reads from Ed Sheeran (and has a rather dull husband in the shape of that charismatic vacuum of an actor, Raza Jaffrey) rather than WH Auden, whilst Nicola Walker is back on singing duties as one half of what was credited in the original film as 'Frightful Folk Duo', this time accompanied by actual pop star Sam Smith. Funny, I guess, from a Comic Relief point of view, but it rather pulls you out of the moment. I mean, if they had to go for a celeb name joining the cast, couldn't they have had the balls to ask Prince Charles if he would play Fiona's (Kristin Scott Thomas') husband, as was alluded to in the closing moments of Four Weddings? 

In short, watch for James and Vikander's vows, the sight of familiar much-loved faces, the mention of a familiar, much-loved and much-missed name, and Hugh Grant delivering another faltering but heartfelt speech with the aid of his deaf BSL-speaking brother David Bower, but don't expect this to stand up against what remains to be one of the finest romcoms ever made.

Oh and if the hour I watched was the 'best of' Comic Relief this year, I'd hate to see what was left out! My decision to avoid the night itself once again proved wise.

Out On Blue Six: John Lennon

Yesterday marked the thirty-eighth anniversary of John Lennon's death. Thirty eight years on, Lennon's gone and the bastards in power have never changed. 1971's Gimme Some Truth may well have been about Nixon and his mob, but take a look at this particular stanza from that song and you'll find it screams Trump, an idiot who had the audacity to use Revolution 9 at his rallies.

'I'm sick to death of seeing things from

Tight-lipped condescending mama's little chauvinists

All I want is the truth, just give me some truth

I've had enough of watching scenes from

Schizophrenic egocentric paranoiac primadonnas

All I want is the truth just give me some truth'

To paraphrase a line from Mark Herman's Brassed Off; what kind of God allows John Lennon to die and yet keeps these greedy, corrupt and coldblooded capitalist politicians alive? Why is it that those who advocate peace and a better way of life are condemned to death by a society that will forever allow selfish shit to rise to the surface?

Now more than ever, the cry is Gimme Some Truth

And remember, 'War is over! If you want it - Happy Christmas from John and Yoko'

End Transmission

Doctor Who - Happy 55th Anniversary!

Today marks the 55th anniversary of a TV show that has meant a HELL OF A LOT to me for all of my thirty nine years on this spinning rock we call earth.

It is of course, Doctor Who, which first hit our screens on a chilly Saturday evening on the 23rd November, 1963. 55 years and 13 (give or take) Doctors later and it is still going strong.

There are of course those who claim that the show isn't going strong right now. Those who refuse to accept that the ratings are some of the best the show has ever seen and who believe the show has become an SJW feminist ethnically diverse PC disaster simply because the show has dared to cast *gasp* a woman in the role of the Doctor and a black man and an asian woman in the role of companions. Based on some of the absolute tripe I have been reading online on YouTube and the like, these people on the whole appear to be gammon style brexiteers and 'mericans. Basically, people with an agenda and little actual understanding of the show's 55 year history. Doctor Who has always been about social justice, it has always been about politics, about being the best we can be, about fighting injustice and tyranny and demanding equality and fair play, and it has always, always been educational.

So, to those people who don't understand this and who spend their days attacking it online I say this;

Silent Sunday: Remembrance

Peterloo

Today marks the 199th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre and the official launch of the artwork of Mike Leigh's forthcoming film by one of its stars, Christine Bottomley. It has been announced too that the film will, fittingly, receive its premiere at Home in Manchester in October) and that Mike Leigh has called for the events of Peterloo to be taught in schools.

And quite right too. It appalls me that our education system is, like so much of society, is weighted in favour of the establishment and the status quo. Even here in the north west, I don't actually recall ever learning about Peterloo at school. As a result, its shameful the blank looks and confusion that the word receives. We are the generations who have been taught about our 'betters', of kings and queens, but never about the rich history of dissent or of the working classes and it needs to stop. Like the political climate itself, things need to change.

Of course it's no surprise that Peterloo hasn't been taught in schools. The truth of Peterloo is dangerous, highlighting as it does, the blame that must be laid squarely at the door of the establishment. The fact that, 199 years on, it still isn't being spoken about in schools should set alarm bells ringing: what will the generations to come learn about us almost two hundred years from now - will they be taught about Hillsborough, about the miners' strike, the Iraq war and Grenfell?

The Elephant in the Room of the BBC's NHS 70th Anniversary Season

My jaw dropped at a trailer on TV yesterday for BBC1's Life on the Ward, a two part documentary that sees a group of celebrities spend time in one of London's busiest hospitals and shadowing the staff there.

Quite apart from the pointlessness of shoving celebs in a hospital, my jaw made contact with the floor because of one specific 'celebrity', the elephant in the room of these anniversary commemorations - the former Tory MP and Shadow Health Secretary Ann Widdicombe.

Let's look at Widdicombe's attitude towards the NHS and health shall we by way of her voting record.

She voted against the introduction of foundation hospitals.

She voted against providing assistance to the terminally ill to end their lives.

She voted against the smoking ban.

She voted against all matters EU and migration which shows she has little regard for the NHS's mighty migrant workforce.

She has also said that the NHS was 'founded on all the wrong principles' and that effectively it is doomed to fail and needs replacing.

With all that in mind, it's utterly galling to see such a typically heartless, health privatisation-devotee Tory now attempt to sing the praises of the NHS in her retirement and make a buck or two for doing so as well, simply by watching some nurses perform a job she'd have happily taken from them when she was in government.

In fact the BBC's entire NHS at 70 season seems like an utter joke with well known Tory Nick Robinson hosting one special. It's funny how an allegedly oh so impartial public service broadcaster like the BBC can employ notable right wing figures to discuss a socialist issue as opposed to any notable left wing ones isn't it? The only decent programme that will commemorate the anniversary is on BBC Wales: To Provide All People is a star studded 'film poem' from the makers of 2016's Aberfan: The Green Hollow and 2014's Under Milk Wood.

Edit to add, 22/6/18: The BBC have changed the title Life on the Ward to the more generic Celebrities on the NHS Frontline. The first ep airs on BBC1 on Thursday at 9pm. BBC1 Wales however will not be showing it in that slot, opting instead for To Provide All People. I strongly advise you watch that instead.

Wordless Wednesday: Paris Riots

Why Rees Mogg's Hair Getting a Teensy Bit Ruffled Is a Step Towards a Fascist State

The BBC was all over one incident  yesterday: the sight of Tory backbencher Jacob Rees Mogg getting caught up between squabbling students following a speech at Bristol University.

As this blog article points out there's something very fishy going on regarding the attention this little scuffle attracted. For a start, the BBC - showing their complicity with the government - refused to report on the mass demonstration in London that occurred yesterday against cuts in the NHS, but now it seems that the whole Rees Mogg incident was not just a convenient decoy but a handy PR exercise on many counts too. It was actually Rees Mogg supporter who started the squabble and the whole event was captured by Ben Kew, a reporter at the right wing Trump friendly Breitbart news who was conveniently in attendance. It ought to come as no surprise that Breitbart would want to capture someone as ultra right wing and odious as Rees Mogg in a (staged) positive light. His politics are right up their street and this incident can only further his strange appeal amongst the extreme conservatives and those who think he's a 'character'. 

But the media, including the BBC, have spun this in a completely different manner. They've chosen to ignore the fact that the instigator was a supporter of the Tory MP's and once again the cry has gone up about the threat of supposedly violent far left Corbynistas and Momentum members out to destroy our democracy. That this White Elephant continues to exist in the wake of both one right wing lunatic committing a political assassination of Labour MP Jo Cox, and another attempting to target Jeremy Corbyn himself with his attack on Finsbury Park is nothing short of astounding. The reality of where the threat truly is is right before our eyes and yet the media and government continue to deflect it and point their accusing fingers at the very people who are most in danger. 

Perhaps most telling of all is the fact that Rees Mogg's little fracas, which did nothing more than ruffle his hair a little bit, coincides with Theresa May's plan to announce a new law next week making it an offence to intimidate those in public life. 

Now on the surface, this proposal sounds like a good idea. Surely it would help protect targeted MP's such as Diane Abbott and Cat Smith, two female Labour MP's who are routinely subjected to threats of violence and a stream of abuse online. But let's look at this more closely: May's law would allow the police powers to arrest anyone protesting against the actions of a public figure. In other words, if Breitbart pin up Donald Trump were to visit the UK and be met with a mass demonstration against himself and his policies, Theresa May will have allowed the police powers to quell this democratic right by rounding up the most vocal protesters and imprisoning them. In short, Rees Mogg's little stunt has set us on the way to becoming a fascist state where dissent is outlawed. Once again, the real threat to democracy comes from our own government. It comes from the right not the left.

And don't even start me on how disgustingly opportunistic May is being raising this crackdown on the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote. That May will push her desire to create a fascist state whilst paying tribute to the suffragettes - as if there's some common link - is nothing short of offensive, hypocritical politicising. If Theresa May truly thinks she can be considered in the same breath as the suffragettes, if she truly believes she is a feminist, then why has she spent her political career shutting down Sure Start centres, women's refuges and rape crisis centres and making brutal cuts to any service that provides a service and security to women?

Don't be fooled. This is pure political puppeteering and it's time we severed the marionette's strings.

Six Years of Blogging

Six years ago today I started blogging

I can't believe it's been that long. It seems to have gone by so quick in some respects, less so in others. A lot of things have happened in those six years, both to me and to the world at large. 

As I look back at those early posts I'm struck by how much I'm keen to make a record of something of my life. I'd definitely reached a point where I felt the need to do something else with my online life and I was clearly missing the days of Myspace. Those early posts are a hotchpotch of a diary-like account of what was going on in my life and a statement of the things I liked and enjoyed at that time. There's also a near adolescent obsession with picspamming; I think I'd seen tumblr and loved the idea of posting photos that struck me as beautiful, and especially photos of girls who struck me as beautiful. Quite why I didn't just started a tumblr I do not know!

In more recent times the blog has become much more streamlined to focus specifically on film reviews, music (Out On Blue Six is the only surviving theme I've really carried across in the whole six years) and politics. I like that blogging allows you the opportunity to give voice to something you want people to hear, whether that's a film or song you love and want to be better known, or the policies of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour in contrast to the horrible Tory regime we're currently enduring. I may not be posting so much about my daily life these days but what I am posting remains personal to me. 

It's not always been easy to continue with the blog and I think this past twelve months has been the closest I've come to knocking it on the head. It's hard sometimes just to find the opportunity to sit down and write something and even when you do sometimes the muse has left you. The fact that film reviews have become such a strong component of the blog, and that these reviews already exist on my Letterboxd page has sometimes led me to question whether I ought to continue. But I was forgetting the sheer enjoyment and solidarity of the blogging community and its the comments so many of you leave on what I write, and the posts some of you compose yourselves on vastly superior blogs that keeps me here.

So thank you and and here's to another year of blogging.

Mark

Silent Sunday: Remembrance

It Was Thirty Years Ago Today...

15th October, 1987

"Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way; well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't, but having said that, actually, the weather will become very windy, but most of the strong winds, incidentally, will be down over Spain and across into France"

Several hours later, hurricane force gusts of up to 100 knots (or 120 mph) attacked the UK, France and the Channel Islands, causing a number of fatalities, power outage and felled an estimated 15 million trees. The great storm is said to have cost the insurance industry £2billion and an internal inquiry at the Met Office following Michael Fish's gaffe.

Fish himself maintains his report was taken out of context, claiming that his comment was in relation to the news story preceding his bulletin which referred to an approaching storm in Florida, Hurricane Floyd. However, he has appeared to contradict himself down the years, claiming that the call was from a colleague's mother at one point, whilst at others suggesting no one phoned up at all. Either way, it secured his notoriety and a snippet of the bulletin was even included in Danny Boyle's 2012 Olympic opening ceremony.