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Triple Lock or Triple Threat?
To start with I will confess my bias. I am in my late 50s so getting to the stage where a big state pension sounds like a wonderful idea. I am also ill health retired on a defined benefit pension scheme and unable to work again, so I have a vested interest in keeping my…
Everything we see just fades away
Yesterday the Government said it would update ministers on their internal report into Sue Gray moving to be Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff. A few problems with that: Making Sue Gray obey higher standards than almost every minister or Civil Servant over the last (at least) 20 years would be unfair. Made a day’s headlines…
He’ll rule no more
“A Lie Is Halfway Round the World Before the Truth Has Got Its Boots On.” That seems to apply to the ratings headlines about the funeral of Elizabeth Windsor. Papers like the Daily Mail, but other sources that are genuine news outlets, repeated that 5 billion would watch the funeral. Given the population of the…
And now open your eyes and see what we have made is real
I have said before that I hate musicals. Except Grease, which I saw twice at the cinema when it came out. My sister, Alison, and I were taken to see it by my stepmother (my brother, Mike, and other sister opted for something else instead). This was not my usual kind of film, but it…
For Peace and Trust Can Win the Day-
I am sure that the European haters that exist in the UK are up in arms in about the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) stopping the Rwandan flights. Here is some information that might help understand what has happened and why this is not the European Union’s fault, despite this government trying to refight…
You’d better run from the Devil’s gun
I will declare my bias right here at the start. I am a Max Verstappen fan and I predicted that he would be a future world champion the first time that I saw him race in the rain. He stayed on slicks as every other driver either crashed or changed onto wets. It was like…
Little girls hurt sometimes
All the newspapers calling for the BBC to be curbed or destroyed at the moment should check themselves. How many of them have illegally obtained information for a story. All the phone hacking and other illegal activities. No tabloid can claim innocence. The tabloids pursued Diana relentlessly for years and were the ones chasing her…
Brother help me please
If you want to talk about something then you need to actually study it properly. If you don’t then you should shut up. I am thinking about the government’s report on race issued last week which has been seized on to say that racism isn’t that bad and young people should shut up and be…
I Don’t Care What Society Wants
loyalists. The former group fall in love with songs for days or weeks and then abandon them for something new. Loyalists find songs they love and love them forever – I am very much a loyalist. This means that my friends and family will not be surprised at the track that tops this list. It…
Phony Beatlemania has bitten the Dust
The second appearance of Mick Jones in the top ten (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/2339 ) as part of the most credible, ethical and fuck the establishment band that ever-had mainstream success – The Clash. They were almost legendary figures as they were not on TV. They released singles and refused to have them on albums not to rip…
That’s Me in the Corner
It’s hot. It is close to midnight but it’s still as hot as an English summer day. I am not yet drunk but I am well on the way there. I have travelled nearly 2,500 miles to be there and we are in a street full of youthful people and lined with bars. One of…
I’ve never done good things
I am not usually affected when famous people die. It is sad if it is someone whose work you admire, especially if they die when they are young (Kurt Cobain https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1855 , John Lennon https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/617 or Bob Marley https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1677 to name a few). I really hate the hysterical outpouring of grief for someone people have…
Also Known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu
I am counting the JAMs, The Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu and the K Foundation as one group here. It was going to be about how they withdrew all their music at the height of their success in a Great Garbo move, then they bloody go and release it again on streaming services after nearly 30…
Kill the king
A lot of British people are bemused by how Donald Trump won in 2016 and the Republicans remain a strong force in the USA, despite getting less votes than the Democrats. I suggest that they look closer to home for an electoral system that does not work. Britain’s political system is totally broken. Only two…
Two Riders Were Approaching and the Wind Began to Howl
It is Alan Moore time again. This time it was his use of lyrics by Jimi Hendrix in his Watchmen series that inspired me to listen to Hendrix’s work. At the time Watchmen was unusual – a prestige format limited series with no adverts. Alan Moore was already being acclaimed as one of the greatest…
I am so afraid of dying
I hated school dinners at primary school. There always seemed to be a lot of beetroot and steamed green vegetables. The dinner ladies (now called midday supervisors) made you eat everything on your plate. So I went home for lunch as it was such a short walk away (less than 5 minutes). This meant that…
It’s just a shot away
I am going to bring up Alan Moore twice in the top ten, his tacit endorsement of artist through his work made it acceptable for me to like them, even if they were too old to be normally acceptable to a teenager in the early 80s. Stephen Doubtfire had tried to persuade me that the…
The past is steeped in shame
Aztec Camera are ok – I had liked Walk Out To Winter and Oblivious, but they are the last entry on the list that will not have a playlist. This was a collaboration between them and Mick Jones (the first of two entries on the list for Jones, so one of his groups will appear…
Your hair is beautiful
It is hard to imagine how big Blondie were. Coming out of the punk clubs of New York they assimilated musical influences, even managing to make lasting tracks from a disco influence. Debbie Harry was the sex symbol of choice for those just a touch older than I am (my friend Nigel, who is six…
My heart rushes through my brain
It might be hard to believe but there was a time when Bruce Springsteen was not only unknown in the UK, but even a lot of the people who had heard of him were quite dismissive. In the UK he had minor hits from The River album that I heard on evening radio, they even…
The one you love is the one that should take you higher
I am always astounded by some of the groups that throw people out for taking too many drugs. Ozzy Osbourne was one (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1681 ). Guns ‘n’ Roses drummer Stephen Adler was thrown out of the band for his habit, given that this was a band that had narcotics delivered by the truckload that is a…
Just hold your heading true
I like Mike Oldfield, but you have to weigh up the legacy of his music against the fact that without him Richard Branson would probably be an obscure ex-Hippie and not the annoying utter twat that he is. Without the phenomenal success of Tubular Bells there would have been no Virgin Music, Virgin Airlines, Virgin…
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Five Miles Out 