David Bennun

Say what you will about the perils facing free speech in our era, but nobody has been one half so effective at cancelling Morrissey as Morrissey.

By a remarkable coincidence, that's the exact reason I had no intention of going anywhere near a Morrissey show.

ME: "Vandalism of artwork for any reason whatsoever is a selfish and unjustifiable attack on our collective cultural heritage and should always be dealt with sternly."

ALSO ME: "Could we not give this lass a grant tho."

Link: www.totallyradio.com/shows/thread...

The latest THREADS is here, on @slackcityradio.bsky.social via @totallyradio.bsky.social, and its theme is LAWSUIT TUNES: songs that prompted (or pre-empted) claims of plagiarism.

You can hear it via the link in reply. Alternatively, you can not do that. You pays no money and you takes your choice.

I wonder* if all the dog-whistlers who make it their business to circulate any and every criminal act committed by an evidently non-white or non-Anglo person will be rushing to give this story the same exposure.

(*I do not, in fact, wonder.)

Yet another example of how red tape in this country stifles growth.

Our weed-loving next-door neighbours whose fumes periodically permeate our home last night managed to fill our hallway with a stench so ungodly I started to wonder if they were smoking an actual skunk.

This is how we defeat Britain’s far right - The Jewish Chronicle A welcome guide on combatting extremism from a figure who can draw on decades of hard-won street-level experience doing exactly that

Link: www.thejc.com/life/books/t...

"A reminder that Jews – justly frightened and appalled by the left’s own antisemitism, and its advocacy for the Islamist variety – would be unwise to seek illusory protection in the opposite direction."

Me on Nick Lowles' How To Defeat The Far Right, for
@jewishchron.bsky.social. Link in reply.

Link: www.totallyradio.com/shows/thread...

The latest episode of THREADS, the radio show about musical connections, is up on @slackcityradio.bsky.social via @totallyradio.bsky.social,
and this time the theme is EXCEPTIONS: a personal selection of songs I like by artists I don't - plus suggestions from friends of the show.

(Link in reply.)

BRB just pitching the WSJ on how while Queen and Pink Floyd get all the kudos, nobody but me, an intellectual, gives enough credit to under-regarded art-pop combo The Beatles.

All the while screaming, "IT'S F***ING GREY! NOT PACHYDERM SEACLOUD! NOT WISTFUL MIST! NOT ANTHRACITE DEMILUSTRE! F***ING GREY, DAMN YOU!"

Mmm, must buy tinned ears.

Stop Grading Hens

What I infer from Jeffrey Epstein's "birthday book" is not that most of his eminent friends were conspiring with him to traffic and exploit underage girls, but that almost all of them knew exactly what he was doing and considered it an endearing quirk. Which is not a whole lot better.

www.totallyradio.com/shows/thread...

As the season starts to turn, why not welcome it in with the latest THREADS, on @slackcityradio.bsky.social via @totallyradio.bsky.social, which is all up in your autumn? (The question is rhetorical; please do not actually tell me why not.) Mellow fruitfulness guaranteed. As ever.

Link in reply.

I mean, c'mon. This wasn't an ultra-wealthy politician knowingly attempting some kind of slippery tax dodge. It was obviously a genuine, unintentional mistake that any ordinary person might have made.

British politics never ceases to surprise me. I would never have guessed before this week that anything could make me sympathise with Angela Rayner.

Farewell to Giorgio Armani.

I think Helen is, as usual, right in all the important points; but to be clear, I don't think it is L*n*h*n's *opinions* - some of which I agree with, some of which I find loathsome, but that is beside the point - that merit legal consequences. I think it of his alleged *conduct*.

It bears adding: I think the use of the law and the police to target and harass him is vexatious, and outrageous, and points to problems that urgently need fixing.

I also think his own alleged conduct cannot be justified, and certainly should not be lionised.

When people on the other side of the argument behave the way Gr*h*m L*n*h*n has reportedly done (and they do), there are many - me included - who would say it's vicious and unacceptable and deserving of legal consequences.

And if that's true when they do it, then it's true when he does it.

August brought cracking albums from CMAT, Nova Twins, Adrian Sherwood and Earl Sweatshirt. If you want to read what I wrote about them in Metro, here ya go.

Bertolt Brecht: "I have a solution to deal with unruly voters."

Jeremy Corbyn: "Brilliant idea, thank you!"

Bertolt Brecht: "Remind me just who it is that doesn't understand irony?"

Facebook, tell me I'm 108 years old without telling me I'm 108 years old.

Link: www.totallyradio.com/shows/thread...

Due to illness, no new THREADS @ 10 tonight on
@slackcityradio.bsky.social (via @totallyradio.bsky.social). But my ongoing effort to improve the audio on earlier episodes continues, so there's a repeat of SILVER SCREEN, looking at how pop music draws inspiration from the movies.

Link in reply.