bickster

Who says K-Tel only put out rubbish, well they mainly did but here’s an exception Another of the missus purchases… Not much missing from this best of double album released in 1985 on the back of a sort of mini revival of interest in Marc Bolan because I guess a few bands like Bauhaus and Department S were covering his songs. The missus bought this for a tenner, it’s in great condition. If they brought this out now they'd be charging £35 minimum. It really does have everything that someone who has a passing interest would want.

One for the sample fans. A Stereo sampler from Decca. They used to sell these to convince people to upgrade to stereo, there’s absolutely loads of them out there. This one from 1958, so a fairly early example of the genre. But this one does have a very famous sample already lifted from it ”This is a journey into sound, stereophonic sound” used by Coldcut on their remix of Eric B and Rakim's Paid In Full (by far the best and most well known version of the song - now there’s a discussion on its own, remixes that are better than the original) I should also point out that the missus bought this not me because her Dad used to have it

Just up the road from the house. The magnificent Sefton Park, pics taken on a stroll I’ve been on with the missus just now

Just bought this for a fiver in a local record fair. File under music the missus will listen to Unfashionable as hell these days but a classic of his time. I have friends who swear this is one of the best albums ever. They are clearly wrong but it is a pleasant folky Sunday record. Very much of its time and definitely sits alongside their Kitchenware Records contemporaries Prefab Sprout and the Kane Gang

Some from yesterday at the Museum of Liverpool

It used to be called leatherette. The Normal (AKA Daniel Miller of Mute records fame) even wrote a song about it, which was later covered by Grace Jones who even named her album after it.

That’s literally what she gets paid for. She's not in position to make sure the rivers are unpolluted and the water is drinkable, those are PR issues. She's there to make money for the shareholders Whilst the water companies remain private entities, that won't and can't change unless the regulation changes. People keep blaming the companies, it isn’t chiefly the companies fault, they legally have fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders. Let’s be clear what has caused this situation. It's the government and Brexit. Leaving the EU and the subsequent relaxing of regulation is almost entirely to blame here. Every time obscene profits, ridiculous pay and all the other things are brought up, the focus goes straight to the water companies. They are just making as much money as possible for the shareholders, the law tells them to do that. The blame should be pointed directly at the people who caused this situation. The government. It is within their power to change things. They can toughen the regulations, they can make fines much higher, they can make certain positions at the top of the company personally responsible for the companies actions. Despite all the bad press, they choose not to. Every water company is a monopoly, water companies provide a vital part of our national infrastructure, vital to business, vital to people, hell clean water is a basic human right. They should never have been nationalised in the first place. Over time by increasing regulation, increasing fines and making them responsible for their actions, the profits will fall. Force them to invest a % of profits into the future and providing yet more clean water. When that happens, the profit incentive will be reduced, the pension companies will slowly divest and eventually they¡ll all come back into public ownership where they should be But it’s definitely my opinion that pointing the finger at the bogeymen of the water companies absolutely lets the government off the hook.

It’s not just beaten, or even soundly beaten. They are as good as finished. Theres currently only one age demographic that has a majority of Tory voters (65+) and even in that demographic the gap between Labour and Tory is significantly narrowing. It’s not just one generation of people that will not be voting Tory any time soon, it’s most of them and the ones that live longer. It was a widely held thought amongst psephologists that the Tory base in the UK was 30% of the population, that they’d never go below that in an election. They obviously went below that mid-term in the run up to 1997 but recovered at the election. People will say their vote always goes up before an election, it doesn’t, it just did in 1997. Journalists keep saying that it MIGHT be a loss on a par with 1997, the evidence that it will be much worse. Check out the polling from 1997 and compare it to now 1997 Current Polling techniques have also improved since the late 90s and not only that the Tory recovery in the run up to 1997 was slow, gradual and took a couple of years, they don’t have time to do that nor will they have time in the next decade to recover. It’s an extinction event Populism Will Eat Itself - Can You Dig It?

You realise he isn’t talking about Clarkson

Oh come on, he's a Brummy through and through

Bush bash bosh, voila, a new Tudor mansion

My guide price ones are currently down 2p per litre for Diesel and have been for at least two weeks. £1.47.9

I see the gender wars have hit the Scottish Green party (different party but affiliated to England and Wales one) There have been expulsions of the biological gender mob to prevent the trans mob feeling threatened

Wordle 1,063 4/6*

The Chills - Kaleidoscope World. Expanded version of the New Zealand band’s early singles compilation Bit of a punt based on the song Pink Frost which I’ve wanted for a fair while and there was nothing much new I wanted. Enjoying it so far.

Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown I think it officially comes out tomorrow

Wordle 1,062 2/6*

@Nor-Cal Villan always prefers them inventing speed metal on this one

We've been out tonight to an event called Pint of Science Never heard of it before but apparently is been going for quite a few years now. Sadly if you’re interested, you'll have to wait until next year as it’s mostly over now but I’d thoroughly recommend having a look at it and seeing if anything interests you. General format is you get three talks of about 20 mins each, and a quiz which you do on your phone. We had a couple of physics ones and one on the future of AI in the legal profession and that one was really interesting (the other two were too) and was probably the main selling point for us to go to this one. Not bad for a fiver. There seemed to be lots of them in Birmingham (still up on the website so you can see what you missed) and there were plenty all over the country and indeed all over the world (26 countries I total I think) You should look out for them next May, quite a good stimulating cheap night out.

I am not Biffa Bacons Ma

You want witnesses and jurors to be easily recognisable in the street?

Fico ran his last election on stopping funding to Ukraine, I seriously doubt it was Russia

It’s no Dickies though is it

No one’s ever convinced me Bonnie Tyler wasn’t a drag act

Wordle 1,061 4/6*