The usual stupid arguments about numbers featured in the Media Reporting of yesterday’s TUC March for The Alternative. The Police say 250,000, The TUC 500,000 and given that the March was still going five hours after it started the probability is that the real figure was in excess of 600,000. All part of the general plan to distract everyone from discussing the reason and issues behind the March.
The same distraction tag can be applied to the activities of the hard core anarchists. A minority indeed, and predictable, and the fact that groups were able to execute their plans suggest that either Police intelligence is poor, or that a conscious decision was made to allow the attacks on property to go ahead. One fears it was the later.
And should we be so surprised that some young people should feel so alienated from the political process that they are attracted to direct action? I think not.
That said the Demonstration, billed as the start of the fight back, was a huge manifestation of “the peoples” political will.
Everyone accepts that something needs to be done to balance the National deficit, and to reform our Public Services, but the approach of the Coalition has been completely wrong, and of course the motivating factor has not been “Reform” but quite simply a perceived requirement to cut National Expenditure.
Reform should not be driven by financial consideration alone, and this is the huge trap that The Lib Dems have fallen into and will no doubt be sacrificed on the altar of the electorate at all elections until the Coalition is destroyed. One wonders for just how long Liberals will allow their Party to be tarnished and it’s philosophy destroyed by the short term glamour of Government.
For sure, The Mashers, will be singing out their slogans, however out dated it might seem to be, and the reason is that the message about the total mess this Government is going to get us into needs to be got out there.
And make no mistake, The Mashers don’t promote any one Political Party, we are not saying Labour Good, Tory Bad. We have serious problems with both, but with the lack of anyone brave enough to take on the Establishment in the main stream Ed offers just about the better option, given that we have seen the true colours of The Liberals.
Make no mistake, the next two years or so will be a battle to the end. If you don’t believe me then you need to listen to the ravings of Kalvin McKenzie. OK he’s a rent a mouth these days, but a very dangerous one, his message of setting employed against unemployed, Private Sector worker against Public Sector worker, old against young, the healthy against the unhealthy is one that needs to be challenged at every level, and the Liberals really need to think about who they have got into bed with and their philosophy.
So we make no apologies for our ranting. The argument for the alternative can be found on the Acoustic Rotherham News Page as a PDF HERE
And the Mashers were out this week.
On Sunday we made our way to The Commercial, Chapletown for the Vernal Equinox Celebration as part of the Darnall Datallers Writers Club & Myke Barritt Music Trust Spring Festival. And what a splendid evening it was to, with the members of The Wandering Minstrels Club turning out in force.
And we were being filmed……………….. oh dear. It’s part of a media project for a person close to Phoebe. Besides the recording of performances, we are all to be interviewed as well about our music………….. that should be interesting.
And of course there was the mystery of the broken hand. Poor Welsh Geoff and Matt Hegarty appear to have been jumped on by the Banjo Player Stamper of Old Sheffield Town. Poor lads – and not fun either, but I think they did brilliantly with their unaccompanied songs.
Photographs from the event can be found HERE
And on Thursday we headed out for the Thursday Session at The Bridge. Another event which was part of the Spring Festival. It was to have an Irish theme, and the Mashers are rather short on Irish material these days. But hey we did our bit. As did the brilliant Tina McKevitt who stunned a noisy room into silence with the sheer joy of her voice. Well done Tina.
It’s no secret that the Thursday session is not one of my favourite gatherings for many reasons, and it’s sort of sad to relate that on this experience very little has changed. It’s where it all started for The Mashers, and there is something to be said for the old saying about “not going back”. But we’re proud to say that we did our bit. Pictures currently showing HERE
There’s lots more to come with the Spring Festival. Check out all the dates HERE
Coming up this Thursday, The Masher will be helping an ailing Welsh Geoff out at The Princess Royal, again as part of The Spring Festival.
The Masher Zone is nearly complete on the Acoustic Rotherham et.al. Web Site, and attention is currently being given to MBMT Zone as work on the upgrade continues.
I’d just draw your attention to the Mashers Influences Page. If for no other reason than the fantastic range of classic Folk tracks you’ll find on the page it’s worth a visit. Currently there are 38 tracks from Trad to contemporary, tears to laughter, and this time the links all work and I’ve packaged the tracks into small downloads should you wish to add the songs to your collection of MP3s. It’s all HERE
While on Internet and networking matters, The Mashers are now on Soundcloud, HERE and we seem to have gathered in a number of plays in a very short period of time, so if some of you are looking for an out for your music it might be a site worth checking out. GO HERE
Song writers might like to check out Song Writers Radio HERE, it’s another great place to get your music heard.
You will have noticed that Reviews about Hearts of Steel have been published as a Blog, thanks to Phoebe and Sue and Barry for their efforts on that one. You can get to it HERE if you’ve missed it so far.
And so with April approaching fast there’s plenty of live music going on. You can find most of the Gigs on the Diary Pages – along with the Shout Box facility if your event is not listed HERE
Whatever you’re doing this week have fun and keep it live.
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