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Time methinks for another_richard to buy a new Euro motor

All those thinking the UK economic recovery is just cyclical should read this little snippet from Bloomberg on the pan-Europe revival in car sales.

The [European] industry wide gain in March [in new car sales] was the biggest since December.

In the U.K., which overtook France to become Europe’s second-biggest auto market in 2012, sales amounted to 464,824 cars amid a semi-annual changeover of license-plate numbers that indicate a vehicle’s age and after wage growth accelerated and the unemployment rate declined. The [18%] gain compared with a 5.4 percent increase in Germany to 296,408 cars.

“These British guys seem to be mad about new cars,” [Hans-Peter] Wodniok, a German motor industry analyst said.

The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for the U.K. on April 8, predicting Britain will have the fastest growth among developed nations. The economy will expand 2.9 percent this year, outpacing the 1.2 percent increase predicted for the countries using the euro, according to the Washington-based IMF.

I really do fear Real Madrid CF or FC Bayern München are about to put in a transfer bid for our George.

5 days of strikes for Londoners.

MrJones said:

TheWatcher said:

MrJones said:

TheWatcher said:

JBriskin said:

Snowden asks Putin a question!!

I wonder if the Snowden leaks have revealed enough about the West's military capabilities and doctrines to give Putin the confidence to forge ahead with his Ukrainian campaign?

Britain and America off-shored their industrial base and rebuilt their economies around megabanks operating at a 33:1 capital ratio.

Megabanks operating at a 33:1 capital ratio can't do crisis.

It's just simple arithmetic.

Would you care to name the banks operating at those ratios?

It's Basel III

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-12/banks-get-scaled-back-rule-on-debt-limit-from-basel-regulators.html

"While the regulators amended how banks should calculate the size of their assets, they didn’t change the percentage of their own funds needed to meet the rule.

The committee will still require banks to hold capital equivalent to at least 3 percent of their assets, without any possibility to take into account the riskiness of their investments."

It's more Basil III I'm worried about.

Lucas - Not Guilty

JBriskin said:

5 days of strikes for Londoners.

Driverless trains cannot come soon enough.

If an extremist group caused as much disruption to London transport as the RMT, they would be labelled a terrorist organisation.

Indeed, 98% of Britpop was overhyped bollocks.

Agree completely. Oasis specialised in setting angry lyrics to angry music, but when you drill down into the songs its very difficult to discern any meaning or narrative. It's all image.

On a par with the Beatles? Oasis are not even on a par with the Ruttles...

Socrates said:

CarlottaVance said:

BobaFett said:

@DavidL

Big city government is the key. Greater Manchester should override its boroughs and have a big GM mayoralty a la London. This should have happened years ago.

People of Manchester said no:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_mayoral_referendums,_2012#Manchester

As did 9 of the 11 cities asked (only Bristol said 'Yes', and Darlington said 'keep')

That was a completely different question. That's whether they should have an elected mayor for just the city of Manchester. Nothing to do with whether the overall metropolitan area should have a common government. The City of Westminster doesn't have a directly elected Mayor, so their vote wasn't out of line with that.

London's governance structure has worked extremely well. If any government is serious about the northern cities competing with the place, they need to have someone in charge of the overall economy of these places. You're not going to get that in just one fifth of the conurbation.

Good luck finding enthusiasm for that in the YouGov Cardiff poll.....

Next said:

JBriskin said:

5 days of strikes for Londoners.

Driverless trains cannot come soon enough.

If an extremist group caused as much disruption to London transport as the RMT, they would be labelled a terrorist organisation.

Some excellent articles on the problems of getting driverless trains on the Underground:
http://www.londonreconnections.com/2014/driverless-trains-piccadilly/
http://machorne.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/driverless-trains-and-undergrounds-deep.html

Basically: it is technically feasible if money is spent; operationally it may be more difficult. It will not happen on a large scale, especially on the deep-level tube, for decades.

Bristol may have an independent mayor, but there is also a petition of no confidence which is gathering signatures.

http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/epetition_core/community/petition/2286

taffys said:

Indeed, 98% of Britpop was overhyped bollocks.

Agree completely. Oasis specialised in setting angry lyrics to angry music, but when you drill down into the songs its very difficult to discern any meaning or narrative. It's all image.

On a par with the Beatles? Oasis are not even on a par with the Ruttles...

In my mind Britpop and New Labour are fused. Travesties of music and politics which shame humanity.

SeanT said:

taffys said:

Indeed, 98% of Britpop was overhyped bollocks.

Agree completely. Oasis specialised in setting angry lyrics to angry music, but when you drill down into the songs its very difficult to discern any meaning or narrative. It's all image.

On a par with the Beatles? Oasis are not even on a par with the Ruttles...

Oasis's lyrics aren't just meaningless, they are laughably, laughably bad. Some of the worst lyrics in the history of piss poor lyrics.


Hey you! Up in the sky
Learning to fly
Tell me how high
Do you think you’ll go
Before you start falling

http://godonnybrook.com/v3/the-30-worst-oasis-lyrics-ever-definitely-maybe-edition/

I was more of a Nirvana teenager..

My fav lyrics were these, which described Kurt Cobain's disappointment upon moving from a sleepy NW Pacific town called Aberdeen to trendy, bohemian Olympia and discovering the same cliques exist in every social group...

Wouldn't you believe it
It's just my luck
Wouldn't you believe it
It's just my luck
Wouldn't you believe it
It's just my luck
Wouldn't you believe it
It's just my luck

No recess
No recess
No recess

You're in high school again
You're in high school again
You're in high school again
You're in high school again

You're in high school again
You're in high school again
You're in high school again
You're in high school again

No recess
No recess
No recess

No recess
No recess
No recess
No recess

Socrates said:

TheWatcher said:

SeanT said:

JBriskin said:

RE: Oasis V Blur

Here's my combined top ten-

10 -Not Lesiure
9 - Not 13
8 - Parklife
7 - Don't Believe the Truth
6 - Be Here Now
5 - Standing on the Shoulder's of Giants
4 - Dig Out Your Soul
3 - Modern Life is Rubbish (I've got Lib Dem sympathies)
2 - Blur
1 - (What's the Story) Morning Glory [for the zeitgeist]

The two most overrated bands in British music history.

Yup. They're almost on a par with Led Zeppelin.

I'm going to have to leave this debate before I get angry.

Not surprising that the Watcher is as wrong about music as he is about politics. :-)

Who remembers 1997, St Tony was in charge and things could only get...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgMl9qBTBq0

I hate to bring this back to politics:
Caroline Lucas has been cleared.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27069345

Good afternoon, everyone.

Mr. Jessop, good. Spares her adding the self-righteousness of martyrdom to her damned hypocritical sanctimoniousness.

On music: Queen are super.

As well as the big hits, there are quite a few, especially early ones, with fantasy imagery (My Fairy King, The Prophet's Song, March of the Black Queen). '39 is my favourite country-rock song about the relativity of time dilation caused by faster than light travel [did a blog some time ago about the problem of faster than light travel in sci-fi: http://thaddeusthesixth.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/sci-fi-speed-of-light-problem.html].

Morris - I heard on the Today Programme (copyright) that Queen Greatest Hits is the biggest selling album in the UK ever.

TwistedFireStopper said:

"Can't complain, mustn't grumble, help yourself to another piece of apple crumble, yeah, yeah!"

That's the sort of lyrics we need more of.

Nah: best British lyrics of the 90s are Beautiful South. Here's Woman in the Wall, for instance

He was just a social drinker but social every night
He enjoyed a pint or two or three or four
She was just a silent thinker, silent every night
He'd enjoy the thought of killing her before
Well he was very rarely drunk but very rarely sober
And he didn't think the problem was his drink
But he only knew his problem when he knocked her over
And when the rotting flesh began to stink
Cry freedom for the woman in the wall
Cry freedom for she has no voice at all
I hear her cry all day, all night
I hear her voice from deep within the wall
Made a cross from knitting needles
Made a grave from hoover bags
Especially for the woman in the wall
She'd knitted him a jumper with dominoes on
So he wore it everyday in every week
Pretended to himself that she hadn't really gone
Pretended that he thought he heard her speak
Then at last it seemed that he was really winning
He felt that he had some sort of grip
But all of his new life was sent a-spinning
When the rotting wall began to drip

TwistedFireStopper said:

Next said:

TwistedFireStopper said:

Next said:

JBriskin said:

5 days of strikes for Londoners.

Driverless trains cannot come soon enough.

If an extremist group caused as much disruption to London transport as the RMT, they would be labelled a terrorist organisation.

A bit hysterical.
Employees using their right to withdraw their labour is hardly on a par with slaughtering innocent people on a tube train. Still, in your world, maybe it is.

I said "disrupt", not "slaughter".

We are not talking about employees merely withdrawing from some standalone factory in a dispute. But deliberately disrupting the lives of millions of "hard-working" people, who will be the ones who suffer because of it.

Still, in your world, maybe that is acceptable.

Yeah, it is, more than acceptable. The right to withdraw labour is still legal in this country.

Are the Police allowed to withdraw labour?

Are the Police allowed to withdraw labour?

The band?

Sometimes I wish they had....

JBriskin said:

RE: Beautiful South

I failed an OU course because of a BS/Youtube combo.

So it wasn't a Perfect Ten.

TheWatcher said:

Next said:

TwistedFireStopper said:

Next said:

TwistedFireStopper said:

Next said:

JBriskin said:

5 days of strikes for Londoners.

Driverless trains cannot come soon enough.

If an extremist group caused as much disruption to London transport as the RMT, they would be labelled a terrorist organisation.

A bit hysterical.
Employees using their right to withdraw their labour is hardly on a par with slaughtering innocent people on a tube train. Still, in your world, maybe it is.

I said "disrupt", not "slaughter".

We are not talking about employees merely withdrawing from some standalone factory in a dispute. But deliberately disrupting the lives of millions of "hard-working" people, who will be the ones who suffer because of it.

Still, in your world, maybe that is acceptable.

Yeah, it is, more than acceptable. The right to withdraw labour is still legal in this country.

Are the Police allowed to withdraw labour?

If Sting feels like skiving off, let him.

I wondered who would be first...

TwistedFireStopper said:

Next said:

TwistedFireStopper said:

Next said:

TwistedFireStopper said:

Next said:

JBriskin said:

5 days of strikes for Londoners.

Driverless trains cannot come soon enough.

If an extremist group caused as much disruption to London transport as the RMT, they would be labelled a terrorist organisation.

A bit hysterical.
Employees using their right to withdraw their labour is hardly on a par with slaughtering innocent people on a tube train. Still, in your world, maybe it is.

I said "disrupt", not "slaughter".

We are not talking about employees merely withdrawing from some standalone factory in a dispute. But deliberately disrupting the lives of millions of "hard-working" people, who will be the ones who suffer because of it.

Still, in your world, maybe that is acceptable.

Yeah, it is, more than acceptable. The right to withdraw labour is still legal in this country.

Are the Police allowed to withdraw labour?

Nope, they used to get paid extra, and have a decent wage structure to compensate for not having the right to strike.

LU drivers are well paid too. And by the nature of their job, they should have limits on the kind of industrial action they can take.

Re Britpop: The remarkable thing about it wasn't the quality of the music, which with the exception of a veneer of quality on the top was pretty thin, but that for the first time I can remember - and to the greatest extent I can remember - Indie music was mainstream. I could enthusiastically make a far better case for the period immediately before Britpop being a golden period for British indie than the Britpop period itself: Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Wedding Present, New Order, Inspiral Carpets, Neds Atomic Dustbin; even the bands who crossed both periods like Pulp and the Charlatans got a lot of their better stuff out of the way prior to Britpop really kicking off. There was quality in the second division bands, too: New Fast Automatic Daffodils, Paris Angels, Flowered Up, World of Twist; all of these knocked their counterparts of the Britpop era like These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H into a cocked hat. Despite all this, bands of the Britpop era managed a lot more commercial success, and had a lot more influence on the mainstream than indie music had really managed previously. THIS is why the era can be celebrated.
On Blur vs Oasis, while identifying with arty Londoners* over guitar-heavy Mancunians seems unnatural to me, Blur win every time. Definitely Maybe was actually a pretty good album, and they did one or two well-crafted singles and b-sides besides that: Married with Children and She's Electric prove that Oasis can do lyrics. But there was no need for anything Oasis did after about 1995, which was basically just rehashing the same thing, less well. Whereas not only was Parklife the quintessential Britpop album, it was Blur's second or third re-invention of themselves, and they went on to reinvent themselves two or three more times subsequently. Their music may not be as visceral, but I can't help admire its cleverness.
I'd actually plump for Pulp's "His 'n' Hers" as the best Britpop album. Marginally overlooked in comparison to Different Class, but only really for reasons of timing of release rather than quality.

*Yes I know they're actually from Essex.

"OK best gigs ever?"

Continuing the Britpop theme - I'll say Placebo - and for double bonus kudos my Gf has just offered up the Pixies on the Surfer Rosa tour.

90s music was utterly crap compared to the 80s, 70s and 60s.

SeanT said:

taffys said:

Travesties of music and politics which shame humanity.

Except of course for Pulp's 'Common people'. That song has completely skewered the modern middle class PPE at Oxford labour party. It just gets more and more relevant and biting as time goes on. Maybe UKIP should use it in their PPBs....

Pulp were the only decent band to emerge from Britpop. "Babies" is another great song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38by00DGid0&feature=kp

Acute social observation, and poignantly cynical lyrics.

A great band although I also have a great liking for Suede. Never could understand all the fuss over Blur or Oasis though.

I'm always sceptical when I hear rock concerts were 'amazing'.

Come off it. After a three hour trek and ages standing in a cold field you got jostled by smelly drunken idiots whilst watching a few tiny specks play a furry version of some music you quite like. You got charged 100 quid for the privilege, plus a tenner a go for crap lager and fifteen quid for a lentil burger.

A good example of the paucity of talent in the 90s is that Patrice Rushen's 1982 hit Forget Me Nots was sampled twice in the space of two years, in 1996 for George Michael's Fastlove and in 1997 for Will Smith's Men In Black.

Richard_Tyndall said:

TheWatcher said:

Richard_Tyndall said:

Socrates said:

TheWatcher said:

SeanT said:

JBriskin said:

RE: Oasis V Blur

Here's my combined top ten-

10 -Not Lesiure
9 - Not 13
8 - Parklife
7 - Don't Believe the Truth
6 - Be Here Now
5 - Standing on the Shoulder's of Giants
4 - Dig Out Your Soul
3 - Modern Life is Rubbish (I've got Lib Dem sympathies)
2 - Blur
1 - (What's the Story) Morning Glory [for the zeitgeist]

The two most overrated bands in British music history.

Yup. They're almost on a par with Led Zeppelin.

I'm going to have to leave this debate before I get angry.

Not surprising that the Watcher is as wrong about music as he is about politics. :-)

Some people are too easy to wind up.

However, other than 'Stairway...' are there any tracks that a sizeable majority could name?

I am sure most people could mention the Lemon Song :-)

But being able to name songs is meaningless in the debate about who is a great band or not. Indeed for a lot of great bands (Talking Heads and Dire Straits being prime examples) their best tracks are not the ones most people remember them for.

Pink Floyd too.. apart from "Another Brick In the Wall Pt2" could many people name 5 songs by them?

One for our Russian friends: the incomparable Al Stewart. A soldier's story about the Russian retreat during Barbarossa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_ZG6tRGMYk&feature=kp

Although my favourite of his is 'Old Admirals' about Admiral John Fisher. We got married on a ship that Fisher crewed when he was just a young Lieutenant, and we played the song as our first dance ...

AndyJS said:

90s music was utterly crap compared to the 80s, 70s and 60s.

Agreed. For me as a rock fan the best decade by far was the 70s although I would probably have to push it back into the late sixties a bit.

TheWatcher said:

Richard_Tyndall said:

Socrates said:

TheWatcher said:

SeanT said:

JBriskin said:

RE: Oasis V Blur

Here's my combined top ten-

10 -Not Lesiure
9 - Not 13
8 - Parklife
7 - Don't Believe the Truth
6 - Be Here Now
5 - Standing on the Shoulder's of Giants
4 - Dig Out Your Soul
3 - Modern Life is Rubbish (I've got Lib Dem sympathies)
2 - Blur
1 - (What's the Story) Morning Glory [for the zeitgeist]

The two most overrated bands in British music history.

Yup. They're almost on a par with Led Zeppelin.

I'm going to have to leave this debate before I get angry.

Not surprising that the Watcher is as wrong about music as he is about politics. :-)

Some people are too easy to wind up.

However, other than 'Stairway...' are there any tracks that a sizeable majority could name?

Whole Lotta Love?

Or at least to recognise, Zeppelin's songs don't exactly lend themselves to name recognition.

Best gigs - Undertones, The Jam, The Pogues, The Q-Tips.

Blessed was it to live in North London and be young in mind and body in the late 70s and 80s.

Morris_Dancer said:

Incidentally, it's interesting to consider which musicians will still be played in centuries, much as Beethoven is today.

I think the Beatles are overrated. I'm not knocking them, and I do like them, but I think a large part of their popularity is simply that they coincided with the birth of rock and roll (well, nearly) and, more importantly, the baby boomers who became lifelong fans.

They'll still be played in a century, though. Likewise Queen.

It was interesting to hear a lot of the US rock and blues bands who became monstrously successful in the late sixties and seventies saying that it was hearing the Beatles for the first time made them realise what could be done with what had, until then, been predominantly a black minority music form. It is difficult to underestimate the influence of the Beatles on modern music.

SeanT said:

OK best gigs ever?

For geeky reasons, Genesis, Hampden 1987

For other reasons, Big Country, Playhouse, some years later

Worst gig, Iron Maiden

Socrates said:

CarlottaVance said:

Socrates said:

CarlottaVance said:

BobaFett said:

@DavidL

Big city government is the key. Greater Manchester should override its boroughs and have a big GM mayoralty a la London. This should have happened years ago.

People of Manchester said no:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_mayoral_referendums,_2012#Manchester

As did 9 of the 11 cities asked (only Bristol said 'Yes', and Darlington said 'keep')

That was a completely different question. That's whether they should have an elected mayor for just the city of Manchester. Nothing to do with whether the overall metropolitan area should have a common government. The City of Westminster doesn't have a directly elected Mayor, so their vote wasn't out of line with that.

London's governance structure has worked extremely well. If any government is serious about the northern cities competing with the place, they need to have someone in charge of the overall economy of these places. You're not going to get that in just one fifth of the conurbation.

Good luck finding enthusiasm for that in the YouGov Cardiff poll.....

The YouGov poll only asked about power being devolved to local authorities. You seem to be struggling on this difference.

You'll struggle to find anything in the Cardiff (I see Bobawhatsit has missed the point) poll showing enthusiasm for regional power.....

Pleased to see Caroline Lucas is not going to do time.The decision though must have disappointed a few who would mount a "Save The Balcombe 1" campaign.
Brighton Pavilion is on a knife-edge,evens the pair,Green and Lab.You might think Evs on the sitting MP, who should benefit from an incumbency factor and a high media profile is big but,as with so many of these really close marginals,you do not know all the local factors which come into play,such as the organisational strength for the ground war of the various parties.
The Greens on the council entered into conflict with the GMB over refuse workers pay and conditions,which has not done their left-wing credentials much good.Whether the MP supporting the workers on the picket line striking against her own Green council will benefit remains in doubt.
There are smaller Lab/Green fights going on but Brighton Pavilion is the main attraction.

The later Pulp stuff is excellent too : both We Live Life, and This is Hardcore

Radiohead deserves a mention, although whether they are really britpop is another question.

And I would like to recommend The National, which is American and not from the 90s and d being one of the best bands you probably haven't heard yet.

It is difficult to underestimate the influence of the Beatles on modern music.

100% agree. To support your point, I remember the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson talking about the huge impact 'Rubber Soul' made on him when it came out.

MikeK said:

What's wrong with Vanilla? This is the 3rd time I've had to sign in today.
I'm getting really fed up with it.

Me too!

I'm planning to replace it on my next business trip, which means the week of the 28th...

SeanT said:

isam said:

Richard_Tyndall said:

TheWatcher said:

Richard_Tyndall said:

Socrates said:

TheWatcher said:

SeanT said:

JBriskin said:

RE: Oasis V Blur

Here's my combined top ten-

10 -Not Lesiure
9 - Not 13
8 - Parklife
7 - Don't Believe the Truth
6 - Be Here Now
5 - Standing on the Shoulder's of Giants
4 - Dig Out Your Soul
3 - Modern Life is Rubbish (I've got Lib Dem sympathies)
2 - Blur
1 - (What's the Story) Morning Glory [for the zeitgeist]

The two most overrated bands in British music history.

Yup. They're almost on a par with Led Zeppelin.

I'm going to have to leave this debate before I get angry.

Not surprising that the Watcher is as wrong about music as he is about politics. :-)

Some people are too easy to wind up.

However, other than 'Stairway...' are there any tracks that a sizeable majority could name?

I am sure most people could mention the Lemon Song :-)

But being able to name songs is meaningless in the debate about who is a great band or not. Indeed for a lot of great bands (Talking Heads and Dire Straits being prime examples) their best tracks are not the ones most people remember them for.

Pink Floyd too.. apart from "Another Brick In the Wall Pt2" could many people name 5 songs by them?

Er, yeah - many people could name every single track off Dark Side of the Moon which is the greatest album ever made, bar none, and has sold 50 million copies - 50 million - making it also one of the most commercially successful albums of all time.

And the song Wish You Were Here, natch.

I personally could name 50 or 60 but I don't think many people know the names of more than a handful, because they didn't release many singles

Nobody repackaged African American music for a white audience more clearly than British bands, the Rolling Stones being the prime example.

Every year, Eurovision does us the immense favour of reminding us where we would be musically without the amazing influences of black music.

It's worth watching, just for that.