From Darren Cullen aka Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives…
"I painted the below billboard poster (and photographed it being demolished) after Starmer announced his plans to continue the Tories war on the sick and disabled by restricting disability benefits (known as Personal Independence Payments (PIP)) and increasing the state and social harassment of those who need them. This came after Rachel Reeves scrapped plans to close the tax loopholes on the super-rich who spend their time abroad for tax reasons after “after listening to the concerns that have been raised by the non-dom community” (genuine quote!)
Starmer took a country desperate for change and steered it back to the cruelty of austerity, blaming and punishing the people least responsible for the state of the country while defending the interests of those who have been looting it with glee through the last 47 years of Thatcherite cross-party consensus.
And don’t expect it go get any better with Burnham, as the (actually good) FT journalist Stephen Smith said on Twitter “[Burnham] is getting this coronation because everyone with genuine power knows he’ll be continuity Starmer with some actual politician skills. If there was any danger of him being any good such as introducing genuinely progressive policy, all hell would be breaking loose right now”
when you lose your party you gotta go. For all its sins, British politics at least has some checks & balances that stop PMs turning into full tyrants. It’s a brutal game and everyone always loses in the end.
Looking in from outside, my guess is Burnham will charm everyone but ultimately won’t have the solutions to the same problems facing every country in Europe right now.
I don’t want it to happen, because it would be even more complicated, but the “what if Burnham doesn’t win the party vote?” is quite the thing. Also, Wes Streeting as Chancellor is a move destined for the mega lols.
They’re at a festival I’m going to next month. Dont mind them but cant imagine them being any good live in 2026 and have feeling someone on here mentioned this not long ago.
The fact they’re doing the circuit of those lower tier suburban festivals that are full of legacy artists says a lot really.
Agreed, although I love Pills n Thrills too. Happy Mondays were a brilliant band- very original and weird- before they became what they are now. Their peak is the Madchester Rave On EP in my opinion.
They were raw and weirdly funky and idiosyncratic on those first 2 albums, I remember listening to a Weatherall interview where he called them “a council estate Can” which seems a good description.
Bummed is my fave as well and I agree they lost something when they became a bit too produced on subsequent albums but there are some great tracks later on as well, this is right up there for me.
for me personally, 1990 was the greatest year anywhere ever and they were right at the heart of it. that all these balding has-beens stick around forever milking the retro market doesn’t really bother me tbh but I wouldn’t want to reacquaint myself with anyone from that era other than drummond, norris or the orb.
