Electoral reform protest in Trafalgar Square and Smith Square

Today, as Nick Clegg and his party talked behind closed doors about the possibility of a Tory/Lib Dem coalition (ConDem, thank you Phil), around 1000 protesters led by Billy Bragg and electoral reform coalition Take Back Parliament, marched from Trafalgar Square to Smith Square where the talks were taking place to, as one protester put it: "remind Nick Clegg that electoral reform is a key issue and that he should not sell out to any of the other parties."

The chants of: "Fair votes now!" and: "Make votes count!" rang out across central London as angry citizens called for change to the current "first past the post" system.

After speechs from Bragg (and a song) and head of the Electoral Reform Society Andrew Burns, and a skit featuring the slaying of the Rupert Murdoch News Corpse dragon in Trafalgar Square, the demonstartion moved past the Houses of Parliament to Smith Square, outside the building where Clegg and other senior Lib Dems are holed up working out how to make a "ConDem" coalition work. On the way a minor scuffle nearly broke out between Bragg and a group of anti-capitalists who tried to hi-jack the protest, marching in the middle of the road holding a big banner saying "Capitalism isn't working." It all calmed down very quickly however, and Bragg later jokingly asked their leader: "Did you get dressed in the dark this morning?"

When we made it to Smith Square (complete with police escort), there were already a legion of journalists and cameramen hanging around outside. When Nick Clegg eventually came out to speak to everyone, they had to be pushed back. Some of the crowd started chanting: "Move the press," until they were reminded by the organisers that if the press weren't there, there wouldn't be a great amount of coverage. This prompted some to start chanting: "Just Move Sky," which may have been a response to Kay Burley's earlier comments: http://tinyurl.com/34d6jzh

Clegg thanked the crowd, and spoke about how: "Reforming politics is one of the reasons I went into politics." adding, "It is in the interests of everyone in Great Britain for us to use this opportunity to usher in a new politics after the discredited politics of the past." He then urged them to continue their campaign for a new and better politics.

Overall it was a reasonable success. The point of the protest was made known, got plenty of exposure and it got a response from Nick Clegg. And on a personal note I met Billy Bragg, a hero of mine. Hopefully Nick Clegg will take on board the message of this protest and not sell himself out to either party.


A short video of the protesters on my crappy phone camera. The chant is: "No more wasted votes."

Scrooby Dooby Doo (Bet I'm the first one to say that...)

dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip
Brighton Concorde 2

UK hip hop is rubbish. The headliners tonight think so, and a lot of others agree. Strange, then, that most of the dates on this tour have sold out. The irony is delicious.

But if B.Dolan is anything to go by, US Hip hop is also pretty bad. There isn't anything special about him, which is what is needed in any genre that has been around for as long as this one has, although he puts on somewhat of a show by stripping down to a white jump suit and cape before performing a death-defying jump over an audience member. This seems to please the crowd, but not much else does.

There is an energy in the room tonight. There are a mix people in this sell-out crowd: old, young, white, black, Asian, bearded, male, female, indie kids, metal heads, hip-hop fans, the list goes on, and they're all excited to be here. Opening with "The Beat That My Heart Skips," dan and Pip treat us to some delicious beats and insightful lyrics. The set alternates between old stuff and new stuff, and it all seems to blend together well. Despite disappointment with the latest offering "The Logic Of Chance", the tracks from it take on a new level live, more atmospheric and definitely more angry. Pip apologises for the "depressing suicide songs," namely "Magician's Assistant" and "Angles", but spirits are lifted by the politically charged songs like "Get Better," and of course the angry observations of "Thou Shalt Not Kill."

Although the average age of the crowd is probably 15, and many seem to be snobby indie kids, the rest have a good grasp of what Scroobius Pip is trying to say, and in any case the former are kept happy by the musical genius of dan le sac. Either way, the whole place is pretty pumped by the time "Letter From God To Man" brings the evening to a close.

But of course, UK hip-hop is rubbish...

Vote For Policy

Some of you will already be aware of voteforpolicies.org.uk. For those who aren't, go to the website and find out for yourself, lazy buggers...

But seriously, as the name suggests the site was set up to encourage people (quite admirably) to not just blindly vote for a party, and instead take the time to look at the parties policies and vote according to those you think are best. The centre piece of the website is a survey in which you chose at least four policy areas from a list of twelve, and then each of the 6 biggest party's (Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, Green, UKIP, BNP) policies on the issue are brought up unlabelled. You are then asked to chose the set of policies you think are the most sensible, and at the end it tells who you liked in each area, and which party you are most suited to.

It's a great tool for those who haven't decided which way to vote, or for those who want to test their allegiances. But it does throw up other interesting points. For example, a couple of the areas (namely education) are so difficult to chose from, for the sole reason that every party is rather wishy washy, none of them actually seems to have a real idea about what to do (or maybe that's just me...) .

Also, a fun game to play is spot the BNP. It's very easy. Just look for the phrase "decent white British people." You can also play this game with UKIP (both parties policies are unsurprising similar).

My personal results were 83% Green, 17% Labour. I expected as much (although I wouldn't have been surprised to see Lib Dem in there), and it seems that most of the 83,000 or so people who have done the survey already agree, since the current winning party is Green, followed by Lib Dem and Labour. Unfortunately, I doubt the election will turn out like this.

The main premise of this survey is something I strongly agree with. Living in Surrey, I'm sick and tired of everyone moaning about our MP, Council etc, yet the Conservative MP for Reigate, Crispin Blunt, has a 10,000 majority, while the council is overwhelmingly Tory. People will blindly vote Tory in this area, and it is bewildering how many people just won't vote because of it.

So, if anyone reading this doesn't know who they're going to vote for, or think they know who they should vote for, just take a few minutes to do the survey. You might be surprised...

Taste Of Chaos: A night of metals!

Taste of Chaos tours can be a bit hit and miss. They can include great bands like Rise Against and Alexisonfire, or they can feature utter cack such as Thursday or Aiden. Urgh.

Thankfully, the 2009 line-up is quite possibly the best yet. A late arrival means missing Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster (a serious disappointment), but means we arrive to see Every Time I Die. Energetic and heavy, they're everything you'd imagine they would be from listening to their recordings. A good mix of the old (Ebolarama, The New Black) and the new (Wanderlust, The Marvelous Slut) means the diehards are kept happy while they probably managed to gain new fans. However (and I realise they were a support band) their slot is far too short for a band with 5 albums. (7)

In Flames surpass themselves in the lighting department again, the strobes raping the eyes of the audience until they can see no more. This is probably for the best, since they do very little moving. But musically they are solid, and despite a mediocre set list, they are very impressive. The highlights include Cloud Connected, Pinball Map and Take This Life while even tracks from the disappointing latest offering (Delight and Angers, The Mirror's Truth, Alias) sound at least listenable, possibly enjoyable. Again, the set list is far too short for a band of this stature, and a headlining tour is desperately required. (8)

What more can be said about Killswitch Engage? A large and dedicated fan base, a great new album and a foul-mouthed guitarist who dresses up in a tutu and demands to be deemed a princess. They have it all, and tonight we see it all. Opener My Curse has the goosebumps rising in anticipation, This Is Absolution has the crowd at full volume. Rose Of Sharyn and My Last Serenade are as brilliant as ever, true modern metal classics, before End Of Heartache and Holy Diver (complete with a touching dedication to the Dio, who is battling stomach cancer) bring a fantastic gig to a close. A brilliant ToC tour (organisers take note). (9)

Copenhagen - Hopenhagen - Nopenhagen

Whenever and wherever a conference attended by the world's political leaders takes place, it usually has a familiar feel to it. Mass protests, heavy handed police and an end result which is hailed by some as a great hope for the world and by others as an almighty flop.

The Copenhagen Climate Change Summit was the latest of these, and the hype leading up to it was quite explosive. Finally all the world can come together and bash out an agreement on how to combat one of, if not the greatest threat to our world for some time.

In the end, the hype only proved to mask the apathy of the majority of people, politicians included, feel about the issue. People just don't care, and others try to absolve the guilt of years of mass industrialisation causing the inevitable collapse of our planet by pretending it's nothing to do with them (see: Jeremy Clarkson). The fact that the majority of scientists seem to agree this is happening because of human hands isn't enough for them, it's all a left wing plot to gain control over everyone and create a totalitarian world... apparently.

The problem is that there isn't anyone in power who really wants to do anything. In the UK for example, Labour comes out with the rhetoric about acting now to save the planet, then decide what we really need is a third runway at Heathrow. Apparently we need it for economic growth (personally I feel that if economic growth means ignoring our commitment to saving the planet then it can piss off). And whatever the Conservatives say, they won't be any better. There will be a few flimsy schemes here and there, but it won't do much. Governments tend to do the bidding of whomever gives them a lot of money these days, and right now that's energy companies.

In the end the agreement was woeful. The more important issues were kept for debating probably next year, while the Gordon Brown said: "We have made a start." Erm.. its a bit late to be making just a start now! The finger of blame has been thrown around, George Monbiot blamed America, saying they put China in an "impossible position", while Ed Miliband blamed China. In reality, both are to blame. America refuses to make concessions, while China sees that it has the right to the growth that other developed countries have already seen. Interestingly, The Australian blamed African nations for demanding the world improve its living conditions; they should be, its sort of part and parcel of a deal to battle climate change that we should also help a Continent we have raped for resources over the years.

So a flop it was. And it didn't help that everyone flew in and limos were driven in from Germany to transport people, adding very much to the problem and giving the climate change deniers more ammo. In other words, we're screwed. Best say goodbye to Bangladesh, Maldives and any other places that won't exist in about 50 years time.

Ps. If you didn't listen to The Now Show last weekend, try to. Marcus Brigstocke's bit on this very subject was fantastic.

Rise Against: That is all.

I should start off by putting this night into perspective. Firstly, I managed to get near the front, but was crushed up in an incredibly hot atmosphere, more so than I've ever experienced. Then my phone was stolen. Not a good night you might think.

But there you'd be wrong, because I was seeing Rise Against. They start with Collapse (Post-Amerika), one of the best of the new crop of tracks, moving on to State Of The Union, by which point I've started to lose my voice. It almost completely goes over the next few songs, Re-education (Through Labour), The Good Left Undone, Paper Wings, Drones, everyone met with thousands singing at the tops of their voices. But it doesn't stop there. Blood to Bleed, Audience Of One, Saviour, Survive, then of course Prayer Of The Refugee, for which the biggest cheer of the night goes up.

But it really comes to a climax with the first encore, an acoustic set of Swing Life Away and Hero Of War, which has everyone swaying arms and singing and leaves me with raised hairs and goosebumps. Absolutely brilliant. But it isn't over yet. Give It All then Ready To Fall see us out, and the crowd go absolutely mental again. Quite possibly, this was one of the best gigs Brixton Academy has ever seen and a fantastic night was had by all (even by me and dozens of people who queued up at the lost property area in a fruitless attempt to find our phones). 10/10

Alice In Chains: A kinky sex show. Maybe not.

Alice In Chains
Kentish Town Forum

One of the main bands to come out of the early 90s grunge scene, though with more in common with metal than the other bands of the era, Alice In Chains are now touring in support a new album, "Black Gives Way To Blue". It's quite good, you should check it out. Anyway...

The support band for tonight are seemingly unknown, or at least most of the people there had no clue who they were. Oxford trio "Little Fish" apparently. They get off to a poor start, the opening track is rather dull, but its very much uphill from there. The singer has a powerful voice and she seems to be a little psychotic, which is always good, plus the songs get a lot better. Well worth checking out. (8/10)

Between the bands some nice fellow (read: wanker) throws a cup of liquid which splashes me and my friends in the face. It was warm. Lovely. (-200/10)

But now for the main event. As a recent convert to the Alice In Chains fold, I wasn't sure what I'd make of the gig. I had listened to some tracks and really enjoyed them, but what if everything else was rubbish? I needn't have worried. They start with It Ain't Like That, and Again, typically deep dark dirty tracks. "Them Bones" and "Dam That River" from their best album "Dirt" sound even better live and the new tracks, particularly "Check My Brain", fit in perfectly with the classics. We're treated to an acoustic set in the middle, before we go full steam ahead towards the encore, finishing with a rousing and emotional "Rooster", the screen adorned with the words "NO WAR". William DuVall proves to be a more than competent replacement for the late Layne Staley, his voice is incredibly similar and just as intoxicating. Jerry Cantrell is brilliant, harmonising beautifully with William throughout, and it turns out he's a pretty good guitarist too. A classic performance from a classic band that actually cannot really be faulted. (10/10)