Clean Bandit.
For some time now I have quite liked some of the singles that Clean Bandit have out out – especially with Jess Glynne – so this morning I thought I would take a much deeper dive into their back catalogue and unfortunately I can’t say I enjoyed the experience. To my aging ear it would seem that whoever writes the songs for Clean Bandit (having checked their Wikipedia discography if would seem that it is mainly Patterson and Chatto with a varying number of other people contributing) it would seem that have one of possibly two styles. Now what do I know as Clean Bandit have won several industry awards and I think it is far to say that I am not the target audience by probably 30 plus years. However, that is blatantly ageist so I guess my views are as relevant as anyone else. Perhaps I should persist and I might get to like the back catalogue. Perhaps, but life is too short and I think I’ll stick to the hits I like.
Canon FD Lenses
I’m still trying to make the A6000/Canon FD lens combo work and it does right up to a point. That point is reached when I realise that my iPhone is more than capable of capturing the same images with none of the focusing hastles. The only saving grace is that every now and then the combo does really work and the A6000 sensor is still eons better than the Apple because in comparison it is huge and, despite what Apple will tell you, in this case size does matter. I will give a while longer but I am coming to the samee conclusions that I did last year.
Red Wall
What world are the contenders for the Labour leadership living in? I really am not that sure. Not one of them has articulated any plan to try and stop Labour doing a Scotland in their former heartland, the so called Red Wall seats. (This is before they even try and recover something of their former glory in Scotland itself.) Now I expect Rebecca Long Bailey to regurgitate the failed Corbyn message (winning the argument, if that is what they did which is dubious, is of no value whatsoever if you you don’t win the seats) and adopting the condescending view that the voters they lost will return when Boris Johnson fails to deliver. I feel that misses the point because all those previous solid Labour seats are not served at all by a party that has not hope of gaining power anytime soon so why should the voters return? There is also quite a bit of evidence now that this shift didn’t just happen in 2019 but was gestating for a much longer period. If that is the case then the Labour party has to start to try and connect with the voters rather than satisfying themselves.
This became more apparent as I walked around Leicester this afternoon. There are more and more shops closing and despite the best efforts of the local Mayor it is starting to feel more like a ghost town (a bit over dramatic but it does show which way the city centre is moving.). The city of Leicester is a labour stronghold with the MPs for Leicester east and Leicester west representing the gulf of the divide at the heart of Labour’s current problem. The Mayor on the other hand is probably a bit more Blairite than Corbynite and no doubt will attempt to get as much money out of central government’s Red Wall spending as he can.
Now I am sure that the MPs for Leicester West and South would support him in that endeavour but the Leicester East MP is probably going to find things a lot more complicated, to say the least, should she do the same. This in a nutshell is why the Labour party has got so far to go before they ever come within a sniff of power. Which some might find very satisfying but I don’t. The Government, any Government, usually functions best when they have an effective opposition. I fear that if is going to be sometime before that is the case again.
“Without power, nothing matters” – James Carville
