Billy Bragg - you've got to feel sorry for him

[retrorider]

desolate said:

retrorider said:

Why doesn't Billy, wright another song (sorry rant) about it.Gives it out but can't take it,springs to mind...

What part of what he said in the article suggests he "can't take it?"

Read his quotes in the article...

[spikeyhead]

rs1952 said:

DSM2 said:

... with opening lines lifted straight from a Paul Simon song 20 years earlier...............................

Who himself was not averse to lifting lines, if not whole songs, from others .....

The saga of Martin Carthy and Scarborough Fair ...

and complained even louder when Roy Harper used something similar for North Country.

rs1952 said:

Oakey said:

All those crusty students smashing st up the other month, in 15-20 years time they'll have professional jobs, probably get bonuses and they'll live in nice houses. Probably complaining about how much tax they have to pay.

And moaning about fking protesting students

Would anybody around here like to own up to getting involved in the odd student protest back in the 60s and 70s, who is now moaning about the antics of those that are following in their footsteps??

I was on some student protests in the 80s.

I've complained about the violence of the current protests.

Edited by spikeyhead on Sunday 9th January 17:13

[Jasandjules]

dandarez said:

Jasandjules said:

Feel sorry for him? Why? I hate people who are "socialists" but who are rich.

Phew! Just because of someone now has some money but doesn't conform to your 'view' of the way they should live, you 'hate' them?

No, but someone who thinks that wealth should be divided amongst the population (and therefore a socialist) who decides they quite like having lots of money, is simply a hypocrite. What they mean is that other people should give their money to the poor whilst they maintain their happy lifestyle which their money brings.

And I hate hypocrites.

[turbobloke]

Jasandjules said:

dandarez said:

Jasandjules said:

Feel sorry for him? Why? I hate people who are "socialists" but who are rich.

Phew! Just because of someone now has some money but doesn't conform to your 'view' of the way they should live, you 'hate' them?

No, but someone who thinks that wealth should be divided amongst the population (and therefore a socialist) who decides they quite like having lots of money, is simply a hypocrite. What they mean is that other people should give their money to the poor whilst they maintain their happy lifestyle which their money brings.

And I hate hypocrites.

[MikeyT]

Soovy said:

spikeyhead said:

Whilst I'm not a huge fan of his political views, I'd far rather his honesty than that spouted by most politicians. If nothing else he's got a chunk of the common man talking about politics when otherwise they wouldn't.

Problem is, mate, that whilst his views were doubtless honestly held when an angry young man, he's a great example of how much less angry those young men become when they get fking rich.

Whereas the richer you get, the angrier you become.

[Johnnytheboy]

Back on topic, I grew up in Burton Bradstock, and my old man still lives there (once spent a very pleasant night with a very pretty tourist in a bungalow just off shot in the pic of Bragg's house, ah memories...).

Apparently the locals are indeed very supportive of Mr Bragg, despite his politics. My old man knows him by sight and he's very pleasant.

Kind of ruins my image of him...

[AAGR]

Johnnytheboy makes a very good point. I too know quite a bit about Burton Bradstock - and of Billy Bragg. The village is picture-postcard-pretty, and its politics are certainly centre/centre-right.
Yet all the village people - and I have talked to a number of them - think BB is an OK-guy. He is definitely 'of the village', and the fact that his house is worth a lot of money (it looks out to sea, which explains a lot) should have nothing to do with the case.
There is a great deal of un-informed bile out there, and I think it is a shame.

[Soovy]

AAGR said:

the fact that his house is worth a lot of money (it looks out to sea, which explains a lot) should have nothing to do with the case.

Yes it should. He is always preaching to us about how the rich are evil, and how lovely immigration and deviersity is, while he sits there in an all white village in his mansion by the sea.

Hypocritical .

[AAGR]

Actually it's not an all-white village - the garage/mini-supermarket is owned by a delightful Indian family, for instance - and I don't think his house can be described as a mansion, because there are other houses in the village which are just as large.

[Soovy]

AAGR said:

.....the garage/mini-supermarket is owned by a delightful Indian family, for instance

I'm sure there are many illegals there, rather than nice hard working busines owners who integrate.

[AAGR]

Soovy - what a prattish remark by someone who obviously knows nothing, zilch, about the situation. Once again, I am talking from real knowledge, not from prejudice, when I tell you that the garage owner was born and bred in the West Midlands.
[And, no, I am not him, nor speaking for him ....]
Now please go away, and take your prejudices back to White Supremacy Heaven ....

[Soovy]

AAGR said:

Soovy - what a prattish remark by someone who obviously knows nothing, zilch, about the situation. Once again, I am talking from real knowledge, not from prejudice, when I tell you that the garage owner was born and bred in the West Midlands.
[And, no, I am not him, nor speaking for him ....]
Now please go away, and take your prejudices back to White Supremacy Heaven ....

I was being sarcastic.

Bragg has moved away from his apparently beloved "culturally diverse" London, to a place where the only non white face is the lovely man who owns the local garage, and doubtless is a pillar of the community.


This makes Bragg a "do as I say, not as I do" idiot.

[Oakey]

AAGR said:

Actually it's not an all-white village - the garage/mini-supermarket is owned by a delightful Indian family, for instance - and I don't think his house can be described as a mansion, because there are other houses in the village which are just as large.

No, of course not. It's just like any average house that his fellow common man is living in. Like Scargill. Then at the other end of the spectrum you have that tt Bob Crowe on a six figure salary but continues to live in a council house.

[gansstraat]

Out of sheer noseyness, I took a quick look at the house on Google Earth and it's clear to see from the location why it's such a desirable house - not so much as 'in the village of Burton Bradstock' as 'on the beach' - despite not being the prettiest house. However, not so sure I'd like the massive public overspill car park coming right up to my boundary.

[Johnnytheboy]

gansstraat said:

Out of sheer noseyness, I took a quick look at the house on Google Earth and it's clear to see from the location why it's such a desirable house - not so much as 'in the village of Burton Bradstock' as 'on the beach' - despite not being the prettiest house. However, not so sure I'd like the massive public overspill car park coming right up to my boundary.

I used to work at that car park - it certainly gets busy, and the footpath from the beach goes right in front of Billy's wall! In fact BB in general is not the place to go for the quiet life, as it's full of gawping tourists and braying townie second homers from about March to October.

One point against Mr Bragg's house: at the current rate of erosion, his house will fall off the cliff in a couple of decades. If anyone can find an old pictures from ~ a hundred years ago of the same location, it's about 100 yards from the cliff.

Edited by Johnnytheboy on Monday 10th January 18:22

[goldblum]

Johnnytheboy said:

gansstraat said:

Out of sheer noseyness, I took a quick look at the house on Google Earth and it's clear to see from the location why it's such a desirable house - not so much as 'in the village of Burton Bradstock' as 'on the beach' - despite not being the prettiest house. However, not so sure I'd like the massive public overspill car park coming right up to my boundary.

I used to work at that car park - it certainly gets busy, and the footpath from the beach goes right in front of Billy's wall! In fact BB in general is not the place to go for the quiet life, as it's full of gawping tourists and braying townie second homers from about March to October.

One point against Mr Bragg's house: at the current rate of erosion, his house will fall off the cliff in a couple of decades. If anyone can find an old pictures from ~ a hundred years ago of the same location, it's about 100 yards from the cliff.

Edited by Johnnytheboy on Monday 10th January 18:22

I'll bet the turncoat would love to pen a song on the injustice of forking out all his swindled hardearned cash on a modest house only to

see it disappear into the sea.Right back atcha Billy.

[Johnnytheboy]

For anyone that cares, here's some old pics showing the rate that cliff is vanishing... Maybe his house will outlive him, maybe not.

http://www.chesilbeach.org/pictures/postcards/BurB...

[Bing o]

Johnnytheboy said:

For anyone that cares, here's some old pics showing the rate that cliff is vanishing... Maybe his house will outlive him, maybe not.

http://www.chesilbeach.org/pictures/postcards/BurB...

That's global warming for you. Maybe Mr Bragg should pay some more green taxes?

[loafer123]

Johnnytheboy said:

For anyone that cares, here's some old pics showing the rate that cliff is vanishing... Maybe his house will outlive him, maybe not.

http://www.chesilbeach.org/pictures/postcards/BurB...

Now if that isn't a reason to get a V8, I don't know what is.