Yes, they do know it's Christmas time

"Well tonight we're reaching out and touching you."

The last thing I ever wanted to hear from Bono if I'm honest.

Cards on the table, I am a sucker for a good cheesy Christmas tune and the original Band Aid is up there amongst some of my favourites. In fact there really is nothing like a good Christmas tune. Which is what the new Band Aid song is: nothing like a good Christmas tune. In fact it's shit.




Obviously taste in music is subjective and you can't please everyone so I'm sure there are those who will enjoy the new single. But this isn't a music blog and no-one involved with the charity single is claiming it's Beethoven's 7th, it's shitness isn't really the point here. Though it's shit, let's all agree on that before we proceed any further. It IS shit!

The reason I am labouring on this point is in the interests of full disclosure, so you know that I don't like it musically. Because I'd hate it to come out later and for you to think it's what has coloured by view of it. It's not. It's awful, flimsy, castrated lyrics and general fluffiness is not the reason I dislike it. I dislike the politics. And actually as I look around it would appear that the tide seems to be turning against Saint Bob and His Holiness The Bono as others seem to dislike it too. It seems that perhaps Bob has been a little misguided this time around.

Here's the thing. Although for corporate reasons I'm not at liberty to divulge what exactly it is I do and who I do it for, I have recently changed job roles. I have gone from a role with responsibility for Scotland and Ireland to a role with responsibility for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India. Now I'm my previous role I would probably have bought the single and never listened to it but felt a little bit good about myself for having played a part in wiping out what is undoubtably a horrific disease. I would have bought into Saint Bob's vision of an Africa crippled by this most virulent of diseases. The images of African children with swollen bellies, swarming with flies, still burned into our collective psyche I think many of us would have done the same and indeed have. By association we assume that if Bono and Geldof are asking us to dig deep once more then things must really be desperate.

But now my view of the world has changed. The fact is I now have colleagues in Africa who I have meetings with at least once a week and I know that they aren't speaking to me from shanty towns or sheds with corrugated iron roofs. In fact they are based in air-conditioned offices and I know know how much money they have and how much business they do locally because I am involved with their budgets. So it seems to me that the Africa that I deal with must be a different Africa from the one One Direction and Coldplay are begging us to help. I've asked and they do know it's Christmas time, they are off or a couple of weeks in fact!











But Africa, it transpires is a rich continent, it has an infrastructure and it has wealth and a growing economy, yes of course there is poverty and there is famine but that is not the bigger picture. There is corruption and there is much to be done, that's is not in doubt, but that is not what Band Aid are asking us to donate to. Band Aid are specifically targeting Ebola. Let's just put this into perspective, Africa has a population of 1.1 billion and according to the latest World Health Organization update on November 14, 2014, a total of 14,383 Ebola cases have been reported. That's less than 0.01 percent if I've done my maths right (which I may not have as I couldn't fit all the zeros on my calculator). But it's a small amount anyway. And it's currently only present in 3 countries across the African continent, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. So to be clear I am not suggesting Ebola isn't a problem and isn't worthy of you time and money but the suggestion by Band Aid that the whole continent is on its knees is offensive and damaging.

Africa is developed in places, developing in others, but if there is one thing that will inject money into an area it's if people with money go there and spend it. Not charity, tourism. But if there's one thing that prevents rich people from visiting a place, it's the constant message that the place is run down, dangerous, riddled with disease or in any way a risk. And that is the image being perpetuated by Mr Geldof and Bono.











I repeat, Ebola IS a terrible problem and there are parts of Africa that really need our help and I would hope that if you have a few Bob (ha ha ha ha, clever eh?) to spare you'll spare it. Not because Paloma Faith and Ollie Murs are singing cleverly re-written lyrics in a Christmas song but because it's the decent thing to do.

The new Band Aid kind of reminds
me of an elderly relative on Facebook, sharing every scare story and scam warning they come across without ever checking snopes! All the celebrities involved seem to be enthusiastically begging us to help as Bob and Bono told them to without actually stopping to check if what they are singing about is real or required! I don't doubt the sincerity of Messrs Geldof, Ure and Bono in their appeal, I just think they are misinformed and misguided and leading the young and impressionable ex-X Factor contestants astray.










The fact is people are donating, there is money going to help fight the spread of the disease and treat those afflicted and if anything the charity single dilutes that as it gives people an instant hit of warm glow simply but downloading a 99p track off iTunes.

So if you would like to help and you can afford to spare a few quid please click on the link below I donate to Oxfam's Ebola appeal. You won't have to listen to One Direction and you won't be touched by Bono.


Oxfam Ebola Appeal

Do They Know it's Christmas 2014




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Rmememberunce Sundi: Are fallin heerows

Spelling and grammar, eh? It's not for everyone.

As we approach Remembrance Sunday, may of us will have bought the obligatory paper poppy to wear on our lapel and show our support. It's only right we should show our gratitude to our fallen heroes, those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Many of us quite justifiably stand opposed to war and cannot relate to many of the modern justifications for sending in the troops but it should not affect our support of those who unquestioningly go into battle to defend our country. And surely no-one can argue that the war against the Nazis wasn't a good idea? Fascism is a disgusting and hateful force and it has no place in a civilised world.

So it is for this reason that the rise of Britain First is so hard to fathom. But then is it really so hard?

Britain First is the modern version of fascism for the 21st century, it takes advantage of social media and manipulates some of the more unfortunate habits that social media users have. For example, there is a large section of social media users who will like, share or comment on any post without checking the source, without even asking themselves if it is accurate or true and without thinking about the wider impact, ie if you comment on a post, even to say that you disagree with it, it will then appear on the news feed of everyone you know. Ditto if you click "like". This is how hate is spread.

That is why there are pages and pages devoted to jokes about cancer, animal cruelty, terrorism and racism. The more vile and hate filled the bigger the reaction and the more traffic that page will generate. If you post "How dare you, this is sick" every one of your friends will now see the thing that upset you and every one of them will be upset too. If every one of them posts the same, every one of their friends will see it and this is how a post becomes "viral". This is also why you have trolls on the internet because they know that the more obscene and the more inflammatory they are, the further their reach will be. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: Britain First!

Now everyone is on board with the poppy, I think we have established that already and as well as wearing our little paper badge many will also look to update their profile picture with an image of a poppy, or share some touching images or quotes on their page to show their support; and this is where Britain First come in. They are well known for hijacking any cause that has the public's support as they know that the more shares, the more likes, the more comments, the bigger their reach and the more powerful they appear. They can say that they are the most popular political movement on social media and they are speaking for the silent majority who are too scared to speak up and they will point you towards their "likes" to prove it. So if it is the anniversary of Princess Diana's death they will have a "People's Princess" picture with a "like if you agree" caption on the bottom and you will share it. If a famous celebrity dies they will have an RIP picture and a "like to show your support to his family" on it and you will like and share. When Drummer Lee Rigby was murdered they showed pictures of him and asked for likes and even though his family contacted them to ask for the images to be removed, stating that the group stood for everything that Drummer Rigby stood against, they persisted. And the same goes for the poppy and remembrance. If you look on their page at their more populist posts you will see them filled with military personnel asking for them to remove the images and condemning them, but still they persist. And hidden in amongst their populist, like-baiting pictures of Princess Diana, veterans and Rick Mayall you will find their true message, hate, religious intolerance and bigotry. And spelling and grammar errors.

There is a quote that I read on the internet (so it must be true) but I unfortunately do not know where it originated: "You can be taught to hate, or you can be taught to spell. But apparently it's one or the other."

So above you can see some examples of  Britain First's true colours, pure anti-Islamic, anti-immigration, anti-establishment, anti-everyone who is not Britain First. It always amazes me how fascists use Hitler and his defeat to justify their actions. "Our forefathers didn't defeat the Nazis so that we could have religious freedom and democracy, England for the English!" Fascists and bigots, it seems, are completely without a sense of irony. Or a dictionary.

I'm not sure if you can make it out but in the picture above there is an example of a template letter that our racist brothers are recommending all civilised parents should send to their children's school. It asks, no it DEMANDS (CAPS LOCK IS A BIG PART OF BEING A RACIST) that their child be excused from religious education and "Islamic indoctrination via the school as ordered by the British State". Education is something to be feared if you are a bigot and a xenophobe (for all my British First readers it means someone who is afraid of anyone who is not exactly like you). I have generally found that those who go in for the more basic, tribal approaches to life fear knowledge and education as it might challenge their firmly held beliefs and the last thing they want is to find out they are wrong. Better to be hatefully ignorant than informed. Hate is like a sport, it's a hobby. It's like football hooligans pretending that football is their main motivation when really it's just a wrap-around to give their violent thuggery a slightly more socially acceptable face.

So if you truly are a racist, a bigot and an uneducated knuckle-dragger then please do join Britain First. But if you are a real patriot, someone who believes in democracy and freedom of choice and you are just looking to show support for our troops or express your love for Princess Diana/Puppies/Christmas trees then do not share, like or comment on anything that bears the words "Britain First". By all means take a look at their page, scroll through the posts and have a right good laugh at the level of debate but do not under any circumstances be drawn in to comment. It's what they want.

Read Further: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/britain-first-hijacking-the-poppy-is-a-vile-insult-to-veterans-like-myself-9841791.html