Billy Bragg pledges to support Liberal Democrats

[pickledseal]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ele...agg-pledges-to-support-Liberal-Democrats.html

Check out the last two lines......

Billy Bragg: "I said this to make the rookie journalist laugh on camera when they were shooting him from another angle - I speak and he nods and they use his nodding as a cutaway. I assumed that the interview had ended. Just as well I didn't tell him the one about the Archbishop and the Alligator."

:D

 

[osymandus]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ele...agg-pledges-to-support-Liberal-Democrats.html

Check out the last two lines......

Billy Bragg: "I said this to make the rookie journalist laugh on camera when they were shooting him from another angle - I speak and he nods and they use his nodding as a cutaway. I assumed that the interview had ended. Just as well I didn't tell him the one about the Archbishop and the Alligator."

:D

Quality... Billy Bragg white working class ;)

 

[Reg Martin]

Quality... Billy Bragg white working class ;)

Confirms for me that I am middle class. I have never been wealthy enough to be working class.

 

[osymandus]

Confirms for me that I am middle class. I have never been wealthy enough to be working class.

Me either ;)

 

[Slipperduke]

Confirms for me that I am middle class. I have never been wealthy enough to be working class.

Depends on how you define your class really. Is it where you came from, or where you went to?

After almost 30 years of record making, Billy Bragg's probably got more money than all of us put together. I still don't think that makes him Upper Class though.

 

[Reg Martin]

Depends on how you define your class really. Is it where you came from, or where you went to?

After almost 30 years of record making, Billy Bragg's probably got more money than all of us put together. I still don't think that makes him Upper Class though.

Doesn't make him upper class although I do wonder how close contact he now has to the 'white working class' he often speaks on behalf of.

Defining your class is a stange thing. I have always thought of myself as middle class yet whenever I hear someone speaking on behalf of the working class they are nearly always wealthy and/or have a plummy accent (obviously this one doesn't apply to Billy Bragg) and usually read The Guardian!

 

[pickledseal]

Doesn't make him upper class although I do wonder how close contact he now has to the 'white working class' he often speaks on behalf of.

Defining your class is a stange thing. I have always thought of myself as middle class yet whenever I hear someone speaking on behalf of the working class they are nearly always wealthy and/or have a plummy accent (obviously this one doesn't apply to Billy Bragg) and usually read The Guardian!

Closer than you may think... going round door to door on Saturday in Barking etc. Also spends a lot of time campaigning for things like NoBonus4RBS, Hope Not Hate etc

I think it is because the working class, by definiation (or certainly traditionally) needed people from higer class to speak up for them as they were generally under educated

 

[Reg Martin]

Closer than you may think... going round door to door on Saturday in Barking etc. Also spends a lot of time campaigning for things like NoBonus4RBS, Hope Not Hate etc

I think it is because the working class, by definiation (or certainly traditionally) needed people from higer class to speak up for them as they were generally under educated

But does he still live in Barking?
How many of the campaigns he is associated with are those that the white working class (whoever they really are) are bothered about?
Hasn't he ended up like that so many other musicians (Sting, Bono, etc) who just play at politics as a hobby.

 

[Lord Football]

I believe he now lives in the west country.

Class basically is something you are born with. There have been plenty of working class people who've made good, and haven't sold out their roots. Joe Strummer, Ricki Tomlinson, Billy Bragg are just three that instantly come to mind. Class isn't about the accural of money, its more about your principles.

I know Tomlinson and Bragg are often seen at events, supporting causes, speaking at rallies and so on.

Conversely, Tony Benn, probably the most left wing major politician we've seen in the last 50 years, is, by his own admission Upper Class (being a Viscount and all that).

So class really isn't a relevant argument anymore.

 

[Ron Manager]

So class really isn't a relevant argument anymore.

You reckon?

It matters to me and largely how I define my political beliefs. I may now be in a white collar job and my lifestyle would suggest being middle class. However, like almost all of us on here, I HAVE to work to maintain this and if my income stopped my circumstances would change almost overnight. I don't have other income or money to back me up, I don't have wealthy parents to pay my bills for me...I work to keep my head above water.

To my mind that makes me working class and bloody proud of it.

Here's where the political thing comes in. What has made me more and more angry in recent years is the fact that the Labour party has been infiltrated and taken over by 'liberals' who aren't working class. Not people of real principles like Tony Benn but career politicians. As a result people like myself no longer have a party representing us. Not just people in the party either. People that I know, work with sometimes even socialise with who are decent enough but are badge wearing 'liberals' but have no real idea of standing up for normal working class people because they are actually quite priviledged. They can talk long into the night about Palestine and try to outdo each other on how commited they are to that cause but talk about real issues facing normal working class people in their own town and they don't have the same passion.

So many people are disillusioned, do seek alternatives (which is where the dreaded - for many of us anyway - far right parties come in). As much as I find them abhorent they are addressing issues that working class people are concerned about - something that the main 3 parties aren't doing sufficiently. Of course that's just a front for what their real motivation is, but it is a factor.

So class is a huge issue for me. Not that someone who has been brought up working class but does well for themselves financially leaves those roots behind neccesarily. It's just about an attitude to it I suppose - I find myself in a suit drinking wine at a work function with wealthy people and rather than be sucked in and enjoy how the other half live I feel uncomfortable and out of place. Sure, it's usually work related so I put on a brave face and can blend in OK but honestly give me a normal pub with pints of beer and football on the TV anyday. Put $10 million in my bank account and I'd still be the same, still have the same mates, still go to the same pubs and still sit behind the goal at football...it's not reverse snobbery, just how I feel comfortable. So if I feel that way then why can't someone like Billy Bragg?

 

[Lord Football]

I think you just said what I tried to, but just better. Much better! :)

What I was getting at was more along of the lines of just because you are born where you are born, you may end up somewhere different.

 

[Ron Manager]

I think you just said what I tried to, but just better. Much better! :)

Coming for someone who talks about this sort of stuff for a living, I take that as a decent compliment.

 

[osymandus]

Billy don't be a hero... (sorry )

 

[Reg Martin]

I believe he now lives in the west country.

Class basically is something you are born with. There have been plenty of working class people who've made good, and haven't sold out their roots. Joe Strummer, Ricki Tomlinson, Billy Bragg are just three that instantly come to mind. Class isn't about the accural of money, its more about your principles.

I know Tomlinson and Bragg are often seen at events, supporting causes, speaking at rallies and so on.

Conversely, Tony Benn, probably the most left wing major politician we've seen in the last 50 years, is, by his own admission Upper Class (being a Viscount and all that).

So class really isn't a relevant argument anymore.

Bragg and Tomlinson may have come from working class families but they are wealthy now. Are the rallies and causes they support dear to the heart of people who are still poor? If I was white working class poor in Barking not sure I'd want some rich bloke who used to live there but has 'emigrated' to Dorset coming back and speaking on my behalf.
Not sure about Joe Strummer ever being working class. I seem to recall something about him being the son of a diplomat. I was a big Clash fan but he seems to be a prime example of someone pretending to be from a much poorer background than he really was. This does seem to be a common theme in the music world. The Beatles are usually referred to as four ordinary working class lads though I think in fact all except Ringo were brought up in middle class families.
Class may be something we are born but as a country we are much wealthier than we used to be. I think there are a lot of people whose parents or grandparents were working class but whose offspring had solid middle class upbringings but still claim to be working class.

 

[pickledseal]

Bragg does a lot of work with Jail Door Guitars which certainly help the poor (who are in prison)

I'd imagine his argument for speaking out for Barking is that it raises media profile (how many other famous resident are there of Barking?) as TV/press will follow him - and he uses this to his advantage

 

[canveyshrimper]

Bragg does a lot of work with Jail Door Guitars which certainly help the poor (who are in prison)

I'd imagine his argument for speaking out for Barking is that it raises media profile (how many other famous resident are there of Barking?) as TV/press will follow him - and he uses this to his advantage

John Terry.

 

[pickledseal]

John Terry.

Brilliant. :)