What’s the purpose of ‘Reform UK’ political party?

What’s  the purpose of the ‘Reform UK’ political  party. Well given the amount of Tories defecting to ‘Reform UK’ it would appear that it’s  main purpose is the give jobs to Tory Ministers who have either lost position or favour in their previous political  party or as an insurance  policy to try and protect their jobs because they are aware of their upcoming defeat in the next General Election.

‘Reform  UK’ are the last bastion of the Tories. It’s  a party that exists for disaffected Tory  voters who just cannot bring themselves  to actually vote for Labour because that would be going too far. Many disaffected Tory Ministers are recognising this. They have assessed  that their chances of re-election under the Sunak administration is pretty slim so they are beginning to hedge their bets and to seek refuge and place hopes of  reelection and having a job in the future by moving into the ‘Reform  UK’ party. Desperate to retain at least some job in Parliament  in the future.

Reform UK or UKIP used to be the thorn in the side of the Tories provoking Cameron into taking the drastic and disastrous Brexit vote.  So what do they actually  stand for now that Brexit has been unleashed?

The IDF kill indiscriminately without constraints

It’s  becoming more and more obvious that Isreal’s IDF kill innocent women and children indiscriminately. Isreal’s  Prime Minister  Benjamin Netanyahu has shown no restraints. It’s  time to withdraw any international support for Isreal and impose sanctions on them instead to curb Isreal’s rampage and make them conform to international law.

Isreal can no longer justify It’s  aims in Gazza. They are unreasonable and there is no consideration  for the vulnerability  of the civilian population. Instead Isreal has been using starvation as a weapon against the civilian population of Gazza.

For years Isreal has been either encouraging or turning a blind eye to the activities  of the IDF and settlers involved in land grabs in the West Bank which in turn has been fuelling resentment  against Isreal. The IDF has been acting with impunity and without constraints. It appears to be doing the same in Gazza now. International  opinion must now change in a swing against Isreal. America and Britain  and whoever  must withdraw support for Isreal and put tough sanctions  in place to curb the actions of Isreal. This is not to be seen as support for Hamas by any means. It is just a humanitarian act. The peoples of Palestine and Gazza must be given a voice independent  of the controls exerted by Isreal and the IDF. Isreal should not be left in a place whereby they are policing Gazza in the future. Isreal should have no control of either Gazza or West Bank any longer. To leave it like that only instigates future problems  for the area.

Counting Broken Rhythms in 12-8 Time

Counting broken rhythms in 12/8 time can be tricky and goes beyond the traditional 1-2-3, -2-2-3,-3-2-3-,4-2-3 or 123456-223456 counts. When soloing in 12/8 time it can be tricky to keep within the basic rhythm and as the broken rhythms become more and more complicated you can easily loose your place within the basic Rhythmic Structure.

I have broken a piece up into many many of the common rhythmic motifs that you could possibly encounter within a piece of music written in 12/8 time. The piece is limited to 1/8th and 16th notes for simplicity. I note that many more complex rhythmic motifs are possible with the addition of 1/32 notes but for the sake of keeping things simple to start with these are ignored. More complicated pieces are beyond the scape of this tutorial.

Broken rhythmic motifs in 12/8 time can be counted best using 1/16th note counts in the majority of cases, or a Hybrid Count that uses both 1/16th notes and 1/8th notes together. There are 2 ‘Rhythmic Shortcuts’available to you to use to interpret the Broken Rhythms quickly and easily.  The first is a 1 -e-& count which equates to a dotted 1/6th note or 3 x sixteenth notes. This shortcut is denoted as (1e+). Ignore the brackets they have no musical value ( no count value) but are used to draw attention  to which parts of the music they represent in the score. When using the dotted 1/8th note count it will repeat as ( 1 e + ) plus another (1 e +) which follows it and equates to 6 x 1/16th notes which is equal to 1 beat of 12/8 or a dotted crochet 1/4 note = to 1/6th note. Or a single count of the 1 -2-3 triplet count in quavers.

The other ‘RHYTHMIC SHORTCUT’ used is 1-e-&-a ( written as 1 e + a in the example piece. This will be familiar to anyone used to counting sixteenth notes in 4/4 time. Typically this is counted as 1e&a, 2e&a, 3e&a etc. In the shortcut method being demonstrated the ‘& is substituted with a ‘+’ sign for easier notation. To use this traditional 1/16th note count in 12/8 time we must modify it by adding an extra 1/8th note quaver on to the end of it, So it would read as 1-e-&-a (+ an additional 1/8th note or 2 x 1/16th notes). To make this count up to 6 x1/16th notes we must add an extra quaver beat to this to make this up to the 1/6th beat or dotted Crochet beat. So we add either a  (3) the last beat of the triplet rhythm as a single 1/8th note / quaver. This makes a ‘HYBRID Count’ using both 1/16th notes and 1/8th notes. Or we can continue in using a strictly sixteenth note count by adding a (3e count) or a (1e Count) whichever method you choose amounts to the same number of beats equal to 6 x sixteenth notes. So the result is either a 1 e + a 3 e or a 1 e + a 1 e count. Both of these are equal so it makes no difference whichever you choose to use. In the example wherever I am using a ‘HYBRID Count ‘using both Sixteenth and Eigth notes I have highlighted this. So a ‘HYBRID COUNT’ Looks like this;  1 e + a 3 or a 1 2 3e   or 1e 2 3 for example. It may be best to start study of the example at this point for a clearer understanding. Reference the specific items denoted by ‘HYBRID’.

Please follow the pdf and there is a piece of the music in Audio form to help you hear the motifs being visualised.

Shortcuts in 12-8 Definitive vrs

I recommend that you  further study the masters of ‘Broken Rhythmic’ playing such as ‘Albert King’ and ‘B B King’ who both commonly used to solo using motifs written in the 12/8 time signature.

It’s not antisemitic to criticise Israel’s actions in Gaza

Israel is not above criticism and there shouldn’t be any accusations  of being antisemitic when examining the recent actions of  Isreal in Gaza. Of course nobody  is disputing that Israel  has a right to defend itself from the appalling atrocities that we witnessed on 7th October  23. However there has to be a limit placed on the amount of aggression used in retaliation. It’s  clear that Israel  has over stepped the mark and gone too far. Israel’s actions in Gazza border on genocide and far exceed what could be described  as reasonable  force. Israel’s  actions are targeting  a civilian population and are indiscriminate. They have concentrated their aggression  against a civilian population  and targeted the infrastructure like hospitals that a civilian population needs to provide to survive. Isreali’s have withheld aid and basic necessities such as water and electricity which impact the civilian  population heavily and it’s  abilities  to remain healthy.

Continue reading It’s not antisemitic to criticise Israel’s actions in Gaza

Give a Clown the Top Job and he will create a Circus will probably be the outcome of the Covid Enquiry

So far it would appear that the overridding findings of the Covid Enquiry are that if you give a clown the top job :he will create a Circus. The overall picture is emerging of a Government in crisis with a lack of effective leadership to deal with the crisis. Boris johnson even saw the enquiry as an opportunity to deny the findings of the Sue Gray Report and the resulting ‘Investigation’ by the Metroplotian Police. He attempted to refute the findings of both of these and to imply that the offences were not  such a serious infringement afterall. There never was any chance that Boris Johnson would humbly attend the Inquiry and bring with him the truth. You have to be aware that this is a person who has allegedely lied to Parliament. What we got was just unconvincing waffle about what happed to missing Whats App messages. What we saw resembled a worm on a hook trying to wriggle off.

Support for Israel must stop because this is no path towards obtaining peace

When will Israel stop? What we are seeing is the indiscriminate anger of a madman on a rampage. It’s  unreasonable to cause this level of destruction to a civilian population. Israel  seems to be content and intent on eliminating and controlling  the whole of Gazza at any cost.  Israel’s anger is unhumane and disproportionate and should no longer be supported  by the American  Government nor the British  Government. Yes Hamas must be taken down but this can only be achieved by taking away Hamas’s power from within the population it serves. Isreal’s actions are simply serving as a recruiting campaign for Hamas and a justification. It’s  up to the Palestinians themselves to act to defeat Hamas and find a leadership which better serves it population. To do this Isreal must stop persecuting the people of Palestine in thiis war on Gazza. Israel’s strategy is actually fuelling more anger against Israel and as such is counterproductive. The conditions in Gazza must be improved and the expecctation of Isreal must become more realistic and sane.  Isreal cannot expect the population to continally be on the move at their will. Intense bombing of civilian areas has to stop. Already there is no where for these people to return to. Housing is now a huge issue as is obtaining and maintaining  the basic fundamentals for health and life.  Isreal has no right to bomb schools , nurseries nor hospitals and any such bombing should be seen as a war crime.

Boris Johnson finally lands in his own shite

Finally  we learn what most of us still sane already knew, that Boris Johnson did lie to Parliament about Partygate. Finally  it comes to pass that Boris ‘the clown’ finally trips up and lands in a pile of shite of his own making. Now left defending the indefensible Boris is intent upon devaluing the findings of the report and the whole process that reached the truth. Thing is Boris Johnson  just cannot  accept the truth and wouldn’t  recognise it if he stumbled over it in his oversized Clown shoes. Truth is that Johnson never had the integrity to be a Prime Minister  in the first place. I can almost see Theresa May smiling  from here. Johnson stabbed her in the back to further his own political  ambitions. Hope Johnson disappears now and takes off his hard hat and high viz vest and simply fades away. Let’s  get back to grown up politics instead of this circus.

Saturday Night TV on the BBC all repeats, whats going on?

Sat here on a Saturday  night wondering if I had been travelling in time with Dr Who. All repeats of the Wheel and Blankety Blank. I even knew the outcome of the Wheel because  my mindvhad been refreshed by watching Gogglebox earlier in the week which had the very same episode. So what’s  going on with Saturday  Night entertainment  on the BBC? It’s  really no fun watching repeats of game shows when you know what’s  going to happen. Either give us a new series of the Wheel or something completely  new. Watching predictable TV is certainly  not on during prime viewing.

A.I. Just because we can do it doesn’t mean we should

Artificial Intelligence (AI) could determine our roles in the future and determine human societies. AI has the potential to undermine societies  and destabilise human relationships. At present we have the ability to decide which way we wish to go with A.I but we should understand the consequences of using A.I. before we go any further with it’s implementation.

Just because  we can do something doesn’t  necessarily  mean that we should do it

Artificial Intelligence (A.I) is a case in point here and just because we can do it doesn’t  necessarily mean that we should do it. To progress an implement A.I means taking away a humans ability  to do the same thing and give it to a machine of a chunk of code (or both). To progress like this and measure it in only profit and efficiency  terms could be irresponsible. To consider the implementation of A.I. there has to be more consideration given other than just implementation for profit and efficiency gains. We have to learn to consider this topics of  ethics, social  responsibility, macro economics, social factors and even matters of world order. At present the world and various big players ( companies) are pressing ahead with A.I regardless. There seems to be a free laissez-faire attitude among Government’s to just let A.I happen. Nobody  seems to be envisaging the future and what our increasing obsession with A.I. could potentially  lead to.

Continue reading A.I. Just because we can do it doesn’t mean we should

Putin most likely is disappointed by talks with China

Talks without allegiance and without commitment for towards armourments are likely  to be a huge disappointment for Putin. China remains uncommitted towards Putin’s crusade. A show of strength yes but a commitment it is not. China will benefit  from trading arrangements with  Russia to replace some of what it has lost through the sanctions imposed upon Putin by the West but the deals made are not mutually  beneficial. Putin is running out of options so any deals are better than no deals but it is also a sign of Russia and Putin diminished world currency. China remains aloof and certainly  doesn’t  wish to get drawn into a possible  set of sanctions itself. China has to face it is reliant on exports to the West. To face large sanctions and boycotts on Chinese made goods would put his own regime at risk. People in China are being kept sweet and dormant by financial success. To risk upsetting that would most likely  be a huge destabilising factor putting his regime at risk. The People’s  Republic of China could be a very real possibility if this tyrannical regime were to upset those that they rule over. That Western trade are actually  shoring up this regime is a political  irony in itself. Take away this scaffolding and the Chinese are likely  to implode.