3 weeks in and Labour is already giving ammunition to the Tories

Well it won’t  be long before the Tories are fully recovered  from their embarrassing  Election defeat  if Kier Starmer  and the Labour  Party have anything to do with it. They are already providing the Tories  with a source of ammunition with which to fight Labour again by scrapping  the use of the Bibby Stockholm refugee barge. This is a move which is likely  to ask why illegal  immigrants  are to be housed in costly hotel accommodation again.

Meanwhile much of both council and privately rented accommodation in this country  remains substandard and in many documented cases is in an appalling state which is unfit for habitation. Many people  in this type of accommodation would welcome accommodation which is safe and dry where facilities  included heated rooms, abilities to get nourishing  food and where there is communal  access  to gyms and games rooms.

Many of this country’s citizens are living in conditions  far worse than those experienced  by the illegal  immigrants on the Bibby Stockholm. Also consider that there is both a housing shortage in this country  and there is a considerable  homelessness problem in almost all, if not all, our major cities. So pardon me if I just cannot sympathise with the moans of the people,who have come to this country  illegally, about the conditions of the more than adequate  accommodation  on the Bibby Stockholm. I do not support the Labour  Party’s  stance on closing down the Bibby Stockholm  and moving these people  back into hotels which are the more costly  option is in my opinion  a backward step which will cost the taxpayers  considerably  more and which gives the Tories  ammunition  to fire back at Labour on the issue of immigration.

Isreal has no respect for human life

Isreal’s  actions in Gaza show no respect  for human life at all. Also the actions of the IDF  seem at complete odds with the  religious beliefs of Judaism. It is more and more apparent  that the actions of the IDF in Gazza amount to genocide with no regard to the sanctity of human life at all. More and more we receive information  that the IDF has targeted schools, nurseries, hospitals and civilian  populated areas. We also have heard of incidents  where the civilian  population  has been  targeted in areas that the Isrealis themselves have declared as Safe Zones. In most cases Isreal has attempted  to legitimise these outrageous  actions by suggesting  that they were targeting legitimate  targets and by mentioning  that they were reviewing the information. This simply isn’t  good enough. Isreal must be held accountable for what consists of war crimes and genocide and all ties must now be severed by governments  from other countries who have been supporting Isreal.

One man causing misery to thousands

What’s  the deal when one man causes the deaths and misery to hundreds  of thousands  of people?  People being uprooted and forced to move because  they are in fear is a lesson that we should have moved on from because  of the lessons of the last Century. Surely it’s  best to sacrifice that one person in order to stop or alleviate the deaths of thousands? That’s  where we are going wrong letting one man cause misery and upsets to many thousands  of others. Doing things at the behest of others is wrong. That one person is just a man. Today’s  events show that those in power can be got at and brought down. Leaders are not indestructible.

Post Office Inquiry: what’s the point?

What really is the point of the Post Office Inquiry when all we see paraded in front of us are a bunch of liars who are unwilling or unable to tell the truth. Not one of these former Post Office Officials has shown any willingness  to take responsibility for this travesty of justice. All this ultimately  demonstrates that there have been  attempts to cover up the Scandal at a high senior level.  It has been proven that the Horizon  System could be remotely accessed by Fujitsu and that it was known about by Post Office Officials early on. This Inquiry  has been too polite and has let these people make excuses of poor recollection to excuse and distance themselves  from responsibility. These people should be being interviewed  under caution by the police. Let’s  just proceed to prosecution of these liars and deniers who are more concerned  with trying to protect their reputations than getting  to the truth and culpability.

Continue reading Post Office Inquiry: what’s the point?

Isreal must be stopped now and a 2 state solution put in place that is no longer policed by Isreal

Isreal cannot be  trusted to police what is left of Gazza. There is no constraints on the IDF who have lost their credibility to act as a peace keeping force in the Gazza strip. In fact the whole area including the West Bank should be made to be off limits to the IDF. Following Isreali “s incursions into Gazza and what looks like the indescriminate bombing targeting  the civilian population there is certainly  no way that Isreal could act as a peacekeeping agent in Gazza. There is also some suggestions  that Isreal’s motivations are changing with some promoting an agenda for settlement of Isreali’s  in Gazza where there has been talk of land grabbing and purchase of prime locations in Gazza for the habitation of Isreali settlers. This would be a totally unacceptable outcome of the war and of Isreal’s incursions  into Gazza via the IDF.

For further reading on this matter See this article by Orla Guerrin of the BBC

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 scope 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 1/8th 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  1/8th note 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 by 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.

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.

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.