Advance news for freedom lovers...JSTO is coming!

Yes, here in Liverpool we are delighted to have Jerry Springer- the Opera at the Empire in the near future.

Go and see it if you have the chance.

Reasons are:

1. Its excellent - very amusing and well put together

2. It is important that those of us who do not believe that right wing religionism should have any right to censor our choice of entertainment support this production

3. It will upset right wing evangelical nutters and hopefully offer some opportunity for counter-heckling [There's one born (again) every minute!]

Films, more RC bilge, and Trumpet

Excellent films seen this week - 20 Centimetres, and Time to Leave. Spanish and French respectively, and good examples of the creativity of independent European production as opposed to Hollywood predictability.

Vatican plc have kicked off about the Da Vinci Code. I have no interest in seeing this film which sounds about as much fun as watching paint dry, but isn't it just so predictable that Gauleiter Ratfinger starts getting on his high horse again - he is in Poland this weekend, whose neo-fascist far-right government should suit a former member of the Hitler Youth.

Went over to Manchester yesterday - we sampled a new (ish) Indian restaurant, very good, very authentic (EastzEast) and went to see a stage production of jackie Kay's wonderful book Trumpet, inspired by the life of Billy Tipton, the jazz musician who was female but lived life as a man, unbeknown to all until his death. In hindsight its interesting ; was it simply because of the sexism of the jazz world? Or was it because of inability to live as a lesbian, or the lack of understanding of transsexualism at the time? No-one will ever know.

HARD...ROCK...HALLELUJAH!!

Well, what a contest...here's my verdict

Switzerland - still love this though it didn't do very well. Well sung, charming anthemic ballad, very typical easy-listening harmony stuff, but then I like that!

Moldova - The stage presentation was a bit messy but its not a bad song, catchy and quite appealing.

Israel - What happened? At last a soul ballad in the contest, and Eddie just didn't cut the mustard - the backing singersd did their best to add some gospelly 'whooping up' but this needed a clear and strong lead vocal - for some reason he sounded strained and missed some of the high notes.

Latvia - This was never goping to win, too specialist, but it was a fine example of accapella singing with a jazz feel. Remains a favourite of mine

Norway - Very ethereal, all in white, perfectly sung and performed. Thought it would do better but perhaps the success of Bosnia meant it lost out as the two songs were quite similar in 'feel' and presentation

Spain - This got nowhere. There is so much good Spanish pop music around, particularly the ballads, and they put this in? Just drifts along getting nowhere and the sub-Bananarama unison singing didn't impress

Malta - Fabrizio was obviously having an off day. Painfully out of tune and it all sounded very 'end of the party karaoke' all told. I don't hate it by any means but wasn't surprised that it came last.

Germany - Now, this was something of a surprise. One of the best singers in the contest and a jaunty country song - maybe its back to the failure of strongly American styles to do well in the contest?

Denmark - A song about the twist with a breakdancer, one of my least favourite songs of the night. Couldn't wait for it to end.

Russia - Loved this. Pretty boy-band-handsome singer with a gorgeous incisive voice, just loved the way he sang 'broken glass' - and an energetic performance. One of the best of the night

FYROM - Dull and she didn't sound particularly in tune

Romania - What a voice! My favourite of the uptempo entries and it deserved to do as well as it did - good song, excellent singing, just good dance pop music

Bosnia - A beautiful piece of music, drifts along, instrumentation which sends a shiver up the spine. Again, deserved to do so well - would have loved to see them win but think their time will yet come

Lithuania - I just didn't find this funny and whilst they were clearly proficient, a novelty entry doesn't really work unless you find it funny.

UK - Coming straight after another novelty entry didn't really work, and a lot of people have said that the whole thing did come over as rather dodgy/pervy. Maybe it fell between two stools - not really serious rap (so no votes from France) , not novelty enough? Given how few female ballads, we should have sent Kym Marsh!

Greece - This was certainly the power ballad of the night - well opver the top, but it worked. She is a fine singer, no doubt about that.

Finland - What can I say? I'm very pleased for the Finns - to win after 44 years - and I think it won;t do the contest any harm. But I will never be a rock fan and this just isn't my kind of music.

Ukraine - This sounded like last years winner speeded up. Good singer, but didn't do a thing for me.

France - Beautiful song, but she was so painfully nervous every note sounded thin and strangulated, not a bit like the mellow, creamy voice on the CD. A shame - this was never going to win, but I couldn't help but think how Natasha St.Pierre or Lara Fabian could have made this something really special

Croatia - Gypsy-ethnic stuff, thought it was dire

Ireland - Pure professionalism from start to finish. Its a memorable little song but its no You Raise Me Up - still, Ireland are straight through to the final next year - wonder if Ronan will have a go?

Sweden - If there was one thing that cheered me up this year, it was that this derivative, safe, over-sung, boring schlager didn't win. 19 places too high in my book....

Turkey - This was so cool. I'm not usually a great fan of this sort of stuff but how Ukraine could have qualified whilst this didn't....a really good performance , unusual song, the most contemporary thing in the contest along with russia. Oh, and the dancers. Phew!

Armenia - He seemed to have gained in confidence and although I don't rate the song, it was a very impressive performance - and good to see a new country get through on their first try.

Eurovision semi....

So, the semi is over, and at least some of my favourites got through this year

My verdict

Armenia - thought this was a fairly typical ethno-pop song, sung not very well, and a surprise qualifier

Bulgaria - this was never going to qualify, just too moody and left-field for Eurovision. Think Bulgaria may have to try something a bit more mainstream in future - but I still loved it!

Slovenia - pretty boy, good performance but very ordinary, dated disco song

Andorra - poorly presented, could have been sung better too, but by no means the catastrophe promised in the blogs of the rehearsals. With the right singer this could have qualified

Belarus - dire in every way. Chris and Holger, go and open that language school and teach them how to sing...sad thing is there were two excellent songs in the belarussian final, but the Mafia chose this one

Albania - This was a charming performance of quite a sweet song, but not one of the most obvious ethnic songs and just got lost in the rush

Belgium - this was tacky in the extreme, a poor song poorly song, which richly deserved not to qualify. The choreography was particularly awful

Ireland - Oh, croon for me Brian! Great to see Ireland back in the Final with a memorable song, and I think a good chance of doing well. Delightful

Cyprus - The travesty of the night was the failure of this very accomplished performance to qualify. It seems that the American-influenced divas never do so well, thinking of Glennis last year, Still, my three other favourites made it

Monaco - Memories of Sophie Carle singing Harry belafonte. It didn't work

FYROM - This didn't do much for me, but it was well performed. But I still can't remember it. At all.

Poland - This didn't work. Too messy, too many languages, the rap didn't sound right. I don't dislike it but I wasn't surprised that it didn't qualify

Russia - very decorative - wouldn't mind a Russian plumber who looked like him. Great song. And I love his incisive voice - the way he sings 'glass' - this is classy stuff.

Turkey - This sounded excellent and really deserved its success.Not the sort of music i would listen to all that often, but sounds so contemporary and cool - I like it

Ukraine - Again, a good performance, but not to my taste

Finland - An unsurprising qualifier as the only rock entry and i think it will do respectably enough. I'm not convinced it comes over as quite the extravaganza on the TV though

Netherlands - Worst song of the night, competently performed, but I didn't like it

Lithuania - I don't really get it. But they were very competent and i suppose one novelty song had to get through

Portugal - They tried! All very retro, but again this was never likely to qualify. Some of the other stuff the girls have done was far better. Fado next year - about time Portugal tried something ethnic

Sweden - Dull as ditchwater, oversung 90's pop which simply wouldn't exist outside Eurovision

Estonia - Abba soundalike, well performed but nothing special

Bosnia & Herzegovina - well, ios it Sarajevo 2007? Don't rule it out. This is professional, relaxed and with drifting, ethereal instrumentation - I think its a strong contender if its at last, time for a ballad winner

Iceland - The joke's on them. Tasteless drivel - now if they had decided to put a proper song in this year and selected Regina Osk, they would be in the Final. Never were boos more deserved.

So, three from the semi I really like got through, and one I like, and there are plenty of good songs in the Final.

R I P Barnaby

Our old cat died today. We noticed that he didn't seem too well on Saturday, and on Sunday and Monday he seemed to go further downhill, not eating or drinking. As he was an old cat, we realised that the inevitable was coming and as we didn't want to see him starve to death thought we had better go to the vet - fearing the inevitable.

We both stroked and petted him for half an hour or so, then put him in his box. I felt sad, and had hoped that he could die at home naturally if at all possible. Just before we left the house, he died peacefully.

We have now buried him in the garden, and we have planted a cherry tree to remember him by

Sweet dreams Barnaby

More Christian homophobia

So, turns out that the mealy-mouthed fascist at the top of the British branch of Vatican plc sacked a press adviser once he found out he was gay.

Whilst one must ask why anyone with any sense at all, gay or otherwise, would want any sort of link with the Catholic church, thia again shows the deep and unremmiting homophobia of these people, and gives yet another reason why Ruth Kelly should neither be equalkity minister, or in my view, a Labour MP.

Equality and Catholicism don't go together. Simple as that. Its an inherently bigoted ideology. It needs to be opposed.

The right to die and the misguided naivety of traditional Christianity

As expected, the Joffe Bill was defeated in the Lords. But the time will come where the clamour for legal, rather than undercover, dignity in death will come.

However, we first have to remove and undermine the influence of the harmful dogmas of Christianity. Over the past three months I have realised that I am no longer anu sort of conventional Christian, and that society would be infinitely better without the pernicious influence of the mainstream Church and its warped 'morality'. Humanism has infinitely more to offer, a religious humanism which is able to draw from that which is good in Christianity, whilst discarding the nonsense and the will to control which is the inevitable outcome of believing in a creator, directive, intervening God who we are somehow 'responsible' to and who wishes us to 'worship' as a person. God is a human creation. We can create a God of inclusivity and worth, or we can worship the Church Christian god of control and superstitious mumbo-jumbo

Its nonsense, dangerous, damaging nonsense too.

People should have the choice to determine their own death. There is no benefit in lauding life at all costs - if we remove people's freedom to choose one way or another, we demen humanity.

I shall be joining http://www.dignityindying.org.uk/

Ruth Kelly ; 'equality'minister - who's having a laugh?

I have commented before on Ruth kelly, the Tory/Opus Dei inflitrator into the Labour party, who, thankfully, with the smallest of swings will be out of parliament next time, free to continue to breed profligately as her religion suggests. I hope she has time to fit in the flagellation.

What she is not suited for is the role of equalities minister.

RUTH KELLY IS A HOMOPHOBE.

She has voted against or abstained in every single gay rights vote in parliament. This is logical because it follows her exreme Catholic conservatism. However, it means she is not suited to this role.

She is also a liar, as she claimed that some of the issues she voted against were conscience votes - which they were not.

In any case, she will simply make it appear that the Government is not committed to equality - on the whole, they are. She ended up in this job because of the disastrous hash she made of her education brief.

Basically, she shouldn't be a Labour MP anyway. What the hell is a right wing supporter of a neo-Nazi secret society within a right wing religion doing as a Labour cabinet minister? Kelly must go and if she doesn't, then yet more Labour votes will be lost.

The Euston Manifesto

Even though I am and remain against the iraq war, I find much that I can agree with in this statement.

It appears to me that there is a basic truth which some on the left have forgotten in an attempt to be relativist - that fundamentalist religious regimes are not compatible with liberal democracy, and that when it comes down to it, Western values and principles are worth preserving.

Of course, the outcome of the Iraq war is no doubt another Islamic regime.....what we should be promoting is secular liberal governance, not excusing the inexcusable, whether that ne illegal wars or fundamentalist regimes.

Political games

So, as all governments find, life gets tough when you have been in power for a long time.

The three beleaguered.
Patricia Hewitt. She suffers from the same problem as Virginia Bottomley when a Tory health minister - unsufferably posh and prig. One can just imagine her towering over the bed, wagging finger on overtime, with that Victoria-Wood-posh-lady voice making one think of the pleasures of strangulation. However, the reality is that the problems are largely local management - seems that Government can't win. It decentralises and then is blamed for the problems, it manages from the centre and is accused of centralisation.

Charles Clarke. Certain level of incompetence here - but, again, the Home Office has been fraught with problems for years, largely because of the size and agenda of that department. Quite why there should be any complication at all in ensuring that all foreign nationals to be released are referred to the authorities is beyond me. It can't be that complicated, surely? The prisons themselves must know who is being released and where they come from? Think his days are numbered in this job.

John Prescott. I thought the vision of John Major having an affair was unlikely - but John Prescott? To me, people having affairs is trrelevant. I don't care about it.

Despite all this, I think I will be voting Labour in the local elections. The LibDems have done a disappearing act since the demise of our local councillor to alcoholism and disqualification, and I don't vote Tory.

The Cure for Information Overload

So important in today's Internet-led society -follow the link above for some ideas.