Naebody Move, There's Been A Murdoch! Part 2

When you live in an essentially conservative country, like the UK, and you are somewhat to the left on the political spectrum then you quickly become familiar with a sense of almost endless disappointment; obvious corruption in public life gets ignored or whitewashed, light-weight politicians with the sincerity of used-car salesmen become Prime Minister, the main political parties offer an almost identical intellectually and morally bankrupt take on the prevailing neoliberal agenda, and these parties are supported and maintained by a venal, unscrupulous and mercenary media that panders to the worst of human instinct. Yeah, that's modern life in the UK right there, and sometimes the smell of shit rising from the whole bloated and fetid mass can make you despair.
And then there are weeks like this one. We've already posted (below) on The Streetlamp team's joy at the demise of the repulsive and nasty News of the World, but this story just continues to grow and grow, and with today's news of the, long overdue, resignation of the Medusa of Wapping, Rebekah Brooks, we couldn't resist the opportunity to indulge in a little more grave dancing.
As this story unfolds it will soon become apparent that the whole corrupt Augean stables of British public life needs to be thoroughly cleaned out once and for all. The mainstream parties, the mainstream press, the toothless Press Complaints Commission, the Metropolitan Police Force (and possibly other forces elsewhere in the country) are all culpable to some degree in either colluding with or cringing before Murdoch's despicable empire. It is time for ordinary, decent people to demand something better, something braver, something more transparently honest. The only party to come out of this whole affair with any honour is the outstanding Guardian newspaper which has refused to let this affair be concealed and has demostrated admirably what the real job of investigative journalism entails. More power to them!
One other thing that has annoyed us is that many newspaper columnists are indulging in "we are all guilty" excuses and justifications; claiming that the British public and their apparent love of celebrity gossip was ultimately responsible for the criminal behaviour of the News of the World journalists. Bullshit! Only 2.7 arseholes read the News of the World; the paper was written by scum and read by scum and the vast majority of the British public wouldn't have deigned to wipe their arses with it. Here at The Streetlamp, we long for the day when; Murdoch himself is brought to book, The Sun newspaper disappears for ever, Andy Coulson is properly investigated for his role in this affair, and slick charlatan David Cameron is finally dismissed from office. On days like these we tell ourselves that it could yet happen!
Longtime Streetlamp favourite, and all-round good bloke, Billy Bragg, evidently feels the same way. He has just released a cracking new song about the News of the World scandal called 'Never Buy The Sun'. A wonderful studio version is available as a free download from his website. Here's
a video clip of him singing it in his dressing room before a recent gig at Garforth Arts Festival.



With Love From The ~Streetlamp~ Gang