KATE’S NOT MARRED BY SILLINESS
IT’S good to see Kate Bush doing so well in the album charts despite her decision not to retch up rivers of pop star bile when asked about Theresa May.
She decided, for her own reasons – which she’s welcome to and need no examination here – that she actually quite likes Mrs May. Good for her.
I’m less convinced about Mrs May, but I definitely like Miss Bush, always have and don’t imagine there’s much she could say about mainstream politics which would make me change my mind.
I’d have said the same about Johnny Marr, the saner, more musical half of The Smiths’ songwriting partnership.
That was until I read what he had to say about David Cameron liking his old band.
‘Stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don’t,’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘I forbid you to like it.’ And I changed my mind. This kind of silliness is bad enough when you’re a right-on twentysomething – cretinous in your late 40s, as Marr was at the time. These are two supremely gifted musicians. Is it so terrible not to care very much about their politics?
And is it not the most precious, high-minded folly to try to choose your fans? AS Scotland’s obesity crisis deepens, so the bottom of the ideas barrel for reversing the trend becomes more scored. But the latest wheeze surely came from several feet below the barrel. Ban cars from city centres, say government health advisers. Make the bleeders walk to the shops. That’ll get them moving. Alternatively, that’ll get them sitting on their sofas, buying everything from Amazon or Tesco Click and Collect. That’ll put more high street shops out of business too. Oh, and thin people may have a problem with it.