The Sunday Ramble: music, politics and photography

The sun is shining this morning and it could be a good day for photography. I will be doing some indoor photography early this evening. I’m going to photograph Acoustic Alliance who will be playing at the Vine in Darlaston from 6 – 8pm.

Islamic State

It seems we are now going to spend a huge amount of money bombing Islamic State in the Middle East. The Middle East has been a problem since the middle ages and the crusades. Maybe the more developed countries could stop supplying them with armaments?

Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband wants to raise the minimum wage to about £8 by 2020. If people on the minimum wage want a rise, won’t all those further up the ladder want a rise too? The lowest paid will get a 1.70 rise spread over 5 years and the MP’s, judges and bankers will see double digit rises every year. The mansion tax looks like being a disaster too. They could make council tax fairer instead.

David Cameron

Cameron is sneaky, he isn’t giving too much details about the benefit cuts that are planned for after the 2015 election, but has hinted that poorer pensioners, the disabled and young people will be hit again. He is also promising to build some sub standard housing for those aspiring middle class voters who might vote Tory.

Nick Clegg

Yawn…

Boris Johnson

It seems bumblin’ Boris could be a minister in the government if they should pull off a miracle and get elected again. He is now planning to charge £10 a ticket for people to celebrate New Year in London and see the fireworks. Why can’t he have a big party with champagne and canapes at a grand a pop in Hyde Park? C’mon Boris, THINK BIG!

Walsall

It seems the sex trade in Walsall is booming. It’s nice to see local enterprise doing so well.The police are cracking down on it and the government is including it in official figures for GDP. If you stop at the traffic lights in Walsall, you risk getting done for kerb crawling.

I might go that way later, Walsall art gallery is open today. I don’t often venture to the other side of the M6. I photographed the Tipton Canal and Community Festival last week. Canals were the first transport system for moving goods in bulk around the Black Country, then came the railways and then the roads and motorways. The problem is to cross the canals you need a bridge and it’s the same with the railway. In Tipton the rail line runs next to the canal. The Black Country route is a dual carriageway that cuts through the Black Country, meaning some minor roads now go nowhere. The motorway too, cuts through and only has junctions and bridges at certain points. Junction 9 of the M6 motorway comes to a standstill every Bank Holiday when Ikea has a sale. If Boundary Mills has a sale Junction 10 comes to a stand still. The planners don’t think of these things, they sit in their air conditioned, centrally heated offices looking at plans and dreaming how they will spend all the money they earn on holiday in the latest fashionable resort and never actually experience life as we know it. They need to  get out more. Make them live on a council estate, drive down the M6 each morning and drive through Walsall’s red light district at rush hour. That would educate them…

I had a blog post published on the local newspaper website this week, they use my photos too. I don’t think my political views match the editor’s, so this post has little chance of making it. I have readers around the world on a Sunday though as well as local readers. I am trying to get more involved in local affairs, but not very much happens especially in winter.The next exciting event will be a demonstration of what not to do when your chip pan sets on fire, by the fire service. I think that demonstration is coming here soon. I want to photograph that, we hardly ever get real fires, except the bonfire in the park. I’ll be photographing the Christmas Lights switch-on in November or to be more politically correct, the Festive Lights switch-on. I bought a thermal tee shirt especially for that event…

That’s all for today. If you’re in Darlaston this evening, come and check out the entertainment at the Vine. I might take your photo! If you live in the Black Country and know of a forth-coming event, let me know. Even if I can’t come, I might publicise it or mention it in a blog post. You can use the comments box to have your say or ask questions. You can also follow me on Twitter.

Advertisement