Die Partei ist Farage! Farage aber ist UKIP wie UKIP Farage ist!

If anybody doubted the extent of Nigel Farage's megalomania, then this should dispel those doubts.

Farage believes that Cameron recalled Parliament yesterday, to debate the possibility of military action against ISIS, in order to take attention away from the UKIP party conference.

No Nigel, he waited until yesterday because the Labour Party conference was taking place earlier in the week, and he needed the Labour MPs there to take part in that debate. The UKIP party conference was not relevant, because UKIP has no MPs.

UKIP is hoping to obtain its "first" MP soon, in the shape of one Mr Carswell. Apparently Bob Spink, who was once UKIP's "first MP" has been airbrushed out of history. He simply did not exist. I am so reminded of Nazi and Soviet propaganda tactics.
The sort of stuff we can still see today on Russia Today (RT) - the successor  to наше кино,
Bob, who crossed the floor from the Tories to UKIP was a decent chap. I liked him very much. He soon realised what the game was, and walked quietly away from UKIP. So the official line went from "Bob Spink - UKIP's first MP" to "Well, he was never really a UKIP MP..." The UKIP press office never let truth get in the way of damage limitation. The only difference is that then they used to be able to spell it.

This is a serious business, and the boys on the flightline in Akrotiri are getting geared up to go into action.

And Nigel Farage really thinks it is all about him.

A Chat With One Of My Heroes.....

It is no secret that I love Rock n Roll. I remember once being described as a "former Teddy Boy". That made me laugh....  Former? ... I think not.

Today I was thrilled to have a wee chat online with one of the great names of Rock n Roll - Dickie 'Bee Bop' Harrell. 

Dickie was the original drummer with Gene Vincent's Blue Caps. He played on the original recording of Be Bop A Lula way back in 1956. 

At this point, anybody who understands Rock n Roll should start to get a bit excited.
I won't go into great detail, but I will share just a few of Dickie's words with you.

"GENE WAS ONE OF THE BEST, HE COULD SING AND HE DID IT WELL. I DON'T THINK I ADDED ANYTHING TO HIM BEING SO SUCCESSFUL. CLIFF, JACK AND WILLIE MADE IT HAPPEN WITH THAT SOUND THEY HAD. ANYBODY COULD HAVE DONE WHAT I DID, WHICH IS VERY LITTLE.THE BOYS MADE THE SOUND AND GENE HAD THE VOICE. I REST MY CASE SIR. THANK YOU."

Those of us who love the music will know those names well. We will also recognise one of the most modest statements of all time. Dickie Harrell was absolutely crucial to the early Blue Cap sound. The drums and the background screams on Be Bop A Lula, the frantic energy of the first album Bluejean Bop, Dickie is the sound of the Blue Caps.

How wonderful it is to hear such modesty. How wonderful it is to wake up in the morning to find a message from someone I have idolised since I was about 12 years old..... Now there is a real star!




Dickie, incidentally, is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.  http://www.rockabillyhall.com/gvdickie.html

The First Day Of Autumn!

Its the first day of Autumn - my favourite time of the year. As one who likes to walk wherever possible - and Brussels is a very small city - over the last decade I have worked out pretty much how to get from any one place to another on foot whilst taking a route that includes as many parks and gardens as possible, I get a lot of pleasure from this time of the year.

My life is organised at the moment in such a way that I can take relatively large chunks of free time on most days, although it will not, alas, last long.

My thanks to the European Parliament for this great photo, which they published today.

The photo would have been taken right on the edge of Parc Leopold, not one of the largest of public parks it has to be said, but nice enough, and close enough to the parliament that for the last 10 years I have often been able to slip away from the office for some time to read my newspaper by the lake.

It is also the case that whereas we don't have great summers here, they do tend to last, and so I expect to be enjoying the parks and lunching al fresco for a good few weeks to come.

A Sad Anniversary

It just occured to me that today is the 5th anniversary of the passing of Piers Merchant, former journalist, MP, and indeed a former colleague from some years back.

I have many fond memories of Piers, in Brussels, Guernsey, London,and of many hours chatting and plotting on the telephone.

He had a wonderful, and somewhat naughty, sense of humour, and seemed able to make friends in an instant.

It was Piers who encouraged me to turn my working diary and research notes into a book - Putin's Legacy was published in late 2009.

I last saw him, and his wife, at a lunch in Brussels hosted by Roger Knapman and Tom Wise in 2009. It was an opportunity to bring together the nicest little team I ever worked with, as the parliamentary term was coming to an end, and we would all go our separate ways. It was, indeed, the last time we were all to be together, as Piers succombed to his illness shortly after.

I am, actually, the only one of the group who remains in Brussels to his day.

Rest in peace, Piers.

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Today, September 7th, would have been Buddy Holly's birthday. He died tragically young in 1959 at the age of just 22.

He left behind a huge wealth of material, as well as great Rock n Roll, he recorded inspirational ballads, and pioneered new recording techniques.

We can only speculate as to what he what he could have achieved had he lived....