Red Heroine, written by me back in 1995! Ah prescient indeed; n'est-ce-pas?

Mrs Thatcher and the socialist vision.

In 1987 when Margaret Thatcher waved her three pinkies out of the window at No. 10 to the thronging hordes little did she or they expect that a new socialist dawn was about to be ushered in for Britain. Well if the opinion polls have it right this time I sincerely hope the irony is not lost on her.

The Countess of Finchley may soon find herself on Tony Blair's Christmas card list. She inadvertently created a labour party capable of winning power and holding onto it. As labour has moved right to avoid losing touch a political agenda forged by the new right crusaders of the 1980s has ceased to become sacrosanct. A decade ago labour held central tenets unthinkable today 鈥?unilateral nuclear disarmament and a removal of union restraints anyone? Hardly the slick suited socialism of the modern left.

In moving to an electable position Labour has progressed from the dishevelled intellectualism of Michael Foot to the personification of baby boom cool himself. A perusal of Labour's manifesto from a decade ago would leave one staggered at how politics has moved on. Maggie has done Tony several favours smashing the unions for example perhaps Labour most inherently unpopular characteristic. It was after all union power that brought down the last Labour government. She has made redundant what lay at the roots of Labour's past failure to last more than one term in office. The unions have gone, multilateral disarmament has bankrupted the the old Tory jibe over the Left's soft stance on defence, 90% income tax is never again a possibility with John Smith's passing, ending Labour's penchant for tax hikes - now even the minimum wage is negotiable.

For the first time we have a 'Murdoch-friendly' opposition. Bambi has been endorsed by the big-hearted Australia media mogul himself. With even the tabloids on his side Blair can win. His proposed actions as Prime Minister are unlikely to ruffle the feathers of the traditionally conservative middle classes in the way Michael Foot would have and in the way pervious Labour governments did.

John Major has further cause to be aggrieved at his one time matriarch. Her ghost haunts his every move, with Major's more old fashioned Tory leadership style of simply steadying the helm made to appear spineless juxtaposed with the dynamism of the iron lady.

Judged by the innately conservative yardsticks of achieving social and political stability John Major has had notable successes. First and foremost the economy is finally moving in the right direction. Inflation, targeted by Maggie as the number one priority but still never fully reined in despite her engineering a monetary and fiscal squeeze that cost 3 million jobs, has finally been quelled. Similarly John Major has achieved a measure of progress in a problem that arguably Thatcher exacerbated, look at the way she dealt with Bobby Sands and the rise in loyalist murders after the Anglo-Irish agreement. Do not believe the hype, John Major deserves some credit in Ulster; who else could have brought the I.R.A, Sinn Fein, U.D.A, Ulster Unionists, Irish Government, U.S Government and the entire British political spectrum TOGETHER thus far towards peace. Even if after the time of writing the situation becomes untenable to bring the process any distance at all Major has had to play a deft political game trying to satisfy all interests. Could Lady Thatcher have been so subtle?

In foreign policy John has kept Britain from becoming too embroiled in the quagmire of the old Yugoslavia, but he has done enough to avoid accusations of callously standing by and watching the human catastrophe unfold. Few however give him credit for this, and similarly he has never been able to hold the war-hero tag after the Gulf as Maggie could after the Falklands, despite the Falklands costing far more lives. Domestically Major has been able to quietly bury the Poll Tax and other divisive crusades from the last regime. Even in Europe he has just about been able to hold together two utterly dissonant factions. Few could play Major's games of public scepticism to pander to the Portillos whilst forging ahead in Europe as far as possible.

Big John, bless him though, is a national sap. Compared to his dynamic, if divisive, predecessor he comes across as a big girl's blouse. He is stuck with a weak and vacillating image and it is an image that Tony Blair is seeking to capitalise on. Despite all his achievements John Major suffers in comparison with 'she who had to be obeyed'. I just hope that like the Murphy's he is not bitter.

Voting for Tony Blair will not change an awful lot. What a Labour victory will bring is a different slant on issues that are of fundamental importance but which will not seem to immediately alter the political, social and economic structure. A good example is the Criminal Justice Bill. Under the guise of good old-fashioned Gippo-bashing' of the sort that allows The Daily Mail to rant and rave about society's spongers, the government have launched an attack on some of the basic liberties that underpin our lives. A Labour government would never bring in such legislation and will hopefully remove all such statutes. Similarly with women one would hope to see a general improvement in status under Blair, for example ensured paid maternity leave and an improvement in nursery and creche provision. The importance of such action cannot be underestimated; after all Japan's economic growth has been staggering but what use is it whilst half its citizenry are virtually second class (a little harsh perhaps, but it is a man's world in Nihon)

A Labour government would therefore change the slant taken by the executive towards matters such as sexual equality or civil liberties but I doubt there will be an enormous change in economic and social policy; certainly compared with what the Labour of the last decade was advocating. The low-key socialism of today's left should allow Tony Blair to govern without raising the heckles of the Murdoch-led electorate. An electorate so often antagonised in the past by Labour's high taxes, unions and 'loony leftie' Bambi's left has been moulded by Thatcher into a party capable of winning and holding onto power.

Cheers Mags

Pardon?

Are you knowing Syd?

Syd Barrett? He is being genius.

Don't you get it yet? Look it is like this. Syd Barret lives in Cambridge. He is fat and he is bald. He is like Michael Stipe (a chubby one) but he has been through more and earned a lot less. No it is like this. He invented the azimuth co-ordinator, no not Azimov, Azimuth. Oh just look it up. He was a 1960s technical whizzkid but everything he did had to have an aesthetic edge. He used to arrange the dials on the mixing desk in a pattern pleasing to the eye. A lot of Pink Floyd's oh so influential early noises were simply what Syd thought would look good.

Don't you get it yet? He has the distinction of holding the record for the longest ban on a seven-inch single. For over twenty years the BBC barred airplay of Arnold Lane, Pink Floyd's first release in 1967. What was this piece of vinyl filth that suffered Aunty Beeb's censure actually about. It was about a transvestite who stole clothes from women's washing lines. Cop killing motherfecker by Bodycount was never so dangerous. Ice T defer to a real man.

Look don't you see it yet? He is loved the world over, anyone wearing a Floyd t-shirt (cool once, and coming back actually, even Robbie Williams wears one) is liable to be accosted by a random Scandinavian with long hair and a mushroom problem and asked if one knows of Syd. If confronted thus I can assure you it is de-rigeur to mention Cambridge in reply. Little did we know that this sleepy town is in fact a Rock n Roll mecca. Syd pilgrims are far from unknown in these parts; the spirit of the sixties remains.

'Shine on you Crazy Diamond', you know that song. The one they use on Channel 4 everytime they show scenes of cutting down rainforests, fast disappearing rhinos or other heart-rending tableus of natural devastation. It is on 'Wish you Were Here' compulsory listening for all white middle class adolescents (predominantly male, heaven find me a female prog-rocker). Well it is him, he is the Crazy Diamond. 'Come on you raver, you seer of visions'. He appeared during the Floyd's laborious sessions for their 1975 opus. The continuous mixing and remixing was all rather too much for dear old Sydney and he retired from the musical fray for good. Nowadays he has consigned himself solely to painting. I wonder what he thinks of Cantona? They say he hangs with the beggars here in Market Sqaure, just ask that one who sits on the steps at Green Street, you know the one with the Scouser 'tache who must have had an accident with a bottle of peroxide as a child which is still visible through the grime. Look out for the rock and roll megastar, the man who had the world at his feet in amongst the dishevelled midst.

Don't you get it yet? Well put it this way in 1972 he tried to set up a band called Stars with a drummer named Twink!!

Behold! He is rock and roll! No, honest he has influenced Blur. He is their effete effeminate alter-ego. Compare them as they line up on the pitch.

There is no other way

v

See Emily Play

There's no other way

There's no other way

There'ss no other way

All you can do is watch them play

You'll lose your mind and play

Free games for may

See Emily play

The New Lads done well but Syd's 1967 single is ahead on goal difference. The tune is a wee bit bloody similar n all.

Syd was king of London's underground late 1960s rave scene, a psychedelic prince. Now he has been resurrected monarch of the 1990s new wave rave scene, check out his influence on The Orb or Future Sound of London. Bowie loves him, Stipe I do believe wants him, we all need him. Hear him, touch him, feel him, hear him and spare him some change.

Do you get it yet? Syd Barret was born in and currently resides in Cambridge. In 1965 he founded a band with his childhood friend, Roger Waters, which he christened Pink Floyd (after his cats, or two jazz musicians or after a trip or who really gives a flying) After writing Pink Floyd's debut album pressure affected his fragile mind and his contributions to the second album were minimal. He left the band and recorded two solo albums, the first of which The Madcap Laughs is essential listening. Since then his physical presence has faded from the music scene but his spirit will always live on...man!

 Don't you get it yet

When Syd was just losing his grip on reality he played a new song to his cohort Roger Waters. He played a segment of the song and asked 'Don't you get it yet'. He changed the song and the tune every few minutes each time asking 'Don't you get it yet'. It was an example of fragile musical genius always at the edge of insanity over which the music biz drove him.

 I wonder what he thinks of Oasis?