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On the Road with Attila the Stockbroker Resolutions for 2018: Tories out, Roundhead renaissancecore in

TWO new year resolutions for me and the most important one is obvious.

I shall continue to play whatever small part I can in getting this no mandate, no compassion, no brain and no guts Tory government what it deserves — a no-confidence vote as soon as possible.

The country is crying out for another election and a massive Labour vote to end the destruction of the NHS and the decimation of our public services, all done in the interests of a few shareholders, parasites who should have no role in the public sector at all.

Tory xenophobes and their shabby, scabby and flabby cheerleaders in the brain-dead right-wing press are playing with fire with their Brexit rhetoric. They claim that their tiny referendum majority means the “will of the people” is in favour of a nationalist bigotfest, otherwise known as a “hard Brexit,” regardless of the economic and social damage this may cause.

I think that’s rubbish but, if it happens, it cuts both ways. By their own logic a one-seat majority for Labour after the next election would mean that the “will of the people” is in favour of renationalising the railways and utilities without compensation, expropriating Rupert Murdoch and barring him from Britain, forcing Paul Dacre to form a duet with Phil Collins and appointing journalist Owen Jones and Aslef president Tosh McDonald to the editorships of the Sun and Daily Mail respectively.

Oh, and making sure Crystal Palace get relegated and Brighton stay up of course. Live by the sword, die by the sword and all that...

We live in dangerously divided times and those of us who are over 60 have a duty to do something about the shocking majority of our contemporaries who vote Tory — the only part of the electorate where they have a majority.

Argue, argue and argue again. Tell the turkeys that Christmas really isn’t in their best interests and, no, it doesn’t matter how far Jeremy Corbyn bows to the Queen when you’re waiting 12 hours in A&E. And the young generation need to mobilise even more of their number to vote next time. I think this year is going to be a pivotal one politically and we all have a part to play.

It promises to be an exciting one for me too. After 37 years mainly concentrating on my poetry and spoken word, with eight books of poetry and an autobiography under my belt, 2018 is the year when I want to focus on the music I have loved all my life and do as many gigs as possible with my band Barnstormer.

I’ve always loved early music and play loads of those instruments – crumhorn, cornemuse, shawm, recorders, fiddles and mandocello — and I have always been fascinated by the English revolution of 1649-1660, the story of the Levellers, Diggers and Ranters and the huge explosion of radical ideas that took place after the execution of Charles 1 in 1649. His son Charles II escaped to France in a ship moored at the bottom of our road in Shoreham Harbour after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

And I’ve always believed that early music would work as well with punk as Irish music did when the Pogues got hold of it. I have just written a whole album of songs and instrumentals in that vein and want to go on the road with Barnstormer and play them as much as possible before recording the album Restoration Tragedy later in the year.

So here’s a message to promoters and festival organisers everywhere. If you fancy some rebel Roundhead renaissancecore and baroque 'n' roll, please get in touch at [email protected]. We really don’t sound like anyone else and if you want a taste go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQX6DVG9N10.

And will someone please put us on at Tolpuddle? My exclusion from that lovely festival on the personal whim of one individual is completely ridiculous. We’re socialists and democrats, we’re not supposed to do personality cults ...

All the very best for the new year and condolences to the family of Ivan Beavis — a lovely bloke and a great comrade.

Cheers, Attila.

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