#Isleof WightFestival2018 with The Killers

The Isle of Wight Festival is obviously home turf. It was celebrating its 50th year this year. However not to be churlish there haven't been 50 festivals. The original festivals from 1968 are described as based in counter culture - the "hippy" days. A Wiki extract :

1968

Held on 31 August and 1 September 1968.

• Attendance: 10,000 (approx)

Site – Ford farm, near Godshill.

• Headline act: Jefferson Airplane.
• Other acts: Arthur Brown, The Move, Smile, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, Plastic Penny, Fairport Convention, and The Pretty Things.

1969

Main article: Isle of Wight Festival 1969

This took place on 30 and 31 August 1969 at Wootton, with an estimated attendance of 150,000.The line-up included Bob Dylan, The Band, The Nice, The Pretty Things, Marsha Hunt, The Who, Third Ear Band, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Fat Mattress, Joe Cocker. Many celebrities of the day also attended the Festival, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, George Harrison with Pattie Boyd, Ringo Starr with Maureen Starkey, Keith Richards and Jane Fonda.

1970

Main article: Isle of Wight Festival 1970

This event was held between 26 and 30 August 1970 at Afton Down. Attendance has been estimated by the Guinness Book of Records to have been 600,000 or even 700,000, due to an announcement by British Rail at that time concerning the amount of sold ferry tickets, although promoter Ray Foulk has said he believes it to have been only half of that.It is arguably the best-remembered of the early versions of the IoW festivals, due to its line-up, attendance and news coverage. The line-up included Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Chicago, The Doors, Lighthouse, The Who (their set produced a live album), Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Moody Blues, Joan Baez, Free, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson, Donovan, John Sebastian, Terry Reid, Taste, and Shawn Phillips

If you know the Isle of Wight you can understand what happened next. There was an act of Parliament banning gatherings of more than 5000 people on the Island. The impact of an extra 500000 + dropout hairy people when the whole Island population was normally less than 100000 was enormous and there was no health and safety to speak of in those days. The Isle of Wight with a backwater mentality couldn't cope - physically or mentally.

It took until 2002 for the IOW Festival to be revived and I have been to most of them. The blue blood origins of the early IOW Festivals has given future Isle of Wight festivals great cache and after Glastonbury it has been perhaps regarded as the UK's premier music festival and has been able to draw some of the world's biggest bands and performers.

I am of course a supporter of the IOW Festival but having been to the last two Glastonbury's (2018 is a fallow year) I have to say the differences are increasingly stark. The scale is different of  course - Glasto is so much bigger - it is much more diverse - and far less commercial. As a result the "festival" vibe at Glasto feels more authentic.

Hopefully the IOW Festival will have a long and happy future but is it beginning to lose its cache - its uniqueness? If it is it is partly because there are so many summer music festivals now across the UK. Increasingly bands and performers make money out on tour rather than through record sales. Consequently it is much easier to see bands live. The Killers who were the closing headliners at the IOW on Sunday were performing in Wales the night before! There is overkill - massive competition between festivals for ticket sales and as a consequence great emphasis on squeezing money out of the punters through food and drink sales. Glastonbury has resisted that business model - the IOW is finding it difficult to do so.

But having said all of that once again I really enjoyed this years IOW Festival. The weather was superb which was great - but of course there will always be moaners - finding it too hot!. How could you not enjoy being in the sun - listening to the consummate musician Van Morrison (even if you are not a fan), The Manic Street Preachers and The Killers to close in the darkness. It was brilliant. There is something really great when you get a massive festival crowd at one with the headliner and visa versa. Brandon Flowers really put on a show and the crowd loved it. The Killers back catalogue is so well known - all it took was a few of the opening chords and the audience were right on it. Fantastic happy stuff.

Watch the Killers here :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gzBy0skZNw

warming up with The Manics

Killers going down great

very middle of the road!

a  young Irish lady impressed by my moves - ha!

#Brexit negotiating a good deal

Are you like me ? Are you exasperated by how the Brexit negotiation is playing out. Are you concerned about the "deal" we will end up with. Do you think we are shooting ourselves in the foot?

The UK has democratically voted to leave the EU. The leave process has been triggered. We are now in theory in the middle of a negotiation to determine the terms of leaving and terms of the future ongoing relationship. The process has proved torturous. The Prime Minister and her negotiating team have been undermined throughout and their negotiating position weakened by amongst others, out and out anti democratic remoaners (who want to overturn the decision), so called "soft " Brexiteer MP's (who are obsessed with terms of trade - but inadvertently are undermining the prospect of getting good ones), those particularly focused on "Parliamentary Sovereignty" and insistence on a meaningful parliamentary vote on the "terms"  - and  by the Opposition parties and the media playing political games. Some are motivated by a political strategy to overturn and frustrate the leave decision. However in my view many are just misguided. They are naïve or ignorant in the art of negotiation. In this short blog I am focusing on naivety/ignorance which has been manifest.

Back to basics. The UK and EU are in a negotiation over leave terms. The EU negotiators are striving to get a deal most favourable to them. We should want a deal most favourable to us. It can be dressed up as we all want there to be winners - or that that the EU does not want to punish the UK but of course that is rubbish. Lets get real.

There are 3 basic points I want to make :

Here is the first - a sort of parable - it might be helpful :-

When I was a young teenager I was visiting my aunt and uncle who had a garage business down in south Devon. While I was there my uncle received a call from a customer (I will refer to him as Mr Hardnut). Would he come and look at a car that the Mr Hardnut was negotiating to buy? We went to have a look at it. It was a white convertible E Type Jaguar. If you know anything about cars you will know it as a "super car" something exceptional - a very expensive car - but like all super cars probably not very practical and therefore of limited market. What played out has stuck with me - it was a lesson learned. The car owner was a young man who had advertised the car nationally. He had agreed to bring the car down from London to south Devon for Mr Hardnut to inspect and buy - over 150 miles - a 300 mile round trip. It also became apparent he was keen to sell because he was getting married and needed the money. His fiancé was with him. Hardnut played it cool. Steely eyed. He liked the car but not that much - he was prepared to walk away unless the price was right. (although my uncle knew he really wanted it.) The youngman was evidently desperate to sell. He had gone to so much effort to bring the car down to Devon and the young fiancé had undermined his negotiating position further by emphasising how much they wanted the sell in order to fund the forthcoming wedding. To coin a phrase Mr Hardnut "had them over a barrel" and the negotiated price tumbled. I remember the final scenario clearly because it was brutal and there were tears. Hardnut made a final offer and started to walk away. The youngman said "no way" - and his fiancé started crying. Before Hardnut left they had accepted his offer. Hardnut had got a tremendous deal.

So the lesson there if I have to spell it out - unless the other side believe you are prepared to walk away - they have you over a barrel. 

The second. Another basic point. Theresa May and David Davis are continually criticised and pressured for not stating exactly what we want from the negotiations - and particularly to set out our "red lines" - our musts or must not haves - things that are non negotiable. David Davis (I believe to be a very experienced businessman and a tough and subtle negotiator) says if you set out your red lines the most you will get will ONLY be your red lines. He is so right. It is commonsense. What is the motivation for the other side to give you more? They won't. It is folly to be too open - too specific. Negotiation is a chess game. It is quite legitimate for instance to ask for one thing but really working towards getting something else bearing in mind the objective is to get the most favourable deal possible. (but the shallow media and political opponents will carp and criticise the government failed to get what it said it wanted). A well known cricket metaphor from the late Sir Geoffrey Howe - "it is like being sent out to open the batting - only to find the bat has been broken before you get started."! The Government are right in not stating exactly what they want at the outset. Those that are pressuring them to do so are either naïve, ignorant or willfully ignorant (to deliberately sabotage Brexit).

My final point is the insistence by some MP's that they have a "meaningful vote" on the acceptance of the terms and particularly whether to walk away from the negotiation. The problem with this insistence is so obvious - so basically flawed - it can only be a deliberate attempt to thwart the decision of the British people and keep us in the EU. (therefore it is dangerously anti democratic.) I explain. The EU would prefer to keep us in the club. They do not want us to leave. It weakens the EU - and as a massive net contributor our money will be badly missed. If Parliament will not accept no deal is better than a bad deal - what incentive does the EU have to agree a good deal for us. It clearly is in their interest not to offer us a good deal - ie only offer us a bad deal - if they know Parliament will not let our negotiators walk away.- and therefore by default we stay in! With regard a meaningful vote on the terms - it is bonkers Parliament insists it is the de facto negotiator with the EU. That cannot work. The Government has to be trusted to get the best deal they can and if Parliament doesn't like it we must walk away. That is the only way we will have any chance of getting the Brexit deal we want.

Unfortunately many of out MP's are like Dominic Greive - an academic - a professional politician - and clueless and naïve it what it takes to be successful in negotiation.

#JDWetherspoons and Brexit

We are regular supporters of the pub chain J D Wetherspoons. It is a brilliantly well run company. We use the Ryde Wetherspoons (otherwise known as S Fowler & Co) on a regular basis -ha!. Their range of real ales is unmatched - you never get a bad pint - and their prices are unbeatable - tremendous value. Add to that the staff are almost always professional and well trained and their food is decent value (you get what it says on the can!). You cannot go wrong. Consequently it is always busy in a good way. ps I have no connection with Wetherspoons other than a regular customer - ha!

Tim Martin the founder and chairman of Wetherspoons has been a strong supporter of Brexit and had a high profile in the leave campaign. He has been strong on the opportunities Brexit will offer our businesses and has been vociferous in pointing out how the citizens of the UK have been ripped off by the EU. I am at one with him. Our views on Brexit and the EU are fully compatible.

On Wednesday night I always have a beer with my sons - and a press release issued by Wetherspoons which I have copied below was on the bar. (well done Tim and the J D Wetherspoons board - so positive and objective!)

JD Wetherspoon to offer more drinks from UK and non-EU producers and brewers across its 880 pubs in the run up to Brexit
Pub company JD Wetherspoon is to offer more drinks from  UK and non-EU producers and brewers across its 880 pubs from Monday July 9  in the run up to Brexit.
It is switching from a range of drinks including Champagne and  wheat beers, which are produced in France and Germany.
Wetherspoon will replace Champagne with sparkling wines from the UK; Denbies Sparkling Whitedowns Brut and Whitedowns Rose Brut as well as Hardys Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay from Australia.
The pubs will also serve wheat beers from the UK and USA; Blue Moon Belgian White, Thornbridge Versa Weisse Beer and SA Brains Atlantic White.
Wetherspoon will continue to serve Kopparberg cider from Sweden.
Kopparberg has confirmed that it will be producing its cider in the UK post-Brexit.
Its Strawberry & Lime Cider and Mixed Fruit Cider will be complemented by its alcohol free Strawberry & Lime.
Alcohol-free Adnams Ghost Ship will replace Erdinger alcohol free beer from Germany.
Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: “This move helps us to broaden our horizons so that we create an improved offer for the two million customers who visit our pubs each week.
“It is the start of a review all products in the next six to 24 months, with the object of making our business more competitive.
“The EU’s customs union  is a protectionist system which is widely misunderstood.
“It imposes tariffs on the 93 per cent of the world that is not in the EU, keeping prices high for UK consumers.
“Tariffs are imposed on wine from Australia, New Zealand and the US, and also on  coffee, oranges, rice and more than 12,000 other products.
“There will be an inevitable transfer of trade post-Brexit to countries outside the EU, which will reduce prices in shops and pubs.
“The products we are now introducing are at lower prices than the EU products they are replacing.
“We intend to honour existing contracts with EU suppliers, some of which have several years to run.
“However, we are starting to make the transition to non-EU trade now, with  products like Champagne.
“Our biggest bottled cider supplier is the excellent Kopparberg of Sweden.
“Kopparberg has said that it will transfer production to the UK post-Brexit.
“In similar situations we will work closely with suppliers of niche products.
“Brexit will create big marketing opportunities for UK and non-EU producers, which Wetherspoon is keen to encourage.
“To maximise the opportunities from Brexit the UK must follow free trading nations like Australia, New Zealand and Singapore by ending tariffs.
“Ending tariffs will not result in any reduction in government income, since tariffs collected in the UK are sent to Brussels.
“Free trade and the ending  of tariffs will reduce prices, boosting living standards and helping business.
 “This will not be possible if we remain in the EU’s customs union.
“Ending tariffs will also help to minimise border inspections, and will benefit poorer countries in Africa and elsewhere, which are penalised by EU protectionism.”

#negotiatingadeal Brexit

Are you like me ? Are you exasperated by how the Brexit negotiation is playing out. Are you concerned about the "deal" we will end up with. Do you think we are shooting ourselves in the foot?

The UK has democratically voted to leave the EU. The leave process has been triggered. We are now in theory in the middle of a negotiation to determine the terms of leaving and terms of the future ongoing relationship. The process has proved torturous. The Prime Minister and her negotiating team have been undermined throughout and their negotiating position weakened by amongst others, out and out anti democratic remoaners (who want to overturn the decision), so called "soft " Brexiteer MP's (who are obsessed with terms of trade - but inadvertently are undermining the prospect of getting good ones), those particularly focused on "Parliamentary Sovereignty" and insistence on a meaningful parliamentary vote on the "terms"  - and  by the Opposition parties and the media playing political games. Some are motivated by a political strategy to overturn and frustrate the leave decision. However in my view many are just misguided. They are naïve or ignorant in the art of negotiation. In this short blog I am focusing on naivety/ignorance which has been manifest.

Back to basics. The UK and EU are in a negotiation over leave terms. The EU negotiators are striving to get a deal most favourable to them. We should want a deal most favourable to us. It can be dressed up as we all want there to be winners - or that that the EU does not want to punish the UK but of course that is rubbish. Lets get real.

There are 3 basic points I want to make :

Here is the first - a sort of parable - it might be helpful :-

When I was a young teenager I was visiting my aunt and uncle who had a garage business down in south Devon. While I was there my uncle received a call from a customer (I will refer to him as Mr Hardnut). Would he come and look at a car that the Mr Hardnut was negotiating to buy? We went to have a look at it. It was a white convertible E Type Jaguar. If you know anything about cars you will know it as a "super car" something exceptional - a very expensive car - but like all super cars probably not very practical and therefore of limited market. What played out has stuck with me - it was a lesson learned. The car owner was a young man who had advertised the car nationally. He had agreed to bring the car down from London to south Devon for Mr Hardnut to inspect and buy - over 150 miles - a 300 mile round trip. It also became apparent he was keen to sell because he was getting married and needed the money. His fiancé was with him. Hardnut played it cool. Steely eyed. He liked the car but not that much - he was prepared to walk away unless the price was right. (although my uncle knew he really wanted it.) The youngman was evidently desperate to sell. He had gone to so much effort to bring the car down to Devon and the young fiancé had undermined his negotiating position further by emphasising how much they wanted the sell in order to fund the forthcoming wedding. To coin a phrase Mr Hardnut "had them over a barrel" and the negotiated price tumbled. I remember the final scenario clearly because it was brutal and there were tears. Hardnut made a final offer and started to walk away. The youngman said "no way" - and his fiancé started crying. Before Hardnut left they had accepted his offer. Hardnut had got a tremendous deal.

So the lesson there if I have to spell it out - unless the other side believe you are prepared to walk away - they have you over a barrel. 

The second. Another basic point. Theresa May and David Davis are continually criticised and pressured for not stating exactly what we want from the negotiations - and particularly to set out our "red lines" - our musts or must not haves - things that are non negotiable. David Davis (I believe to be a very experienced businessman and a tough and subtle negotiator) says if you set out your red lines the most you will get will ONLY be your red lines. He is so right. It is commonsense. What is the motivation for the other side to give you more? They won't. It is folly to be too open - too specific. Negotiation is a chess game. It is quite legitimate for instance to ask for one thing but really working towards getting something else bearing in mind the objective is to get the most favourable deal possible. (but the shallow media and political opponents will carp and criticise the government failed to get what it said it wanted). A well known cricket metaphor from the late Sir Geoffrey Howe - "it is like being sent out to open the batting - only to find the bat has been broken before you get started."! The Government are right in not stating exactly what they want at the outset. Those that are pressuring them to do so are either naïve, ignorant or willfully ignorant (to deliberately sabotage Brexit).

My final point is the insistence by some MP's that they have a "meaningful vote" on the acceptance of the terms and particularly whether to walk away from the negotiation. The problem with this insistence is so obvious - so basically flawed - it can only be a deliberate attempt to thwart the decision of the British people and keep us in the EU. (therefore it is dangerously anti democratic.) I explain. The EU would prefer to keep us in the club. They do not want us to leave. It weakens the EU - and as a massive net contributor our money will be badly missed. If Parliament will not accept no deal is better than a bad deal - what incentive does the EU have to agree a good deal for us. It clearly is in their interest not to offer us a good deal - ie only offer us a bad deal - if they know Parliament will not let our negotiators walk away.- and therefore by default we stay in! With regard a meaningful vote on the terms - it is bonkers Parliament insists it is the de facto negotiator with the EU. That cannot work. The Government has to be trusted to get the best deal they can and if Parliament doesn't like it we must walk away. That is the only way we will have any chance of getting the Brexit deal we want.

Unfortunately many of out MP's are like Dominic Greive - an academic - a professional politician - and clueless and naïve it what it takes to be successful in negotiation.



  

#myallotment

I have had my allotment for a few years now. In reality it is only about a 3 minute brisk walk from my front door but at times it seems much further. I grow fruit and vegetables - organically - at least I try to - ha ha!

Why do I have an allotment - a question I ask myself on a regular basis! I have it because there are times when I truly love being up there working the soil. There is something special about the allotment concept too. The obvious one is eating what I have grown organically. I can derive a great deal of satisfaction from that.

So why do I ever question the good sense of having it? Well an allotment demands attention - not necessarily vast amounts of time but if you do not keep at it regularly it will run away quickly and you will be faced with a dispiriting mess. It is a bit like trying to stay physically fit. If you don't exercise regularly you lose your fitness. Once you have lost it, it is much harder to get it back and it takes a lot of willpower. Time and energy has to be summoned up. Sometimes it is just not available. There are times when I am away and it really shows when I finally get back to it. Like so many things in life the hardest part is getting started again. It is true - the less you do the less you feel like doing.

But I have learned to be philosophical and realistic. Ok my allotment does not look perfect. Does it matter? Sometimes things don't grow or if they do they get eaten by slugs or mice or pigeons or rabbits - I never quite know! Sometimes my losses are self inflicted like over the last fortnight. I planted out some stuff. Some needed covering and I failed to get around to doing it - and it was eaten. Bloody hell - you have to smile - nature is tough!

Why am I prompted to write this blog now? Because I am smiling - chuckling at the lunacy of it. The lunacy of the allotment and my love hate relationship with it (although I have never actually hated it - but you understand what I mean). This evening I am in love with it - bigtime.

The last week has been dry and hot and I have been doing other important things - lol! Almost a week has elapsed since my last visit. Like going on a training run when you don't really fancy it - I dragged myself up to the allotment late this afternoon to plant some French beans I had started in the greenhouse. I nearly didn't go. Initially I think blimey its looking untidy again - and I notice some of my salad stuff has suffered in the relative drought. It would have made such a difference if I could have been bothered to make the modest effort of getting up there before to do some watering. I didn't. I haven't. So stuff has died. Fool. Will you ever learn? But then joy of joys. My asparagus bed is covered in spears. It amazing what can grow in a week. I really love asparagus. And then I look over my strawberry bed. In a few days masses of ripe ones have appeared. That was unexpected.

So tonight an asparagus starter and fresh strawberries to finish. Home grown - totally organic - totally fresh. Really great. I have a huge smile. I love my allotment - may I never tell you otherwise!! 

#greaterthesinnergreaterthesaint

Just back from my early morning bike ride along the sea wall. A lovely still gentle morning. Two things have come together in my mind to disturb my karma - ha! I am writing this very short blog in exasperation as a result. I am not going to spend a lot of time doing it because I feel what I know and there is no purpose in debating it - it is a personal thing.

The two things that came together yesterday?

The first - I have been watching a Netflix series called Fauda. It is set in Palestine/Israel. Enough to say Muslims and Jews are slaughtering each other in lands where religious zealotry and piety is acutely intense. Praying before and after perpetrating murder!

The second - I have been re reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles - sat in the sun yesterday late afternoon on my Kindle - ha!. Tess comes across Alec d'Urberville again. He has apparently been saved by religion - gone from a wicked sexual predator to a fiery preacher. Thomas Hardy uses the line "the greater the sinner the greater the saint."

History is awash with religious zealots who have done terrible things. These things have been done recently by so called believers! The shocking  systemic pedophilia in the Roman Catholic church priesthood (for instance) - and perhaps the even more shocking cover up! Muslim street grooming of children such as in Bradford. Others shocking examples - 9 11. Lee Rigby. Charlie Hebdo etc etc etc.

I also cannot understand the concept of  easy (convenient) forgiveness so readily available in the major religions. Ten minutes in the confessional - a few hail Mary's and you are in the clear - or face the east umpteen times a day and for the rest of the time act like a snake - or lay preaching at your chapel on Sunday mornings as a display of your righteousness when your life is anything but!

On the point of the apparent "forgiveness" of God - another Hardy line comes to mind from yesterday. "Bygones would never be complete bygones until her bygone". Alec d'Urberville can wash from his mind his sins because he has now been saved - he has found religion - he is now on the right path - he is now a pious religious preacher who has found god! (deep cynicism).  Tess - so wickedly treated by him is left with her bygones until her death bed - the reality.

Evidently I am deeply cynical about the motivation behind finding god, overt piety and ostentatious religion. It is convenient to self. If it is too good to be true it usually is.That is my experience and my observation - sadly.

Of course - I am an atheist - so I am cynical about everything to do with 'religion' - but each to his or her own as long as they keep it to themselves. The hypocrisy of religion and religious people is more than often, manifest - to say the least! I am sure we should be most wary of those that shout about their religion most - especially the born again zealots.