Billy Bragg Has Absolutely Gigantic House

Generali

john539 wrote: »

Where & when did he say any of those things about anywhere ?

He is a strong believer in multiculturalism.

http://www.billybragg.com/press/story.php?ID=29

Billy Bragg celebrates the contribution of the flag of St George and the England football team in furthering the cause of multiculturalism.

http://www.billybragg.co.uk/press/story.php?ID=42

His choice of title, though, he remembers, caused some "queer looks" from among those he calls his "good leftie friends". "It ends with the lines, 'Oh my England, oh my England, what a beautiful country you are' and they said, 'You're being ironic.' I said, 'I'm not. I do love my country. Not my country right or wrong, right or left, but the idea of a society that has built and sustained a welfare state, a society that has defeated fascism, a society that celebrates multiculturalism, a society that won the World Cup. Put me down for all four of those please.'"

From what I can tell, Mr Bragg feels that places like Barking have become dumping grounds for the poor and many migrants are poor so put extra pressure on Government spending in places like that. That can and does drive poor whites towards racist parties such as the BNP.

His solution appears to be more Government spending and singing slightly tedious songs.

As with many on the Left, I agree with their view of the problem but not with their view of the solution.

(For the record (sorry) I bought Life's a Riot and whatever the next one was with my paper round money as a kid. His version of New England and Milkman of Human Kindness are still on the Generali playlist now and again).

carefullycautious

Never heard of him

john539

Generali wrote: »

From what I can tell, Mr Bragg feels that places like Barking have become dumping grounds for the poor and many migrants are poor so put extra pressure on Government spending in places like that. That can and does drive poor whites towards racist parties such as the BNP.

His solution appears to be more Government spending and singing slightly tedious songs.

Everyone knows that places like Barking have become dumping grounds, not just Billy Bragg.

More government spending is the solution, since the problem is a structural problem.

Generali

john539 wrote: »

Everyone knows that places like Barking have become dumping grounds, not just Billy Bragg.

More government spending is the solution, since the problem is a structural problem.

Places like Barking have had billions of public sector money poured in over decades yet remain poor. That suggests to me that Governments spending taxpayers' money on making poor areas rich doesn't work.

To go back to your original point, Mr Bragg is clearly in favour of multiculturalism as he talks in interviews about what a great thing it is.

aardvaak

What's the problem it does'nt look that big!

A._Badger

Generali wrote: »

To go back to your original point, Mr Bragg is clearly in favour of multiculturalism as he talks in interviews about what a great thing it is.

And then moves about as far away from it as he can.

Generali

A._Badger wrote: »

And then moves about as far away from it as he can.

It reminds me of all those scousers you get that live in London and spend their time talking about what a great city Liverpool is.

ffacoffipawb

A._Badger wrote: »

And then moves about as far away from it as he can.

Billy Bragg

Two words ...

Champagne Socialist.

Blackjack_Davy

All men are born equal, comrade. It's just that some are more equal than others.

Generali

I've got to be honest here. I don't begrudge him the money - he's a musician and nobody is forced to buy his records or go and see him play live. His early albums used to have do not pay more than £x.99 on them. IIRC it was £2.99 for Life's a Riot and £3.99 for the next one which I think was longer. I don't begrudge him the house either, he's made his money honestly, or so it seems at least.

I wonder what he thinks about it himself. Is he exploiting people in his own opinion? From memory he is a Marxist and Marx I think believed that workers were exploited by being paid less than the value of their output. I guess from a Marxist pov he is making money off the back of his music teacher(s) and the workers he uses to record, distribute and allow him to play his music live.

I wonder what he does about his servants/staff? You can't run a house that size by yourself. You need gardeners, a cleaner or 2. He'll need security of some sort too, especially now. Maybe a driver. Almost certainly a PA.

I wonder how he justifies keeping such a large proportion of the money that his organisation produces?

It's not a criticism, even Marxists have the right to try to get rich IMO.