WO No. 30

Badgers, Trump and Me.

Listen to “Fischer-Z January Picks” while you read:

Recently I found out something very disappointing. 

Since I was a small child I’ve always been particularly fond of badgers. They are definitely my favourite wild animal. Over the years my friends and family have always teased me about my obsession with these indeering chaps. 

When there was a large scale badger cull going on a few years ago, when badgers were unfairly accused of transmitting rabies to cattle, I wanted to have a T-shirt reading, ‘Shoot the farmers, save the badgers’.

You can imagine my disgust when I picked up a newspaper at the weekend and found out Donald Trump was more interested in knowing facts about badgers than in dealing with important presidential decisions and affairs of state.

Apparently Trump has been know to interrogate his chief of staff about the black, white and grey creatures. He wanted to know were they mean to people and demanded to see pictures. He wanted to know how the ‘critters’ function and behave, what kind of food they like and how aggressive they can be when presented with perceived existential threats. Incidentally, I do know that American badgers tend to be more aggressive!

I hope an interest in badgers is one of the only traits I have in common with Donald Trump. 

WO No. 29

German January days.

Listen to “Fischer-Z January Picks” while you read:

I was being told yesterday that January always seems to be the longest month of the year. After the excitement of Christmas and the New Year and a holiday break for most people. It also seems to be a month when bad news predominates because people are indoors forced to spend more time with their televisions and mobile phones. As good news doesn’t predominate, we are bombarded with Chinese pandemics, nuclear proliferation and a non-ending diet of Brexit and right-wing diatribes.

I’m dictating this blog into my phone which annoyingly doesn’t seem to be designed for someone with even a reasonable lexicon at their command. I said ‘nuclear proliferation’ but the machine wrote ‘pro-life refrigeration!’ That is artificial intelligence for you. Would you put it in charge if your nuclear arsenal, automatically control all the cars on the roads or do a heart operation?! (I recently encountered a psychotic automatic vacuum cleaner which chased me around a friend’s house.)

On the waterfront here in Hamburg I am still astounded by the substance that is called water. How amazing it is and how we take it for granted. Today is physically glorious because I don’t have to share the views, the atmosphere and the marauding seagulls with any more than about five people. At the weekends in the holidays and when the sun is shining you can’t move along this stretch of quayside for ‘touristies’ of all nationalities crowding onto the fleets of smelly diesel ferries.

Today it’s extremely fresh and spacey with plenty of room to breathe. Yesterday I encountered hordes of people in the Berlin main train station; including a group of Chinese tourists with their masks on. I’m not sure whether they were concerned about giving or receiving infection. In the short-term, airports are going to be places to avoid until they get this most recent health threat under control. We’ll all have to be careful to avoid people that cough and sneeze or look excessively hot. Oh my God, I’ve just nearly bumped into somebody wearing a green surgical mask. I don’t believe it!

All the sights and sounds bounce and resonate off the water, creating a wide screen film effect. Even the great tower cranes cutting geometric lines through the sky contrast beautifully with the undulating water and the billowing grey cumulus clouds. (My phone just wrote humorous clouds!) In the distance the infamous Hamburg concert hall rises like a giant teetering cheese grater in the sky.

Enough!
My hands are getting cold and I want some fries! Keep warm and well folks! JW.

WO No.22

In the land of Douro

MORNING

There is a dog barking.

There is a generator nearby.

There is a beautiful wild ocean with waves much too big for me, it’s a place for surfers.

I love Portuguese food.

I’ve always really liked Portugal.

Up here the sea is colder than it is in England, but then it is an Atlantic coast.

Today we are moving in land along the river Douro, still not far from old Porto.

This blog sounds like a travel guide. 

(Oh my God I said I would never do anything like David Byrne’s cycling blog of New York!)

There is a wooden walkway that runs over the dunes down to the beach. There is a man pulling down his shorts behind a rock. Time to leave!

AFTERNOON

Now overlooking the Douro - What a panorama. 

An enormous wide river today dressed in aquamarine. 

And no mosquitos… Result!

From my bedroom window I am lucky to have a grand view of the river and hilltops beyond.

The river cruisers meander by, colourful floating juke boxes bulging people.

There is a forester on the opposite bank, with a whining circular saw, cutting up huge tree trunks. 

A small child is also whining down the hallway.

I can smell grilled fish.

Maybe holidays are not so bad after all.

WO No.21

What a strange old world eh?!

Here I am halfway up a hill in the German countryside contemplating the future of Europe! Actually, I’m at present extremely hungry having had a energising walk. Now what I really fancy is a monstrous burger covered in cheese, surrounded by a mountain of fries, but I reckon I should eat something less liable to enlarge my stomach. You have to be so careful these days with photographers in the wings of shows.

Then there’s the planet. I was amazed to hear from an Australian climate change expert that 75% of the world’s greenhouse gases are produced by just 3 countries :- India, China and the USA. Well, as Pavarotti was famous for saying, “Fuck-a-you lot!” Apparently if all 3 countries converted to hydrogen cars it would effectively put the breaks on global warming. Electric car manufacture unfortunately has a large carbon footprint. There’s a turn up for the books. So it doesn’t matter that all of Brighton’s recycled and sorted waste material ends up being buried in the same hole!

Saving the planet is obviously a massive priority, but reducing population growth would also be a good idea. (Obviously having had 5 children I’m not in the strongest position to comment on this, but seeing their contribution to the world ameliorates the guilt I might have had!)

Back to Europe. Am I going to need a visa, an EU wife, a signed picture of Mr. Junker, a rowing boat, wads of cash, a baseball bat, my old Frenchman disguise, my German teddy bear ‘Fritz’, Boris Johnson’s Book of Lies or indeed evidence of my 16th century Belgian relatives to tour Europe next year?! Who knows.

(Now back to that burger and bottle of red wine and some tiramisu and possibly a little limoncello or two…)

WO No.20

An extract from a memoir…

I clung to the round-topped gate panels and strained my eyes hoping to see my old man appear round the corner at the bottom of the road. An early evening ritual. On time as usual he appeared 300 yards down the hill, briefcase in hand, raincoat folded neatly over his arm. He moved with the unmistakeable leisurely gate of a good and happy man. I watched him stop and greet 2 or 3 neighbours on the way up to our place. I could see his smile 100 yards away and it made me feel warm inside. I waited for the “Hello Fella!” and the hug that smelt of London train smoke and hair cream.

Two hours later my Dad would be sat astride a kitchen chair, his wooden shoebox open in front of him with the black shoe polish, the brown shoe polish, the brown finisher brush and the black one. In a room full of St Bruno smoke, pipe in his mouth and his eyes gleaming. The suit was off and the familiar army shorts were on. All our shoes lined up in front of him for his inspection. He loved being a family man.

WO No.19

Do Prime Ministers in waiting remember Guy Fawkes?!

There may well be a challenge to Parliamentary democracy before the EU Brexit deadline of the 31st October. Dominic Rabb and a number of other would-be Tory leaders will have to overthrow parliament in order to achieve their aim of a No Deal Brexit. I believe the punishment for such treachery should still be execution by being hung, drawn and quartered!

I’m not a Conservative voter, but anyone Interested in the short and mid-term future of the UK should take notice of the Tory leadership elections. The Brexit vote enabled the Tory right wing popularists to  raise their ugly heads and be heard In the mainstream.

I’ve just seen an interview with a Tory minister with a heart. In the light of the recent Parliamentary apocalypse, Rory Stewart is certainly a breath of fresh air.

Unfortunately, it’s very unlikely that the 120,000 Tory party members will elect anyone except the Johnson buffoon. They are desperate to find anybody with a high enough public profile to stand up to Nigel Farage and his burgeoning far-Right Brexit Party.

There is such a lack of humanity and honesty in contemporary politics. Rory Stewart is the only candidate in the race for the Tory leadership who emphasises these core values. As the new leader automatically becomes prime minister they have to have statesmanlike qualities.

Rory Stewart could adequately lead a Tory government or indeed a liberal democrat one

But then again maybe we also need a comedian to lead our government...

Back to Boris then?!

WO No.18

#WATTSOCCURING N0.18

PC society, Populism and Pep Guardiola…

We are supposedly living in a modern enlightened era, where differences in race, gender and sexual orientation are much better understood and tolerated. 
So why the meteoric rise in populism? 
In science classes at school we were taught that for every force there was an equal and opposite force. It’s easy to put forward the theory that in our ‘over PC’ declining post liberal democracies there is bound to be a reactionary response. 

The assumptions made by many modern politicians that the majority of citizens share their PC middle-class beliefs, Just put them out of touch with the electorate. This and their fear of saying and doing anything that will make them unpopular, has rendered them ineffective. ‘Reality Show’ politics has resulted in the decline of long-term planning and the end of effective government. Angela Merkel is possibly the only modern European leader to exhibit genuine statesmanlike qualities. 

On a lighter note, although I’m not specifically a Manchester City fan and I’m not in favour of billionaires from questionable regimes buying football success, I have to admire their people. 
In our politics, there is no ‘Vincent Kompany’ to steady the defence of post-war liberalism, no ‘Pep Guardiola’ to mastermind an attack on the burgeoning populist right and no legends like ‘Bert Trautmann’ with the experience and a safe enough pair of European hands to protect the future of generations to come. 
After the European Union parliament election results it looks like the two traditionally biggest parties need to take advantage of a major ‘transfer window’! 

WO No.17

#WATTSOCCURRING NO.17

Last week of production…

Last week of production - Swimming in Thunderstorms.

So here we are in the last week of production for the ‘Swimming in Thunderstorms’ album and BWW video. It’s always the same, three months ago we were saying, “Yep we’re nearly there we’ve got plenty of time.” In the end we always end up against the deadline wire!

Musicians and artists in general are always accused of never being able to let their creations go. This is rather unfair. Once your work is unleashed on the world it’s similar to losing a beachball that is washed out to sea and it’s something you have to be comfortable living with forever.

From my perspective I will keep working on audio and films until the last moment as long as they’re getting better. Part of my process is going past that point, realising it, then knowing I’m finished.

I’m very proud of this piece of work and of all the people who’ve helped produce it. You can never guarantee that anybody out there will like it. The most important thing is that as many people as possible get to hear the music. I write songs stating my political opinions and my views on love and commitment. I don’t believe that artists should preach, but their work should make people think. The bigger the audience you have the greater the chance of putting a positive message across. 

In this volatile 21st-century era as well as being PC and calling out prejudice in all forms, we should never refrain from calling  out despicable political leaders and their ideas. My music’s given me a louder voice than I might otherwise have. I will always continue to use it as long as I feel I have something relevant to say!

WO No.16

#WATTSOCCURRING N0.16

Reduce deliveries for the planet…

I sat in a café patisserie this morning eating my poached eggs. During that time a number of ‘Deliveroo’ moped drivers came in to pick up paper bags containing only a couple of croissants or a coffee and pastry for some amazingly lazy bozo who clearly wants to end the world as quickly as possible! 

All the laudable and much publicised enviromental initiatives seem to me to be focused mainly on time honoured targets. 
Although we in Britain are arguably only an ugly pimple on the large buttocks of the polluting world, we still have an obligation to make as much noise as possible and to show some leadership. 

I would be willing to bet that many of the folks out on the streets protesting about climate change receive clothes and shoes from online retailers in multiple sizes before returning the unwanteds; goods produced by exploited workers at a significant cost to the environment, packaged in cardboard and plastic and delivered by vans burning fossil fuels emitting carbon dioxide. Maybe some of them have their groceries delivered from the supermarket by more of those white vans. Although I’m not advocating an unlicensed world of electric drones, (However amusing it might be to sit at one’s bedroom window and grab passing merchandise in large fishing nets!) in the same way as charity begins at home, new methods of delivery can easily be in curtailed or restricted. 

I say give the Deliveroo chappies super push bikes or electric scooters, then I can stop trying to save the planet by running them down with my 3 litre, gas guzzling, 4 wheel drive motor cruiser. (Joke)