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Free speech policed by Bikers For Trump. What could go wrong? Free speech policed by Bikers For Trump. What could go wrong?
(35 minutes later)
What a very lively occasion the presidential inauguration is going to be – very far, in all probability, from the “soft sensuality” whimsically described by his press team. PEOTUS has excitedly tweeted: “People are pouring into Washington in record numbers. Bikers for Trump are on their way!” Erm … Bikers for Trump? Could it be that Mr Trump is encouraging these free spirits and easy riders to show up with a view to, um, balancing out the protest contingent? Their website announces: “Bikers For Trump™ believes in the first amendment of the United States and believes in the People’s peaceful right to demonstrate and protest, however we denounce protesters being paid and provided [sic] untruthful propaganda …” I think that gives us a pretty good idea of the limits to anti-Trump free speech envisioned by Bikers For Trump, and exactly how any confrontation is going to go down. I found myself reaching for my DVD copy of the classic documentary Gimme Shelter by the Maysles brothers about the Rolling Stones’ 1969 Altamont concert, in which Hells Angels provided security in return for free beer. The mood turned ugly, as the bikers responded to crowd disorder with aggression and violence and finally stabbed an audience member who had pulled a gun. Perhaps Mr Trump’s team should study Gimme Shelter before the proceedings start.What a very lively occasion the presidential inauguration is going to be – very far, in all probability, from the “soft sensuality” whimsically described by his press team. PEOTUS has excitedly tweeted: “People are pouring into Washington in record numbers. Bikers for Trump are on their way!” Erm … Bikers for Trump? Could it be that Mr Trump is encouraging these free spirits and easy riders to show up with a view to, um, balancing out the protest contingent? Their website announces: “Bikers For Trump™ believes in the first amendment of the United States and believes in the People’s peaceful right to demonstrate and protest, however we denounce protesters being paid and provided [sic] untruthful propaganda …” I think that gives us a pretty good idea of the limits to anti-Trump free speech envisioned by Bikers For Trump, and exactly how any confrontation is going to go down. I found myself reaching for my DVD copy of the classic documentary Gimme Shelter by the Maysles brothers about the Rolling Stones’ 1969 Altamont concert, in which Hells Angels provided security in return for free beer. The mood turned ugly, as the bikers responded to crowd disorder with aggression and violence and finally stabbed an audience member who had pulled a gun. Perhaps Mr Trump’s team should study Gimme Shelter before the proceedings start.
Childhood top 10. HonestChildhood top 10. Honest
There is a Facebook craze for people naming the top 10 albums that influenced them in their teenage years. It is a bit like the ice bucket challenge – only instead of freezing water, people cover themselves in super-cool retro connoisseurship with the naff material sneakily airbrushed out. Answered honestly, at least some of these albums would have to include kiddie albums, stuff you got given in your pre-teen years, or which belonged to your mum and dad, which got endlessly played and were a real influence on what you found yourself humming. So here, for good or ill, is my Honest Top 10 from 12 to 18: The Happy World of Tommy Steele (Decca, 1969); Music from the Fabulous Film of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, by Ronnie Hilton and the Mike Sammes Singers (Music For Pleasure, 1968); Songs for Swingin’ Sellers, by Peter Sellers (Parlophone, 1959); My Fair Lady (Broadway Cast Recording; Columbia, 1956); The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Executive Version; Charisma, 1975); The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie (RCA, 1972); Talking Heads: 77 (Sire, 1977); George Thorogood and the Destroyers (Sonet, 1978); Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (Virgin, 1977); Remain in Light by Talking Heads (Sire, 1980). I put the phone face-down in the floor, where it buzzes intermittently for another hour. In the morning, when I want to know what happened, everyone else is asleep. There is a Facebook craze for people naming the top 10 albums that influenced them in their teenage years. It is a bit like the ice bucket challenge – only instead of freezing water, people cover themselves in super-cool retro connoisseurship with the naff material sneakily airbrushed out. Presented honestly, at least some of these albums would have to include kiddie albums, stuff you got given in your pre-teen years, or which belonged to your mum and dad, which got endlessly played and were a real influence on what you found yourself humming. So here, for good or ill, is my Honest Top 10 from 12 to 18: The Happy World of Tommy Steele (Decca, 1969); Music from the Fabulous Film of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, by Ronnie Hilton and the Mike Sammes Singers (Music For Pleasure, 1968); Songs for Swingin’ Sellers, by Peter Sellers (Parlophone, 1959); My Fair Lady (Broadway Cast Recording; Columbia, 1956); The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Executive Version; Charisma, 1975); The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie (RCA, 1972); Talking Heads: 77 (Sire, 1977); George Thorogood and the Destroyers (Sonet, 1978); Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (Virgin, 1977); Remain in Light by Talking Heads (Sire, 1980).
A punt on playfulnessA punt on playfulness
As my colleague Donna Ferguson reported earlier this week, Lego has pulled off another startling PR coup. It is sponsoring the world’s first professor of play – leading Cambridge University’s newly established Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning. You have until Friday to apply. The Lego Foundation that although it has no say on choosing applicants, it is hoping for an academic who is “playful” with a “childlike mindset”. Very important. James Watson and Francis Crick said that an important part of their inspiration in Cambridge for discovering the structure of DNA came not from slaving in the lab but going punting – playing, in fact. So well done, Lego. But perhaps the professor can look into Lego’s habit of nowadays making not general construction bricks, from which children make their own stuff, but pre-schemed kits for making trademarked objects from Star Wars and so on. As my colleague Donna Ferguson reported earlier this week, Lego has pulled off another startling PR coup. It is sponsoring the world’s first professor of play – leading Cambridge University’s newly established Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning. You have until Friday to apply. The Lego Foundation that although it has no say in choosing applicants, it is hoping for an academic who is “playful” with a “childlike mindset”. Very important. James Watson and Francis Crick said that an important part of their inspiration in Cambridge for discovering the structure of DNA came not from slaving in the lab but going punting – playing, in fact. So well done, Lego. But perhaps the professor can look into Lego’s habit of nowadays making not general construction bricks, from which children make their own stuff, but pre-schemed kits for making trademarked objects from Star Wars and so on.