15 Albums

I've just been tagged in this meme on Facebook. So thought I'd say my results here with a few notes.

THE RULES: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what albums my "music-fan-friends" choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste the rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note).

1. U2 - War

This was the first U2 Album I listened to all the way through and it was what really hooked me to their sound.

2. Duran Duran - Rio

IMHO the best Album by my favourite band as a teenager. Didn't get to see them live until the Notorious tour but they had me at the intro the the title track here.

3. Mika - Live in Cartoon Motion

With 'Grace Kelly' snaring me in I was hooked. He has an incredible and unique vocal sound that gets across some difficult subject matter listen to 'Billy Brown' to see what I mean.

4. Prince - Purple Rain

My introduction to the diminuative Minnesotean really took me to a whole new plane. The guitar rift into drums at the start of 'When Doves Cry' the electro-pop elsewhere. Wow, just wow.

5. Michael Jackson - Thriller

The seminal album of everyone of my generation Eight top ten singles off the one album I mean come on. And then the whole 'Thriller' single, even on vinyl it captures your imagination but not as it did on celluloid.

6. The Divine Comedy - Fin de Siècle

Although this album does contain 'National Express' it is one of Neil Hannon's more sombre collections. But as every it is his use of words that really thrills.

7. Crowded House - Temple of the Low Men

With 'Better Be Home Soon', crowd favourite 'Sister Madly' and 'Into Temptation' maybe not everyone's favourite album but a journey one for me.

8. Bruce Hornsby and the Range - The Way is Is

That piano playing. Enough said.

9. Deacon Blue - Raintown

Come on don't tell me you can't see that council worker with his Sunblest bag wrapped lunch saving for his dream boat to sail up the west coast. Just from me naming the album. I've sung this song at full belt numerous times while sailing up the west coast, just never owned the yacht...yet.

10. Aztec Camera - Love

So many memories tied up with a number of these songs, but 'Summer in the City' and 'How Men Are' are enough for you to be guessing what memories.

11. Billy Joel - The Stranger

Actually contains the most wonderfully constructed Billy Joel song ever 'Scenes from an Italian Restaurant'. A mini opera in three Acts. I have a live lecture CD in which he explains the process. Add on 'Just the Way You Are', 'Only the Good Die Young', 'Moving Out (Anthony's Song)' and 'She's Always a Woman' and tell me he gets better than this.

12. The Beatles - Revolver

Had to include one Beatle's album and why not include a double. By far a pivotal album in the Beatles cannon a shift from purely pop to experimentation.

13. INXS - The Swing

To show that I knew of them pre-Live Aid (which was during the 'Listen Like Thieves' next album) here is the album I finally got a hold of after an Australian penfriend (no Facebook those days) told me they were great. 'Johnson's Aeroplane' and the 'Original Sin' are two key songs for me.

14. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

Jake Shears, Ana Matronic, Baby Daddy, Del Marquis and Paddy Boom fairly exploded unto the scene with this album. Like many of the songs on here it is the lyrical mastery as much as the musically that gets me. The more you listen the more you pick up.

15. Coldplay - Parachutes

Just a different change of pace from much of what is above. But a seminal album that everyone eventually got into to help chill.

Of course now that I have made this list and posted it there is one album I'm going how could I forget without even delving further, Paul Simon's - Graceland my copy was the one that went around school and got taped by all my friends. In one room one night we played the whole thing three times, just so the other three could tape it. The African vibes from this album of the then still opressed South African blacks was a bold political statement but one that was brilliant musically.

My Song of the Month: August 2010

Last month going to my first live gig in what seems likes far too long I decided to do a new monthly feature. I thought I'd do a new feature at the end of each month let you share the song of my month. It may be the song that means something to me, the one I couldn't stop singing (out loud or in my head), the one I kept presses play and repeat on various formats, the one that sums up my month, its moods, its events etc.

Therefore I was going to post this one before a minor hiccup made me reconsider the whole scheme. But I say what the heck. A plan is worth doing if you stick to it warts and all, mixed emotions, feelings the lot.

This was my song for August and it actually ticks all the the boxes above. Enjoy.

Open Letter to All My Female Friends

Dear all,

This morning's Today programme on Radio 4 has just said that the Foreign Secretary being in a room with another man was a 'lapse of judgement' for a straight politician. Therefore and henceforth I shall have to make some adjustments to the way I live to avoid making a similar 'lapse' seeing as I am an openly gay politician this will affect my female friends and acquaintances.

To Caron, you had better not get ill again. I know during your recent illness I spent many hours coming to see you and sometimes turning up while you were still in your pyjamas. But if the press were to get hold of such information it would be dynamite and a serious lapse of judgement in their opinion. Therefore in future this will have to stop, even if you are on death's bed all meeting you will he have to be clothed in outdoor wear and you will have to wheeled or trolleyed, if necessary, to a public venue. If other's catch the pubonic plague as a result that is a price that will have to be paid.

Also Caron and Elspeth Finlay I know that you have often driven me into the back and beyonds to dump me on some strange street with loads of leaflets. However, in future I may have to insist on a male driver as the exit of a campaign headquarters in the sole company of a woman and not returning for hours, with the same driver, and then looking exhausted might be similarly misconstrued.

Dear Helen Duffett and Meg and others I do love the direct message conversations that we have on Twitter. But I think we are going to have to stop them which means the juicy stuff like planning the BOTY's, or bloggers at conference or just talking about hot men on TV will just have to be done in the open.

As for my dear cousin Rachel, we are going to have to keep using the Lab/Lib Dem supporting cousin epithet on all our tweets to each other using up some of the valuable 140 characters. If only your mother had been born male and we shared the same surname, that would have made things easier.

Addendum paragraph As for Pam Tilson I clearly cannot be seen walking to or from a sporting arena in your company, tongues would wag. So that rules out my accompanying you to the Oval to watch the Glens play at any time*.

So sadly I shall have to make the required changes I cannot afford to have my character besmirched by keeping too close attention and proximity to members of the opposite sex. Guido and the MSM may well think I am slipping or defecting to a heterosexual lifestyle and that can never do.

Yours with regret,

Stephen Glenn

Further addendum I have just had assurances from the PSNI that Dubarrys, Kremlin or any other gay venue I may choose to enter will be swept of fag hags, lesbians and casual female hangers on. A security lock down will then be installed around the venue until 10 minutes after my departure. Drag Queen's are requested to turn up and depart in male apparel and sans make up, changing facilities will be provided at the discretion of the licensee inside the venue.

After all it wouldn't been right for me to be snapped by the press leaving such a place with a woman or faux-woman in shot. Think of the scandal the headlines writers would come up with.

* Actually that works out well for this Bangor fan.

Sickening Republican Slight to Pride

This post has taken me a good few hours to finish. I've actually toned it down a lot on re-reading, all of which wasn't doing my blood-pressure any good I guess. Trying to be as objective as possible when I'm this close to the subject has been hard. So I decided to screw on my journalistic head (just like Wurzel Gummage if he had one) as much as I could.

I may have only been back in Northern Ireland for only 10 days but I've already learnt a lot in my few short days back here.

First a personal observation, I'm a lot more confident with myself and my sexuality now than when I last lived here. The other day I boldly lifted Attitude off the shelf in Asda between two blokes and strode confidently to the checkout to pay. It was only later that I remembered the looks they both gave me, not hateful, just shock that I was so bold.

The other is that here in Northern Ireland the gay community or at least that which takes part in Pride in more 'christian' and forgiving of the religious bigots than their counterparts over the water. As I read with great joy the attitude that Belfast Pride took to the protest against them, I saw it in action on Saturday at Foyle Pride. The many Christians in the parade shouting back their forgiveness and love at those who were protesting. I know there have been individual incidents down the years, but I like the approach that the Pride committees take here, it's show tolerance to everyone whether they want to be involved or protest. Indeed the approach led to the Parades Commissions saying it had no issues with either the parade or counter protest in Belfast.

Earlier today I was directed towards this comment thread I'll warn you now it does make for pleasant reading. For those of you who don't want to read it and I suggest you don't bother I'll give you a potted version of some of the lowlights. Highlights they are not and the whole threat gets sickening in too many different ways, many based on falsehoods, untruths and narrow mindedness.

Too bad this "Pride Parade" didn't end in the same way as that "Love Parade" did in Germany a few weeks ago.

That was in the death of 19 young music lovers.

It would be lewd if this was a hetrosexual event, it's "family fun" because homosexual militancy fits in with some peculiar liberation narrative fabricated by some deranged quacks a couple of decades ago.

escalating to this:

When I see pork [police] acting the hardmen against peaceful protesters like this I often wonder what it would be like if someone suddenly produced an assault rifle and dropped about ten of them. They'd piss themselves.

or this

[This parade] is just a way of portraying gays as normal, you are not normal. As a matter of fact, many gay people regard themselves as having an alternative lifestyle.

Which ignores the fact that alternative lifestyle is the moniker put on people by narrow minded people not those living the 'alternative' lifestyle themselves often, and it applies to heterosexuals as much as homosexuals.

Or this one which shocked me in a whole new way:

I interpret the homosexual question in the same way as the multiple sclerosis question or someone with permanent or semi-permanent difficulties in walking...et al They shouldn't be subject to abuse, harrassment et al. I'd mandate programs to educate people in that spirit. Additionally they should have optional treatment. Either way they should, if their character is up to scratch, have no barriers to lead full and rich lives and have no doors closed to them.

or this

Very true. These parents [who brought their children to the parade], who probably have more brain fluid then brain matter in their heads, have to be serious deranged to bring their children to something like this. Think about it, a parade is a form of celebration. These parents brought their children to an event that celebrates the idea of two people of the same sex sodomizing, molesting, and urinating on each other and engaging in all kinds of other deprived sex acts. The idea that such things are worthy of being celebrated only shows how criminally deprived and insane the world we live in has become. Everything good and noble is mocked and savagely attacked while all that is sick, deranged, and deprived is upheld as good and normal.

It almost looks like people who store up wrath are looking for a target, any target and the LGBT community in the province will do all too handily.

In the middle of it all is this:

Very disturbing information has emerged of the homosexualist infiltration in Catholic circles.

Before linking to another Catholic Website that has information off Facebook and pictures of an individual who happens to be on the Belfast Pride committee amongst other things. Followed up by this.

man seeks relationship

? this dangerous pervert needs to be stopped.

What person doesn't deserve to find a relationship, the fact that he is looking for one is surely not a sign of perversion but quite the opposite!

This is where I do get really angry, as I know the individual concerned. It lists his occupation, it lists a lot of personal information about him. Just like Chris Myers the individual works for a politician, but Chris gave up under the pressure he was under from falsehoods, the language used here is hateful and grotesque. The attitude of some of those posting is vindictive. The information is extremely personal. It is also on a discussion board that is lacking a complaint button that I can find. There is almost an incitement to hate going on in many of the comments in both locations.

The individual concerned is my good friend Mícheál (who has blogged his own response), so no doubt when some other nutter decides to raid his publicly available pictures in future I'll likely end up in there somewhere too. That will be one that is hard for some of the hardcore to explain a Catholic Scout and a Presbyterian Boys Brigade man walking side by side carrying a rainbow flag or the pink jack.

I know it had an impact on him, but like me I feel that he doesn't care a pair of fetid dingoes kidneys what is going on. If he or anyone else does there are people who are going to be there for them. I'm still going to be the person I've learnt to be over the recent years. That man who proudly picks up the gay mag in public. Is not scared of offering other men hugs, consoling or otherwise, in public places.

I may have returned as a brave new, more confident, out, Northern Irish man. But while one gay campaigner is saying that homophobic sentiment is on the decrease, some of the sentiment that some of the homophobes display here is far once than anything I have witnessed in England or Scotland. There is still some way to go and Foyle Pride's first parade on Saturday is only going some way toward that. I guess I'm part of that work going forward, for however long that is, it's the attitude I've come back here with, I'm not gong to avoid any questions that are asked, see the start of Operation Evacuate.

There is an anger for the things and way that people posted the things on that thread boiling up inside me. However, the good politician within me is going to use that to make things better. I don't want Northern Ireland's young gay men to have to spend 17 of the first 22 years of their adult lives outside the province to gain the confidence I have. I want them to be able to do that right here.

I guess that is the third lesson that I've learnt since coming back here. Has it really only been ten days?

Update: I've had a request via Twitter to add these links to the blogpost.

Belfast Pride www.belfastpride.com
Foyle Pride www.foylepride.org

I'm In Seventh Heaven

It is indeed that time of year again. Total politics are currently in the middle of announcing the list of the Top Political Blogs for 2010.

Today it was the turn of one of the categories for which I am eligible that of the Top Scottish blog. For the past two years I have actually finished in eleventh place in Scotland on both occasions. This year however I am into the top ten at number 7, the spot held last year by my dear friend Caron, she has climbed to number 4. My spot for the last 2 years was so nearly taken by another Lib Dem Andrew Reeves is however only at number 12, journalist Alex Massie assumes the Stephen Glenn position.

Other Lib Dems in the list include Cllr Fraser Macpherson climbing 10 to 18 and Liberal Youth Scotland a new entry at 34. Another blog from Linlithgow and East Falkirk is that of Love & Garbage in at number 44.

Here is the top 10 political blogs in Scotland for 2010 (last year's position in brackets):

1 (1) Tom Harris MP
2 (3) Underdogs Bite Upwards
3 (2) SNP Tactical Voting
4 (7) Caron's Musings
5 (4) Mr Eugenides
6 Bright Green Scotland
7 (11) Stephen's Liberal Journal
8 (5) Two Doctors
9 Subrosa
10 (6) Malc in the Burgh

You can view the top 50 at the Total Politics site.

Of course heaven knows what nation/region list I'll qualify for next year.

UPDATED Human Trafficking: Labour, Lib Dems and the EU Directive

Originally posted at 04:18. Now updated with new information which in my humble opinion makes this vitally important and potentially a coalition deal breaker.

Yesterday on my way to Liberal Drinks in Belfast I read a story that really got me seething, sadly I couldn't get signal on the train or it would already have been written up.

Apparently the coalition government has used its European opt-out not to sign up to a directive that includes a common definition of trafficking which makes it easier to convict people across the 27 member states. Dennis McShane is up in arms about the Government failing to sign up to this directive.

In the European campaign before it got scuppered by the expenses scandal the Lib Dems were quite correction pointing out some of the errors in the EU and some of its strengths including cross-border policing. We especially aimed our attack at the Conservatives who were wanting to scrap many of the protections that the EU gave our citizens under co-operative policing. Therefore if a directive was being ignored, or opted out on by the new Government Lib Dems would rightly be pointing that Dennis McShane has a right to be angry.

However, when I googled to find said directive the only result that came back that matched the remit of the story is this one. It has been open to signature since the 16th of May, so you suggest a new government would be keen to act on it. Unfortunately that particular 16th May is in 2005. Therefore does that mean that the directive has been around for five years? Does that mean the Labour Government, under which Dennis McShane was Europe Minister, failed to sign the directive in a full term of parliament?

Now of course there may well be another directive in 2010 that I have been unable to find. If there is and someone would like to post a link to it in my comments please do and I'll amend the post accordingly. However, it does on the surface, after my initial anger, to be yet another case of the Labour opposition trying to punch holes in the Government ship and ending up merely exposing their own shortcomings.

Update As I asked above any update on a new directive would be welcomed. Well Olga Ivannikova has provided just that. There was a new directive on 29 March 2010.

Therefore I would echo Olga's that we as Liberal Democrats should stand up so that nobody is enslaved in this or any other way. Not kowtow to Eurosceptic Tories who want nothing to do with Europe even when it is for the betterment of humanity.

This for me is a line in the sand which the Lib Dems should not step over. We should sign up to this EU directive. If not we as Liberal Democrats should walk away from the coalition.

Spain Breaks Up Male Prostitution Ring

Following on from the last blog post it isn't just women and children who are the victims of sex-trafficking. In Spain they have broken a male sex prostitution ring.

Apparently 60 - 80 Brazilian men were given a travel bag and airline ticket to Europe (often flying into Schengen, Luxembourg before being moved to Spain. Once there they were under threat to pay back their flight expenses and kept in brothels and given cocaine, poppers and viagra and put to work as male prostitutes. To pay back their fees of over €4000 on top of daily expenses of up to €200 the men were paying back half of what they earned.

A total of 14 people have been arrested eight in Palma de Mallorca, three in Leon, and one each in Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante.