Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
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Heroes and Bob Vylan
SOLOMON HUGHES give a full-throated endorsement to punk-tinged, hardcore-splashed, grimey political output of Britain's foremost rap-rock duo
Bob Vylan at the Mobo Awards
BEN CHACKO speaks with Knesset member OFER CASSIF about rising political violence, the prospects for peace and his continuous ‘silencing by suspension’
The City is leaning on Rachel Reeves to cut welfare spending — when what’s needed is cuts to all the benefits given to the mega rich, corporations and banks to help them not pay or blatantly dodge their fair share of tax, explains BERNIE EVANS
The choice between two Blairites to revamp the tepid centrism of our ruling party doesn’t even come as cold comfort as we wander the city streets suffering from their third decade of austerity and the fifth of wage stagnation, writes MATT KERR
ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns
HENRY FOWLER puts the strike of public-sector workers in New Zealand in the wider context of deteriorating employment conditions throughout the world’s major economies
MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today
IF you want to fill your speakers with sharp, loud and sometimes funny political rap-rock this Xmas, I suggest you buy as much Bob Vylan product as you can.
I’ll try to tell you how Bob Vylan sounds by pointing to the ways they are like some other bands in the political rock rap area, but comparisons only take you so far, because they are also very like themselves. The duo are made up of singer-guitarist Bobby Vylan and drummer, Bobbie Vylan.
This band-members-all-with- nearly-the-same-name-as-the-band is not their only atypical feature: when I caught the band in Southampton last month, lead singer Bobby Vylan announced “We will be starting this gig, like all our gigs, with a moment of yoga stretching and meditation, and you are welcome to join us” and preceded to do just that, to a low guitar hum.
It is a sign of how Bob Vylan isn’t afraid of being 100 per cent “right on,” but can also carry their “right on” views with good-natured humour as well as fierce anger.
Musically the band see themselves a mash-up of punk rock and grime-y rap. The punky guitar sound is of the hardcore, slightly metal-y kind — enough for them to play well at hard rock festivals like Download. The rapping and singing are full-on political, with slogan-y choruses backed by plenty of wordplay.
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