"... and the next day they start the bombing"

Just read a fab article on Paul Weller from The Guardian website.  The URL is here: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/aug/26/paul-weller-interview>. Here's my favourite bit:

"Our guitarist Steve Cradock was 41 yesterday, and someone bought him a 1969 DVD which went through the year. Man landing on the moon and all that. And it had the investiture of the Prince of Wales. How fuckin' ridiculous that whole scene and system is. How fuckin' anachronistic and absurd. Especially as he's not even fuckin' Welsh! It's such an insult to the Welsh people. I can't believe it's the modern age and it's still here." Moments later, he's erupting about X Factor-induced apathy ("Millions of people watching a third-rate vocalist seem great amongst a sea of mediocrity. You enlarge that to society and it's quite worrying, really") and the state of British democracy ("You've got a million people marching against the Iraq war and the next day they start the bombing"). With Weller in this mood, even the recession becomes little more than a deception: "It's a way of diverting people's attention from what's really going on. Not that people aren't being hit by it – but how much are they spending in the Gulf war? Fuckin' millions! And they're asking the poor people to tighten their belts. We were watching the newsreels from 1969 and nothing's changed." No wonder Weller turned down a CBE in the Queen's birthday honours list in 2006.

 It's great to hear such verve.