Blisterpack

1. Cat Stevens. Simply beautiful set. 2. Pretenders. Cool guests, great songs and I had my best ever Glasto spec. 3. Oranj Son. First Post stage in Green Fields on Wednesday night. Thought I would be the only one there (apart from my mate who I was arranging to meet there) and ended up watching from the field on the other side of the croissant neuf path, by the bandstand. Full of scousers! Just an acoustic set from the singer but those songs were great.

Singer from Oranj Son wore a Vauxhall Motors North West Counties Premier League Champions celebration t shirt for a set at the First Stop stage in Green Fields. Which seemed to go down well with the gang of lads wearing Vauxhall Motors FC kits. does that count as ‘outside the top 6’?

Just noticed you are in Ellesmere Port; got mates there - always seems like half the town goes to Glastonbury!

Anyone else thinking Jake Shears/ Mel C double header might get a bit busy?

Last there in 2014 - got to it about 8:20am and had the field practically to myself til about 9am!! I think it had a loyal fan base who just took their time getting there. I do CV now but South Park would be my campsite of choice in a crisis.

To be fair, if they searched every middle aged scouser going in then they would be dealing with half the festival. #scousefest

Sting on pyramid on Friday. Crowded House slot. My banker.

Twice as many as me.

Jake Bugg did a couple of cracking sets there a few years ago. And Chris Difford was really good last year, telling a really good anecdote about how he worked with Yungblud at a youth songwriting workshop, before bringing him on to do Up the Junction.

His new album is running the risk of being better than the last one. Which is some accomplishment.

Pulp DMA’s plus, not sure anyone who is on current poster is likely to be on acoustic, so there are loads of unknown gems to be announced there I reckon.

I’ve got Eurovision second semi tonight. My mate went to preview, said it’s a right laugh. And then tomorrow I will probably be joining a load of Finns and Belgians at Jimmy’s in Liverpool to see Oranj Son. They played at a U.K./Ukraine Arts Council collaboration on Tuesday at the invisible wind factory and the Europeans really loved their 80’s pop vibe. Really do think they could be the next Scouse success story.

No. Right at this moment they are looking like an electable government by attracting the Tory voters that are needed for Labour to win. It’s is impossible in a conservative nation for a socialist party to actually win a majority. It’s like some people forget what the U.K. is actually like!

Streeting, Miliband, even Starmer, would all have been natural members of any of the Labour governments of the past 50 years. Corbyn’s four years as leader shifted the frame in terms of what many on the left regard as ‘acceptable’ left wing. I prefer Labour politicians who are capable of winning general elections and providing the realistic and sustainable marginal gains to society that most people expect.

Well I’ll be along to point out that in a naturally very conservative (small c) country, they offer the only chance of keeping actual Tories out. But then I’m a 60 yr old who has seen a lot of politics.

That is factually incorrect. The asset returns to the full ownership of the commissioning authority (Govt dept, NHS trust, local council etc.). Many are due to expire shortly and I know of several first hand where ‘discussions’ are taking place on the condition of buildings. There are big compensation provisions available if they haven’t been well maintained.

Most PFI contracts had/have periodic review clauses. Not many are volunteering to cut their fees obviously but most of the ‘good’ contractors (and there are a few, they aren’t all Carillion) agree to sensible maintenance and facilities management adjustments. Still: fuck the Tories.

PFI had many failings but the main ‘pro’ was always the transfer of financial risk to the private sector. That went down the pan of course when the global economy crashed, but strangely the NHS has benefitted from known prices at a time of rising interest rates and mad energy costs. Gets back to the ‘values’ thing though. Labour built shedloads of schools and hospitals that the Tories wouldn’t have dreamed of building. Proof of that was the post economic crash: Obama, Merkel etc built stuff left right and centre while interest rates were practically zero. The Tories went for austerity.

I like Streeting and Milliband. Politics is about values in my view and they have them in spades. Converting them into policy is a balancing act that few left/centre left politicians can manage because of the conflict between global economic realities (‘the markets’) and the expectations of those they wish to represent. Centrist Labour governments will always ‘care’ about the NHS more than the Tories but will always disappoint many core supporters. That’s the weird thing: old Tories will see a better health service (shorter waiting times etc) and will give Labour credit. The criticism will come from the left.

Strange take this. Not entirely sure Labour have ever suggested they wouldn’t spend significantly on the NHS (history shows that spending on health between 1997 and 2010 was more than in any other 13 yr period in the nation’s history) but yes, I don’t expect anyone with a clue about anything would want them to ‘pour money into hospitals’ without addressing some of the obvious structural issues affecting them. Reforms can be good you know; especially if they are reforming something that is clearly rubbish.

My friend has been allocated an electric hook-up spot as she has to have constant access to power for medical equipment. Are those specs high up the hill by any chance? I don’t know East CV at all and just assumed that she would be fairly close to gate C.

‘and you don’t know what you’ve lost ‘til it’s gone.’ Valuing our artists is so important.

Could you give an example of when a Liverpool based business has claimed that it wouldn’t exploit a gilt-edged marketing opportunity? Just one would be fine to reassure me that you are resorting to facts and not mean Boris Johnson-style regional stereotypes.

Pimblett was having a go at a Georgian opponent and making comments about how Georgians were shot scared of Russians - basically an attempt to diss his opponent. Webster laughing his cock off. A female Georgian UFC fighter called Pimblett out and the webcast disappeared.

Sorry, to get back on topic: I am left of centre in my politics and a Scouser. And I hate Jamie fucking Webster. His quasi-racist webcast ‘bantz’ with Paddy the Baddy should have him binned from Glastonbury for life. But he gets a free pass for his chant.