Written for The Beaver, the newspaper of the Students’ Union of the London School of Economics
—
“The music is the message.”
Such were the words of Glen Da Costa, acclaimed saxophonist and one of the many talented musicians to have played with that mighty trio of Nesta Robert Marley, Peter Mackintosh and Neville Livingston. He is lounging on a tattered leather couch in a small, smoky dressing room backstage at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
Getting towards 5am. Still can’t sleep, what with the incessant coughing and the ludicrous tea drinking. Hmm. Does that mean I am drinking tea that is ludicrous, or rather, is it ludicrous that I am drinking tea? Hmm.
Think am wired. Hmm.
iTunes on shuffle. Currently Mighty Sparrow – Witch Doctor.
But it was the titular track that got me thinking.
See them fighting for power
But they know not the hour
So they bribing with
Their guns, spare-parts and money
Trying to belittle our integrity
They say what we know
Is just what they teach us
Through political strategy
They keep us hungry
When you gonna get some food
Your brother got to be your enemy
Jamaica in 1976, Trinidad in 2006.
Have we learnt nothing? Will we (n)ever?
Get up, Stand up, dammit.
Or, why even in spite of Blair, I back the Brits.
I quote AndrewSullivan:
A carefully drafted civil registration scheme could command support from people of all political affiliations and of none. By instinct, Tories are, rightly, wary of change – especially change based on abstract egalitarian theorising. But we accept changes that remove justified grievances, that tackle particular problems affecting people in their daily lives. So I appeal to my fellow Conservatives, inside and outside Parliament, to see the case for civil partnership. Changing the law, in this case, is not about political correctness. It is about personal decency. A law that effectively pretends gay couples don’t exist is indefensible. As we do at our best, let us accept the need for change and concentrate on the detail of a Bill to improve the lot of a sizeable minority of our fellow citizens.
That strikes me as a genuinely conservative statement. The Brits, with their usual pragmatism, will avoid the stark moral arguments of Americans – pro and con – and go about fixing an obvious legal anomaly. It seems inevitable that Britain will have gay marriage in effect by the fall. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart makes the same pragmatic step. Are we reaching a “tipping point”?
“It is about personal decency”
Yes. Yes. Exactly.
