Why can’t he say a bad thing about Vladimir Putin  of Russia?

Well, maybe he just likes bad guys like  President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines…

…or nasty President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey….

He got on just fine with repressive King Salman of Saudi Arabia too…..

…and he’s best buddies with autocratic civil rights abuser President Xi Jinping of China….maybe he gets on best with autocrats and dictators.

He likes some Americans too….like crooked General Michael Flynne, his sacked National Security Adviser…

.. and let’s not forget his campaign manager, crooked Paul Manafort.

He’s loved all these nasty men but let’s be honest, the person Donald loves best is this guy – well someone has to. I don’t like any of them.

The post A few of Donald Trump’s favourite people – nice! appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

        Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States of America

So what’s it going to be for the President of the USA? We learn something new about his Russian obsessions every day, it seems. Now, of course, we have the extraordinary smoking gun that is revealed in those emails to his eldest son Donald Trump Junior about setting up a meeting with a Russian attorney who was, allegedly, offering the dirt on Hillary Clinton during last year’s Presidential campaign.

Donald Trump Junior

The meeting with the Russian was arranged with Donald Junior,  who, at the time, was busy campaigning for his father.

Jared Kushner

Also there was Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser,  now Head of the White House Office of American Innovation.

Paul Manafort

The third man on the list was  Paul Manafort (Donald Trump campaign manager)., all of whom have denied at various times that they had any meetings with Russians during the Trump campaign.

Donald Trump with his son-in-law, Jared, and eldest son, Donald Jnr

Well, as time goes by, one American newspaper or TV channel after another have come up wth stories which contradict their statements and, each time, these three men’s stories alter. Now we know that they were at the very least giving us alternative versions of the truth and that the American media weren’t, after all, delivering fake news.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Federation

Whatever the final, real truth is about Trump and the Russians, we will probably find out and, American democracy being what it is, Donald Trump will probably, sooner or later, have to pay the price of  his actions. One thing is already undeniable, the President of the United States, for all his many wildly inaccurate statements and tweets, has never said anything directly condemning about President Vladimir Putin whom, as almost everyone else knows, was directly involved in the hacking of the Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign. Far from condemning President Putin, President Trump, as we saw only too clearly at the G20 summit,  gets on with him famously.

President Putin and President Trump at the G20 Summit 2017

As a citizen of the United Kingdom, currently a perilously  leaderless country on the verge of the most calamitous moment in its history since the Second World War, I can hardly act all superior to the USA these days. I have great admiration for the USA and for the American people. Some of the cleverest, most impressive and innovative folk I know are American, but the current president only reinforces what was once an erroneous and minority prejudice in this country, that all Americans are vulgar, flashy and incurably addicted to money. Far from mocking all Americans, the American people have my sympathy for this breath-taking moment in their history.

President Trump on his first official overseas trip –  in Saudi Arabia

President Trump does his country no favours overseas except in places like Saudi Arabia, Israel and Poland, where right-wing authoritarians are in government and have reason to praise this most vain-glorious of men. Oh yes, I should’ve included Russia in that list, silly me. The Russian, Polish, Saudi Arabian people have my sympathy too.

British music publicist, Rob Goldstone

The New York Times got hold of the now infamous emails between Donald Trump Junior and a British music publicist and former tabloid journalist called Rob Goldstone. The newspaper informed Donald Junior that they were going to publish them and Donald, on advice, rushed out the publication himself as a form of desperate damage limitation.

Russian pop star, Emin Agalarov

The exchange of emails spells out the facts. Mr Goldstone says, 3 June 2016,  he has spoken to the Russian pop singer known as Emin (Agalarov), who has, apparently asked him to contact the Trumps because the Russian “Crown prosecutor’ had met the pop star’s father, the millionaire former Trump business partner, Aras Agalarov and ‘offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary (Clinton) and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.’

Russian millionaire businessman, Aras Agalarov

Rob Goldstone adds; ‘This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but it is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr Trump – helped along by Aras and Emin.’

Donald Trump with Aras Agalarov and Emin Agalarov in happier days

Donald Junior replied the same day: ‘If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer. Could we do a call first thing next week when I’m back?”  He meant back from being on the road campaigning with his dad. The meeting was arranged and happened at Trump Tower in New York six days later when Junior, Jared Kushner and Paul Mannafort met with the Russian attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya (the Russians are claiming, as is KGB style, that she is merely a private citizen). Apparently,  that day, President-elect Trump was upstairs  in the same building.

Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya

Donald Junior released the emails with an explanatory note saying that  ‘the woman’ had ‘no information to provide’ Even if this is true, Donald Junior, along with Kushner and Manafort went to the meeting with, at least, Donald Junior acting on the expectation that the Russian government was prepared to give valuable information that would incriminate Hillary Clinton in the American election. Eventually Mr Trump Junior will have to give his version of the truth under oath, but, don’t hold your breath, the Trump family believes in alternative truth.

In case you’re confused by the B-movie characters in this seedy but potentially dangerous affair, here are the principal players – they seem to be friends. President Trump co-owns the company that produces the Miss Universe Competition. The 2013 Miss Universe show came from Moscow and the Russian oligarch, Aras Agalarov invested $20 million into the event. Aras, remember, is the father of the pop star, Emin, who approached the writer of that email, the music publicist, Rob Goldstone. Thank God this story doesn’t get any seedier!

Miss Universe Competition in Moscow, 2013

Donald Trump and Miss Universe 2013

 Donald Trump and Aras Agalarov

Vladimir Putin and Aras Agalarov

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump

And, if any of you out there, were wondering about Russian pop star, Emin, here’s one of his videos brought specially to you by wolfiewolfgang. It could be an anthem for the Putin-Trump era:

The post So, President Trump, take your pick: Treason, Perjury, Obstructing Justice, Conflict of Interest or simple Incompetence? appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

It was eight years ago today that I started this website – it seems a world away from now as we look to another new year with, mostly, very different faces among the world’s leaders.

I had recently come out of hospital after a life-threatening illness and some of the events of October and November passed me by. I had been an excited follower of Barrack Obama’s campaign for the American presidency and I had heard some news of things going wrong with the international banking system. I think, if I remember correctly, that I was feeling optimistic about the future. Then I suffered a major brain haemorrhage that took me away from current affairs until around the time that I started to write these pages.

Eight years on, I’m now completely recovered but I wish I could say the same about the world as we leave 2016 for a worrying 2017.

So who were our leaders in 2008? I was surprised to see just how different things were then. Take a look.

Well, yes, all seemed possible when Barrack Obama was elected president and we shall miss him when he stands down in just three weeks time. If the Republicans in Congress hadn’t set out to block his every move, we’d have had more of his legacy than Obamacare, Marriage Equality,  the Paris climate change summit, the Iran nuclear deal, the death of Osama bin Laden, and that sense of the  world’s strongest country being in the hands of a civilised, benign and intelligent progressive. Congress, to its eternal shame, consistently blocked his attempts at gun reform and at closing the infamous Guantanamo Bay.  He knew what he wanted as far as America’s wars were concerned and stuck to his principles, mostly, over limiting American army ‘boots on the ground’ even if the results were the rise of ISIS, the tragedy of Syria and the rise and rise of those frightening drones. In spite of the down bits, I shall be sorry to see him go.

He may have been a grumpy old thing but Gordon Brown was a great deal more than just a safe pair of hands when he succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister of the United Kingdom. Britain doesn’t like to admit it these days but  without Mr Brown at the helm when the great 2008 financial crash occurred,  Britain’s  economy could have gone through the floor with catastrophic results for employment, industry and what was then  hopeful signs in the country’s health and education systems. Well, he was chucked out and, yes, the rest is history. I wonder how many people would have voted him out if they could see where we are today.

The political alternative for Britain in 2008 was the pleasant enough but hopelessly upper class David Cameron whose idealism and cynicism was mostly held  in equal balance due to his posh debating society view of serious issues. In the end he was always going to be alright, no matter what happened to the rest of us.

There was a new kid on Britain’s political block in those days – the fresh-faced, bright-eyed and new-sounding Liberal-democrat leader, Nick Clegg.  Britain, in optimistic mood, thought for a time that he would be a genuine dose of fresh air for a country too long governed by the two major parties. It didn’t quite work out that way but, for a moment, he sounded like a nice British Barrack Obama.

There may have been some fresh smiling faces at the top of the West’s political parties, but it was a harsh and brutal world out there in 2008. No single figure haunted our imaginations more than the head of that murderous organisation Al Qaeda, whose shadow darkened all our lives with its members’ policy of mass murder in their blasphemous rewriting of the great faith of Islam.

Other leaders who sat pretty on the horrors of their regimes in 2008 were also perverters of Islam – Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Bashar al-Assad of Syria. It seemed, back then, that they would be the next candidates to fall, when early signs of the 2011 Arab Spring painted these men as political dinosaurs. If only. Libya got shot of Gaddafi but it is now in chaos and, well, Syria, with Assad still stuck to its boots like a piece of old sticky tape,  has become the biggest tragedy since the Second World War.

Iran didn’t feel much better in 2008 under the premiership of the wild-eyed and wild-mannered Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who managed to remain leader in spite of, or because of, his indifference to human rights,  international relations, diplomacy or the dire economic consequences of his ultra conservative political agenda. People have forgotten how big a deal Obama’s  2016 Iran Nuclear Deal actually was. Please take note President-elect Trump.

In 2008, unlike most other Middle Eastern governments, Israel and the Palestinian Authority were being led by two intelligent, diplomatic and peace-loving men in Salam Fayyad of the P.A. and much-missed (and now disgraced) Ehud Olmert of Israel. When chaos was looming elsewhere in that region, there were reasons for hope in these tow prime ministers negotiating skills but, as we now know, their efforts led nowhere.

Meanwhile China was basking in the faint light of Paramount Leader Hu Jintao who, in spite of the financial catastrophes elsewhere, succeeded in building up the Chinese economy to such an extent that it was only time before we all got to realise that soon China was going to be the world’s next economic super power. It was he who managed to build the economy without releasing his government’s tight hold on repressing any possible social liberalisation.  China’s current Paramount Leader,  Ji Xinping is a bit nastier, just as economically savvy and just as careful not to give away many civil liberties but he’s far better than his rather dull predecessor at giving us a smiling face.

There was some hope too in 2008, in an uncaring kind of way, that the Eternal Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il,  might have been not long for this world. Eternity in North Korean leaders, luckily, isn’t forever but, those optimists who thought that he might be replaced sooner rather than later by a younger, more liberal and West-friendly Eternal Leader, were to be sadly disappointed by an even worse example of the Korean Democratic People’s Party, unelected ruling dynasty.

And that leaves Europe – or rather the European Union. It might not have been all sweetness and light in the EU in 2008 but, in those days, we were all in it together. Germany and France leading the way, as usual, under chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy, with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, the colourful but ineffectual joker  having fun on the side, and prime minister Gordon Brown,  ideally suited to be Britain’s semi-detached representative who was loving it all really.  Who would’ve guessed? Whose worst nightmare really imagined BREXIT? Well, not me. Looking at this picture now, I feel quite nostalgic for those days when we thought Sarkozy and Merkel were heartless right-wingers and that things couldn’t get any worse.

Who would’ve thought too that the only leader that can claim to represent the West’s much strived-for liberal democracies, would be the perennial Angela Merkel? The way things are going in the USA and in Europe, we might all hope that she might one day become our very own  Eternal Leader.

Oh yes, I almost forgot… HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

The post My website is eight years old today – this was the way we were in 2008 appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

I’m mostly quite a cheerful optimistic type of person but, really, looking at the world as we move towards Christmas, what is there to be cheerful and optimistic about? Well, I just planted my spring bulbs; my family is coming together again for the Christmas festivities and my home town of Lewes UK, is pleasant enough even though I have felt under siege here since April due to  a train strike  which has cut us Lewes types off from the rest of the world thanks to the incompetent negotiating skills of Southern Rail, the railway unions and the hopelessness of the Ministry of Transport. As much as I’ve missed going up to London and further, there has been good reason to keep one’s head down in a world where the news only seems to get worse.

I know I should have faith in our great political leaders – I’m sure that they know a whole lot more about politics than I do but, really,  how can you stay cheerful if,  like me, you’re a depressed EU Remainer, a so-called wooly Liberal, a disappointed admirer of the USA and a tearful mourner for the people of Syria?

I’m not talking about President Assad, shudder though we should at the sound of his name. I don’t mean Fascists like Marine Le Pen of France or Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, either, or the appalling Kim Jong-un of North Korea.  The world has always had its share of monsters. No, I’m talking about three powerful leaders in whom we should’ve been able to put our trust.

There will be, I fear,  very little good to come from the three political leaders shown below – they appear to be blinkered by their own arrogance, blinded by their own prejudices and, as far as I can see, invulnerable in the three countries that should be helping the world out of its nightmare. My only hope, bizarrely, lies with the not exactly disaster-free, Angela Merkel.

The post Three reasons not to be merry this Christmas. appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

Looking at Vladimir Putin’s chilly expression, I felt cold too this morning. I had just been looking at the appalling images coming from the destroyed and corpse-filled Donetsk Airport and despaired of the situation in Ukraine which is running out of control and challenging anyone who loves many things Russian to keep faith with that inspiring country.

The images from Donetsk are painful and depressing and, it’s pretty obvious that, if it’s not the Russian army that is doing this, then it’s most definitely Russian- (I mean Putin-) inspired.

Inspired, as you may have noticed, is my chosen word for today. I’ve always been inspired by Russian culture, its music, film, literature and art and I’d like to swap that photograph of Putin with this portrait of the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) and remember the nobility and sensitivity of the Russian spirit than the devastation that its current leader has let loose in Ukraine.

I don’t want to just turn my face away from the horrors of Donetsk but I’d like to rekindle some of my inspiration and faith in Russia. Beauty can, after all, open our eyes to our humanity.

On my chronological journey through the history of classical music, I’ve reached the year 1889 and, recently, I’ve been listening to Tchaikovsky’s great ballet score from that year, Sleeping Beauty. I thought of Putin and Donetsk while watching the currently matchless Russian ballerina, Svetlana Zakharova, in the Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty in a production from the Bolshoi Ballet, and thought about the other sleeping beauties that Putin has hidden from our eyes here in the West.

I have only recently taken to watching classical ballet, so I’m am no expert but I do know that this wonderful dancer is about as inspiring as ballet it can be. Physical prowess meets artistry and beauty on a level that we can all understand.

Take a moment to watch this glorious performance to Tchaikovsky’s passionate music, while thinking of the terrible things coming out of Russia these days. It can give us hope for the true spirit of that country and for our own future.

The post It’s time for something beautiful and inspiring to come out of Russia again. appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

Dear President Putin,

You know as well as everyone else knows. The unspeakable barbarity of that missile attack on a civilian plane, Malaysian Flight MH17 was committed by terrorists (known, for some reason, as separatists) with your armament support. Neither they nor you, I am sure, planned to kill all those 298 civilian men, women and children but that is what happens when angry men file missiles. Look at the Gaza Strip and Israel – but you know that too. So stop the denials, stop the futile blame games and try to make this gigantic and cruel miscaulculation the beginning of a better way. You could agree that futile acts of missile aggression only makes things worse and you could try to bring President Obama with you – and maybe the World, including Palestine and Israel, might learn a painful lesson from this despicable act.

You know, as do I , that that won’t happen but at least do yourself a favour and get real over your denials. No one believes you and, one day, even the Russian people will learn the truth – you can’t hide it from them forever.

STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:

http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm 

…or from Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070

…or from Amazon:

The post Get real Vladimir Putin. appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

1. Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.

2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.

3. The Olympic Movement is the concerted, organised, universal and permanent action, carried out under the supreme authority of the IOC, of all individuals and entities who are inspired by the values of Olympism. It covers the five continents. It reaches its peak with the bringing together of the world’s athletes at the great sports festival, the Olympic Games. Its symbol is five interlaced rings.

4. The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

5. Recognising that sport occurs within the framework of society, sports organisations within the Olympic Movement shall have the rights and obligations of autonomy, which include freely establishing and controlling the rules of sport, determining the structure and governance of their organisations, enjoying the right of elections free from any outside influence and the responsibility for ensuring that principles of good governance be applied.

6. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.

7. Belonging to the Olympic Movement requires compliance with the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC.

Let’s hope, while they celebrate,  that the World’s elite athletes will find time to remember those a lot less lucky than themselves. There’s more than just a missing ring this time round.

——————————————————————————————————————–

STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:

http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm 

…or from Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070

…or from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Stephen%20Dearsley’s%20Summer%20Of%20love

The post Russia’s Winter Olympics – not in the spirit of fair play or the Olympic Charter appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

What a guy! Who could it be speeding down the mountain, on the piste? That’s the trouble with the Winter Olympics, you can never see who is doing what because they are all so well wrapped up against the cold. It’s a shame that we will see so little of Russia’s heroic leader at this year’s events. After all, skiing is just one of his many talents. Or so we’re encouraged to believe.

He’s just one of those sporty outdoor guys who’s good at everything. God, I hate people like that.

He’s at home in the wild and can even climb trees.

He’s known to go bare-back riding and he’s good at ballroom dancing too.

Sorry, this is actually the manly martial art known as Judo. Silly me.

He’s just so multi-skilled….he can shoot animals….

..but he can also cuddle them. In fact he can do almost anything for the cameras. I wonder why so many people think he’s a bastard.

I hope you all enjoy the Winter Olympics this year, coming to us all from Russia’s frozen heart.

And just in case you’d forgotten what fun the Winter Olympics can be, here’s a reminder:

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

The post Putin on Ice – what fun! appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

WBC heavyweight world champion Vitali Klitschko may have hung up his gloves but as the leader of one of the Ukraine’s main opposition parties, he hasn’t forgotten how to pack a punch.

He has shown his courage and his mettle out there on the freezing streets of Kiev but also in his negotiations with the unpopular government of  President Viktor Yanukovich who tried to make him deputy prime minister yesterday in an attempt to silence him in a powerless job. Britain’s deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, knows just how powerless that job can be. Taking it is often the road to unpopularity and political ruin. So Vitali Klitschko is back out there on the streets with the demonstrators who are also showing that they are prepared to stand their corner.

As are President Yanukovich’s riot police.

Both sides are prepared to fight…

… and, as is usual in street fights, people have got injured and others have died. The anger is high on both sides and now we are reading of new stories of beatings and torture inflicted on some of the demonstrators.

President Viktor Yanukovich is now deeply unpopular…

…and it doesn’t look like he’ll be signing photographs out there on the streets of Kiev any time soon.

He comes across as a tough guy, for sure, but everyone knows that it is really the Russian president Vladimir Putin who is telling Yanukovich how to fight.

To find a solution to Ukraine’s problems and to stop the violence, maybe we should return to the old days when opposing forces selected champions, like Achilles and Hector,  to settle disputes in single combat.

President Putin is unembarrassed about flexing his muscles in public…

…so maybe Vitali Klitschko should return to the ring for one last fight.

All eyes would be on the already controversial Winter Olympics at Sochi if Vladimir Putin agreed to take of his shirt (yet again) to fight it out with Vitali Klitschko. Then we would all be shouting “Let the best man win!”

——————————————————————————————————————–

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

The post Kiev needs a champion to defends its honour against its enemies. appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

Some of us were thrilled the other day to hear the multi-talented and mega-cool Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, tickling the ivories at a charity event in St Petersburg. The land that produced some of the greatest of all pianists, Richter, Horovitz, Kissin, has coughed up another blistering talent. Well, Putin certainly has a talent for something – self-publicity. Let’s not knock his musical ambitions though – music is politics these days.

Remember British prime minister David Cameron, just before, er, winning the last general election? One of the many eye-catching ideas he was offering then, in April 2010,  was the Conservative Party’s school music competition, Star Schools,  where the top prize is to make a record with Gary Barlow of Take That fame. the second prize is to make two records with Gary Barlow and so on until they reach the booby prize which will is being locked in a recording studio with Gary Barlow for life. David Cameron, not a great musician himself, thinks music is “incredibly important” giving people “a feeling of self belief whilst doing something fun.”

Music has done wonders for various other politicians at times when their self belief needed a bit of a boost. President obama is no hot air-guitarist…..

President George W. Bush knows at least one chord…….

and President Clinton knows the pleasure of a good blow……

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, gave up a promising career as a rock musician, to save the nation and lead it into war……

..and Pope Benedict actually has musical talent.

Who would have guessed that the German Chancellor, Frau Angela Merkel was a frustrated rock star after hearing her destroy a Eurotrash song with rock sensation Heidi Fudlegraf, who?, Heidi Fudlegraf, the lead singer of German mega-band, The Firecats.

There is no surprize though to learn that Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi can charm the birds out of the trees with his own special brand of romantic crooning.

No, the World is in safe hands for as long as our polticians are sensitive musical types and don’t the know it. If they have no particular skills, like French President Nicolas Sarkozy, then at least he had the sense to marry the gifted, er, musician and singer, the leggy and not too proud to show it, Carla Bruni.

“Yes” David Cameron might say, “Music is incredibly important – especially all that depressing Eighties stuff. It’s incredibly important to show people that you like music so I keep saying that I think bands like The Smiths, Radiohead and Blur are, well, incredible. Gary Barlow is incredible too of course. Pity I know nothing about it.”

The post Piano Putin and other great political musicians – they’re all so cool – they wish. appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.