Rashers Tierney chats to Piers Sanderson. He’s the director of a documentary about the early 1990’s Blackburn rave scene that saw a generation find wholly new uses for warehouses in the hard hit North of England. The presence of Thatcherism hangs heavy in your trailer for your doc. Tell me what life up north was like under her Iron fist? Was rave a political response in a sense or more … Read More
Penalising The Poor
Dennis Curran of the Loaves and Fishes charity tells Scottish Parliament that people are being penalised for being poor and the “heart of the matter is people are starving”. Thousands have turned to charity for emergency food parcels, following changes to the benefits system that were introduced by the UK Government last April. Those who rely on food banks often walk for miles because they cannot afford to pay for transport, and many … Read More
It’s The Sleaford Mods
EC claims he’s not usually one for talking about new tunes these days. Too old and too wrapped up in keeping on keeping on. But his ears recently cocked to The Sleaford Mods and now he’s gone full evangelical. He filed this interview for us. The Last few days I have been aching to tell people about an act I came across semi-randomly while passing time on the net. They’re called … Read More
From Jaffa to Balata: Searching For The Displaced.
Why the relationship between the ancient city of Jaffa and Balata refugee camp in Nablus is a chapter in the Palestinian tragedy.
Burton’s Bullshit: Unemployment Nearly 3% Higher Than Reported
Just this evening, 3,850 Irish visas for Canada were gone in less than five minutes but emigration isn’t the only way Joan Burton fiddles the figures behind Ireland’s unemployment horror. Oireachtas Retort has a poke around. Labour Party TDs & ministers were beside themselves last October with claims that jobless figures fell below 400,000 for the first time since 2009. Their steadfast commitment to patronising and coercing the unemployed … Read More
Gateway To Forced Labour
Paul Murphy MEP spoke to reporters outside City Hall this evening at a protest against the new ‘Gateway’ programme. Questioned about the new job scheme Murphy described it as the first step to forced labour: Those on the Gateway programme will get €20 per week for 19.5 hours work on top of their dole, so it’s €1 per hour. If they refuse to go on the scheme they … Read More
Change Comes From Those With Nothing Left To Lose.
On the off chance that you may find yourself in any doubt whatsoever as to the fact that political parties are naught but refuges for vile shit-spewing serpents, Scratch That Itch lays things straight. A New York governor once said, ‘You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.’ This little titbit may prove a useful anecdotal conversation-piece for the youth of our nation. Especially since the recent budget which directly … Read More
End JobBridge.
Youth groups representing workers, students and the unemployed have joined together to call for an end to the JobBridge scheme.
#rabbleReels: 80 Blocks From Tiffanys
Tonight’s fare is a firm favorite in rabble land. Capturing as it does the bombed out story of the Bronx in the mid-1970s and the gangs that ruled the roost. You’ve oft heard how New York in the ’70s was a rough looking place, nowhere more so than the South Bronx. Gary Weis’ 80 Blocks From Tiffanys is based on a long piece of prose from Esquire magazine about the two gangs … Read More
The Price We Pay
Ronan Burtenshaw examines the State of the Nation for Ireland’s youth. From internships to precarious employment, what is the reality behind the figures? Young people in the West increasingly find themselves with worse standards of living and career prospects than their parents. But is there really a crisis of young people here and abroad? And, if so, why? Unite economist Michael Taft puts it strongly, “don’t be under any illusions. … Read More