Right, as promised, one last piece of admin. (This post will be removed in due time.)
We left yesterday’s piece and the associated poll up for two full days to make sure the people who don’t read Wings at weekends saw it and had the chance to vote in it too. But in truth it was pretty obvious how the vote would go from about 20 minutes in.
When the Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died last month, the first of their songs that popped into my head, for no particular reason, was “Under My Thumb”, a mildly controversial 1966 album track the band never released as a single in the West.
Its most infamous place in history, though, is this.
Until Watts’ death I was only very broadly aware of the events at Altamont Speedway in 1969, a free festival at a racetrack near San Francisco at which four people died in scenes of malevolent chaos and which is widely regarded as the grim headstone of the hippy era.
But on seeing the extraordinary footage above for the first time on the day of Watts’ death – taken from “Gimme Shelter”, notionally the official movie of the show, although the first two-thirds of it are actually a mundane travelogue of the preceding tour dates – I did some proper reading up on it.
And as I did, a horribly familiar feeling started to unfold.
For many years now, whenever I’ve done one of those “Which Political Party Should You Be In?” online quiz things, it always says that I’m a Green, which is weird because I really hate cyclists. Nevertheless, it was still the result when I did one most recently, just last month.
So I decided that for the first time in my life it was finally time to join a political party.
James Che on The quality of mercy: “Rev Stu, Thanks for inserting two of my old comments in your new post first of all, It can be…” Apr 5, 08:49
Young Lochinvar on The quality of mercy: “Yahweh help the Is Rye Ale Ees if the I rans find the downed US pilot first. It’s a Vietnam…” Apr 5, 03:53
James on The quality of mercy: “Well, that’s “Phil” shot down in flames….. But Adrian’s working through the holidays….” Apr 4, 23:57
Confused on The quality of mercy: “since we seem to be regressing to “ropey old shite, debunked n-teenth times … ” – let’s put an old…” Apr 4, 23:32
Confused on The quality of mercy: “quite right, my fellow Scot. if the scotch were left alone with excess revenue from copious oil, gas, wind and…” Apr 4, 23:29
Phil on The quality of mercy: “Time, no- long overdue, to face some facts. This site, brilliant as it is, suffers from some fundamental flaws: first,…” Apr 4, 23:01
robertkknight on The quality of mercy: “The SNP are about as interested in independence as a vegetarian is in a mouthful of steak tartare. Fuck ’em.…” Apr 4, 22:13
Lorncal on The quality of mercy: “‘Wokism’ and the hard left are the real problem and they will follow into an independent Scotland unless they are…” Apr 4, 21:06
factchecker on The quality of mercy: “Professor, you must try harder to throw off the colonial yoke. You of all people should show a good example.…” Apr 4, 19:30
Geri on The quality of mercy: “The Fascism is strong in you, Areswipe. You don’t get to choose anything. You don’t even have a vote here.…” Apr 4, 18:59
Geri on The quality of mercy: “Very true. Start with overhauling the school curriculum. That’s where the mindset starts along with dumbing down critical thinking. People…” Apr 4, 18:52
Aidan on The quality of mercy: “There’s no leave for us James, the British state has made countering a towering separatist intellect like yourself a number…” Apr 4, 18:50
Aidan on The quality of mercy: “That’s right Geri, next time the “march” will be a swim from Leith to Kirkcaldy.” Apr 4, 18:44
Young Lochinvar on The quality of mercy: “Beggars Keep your sexual proclivities tae yersel “old boy”..” Apr 4, 18:40
Young Lochinvar on The quality of mercy: “Beggars And why exactly would I be on benefits? A bit of “othering” mixed up with “projecting” from you there…” Apr 4, 18:36
James on The quality of mercy: “Aren’t you lot on leave this weekend, “old boy”?” Apr 4, 18:35
Geri on The quality of mercy: “Areswipe, Can you not comprehend plain English? They make the route as difficult & as annoying as possible in the…” Apr 4, 18:09
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “Four legs good two legs bad.” Apr 4, 17:49
Aidan on The quality of mercy: “I’m surprised the colonial authorities let it take place at all Alf. They must have your number marked though!” Apr 4, 17:45
Alf Baird on The quality of mercy: ““Scotland’s ethnocultural footprint is still large compared to other peoples” Indeed and it may well be that oor Scottish ethnicity…” Apr 4, 17:16
TURABDIN on The quality of mercy: “It also needs the intellectual capacity to effect such change. And there is the nub of the matter. So many…” Apr 4, 17:07
Alf Baird on The quality of mercy: ““It was blustery and chilly as fuck in Scotland” In addition, the route of this march was 2-3 times longer…” Apr 4, 16:57
Cynicus on The quality of mercy: “I know. I was trying to add a little humorous value!” Apr 4, 16:53
Dan on The quality of mercy: ““Yet fewer than two out of every thousand of them could be arsed with getting a bus or train to…” Apr 4, 16:30
Alf Baird on The quality of mercy: ““Scotland needs regime change” Decolonisation means a lot more than just ‘regime change’; it demands the complete transformation of colonial…” Apr 4, 16:24
agentx on The quality of mercy: “The reason I posted the link was to show that the march actually was reported by the BBC.” Apr 4, 16:17
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “Apologies. Correct spelling of host’s surname: FINKIELKRAUT” Apr 4, 14:53
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “In relation to HANNAH ARENDT’s leaving of Germany for refuge in France in 1933, this radio podcast discusses questions of…” Apr 4, 14:39
