Posts by Russell Brown
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This is good: Emily Littler from Street Chant on why the difficult second album was so difficult.
She's a good writer and should write more.
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Hard News: Friday Music: A Life of Stories, in reply to Nat Curnow,
I remember that Shabba and co gig at the Academy, quite an experience, and still one of my most memorable live music experiences.
Some of the music was a bit ropey as I recall – Shinehead was terrible. But everything else – woah!
The rush on the doors happened right in front of us. So we stood back until order was eventually restored (the police wisely weren't getting involved) and then thought we might as well go in.
There was a major crush inside the doors, but we decided to head upstairs and discovered there were tons of unoccupied seats with a great view. Just as well, given that we had the two pregnant ladies with us!
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A pretty amazing longread on Corbynmania by Taylor Parkes for The Quietus.
Parkes argues (and he's hardly the only one) that it's not Corbyn's policies that will spell disaster for UK Labour, but the company he keeps and the things he is on record as saying.
The most interesting observations are around obsessive anti-imperialism.
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Access: Just think of the children, in reply to Euan Mason,
The problems perhaps arise from a deep social conservatism in Sweden that is a strength when it comes to working in state services and a weakness when immigrants arrive with radically different world views.
And in legislating around sex work and drugs, where their policies are extremely conservative and quite counterproductive. It's like communitarianism in a country.
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Legal Beagle: Into the River/Interim Restrictions, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Into the River could become the Little Red Schoolbook for this generation... which means ultimately it is available with parents being the arbiters...
I was a kid at the time of that controversy. I wasn't even quite sure of what The Little Red Schoolbook was, but I knew I desperately wanted to read it. That and Down Under the Plum Trees.
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In my mind, the decision is clearly wrong. Whatever risk of harm there is, that harm is nowhere near the highest level, and the possibility of that harm is not enough that it is justifiable to ban everyone from accessing this book, even for a month.
Thank you Graeme. I quite agree.
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Hard News: Fifty thousand preventable deaths, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
So if the 12 month programme is all that someone can access now ,I'd say give it a go.it is worth a try.
People are assessed on mental health grounds before treatment is recommended, and the efficacy rate (70% at best, less with some genotypes) is a factor too. Basically, if you have a history of depression, a year's severe serotonin depletion might be more dangerous than waiting for the new cure. Some people are being advised along those lines already.
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Hard News: Fifty thousand preventable deaths, in reply to Nick Russell,
Well, if you wait for patents to expire the drugs will certainly get cheaper. But how many Hep C sufferers will die in the meantime, or suffer through a course of interferon?
Some of the most gravely ill are being treated on Gilead's compassionate programme, but yeah. The fact that there are now three companies with products will help add some competitive pressure, but there's a crunch coming. Like I said, I don't envy Pharmac – every dollar committed here is one they don't have to put elsewhere.
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Hard News: Fifty thousand preventable deaths, in reply to Nick Russell,
How can the new treatments for Hep C be "cheap and easy to administer" if they cost $80 to $100k per patient
The administration is cheap and easy (one tablet a day, could even be done in the community) – the drugs themselves are really, really expensive. But hopefully the second part will change.
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Speaker: Refugee fear-mongering must stop, in reply to John Holley,
If you want to see the scale of this issue across Syria and Africa (refugees and IDPs) have a look at the UNHCR portal.
Yeah, that's the next step, surely: addressing the whole problem.
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