Rewind Radio: Night Waves; Blond on Britain; Nine Alternative Lessons and Carols; Kirsty MacColl: A Tribute; Desert Island Discs
Rewind Radio: Night Waves; Blond on Britain; Nine Alternative Lessons and Carols; Kirsty MacColl: A Tribute; Desert Island Discs
There are, we were told, more Christians in China than there are communists. Who had done the counting was not clear,
R4i but this unlikely fact was produced as evidence that "God has gone global" and that secularists were in retreat the world over. Certainly, that seemed to be the case on the panel of Philip Dodd's pre-Christmas Night Waves, recorded at the Free Thinking festival in Gateshead. Maryam Namazie, a lapsed Muslim and campaigner against sharia in Britain, found herself beset on all sides by the zeal of the faithful. This unlikely holy trinity comprised the homophobic vicar of Jesmond parish church, David Holloway, the New Statesman's senior political editor, Mehdi Hasan, and Phillip Blond, evangelist for David Cameron's "big society".
All three, for different reasons, welcomed the growing presence of organised religion in the public sphere and turned their wrath on what Blond called "a liberal elite incapable of morality". Blond's "Red Tory" piety seems to have gone to his head. On Radio 4,
R4i he has lately been reading out his undergraduate politics essays on the constitution (Blond on Britain), curious polemics that neglect wit, tone or anecdote, and pull off the difficult trick of being both shrill and monotonous. His repeatedly favourite phrase here was: "What is the nature of the ultimate?", which you guessed he must have had written on the back of his hand. The consensus, the admirably cool Namazie apart, seemed to be that the "ultimate" in question was a queer-bashing, Dawkins-hating God, who could stick together the "broken society" by reminding us of our morals.
That wasn't quite the Christmas message of Radio 2's Nine Alternative Lessons and Carols, which were committed to a more down-to-earth festive spirit. Willy Russell did a predictable but still funny turn about "our Brian's" nativity play in which "our Brian" ?C playing Joseph ?C turned on the first innkeeper: "Full up?! Full up?! But we booked! I've got a wife outside expecting and now you're telling me you're full up?!" Ian McMillan,
R4i the perfect voice for this kind of project, told a blunt and thoughtful tale about his old man,
Plastic envelopes, who passed away on Christmas Day, and Count Arthur Strong retold the oldest story, with reference to Mary and Judas and the road to Domestos.
If you listened hard enough, there were still authentic angels and wise men to be heard, though. Billy Bragg's tribute to Kirsty MacColl, who died a decade ago, featured her magical contribution to "Fairytale of New York", the "broken society's" indelible answer to Christmas carols. Collaborators and disciples queued up to marvel at MacColl's modesty and her transcendent vocals. Johnny Marr, of the Smiths, was eloquent on her perfectionism. When he played on her version of Ray Davies's "Days" she insisted on 40 takes to get it right; it was the recording experience that he'll remember all his life. Tom Robinson argued that she was that rare thing, "a human being first and a pop star second". She's also, along with Shane MacGowan, still happily the voice of Christmas present.
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