Russell Brand opens debate but the left come knocking

And now... the inevitable takedown of Russell Brand just as he says something sensible on the occasion of his guest editorship of the New Statesman magazine. Yes, we've all been saying the system sucks and we need a change for the betterment of the majority but, as Rusty Rockets acknowledges in his self-deprecating way (because this man is not stupid), his celebrity means that they gave his views an airing for once. And not just a thirty-second soundbite but a whole TEN MINUTES! It makes a change from the usual shrink-the-state nobodies propelled into the public eye, as usually happens on the now-execrable Newsnight.

And lo, it was wonderful to behold. It cheered us up, kickstarted the debate and has the Right getting their silk knickers in a twist. What's not to like?

Can we please focus on what Russell is saying and not indulge in the irrelevant twaddle about what his hair's doing and whether he wears purple velvet tails (or has a long scaly red one. Ooh-er!). Must we always share the attention span of goldfish? This is all a massive diversion from the issues he raised and plunges the debate into Miley-Cyrus-circus territory (and this is the very first time in the current round of star-gazing that I've mentioned the idiot who makes the slitty-eyed gesture, or "sub-species" Morrissey, who've both been tsunamied at us by the broadsheets as much as by the tabloids these past weeks. Let's thank Russell for knocking them off the top media perch.).

Is he sexist? Yes. Is he a thoroughly nice chap who refused to take his pop-star missus to the cleaners when they divorced? Double yes. Get out of your nappies and start enaging with the issues. He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy who the Establishment would like to see strung up with his own flowing locks, so let's not look the gift-horse in the mouth. Being a dick in one area of his life does not negate what he's said on this occasion.

For me, I'm more worried that the Staggers' Last Supper photo is so unbelievably white (although one of the writers and a couple of the short opinions reflect the ethnic make-up of Great Britain and the world), but we can deal with the left's whitewashing of the movement another time (or read what some of us have already observed and been ignored).

For now, Russell's galvanised the movement, joined the dots and naturalised the progressive discourse. That's a considerable achievement. Well done.

Medialens on media sneering about Brand.

Nationalise Grangemouth: The Bermondsey Joyriders start Scotland tour at plant town

Ineos. Grangemouth. Jim Ratcliffe.

He's finally reversed his decision to close half the plant, but how can one man hold a workforce and a nation to ransom? I can't think of a better argument for nationalising crucial infrastructure industries.

My friends The Bermondsey Joyriders are playing at Grangemouth, the first date of their Scottish tour showcasing their blisteringly passionate album, Noise and Revolution.

Above, the video I edited for them as inspired by the track, "Society is Rapidly Changing". Good luck, guys. And good luck Grangemouth.

London Chinatown strike Tuesday: protest against UK Border Agency fishing raids

British residents have been sent texts by the UK Border Agency telling them to "go home". Two of them, Bobby Chan, a legal advisor for the Chinese community, and Suresh Grover of The Monitoring Group who was prominent in seeking justice in the Stephen Lawrence murder case, have received the threatening messages and we wonder how many more innocent UK citizens are being frightened out of their wits by Theresa May's boot-boys.

In response, London's Chinatown will be shut down tomorrow as a day of action against heavy-handed racist tactics. The protest gathers at 2pm in Gerrard Street and you'd better get your dim-sum in quick because by 3pm, it's down tools and onto the street.

The last time the UK Chinese went on strike was in 2001 when they were scapegoated for the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak to divert anger from the Blair government which had failed to deal with the crisis. As a result of the protest, minister Nick Brown had to issue a public apology. [Correction: we did it again in 2007. Yay!]

Let's hope the Chinese who George Osborne and Boris Johnson have been wooing don't notice that this is how Chinese people are viewed in Old Blighty.

I'll have an item on my Resonance FM programme, Madam Miaow's Culture Lounge, which starts at 5.30pm (Tuesday) and hope to talk to one of the organisers for a run-down of the issues.

SAY NO TO UKBA FISHING RAIDS
2.30pm Gerrard Street, Soho Chinatown

The day of action will include:

STRIKE and CLOSURE OF RESTAURANTS, and BUSINESS OUTLETS and RALLY

(Invited guests and speakers: Members of Parliament, Human Rights Lawyers, Community and Business groups)

Why has this unprecedented day of action been organized? Over the last month, London’s Chinatown, an international hub of Chinese restaurants and businesses, has witnessed systematic immigration raids. 

Over 13 businesses have reported heavy-handed raids of their premises. All the existing evidence suggests that the raids were not intelligence led. Some of the raids did not even lead to a single arrest of any individual. Business owners also believe that the raids did not comply with lawful procedures and have only added fuel to negative stereotyping and ‘racial profiling’ of the Chinese community. 

Businesses owners can face up to £10,000 fine per person for employing someone who may not have the permission to work. The harsh and disproportionate fines can lead to legitimate businesses closing down, especially when employers do not understand complicated immigration rules. 

Current Government policy has not addressed labour shortages within the catering businesses, enterprises that are key to providing much-needed jobs. The effect of this failure has led to a cycle of discriminatory raids and financial penalties against Chinese businesses coupled with the criminalization of Chinese workers. 

The raids on Chinatown has the same effect as the recent Home Office ‘Go Home or Face Arrest’ van campaign when public concern was raised about its damaging impact on Britain’s cosmopolitan cities. The LCCA and Min Quan have written to the UKBA to raise these concerns and suggested a meeting to resolve the problem.

London Chinatown Chinese Association and Min Quan

Photos here



Plus an extended version of Tim Concannon's Chinatown shutdown report for Madam Miaow's Culture Lounge on Resonance FM Tuesday 22nd October.

Madam Miaow's Culture Lounge on the Counterculture Tuesday 5.30pm and Monday's Orwell Prize 2014 launch

The Counterculture — 22nd October 2013

First, a quick plug for tomorrow when I'm on the Orwell Prize 2014 launch panel at the Frontline Club talking about the Internet and the Modern Self with Helen Goodman MP, Professor Suzanne Franks (City University London, Author of ‘Women and Journalism Challenge series: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism‘), Dr. Aaron Balick (Author of ‘The Psychodynamics of Social Networking: Connected-up Instantaneous Culture and the Self’) and Orwell Prize director Jean Seaton.

This Tuesday, the second programme in my new Resonance FM radio series looks at the counterculture: what is it, where did it go and can we have it back, please?

My guests this week:

Legendary award-winning author and journalist Charles Shaar Murray, who brought the counterculture into the mainstream when he got his foot in the door at the New Musical Express in the early 1970s.

Clare Palmer who's the current editor of the Internatonal Times — or IT — a legendary publication that began in the 1960s as a proper inky.

And Phoenix Rainbow, who was one of the Occupy crew who took on the developers intent on destroying the Friern Barnet Library — the only public space in the area — has won it a valuable respite for a couple of years as a venue for cultural learning and expression for the community.

Madam Miaow's Culture Lounge on Resonance 104.4FM every Tuesday at 5.30-6.30pm.
Listen to Madam Miaow Says on air and on the internet at Resonance 104.4FM Tuesdays at 5.30-6.30pm.
Available to listen online here

Listen to the launch show, "Oh Other: Where Art Thou?", first broadcast live Tuesday 15th October 2013.



Also ... BBC Radio 4 repeats my programme — Madam Mao's Golden Oldies — Saturday 26th October at 3.30pm. And I'm interviewed for "Overwhelming China" on R4 Friday 1st November at 11am.

Madam Miaow's Culture Lounge launches on Resonance FM Tuesday 5.30pm

Tomorrow's (tonight, Tuesday) exciting launch programme of my new Resonance FM radio series is a yellow peril fest of all things colonialist.

"Oh Other where art thou?" features my guest Daniel York talking about the momentous WTF! moment when east Asians around the world realised that only a miserly three out of 17 characters in the Royal Shakespeare Company's "Chinese Hamlet", The Orphan of Zhao, had been cast with east Asian actors. What's ours is ours and what's yours is ours. (The RSC was invited to take part but has been unable to participate.)

Actress Siu-see Hung tells us about the day she and her friends saw a Yale graduate show called Beijing Cake at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, only to be drowned in a sea of yellowface. Never mind, the venue manager assured her yellowface is okay and besides, blackface is making a comeback in the US.

Dr Diana Yeh — expert on the history of British Chinese artists — gives us a historical context and explains colonial discourses on Chinese and East Asians and wider political picture.

Independent Economics Editor Ben Chu has just written a fab book demolishing the myths about people like me called Chinese Whispers: why everything you've heard about China is wrong. He'll be telling us why.

With music from Daniel York's band Wondermare (Melody Brown and C Amanda Maude), muscial accompaniment from Charles Shaar Murray and poetry from yours truly.

Madam Miaow's Culture Lounge on Resonance 104.4FM commences Tuesday 15th October at 5.30pm for an hour with "Oh Other: Where Art Thou?".
Listen to Madam Miaow Says on air and on the internet at Resonance 104.4FM Tuesdays at 5.30-6.30pm from 15th October.
Available to listen online here

George Osborne allows rich Chinese to shop here

So George Osborne finally concedes defeat over the extra visa required for visitors to Britain on top of the EU visa covering 26 countries.No longer will rich Chinese have to jump through immigration hoops, but poorer Chinese migrant workers will in a two-tier travel trap that signals another nail hammered into prospects of a fair and equitable world.

I wrote about the way the stupid British visas exclude the world's biggest shoppers in a recent South China Morning Post column:

A few years ago, I was invited by a friend to join him and a few chums for tea at an elegant hotel in poshest Knightsbridge. Over a pot of Earl Grey, he outlined his cunning plan: to take a stack of Louis Vuitton bags back to Hong Kong where women were offering their firstborns in exchange for the poo-coloured accessories with the vulgar logo. Rarity value would, he assured us, make him a fortune.

He pointed out the LV shop across the street, pressed £2K wads in our mitts. and sent us off in pairs to go fetch. The excitement of handing over a huge amount of cash for such fripperies made me forget to ask for a cut (he judged me well) but I enjoyed picking out the ugliest duffel bag I've ever seen, plus a keycase with the change.

When he asked us to repeat the same in the Bond Street LV store, we were abruptly ejected. Apparently, the manager knew we'd already brought one each in Sloane Street. What planet was I on where shops turned away business? However, such is the topsy-turvey world of the rich, and the mystery of The Brand, that mere tax-paying mortals will never fully understand it.

Today, London may be rammed with Chinese tourists buying their own expensive tat, but Britain attracts fewer mainland Chinese than other European countries. They want to spend their cash in France, Italy and Germany.

The reason is the cost and inconvenience of UK visas required on top of the one allowing access to the 26 other EU countries.

We may consider 20% VAT on goods to be punishingly high, but it's low compared to Chinese tariffs on luxury goods. And tourists also enjoy greater protection against counterfeit rip-offs, our police state being the most draconian when it comes to shopping. Those street vendors in Barcelona selling knock-off Louis Vuitton bags would have their collars felt if they tried that in London's West End.

An estimated £1.2 bn is lost every year in sales because only one in ten Chinese visitors to Europe apply for UK visas. We sniff at that sum and then moan about the deficit.

Chinese are now the biggest shopaholics in the world, and yet we've put up a Closed for Business sign just as we find ourselves immersed in the most horrendous recession ever. Is Brand Great Britain now being managed by Louis Vuitton?

Funny how hitting Tories in their pockets helps them overcome their squeamishness over funny foreigners.

How much does China own in Britain?