I agree;  I think 'we' as the human race are moving on - yeah OK, you can point to ugliness in the world, but as knowledge is spread, I think more and more people are learning, and not just following their governments blindly.  It's small things I see and experience, people from different backgrounds getting on, different sexualities.  When did you last hear an Irish 'Joke'?   I'm optimistic!  Who sang about 'What the world needs is a great big melting pot'?  It will soon be true.  And if you make a friend with say, an Irani, how can you condemn the whole of Iran? 

I think things are changing too.  I also believe that we don't always realise that they are.  Sometimes we get lost in our own struggles and things can seem very dark and hopeless.  Looking back I now see that a lot of the things that I once thought impossible (but still believed in) have come to pass.  I hope with all my heart that you are right and an end to the madness of hate (for this country at least) is in sight.   It could lead to a wonderful world where all of us (and we are all here for a reason) can live together in  peace and beauty.  Regarding your earlier post, the situation in Iraq makes me ashamed.  As a lifelong Labour supporter  I struggle to understand how Blair hangs on to power and wish I could share your believe that Brown can offer something more positive. But like I've said I've been surprised before so hopefully will be again.

All the best,

Nigel

Kevin,

I have only ever known you as a musician/performer..Your "mind" in terms of "music" only....but I must confess, I have been intrigued by your words stated in your latest blogs regarding the War in Iraq--the frustration that you are expressing is the same for many.  After reading what you wrote, I can see now that you truly are a very "passionate" person all the way around, not just with your music and I deeply respect a man who is not afraid to speak out his opinions and thoughts regarding sensitive and controversial matters when it comes to something he strongly believes in!   I know that you are a very private person and I just wanted to let you know that I truly appreciate you opening up and sharing your personal thoughts and feelings with us and allowing us to come to know more and more of who Kevin Rowland is..Kevin Rowland the musician...but more importantly..Kevin Rowland the PERSON.   Thank you again and for this I give you Kudos!

I look forward to reading more blogs from you...

Marla x

Kevin, I don't share your optimism. I agree that people are rising up and demonstrating in increasingly large numbers, whether it concerns Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, or even student top up fees, and that this is great. However, what did the government do - fuck all! On Iraq, they just ignored the mass of public opinion and took us into an injust war based on deliberately falsified information. You see it IS about power, power is the lifeblood of governments and the political process - look at what the USA are now doing in Somalia, the extra 20,000 troops sent into Iraq by Bush yesterday. Unfortunately politics is a very dirty game and there is not much evidence of 'love, beauty and honesty' - unless you are Lembit Opik and The Cheeky Girls:) I think your comments are very relevant on a personal level, but not in relation to the body politic, geo-politics and international relations where naked national interest and power dominate.

Best wishes

Phil

I share this fear Phil. I agree humanity is moving forward and possitive change can be identified, but as for a 'greater' love in the world .... a world governed by politics - i'm not sure. Money cant buy you love they said, but money can buy you power. The beautifull people have never had sole ownership of wealth, and when power can be purchased by the highest bidder in any country and dusted of as 'investmentment in that nations future', well, integrity is the last item on the buyers list - maybe next to the item marked 'love'.

heres hoping truth & beauty win out

vincent

Wasn’t it Kevin who sang “the only way to change things is to ……..”  well we all know the rest. Nothing against those lyrics, Kevin, or the Band, but they do echo the way of the ‘World’ since Man walked the Earth. Killing and taking is all Mankind knows. Maybe a World without People would no doubt be a better place. We’ve failed in the past, and we keep on failing, we keep on destroying, and we keep on killing.

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Even on a basic level, families can’t control their kids. Respect and boundaries have gone out of the window, basic values are becoming non-existent.

If we can’t get things right in Society, on a basic Social level, then how can we expect to get it right on a Global scale?

I don’t believe there will a change in the wind. We’ll get new Leaders, and have new Wars. The label on the tin will be different, but the contents will be the same; Power and Greed.

Personally I believe the real reason that we no longer have a patriotic frenzy these days, is not because people have woken up, but because of apathy.

Love and Beauty are held within the individual. Realise this, and cultivate them. 

Here’s to a better Future,

                                           Tony

anthony

with respect, i think thats a poor use of the artists lyrics, in this instance to point out mankinds previous shortfalls.

being a pesimist, i personally fear that wars will continue - regardless.

however as my boys sleep,  ill pray tonight that Kevins right & theyll never see another war - just or unjust.

vincent

Hey Vincent
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Come on Mate, all I’m saying is that those lyrics do somewhat echo the attitude of Mankind throughout the ages. I’m not saying that Kevin Rowland or Dexys Midnight Runners are/were pro-war for using those lyrics, or that I believe we should have wars. Sometimes people say things (either knowingly or not) that encapsulate the truth about certain issues.

Maybe one day Mankind will live in a peaceful World, but I honestly don’t see it ever happening.

Like you, I fear that wars will continue to happen, but hope and pray that they will cease.

Kevin seems very optimistic, but history has shown us that we never really learn. Only the other month Tony Blair was speaking out about manufacturing new nuclear weapons,  but his war-cry when he came into power was “Education, Education, Education”.  I heard on the Radio that next year could see the end of the NHS as we know it, due to lack of funds, yet I would guess that the cost of just one nuclear weapon would keep the NHS ticking over for some time.

When investment in destruction is being talked about like that, and the essentials are being neglected, there is very little hope for peace.

Anyway, what do I know? How can you take someone who writes ‘bye the way..’ instead of ‘by the way..’ seriously 

I wish I could be as confident as you. I dont think the people in power ever learn. They only ever want more power and seem to fin ways to justify anything to get this power. I hope to god you are right

jon

Good points!

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The (faux) information society is built on a pornographic hunger of consumption. All things, from the sickening celebrity obsession to the warpigs’ intense stare, must be consumed faster, yet another close-up, yet another OD obituary, and this speed of information is directionless, ecstatic as pornography, emotionally detached, and substituting our real selves. Time, history, and passion is killed off. We are filling the voids with images and needs, false mirrors of God, and are many times lost in an existence without reasons. Most people know more about Paris Hilton than themselves, as my mate Stephen put it.

This alienation has made war something surreal. The wars are not raging in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Iraq and Somalia, they are within us. War is won by hegemonic media’s linguistics. A building full of Palestinian women and children cluster bombed is cleansed by rewriting it “collateral damage”, but one American soldier killed in battle is an act of terror. All Muslims are being stigmatized and made “terrorist” – very ironic when the ratio of torture nutters in our Western forces are bigger than the ratio of terrorists among the world’s Muslims. (compare "torture soldiers/all american soldeirs in iraq" to "terrorists/all muslims")

A few years ago I had this chat with a bloke from Cardiff City’s Soul Crew. We talked about football violence as well as the firm’s origin from the northern soul scene. He said dancing to great northern soul was just like having a fight. Pure emotions expressed and incarnated at the absolute moment. “Sadly,” he said, “people have forgotten how it feels to fight and will never understand us.”. These recent wars have made war real. Now the West is realising what death and suffering the media’s semantics will never portray.

You don’t understand violence – its passion and its fears – by watching TV. You don’t understand war unless it affects your community. But now the phantom-pains are made real, we are the body and the amputated soul, and media’s constructed spectacle can no longer stave off man’s inner feelings. Now we are beginning to understand and I am just fucking hoping for a modern Sam Cooke sing our anthem of change.

(Sorry about a long reply)

Sincerely,

/m

... and there CIA fucked my cut-n-paste up!

sorry for shite formatting.