The Hi^Pot Ta News

Lecture Halls schooling jaws in the preach of the professor on the name brand attendant,

as the brass of the barrel in the death of a slight a glove from the Parthenon to caste it a kite,

string with the thread or spool on the type print the eyes blinking and partition the fight.

Divide is the symbol play an accordion by byte in this the inch will mile at the knight,

snip to the chop on that pork of the bean telling of ghost in the real of keen,

should the youth of a child in a nightmare of lived see that the cloak was a living deadly deep stared,

tasking the sense to this actual on tense is to know of the shift on the shadow at tent.

Stick of the camp in the fire on rancid a throttle for walking and a mind on that tongue,

bring in the tree or communion on knee a church for the bible a chapter for key.

Bright strokes of signal that body of came in balanced of ripping my brain to the paved,

smashing with torrent to restless on want no patience did design for the mouth wanted daunt.

Swish goes the fabric form the skin under nails fingers to function in the paper on trails,

strange to the portion a verse in the found grab on touch sample the circle is sound,

chest with the caution for the shoulder looked jest watched as a jerk made funny not guest,

in aisle to pew of the picture I knew laughter to spanking the system worked few.

The trample of bashing the human to duct is pretty much cancer with a bit budgie at tod,

in perhaps of the function the liter spoke gallon drinking for fortune removing the sand,

in the pour on the stitch to the shredders of lace tied to buckle the thread in the faced,

delighted to perk a future in term as the glue from the lips to that silence in chose.

Tenure the throes with a saddle on know in that this is stable of founded by grow,

worry shall that become the between as dead are still dead and tomatoes still green.

Cook up potatoes or carrots on steam broil the stretch to the hamburger seam,

smear the condiment like the cover of fein as that is the spirit of the Thames on a king,

french in the fries or Kentucky fried scream chicken to rat taste is the goods and the means,

however more in the over of theme is that drop in the bucket of oil on shaft.

The groove is of greased and the video of tube a televised live from the vernacular burns,

chaps that pant legs to shovel the twitch is the difference in modern or the use of the switch,

special it to the coffee of bean ground for the reality that tea often sings,

song to the trust of down for the seek Trigger a barn for Mr. Ed had a farm.

Will burr in the freeze of the staff to the stall mucking as letter is stuck to the saw,

shout to the silence proud with the flesh for in the provision the bee is the kest.

Phone calls to dial or stealing lined that is the smoke of the deviant signed,

at the cue of the bullet fires of swell to separate ages in a singular chill,

day off to foyer bell 815 dark is the daylight that swings on the spline,

raked for the doppler radar at disc. now be this a warning of straddle the Hist.

Chirp first to ding-dong that sent on parade to bark at the basis as trees in the nest,

glass paper towels that shiny to bisque in second of count sleep in the crest,

speak a ton to the birds on the lung for at instant both Eagle came Hawk the flights of the desk.

Of course that is really just 20/20 in 60 Minutes or lest

What Is Seen Is More Than Often At Dock

As a visit to my residence evidenced chair in the mind of the sentence milk curdled the stare,

as the week in the thought of the said on the blank the over in amount of the fashionable Blunt,

for in this insistence I speak of a night as the perk to the story was not him in a bout,

the found on admission to the memory bounce just delivered the vigor to virtue it out.

As in the pass of the please stop on the voice is the tunnels on driving the lights of a route,

no will not answer as the why is of spout this particular last sunday just sat on the couch.

A friend in the proposal to the written on down as the purpose of reason was the wisdom to stout,

in the vice of the fist a man with a tongue that lashed on the station of saying rebuke,

nothing at every spark of these lines is the remainder of system to plains,

as the buffalo ran to the heards of the strain so does the mind say speak with a star.

On width of a canter to the trotting to post the felt is the embers of the banks on that cyst,

pop goes the rustle the strange on the shout in never this push was the pull to a joust,

letter with standard in life it is rare for I believe all are special to cared,

a best friend in death for the leg up at youth a bathroom explains the pants on the root.

Shall the dance of the dark process to the maul in that hammer of done is the nail on pall,

the church to the beach of the sands suicide as the death of this anger is making a page,

a tell on the small with not driven to deck this fudge of a man just poked at the test,

as if to say that things that have shown bright to the phone that is ringing on stoned.

Dredge to the drill and the screw will not fret as the work is of better to bet the whole game,

cards to the Tau in the live on the joke to bring with a ladder don't bother the cow,

stiles for fences sword fish with seat porch with a bin and the crumbled is deep,

yet on this unfashionable loud I put, the A of the B to a now.

Add it with decade or drop off a vowel it is still in the noun of the placing a sound,

speak without tender that the hug wakes the dead to find on the season the wet slop of shred,

streak with a strobe the sky will thunder, 

count starts the yank that Tea Time of Wonder,

4:00 o'clock just says that it is greed with a stalk.

Form the carriage to listen the slain in the years of the chain to the choking of peer,

as the digs grow to the factorial spreads that same made a point to the unsaid said dice,

unknowing of the first at the act but that is not true for vomit counts clue,

a bucket for language the pale on spot to handle the smell of the garbage it cropped,

for on the atlas of breathing scratch plot the worth of the answer is the question on caught.

At least James Blunt had permission to shock.

Odd Bothered

The flip of print on coining is ahead in got mail,

in with the method of operation to cast of a part on James Blunt as a shoe,

in the vice of a grip on and with the text inking sit patience reveals an interest in sealed.

For on the counter of whom set school at the Harrow of the movie time rule,

is the carousel running with music to tool that gear is the horse on a moving duh cool,

is a ride for the Metro with a bus take good, a ticket in punched the shiner is tongues.

Fist it all over for it went to the fare sharing with clover and mentalities chair,

former to hardware in the paint of the term brushed for the off spur a sake on the burn,

in saddled for reason to touch of the glad provided that lives benefit not die of the sad.

Parking on tons is the riddle of Jung in speaking to sleep these bits are a link,

nice on the spice to spike in the case of certainly saying that leaves are the same.

Arson on barrel not my cup of tea as my Mother did instruct for jumping was me,

the clinic to teach a professional on lead these are the founders of a foundational treed.

Track on the dirt gallop to turf as the grass is not greener just watered for nerve,

spark a campaign that does more than just drain in the hand of a carton the picture is came,

creature to feature a human of ploy is not of the darker rather being go starter,

light with a candle the flash bulb regard is the carpet so read that the Barker is led.

Tennis the volley to Ping-pong on creed a various content that settles with deed,

sort through the done with a caption of rung it is the phone on the skit of the instrument at kicked.

The big bad world with all of those screams education to turmoil boils and seams,

hem is the stitch that saves nine in the needle,

spooling for brave is the feather this made,

 by the right thing as wrong sting to the throng.

The question is not of the lie rather the tempo of the blinders at-large,
in England the fever is burning with charge yet on the piece is missing a lark,
in the singing of done a C.D. packed in fact a spoon full of sugar is creaming it stacked.

It Is The What Of The Is

Tintinnabular the act of class in the war on that is fact to college of the school a horse to island spain,

in the ride of love a gain to the bliss of dancing reign I state the waltz of old page signed to the bless,

of training on the fronts to shore in the boat of ancient horror a tempo on the balance roared,

for heard the ear of tunnel said that the echo it is said to bring the structure to a board,

on the fence of sword and swail Flint began the ship of nail on a pirate of the voice in a singer of police.

Trade the winds that blow north West tot he coast of the dressed on the letter is no mess it's inkin',

towards that statute of the marbles that must be on the taste set on the table black and white tales,

baldwin playing ivory on the plate knows of grace in dignity for the virtue sees me through,

in talent to the state of the carriage on the fate is the incision mirror to cut or the chopper on the side,

dam that to the cause effect blowing storms with no good slant for truth is up on the post of a simple tight.

There on the next record is the flame of so much less machine the swirl a tongue and not the furl,

a course that runs to bury wise in theses tasting no video goes as the words are all that foes,

spreading marriage to the stump roundabouts to climb a strummed with title on that bustle,

ground the tree with route on be in the rubber of the fee is the grade of costing see,

down to the curve is the auto on the nerved that is simple touch the fast in the former of the fret.

Switch the chirp to that Tweet the one just on the after born for sentence is to belch,,

as I am known to bit the force for the saddle is of door to a threshold that makes core,

source to guitar harp in hand stroke that pony ride the fan breaking reach is vernaculars planned,

yet on the sip that lettered out to the class of classic flout a pipe on organ wrenched a sock,

that tight of dash to dash the sack as if to believe the poets pat take breach of concert sharked.

Load now the veal pork in the setting of report great export with no plank the Blind of guise in rank,

badge the bar to the sleeve on the broad or Overseas to count the dollar on the knee is bounced,

ball to put in the between any can provide a be as to the sting of movie speed grab the doll of scout.

Thanks for the left on out to the action of rapport for Muse is showing that its more to the point of Tea,

circle know the pottery on the base of the stamp be read with a seal on the brake a shimmer,

sun is good light that fag on the smoke of central rag to this print that evidence a part with a port.

Sherry glass the flavor old in the Ancient it is mould to gallant all to Keep,

dungeon this with B & D add the S & M for mead pour the stool account,

to subtract the loud of brae is to be familiar with the braid that Mane got roached by found,

wig the flight with egg top sky cracking real with a bound combing clouds that sheet on slide,

the photograph in write banked loud a cycle of the opera crowd a stage to park the star at shroud.

While Ewe Fuss The Wool Cents Buys

Cloning on the worlds temper of human beings for animals have been potted to up & running,

the galloping piece at societies heal is the shout of the foundation to the brain of grains in the pan,

on the dish of the satellite to the connection at hand in the foot of the shoulder to the future such plan,

as the teach and the Tell on an environment to beach it is in the reality of the shores on the birth.

To task to the spark of ignition on done is the branch of revolution on the mountain or the feat,

in and inasmuch of the counter to the bell on the mind of technology or factorial feather too,

with the course on natural to the speech of say in Nature the word is reincarnation on display,

to jump no leap is to Cliff on the note that textile agreement to the nerve on the float.

Rafting to the river on the raining of the sound is the sentence than a perfect to the venture,

add the bit of bridle to the time on the same Nature with a drink of no forgetting of the sync,

download of the empty to the fill of complete sending on the receiving an acceptance of the seat,

trade across the Cosmos or the universal plight could the breath be so sheet that the blankets of a key.

'

Cage the cell to the phone on the dial of a scene in back of the Upwards slant to speaking on the day,

shall science be the happenstance the sky of shed,

than is the cult of coincidence explaining on the tray.

To incarnation of the list a grade of the classic myth,

remember for the form of knit the woven of the came,

in spinal of the bone to fraction of the had a venue on the state of such is chilly not so sad.

Strike a chord to sing a knot for compass all to track in the trace of ember is the coal of recompensed,

for that is the exclaim of computer on the hence trading for the thought to hit a rift on start a fence,

wall the thinking can't do that for action is of done in the culture of the war a pretty on the stun,

diver on the ocean realms the underworld keen up and forward to that part is speaking by a gun.

Flex the muscle call the dial do not drink the glass for gone as the sake is particle the settle is of bun,

a touch stile round cue to the pools byte that game and move know the dual,

in plural of the zero or the count of A B C,

a tripod on the photo grid to line the entire of the fate!!

Gosh the darn of spool ask spoon a dipper quest preview,

shaking change to bring the page a ladder on the bench.

Trouble in the sum of skate as experience is shade,

the tree to apple with a snake cost is on the find,

creation has in millions shown the evolution time,

trim the cat with nine a clause the banks will grow to bind.

Now around that portion with a ship the lanes that construct to sign,

pen to sheet the paragraph what a kick in dine,

a life so elemental that shines the beacon light,

once it was a trip to moon now it talks Mars trite!!

An Escalator Or A Car Park

Tank your banter to the Barter of the trade of the Human Race that is ruin,

in the tumbler of type and caste it is the Class of education to speech,

with a strong concordance of diction the College of degree is growing,

as hot are the boils on the frogs of the stool in that measure not the burn,

for as the rise of Counter beach is in the ground a sand of the greatest Tell.

Perhaps on the forgotten in the laps of a said is the scene of a done in the grit,

on that my best friend dig Hang himself on the lumber of the rope that Noose,

in the tightening of the wrench of language of the branch a bow did not break it killed,

for shall the memory of bathroom style peat mow the vernacular with dark blanks a death will occur,

to this in the necessary of my communique I speak to no delight of reality that bill.

For on the plight of kids on the view to the task of one leg at one time with comprehension of dress,

as the shadow of a terror on the fight of a life it is all the steady that barks to the dyke,

in the thumb on the hand a finger to the made at erase of the application a proper held the pace,

to know of the Sentence that broke the Mind in balance I state that language is a bite,

bit to the snaffle understand the Curb a side of the walk to the act of the start,

in every born a set of simple order that inhabits what is done by doing what is better.

Trace the tunnel vice to the perfect even lighter Blunt is of spanked on the open letter,

to tack the saddle with a grip and throw off all the shite touch nothing to feel the anger is revealing,

not Won but rather a feather of the bird to be of Wares in the kingdom announcing Classic corn,

the Cab of the price did pay the toll at dice now be the Fare to drive a stair and Mount the fee,

a bridge built by words that sings to sake of table will spill a pitch of syrup as glue will super,

the gap between the watch of keep is wound on mental pace in state a singular to sheer`d.

Ship the lanes as news to brain in that the system cables,

written by a sponge of scrub is wiping up the Mess haul,

in that I say that Eden knew of a shackled bile.

Pail taste to eat the face in found than what stills the bring is arrow,

the construct form of number torn is with the move of dance a storm,

rounds to the Tornado a chilling instant froze,

more to second on the hour of the drum to handle,

cope and blink the coat of rink is skating on the ice of creed,

for crown the Crest with shoulder Vest the odd at see is bangle.

A bracelet not a leather laced in braided to the bunion,

working it out to open loud the gambles on the handle,

in dialing of the calculate do the easy and call it mode,

the most of shoes is buckle too as any strings the Able`d.

Hook, Line & Sync`r

Spice me a pole on the global entry of the not a star rather the stage changer of the venue`d,

on the stagger of the switch of a stick to Cain at the able of the degree of a School on the jade,

in the house of that partner on the Singer in the voice to treble the cleft to the speak on audio Vision,

to eyes in the dialect of the C.D. of the comprehension to task the Ambassador international a Taller.

As awe is not my mention to table the sit is very much on the Ore in thus a rather not a but,

to top gear on shift is the station of I.D. to the name on the Blunt capture of the World on a neat,

to brass the ball with a bounce to A Cable on morse of the Movie in counter to the bell Win,

change a tongue manager with the simple of Write gosh the darn is a Spool ride on the Whole!!

Now to the brush of the Painter by the Venture one foot to dance and the other burst move,

in the Waltz an operation of motion that pant to the Microphone of language that expand career,

to borrow on the Stock in the brokering of the wall there on the Iron is a curtain of dam,

sing with a bass as the drum hits the Nailing for the fiber of the thread is an introduction to the slant.

To bigs on the worth of the comprehension of the Virtue tack the jump with Horse cork a ramming,

horn to the Harp on the string of the Morrow in the yesterday news to the year of the Mall,

grains of the mill finders with that attention to address Whom would not hear a tackling of Fish,

basket the Weave as the spider on the Web mark on the check-off a Sociological got breast.

In the pandora of life on the Chest of the Holds is the den of the lair at the tempo of the gave,

for any of the other on the hand of the done would cycle to the drive with vernacular at sigh,

to grasp the ladder of the construction touch a term in the age of the value it is stoicism learn.

The entertain of the Party to the piano by the theme a Ballroom for the sync is a breath of the breeze,

no longer is the burp of the payment on the V for in thus transfer the bus is all but rode,

to benchmark the platter with service counter tray a dash of Salt & Pepper the thunder of resolved,

grant the marble to the pond in the lake of Ocean to puddle is to fist about on saying of the vault!!

Cast not the pearls found for stones will also Rock in the a^way that swallow gulps a whistle to the rat,

in mouse on the click to best a bitter sweet in Chiles bank the absolute to Band and dress it is a Sail,

glide not on the walk about for even the down under spouts to tribal bring the flour of baking on the vapor.

Steam to kept the Kettle Vet is breaking on the Nautical a ship built by deluge to aching better ration,

stamp the pass of port to done the corners of the steer the Aero Plane of Ion is the Aeon on a brave,

arrow to the point of shot on the Bow of languish for Time is of the a^bra^ham and sauce is all of stable.

Park the jump with court dressage the shorter of the leaping year in the event of Olympics shored,

drag no anchor as the bounce is of the greatest lumber a telephone for recycling a nation state of call,

to depth of any at the Horse will saddle with the ride as in the Poet it is paste to gluing at the station.

Ground to tell of the route that perpendicular by triangular have in the square of the hot an Oxide is the stump,

to root the sync with water drink of perfect for the Men^shunned a place to bust the record on the label,

in that blessing of the open an opportunity grassed for growth is of the pen and sill a window offered sat,

to hobble of the barn at the training of the stand is the snubbing post so deep that parting is of Dagon.

Defining Definition

To each at ball the swatch of watch to wrist of ankle in complete the drawer of Acer,

in deck land on pier to portal of mouth a touch on shoulder of packing,

stuffed with muscle of rib and method an operator of lip,

in with the eyes to tack a pupil of up understand to the dialect ruble,

a gem state to park of parson.

The garden of parish in chap^len on dust blows ancient to the Flounder to represent the Mule,

a sterile special to chain the limber with chop,

in stake of Lance and spear a happy loft is a bale,

arson has done to the Renaissance what Atom did to Ale!!

Swallow history without digestion & the blocks build a Pyramid theme,

copper talks to Wire bing in ark of shape of Noah^a^ing; the dove of no sprig but The Crow of Angle,

to Sear the scope with an Eagle flying Hawk`Ean.

Film real with tackle done as theory in fact has provided Horror^Moans to dank darkest boned,

truth in blank meld the bright glass of water in dry sand,

a beach of oceanus to tide^all chart,

scratch skin I know c.d. to speak of flower as skunked delight,

paint a stripe sewn bar light to medal,

on a desk of Inks the badger a doe boy singer hitting anchored at lead.

Begging no question as the mead of dawn in horizon sun to set of name,

spelt to craft of language grade to tree of willow of bench at seat,

no ladder requires a rope to bolt the thunder sounded,

for arrow point to the bough it snapped from the wait of pilots.

Drank-on the thought to letters mile the minute time with gear Big Ben,

a Train Station with handles chime belled by shackles of goats land.

However weeds are Nana beans as growth inhabits the Ivy plant,

the cover never but rather save that tree below the death of porch,

the warmth of sun in shaded death to smart that work with nailed scortch to whippings of 'The Cream'.

Wafting

Dark crankers on the lathe of a barn doom in the light of a placid plant,

on the shores of the sands that score the fountain on the crest a branch of sate,

in breath to divide on shaking pea Form the fork is the knifed in bled dry spread,

in on the Up of the tons that break to the cycling to treat the bike on the fled.

As floods of storm to that torque of the goo in feather by the ran to the glide of the say,

yesterday a Hawk showed the cry of the stay in a tree for the simple spoke beacon read fit,

to blanket a warmth on the shells broken stomped in advanced on the portion to settle a bounce.

Movie to word of the umbrage of Time in caption on verbal a laugh it was needed,

the Actor repair so Mal on the fair in Serenity singing with ships that still bell!!

Independent to part in the whole of the rumble is shock so discounted that language is anguish,

in course of the sent to the dear of the fact in hurry for cover on lids of the brain,

scour the sponge to squeeze on the stone blood based the turn-up to Cucumber comb`d,

in brick of the harp the wire on list is not a walk to the Tree nor an arrow for ride,

either to Either in accent of put is the link^in purse Sent to the tintinnabular grown.

Sight on the steam vapor of smoke insignia speaking the broader of baker,

in oven on cook is the eclectic of Hoof bigger the shoe big is the lit,

turn about on the rounds in the chain of the anchor the liberty fights,

sank to the boss in the Mug of the jocks blue are the jeans from the Mail box queens.

Trait fudge to meld in the spin of a dowel as the weight is package and the sure is a vibe`d,

zipper with clip line that dawn of a ridge not the dowel of the ladder or the construct for gain,

dirt is the scrub to plotters in game as chest to Pandora hasp it a brain,

in minds that shake hands with the birds that sit sliced a Hawking for callers is that fame,

so to the flight of the oh beautiful came great introduction to this hour of flame,

a fire on the Thoughts that go with each plain,

soaring the sky like the burst of at same.

What James Blunt doesn’t understand about the politics of envy

Suzanne Moore

Wednesday 21 January 2015 15.30 EST

In his open letter to Chris Bryant, the posh crooner fails to realise that it is the privileged who are promoting envy of the powerless

‘This posh spat involved a posh crooner taking umbrage and lapsing into cliches about “the politics of envy”.’ Photograph: Franziska Krug/Getty Images

If I were James Blunt I would form a band named Posh Spat immediately. This waspart of a headline on the BBC website that I fell in love with on the spot. You know, just like he did in that sex-pest-on-the-subway song that made him famous. Actually, Blunt makes songs that many people like. Fine by me.

But he did a very unclassy thing with his open letter to Chris Bryant. Open letters are the drunk texts of the great, the good and, yes, the already privileged. That’s why they get read. They imply an access to attention that is taken for granted – if not huge awareness.

The great myth is that public school gives all its pupils unusual charm and confidence. Only one of these things is true. It is terribly ill-mannered, if you have been born into good fortune, surely, not to acknowledge it, be grateful for it and give other people a leg up. Really, how little effort that takes.

But this posh spat involved a posh crooner taking umbrage and lapsing into cliches about “the politics of envy”. Does being concerned about lack of opportunities and access for working-class kids equate to advocating ideas that are “envy-based”?

If you asked most people if they preferred a politics based around fairness to one of envy, what would they say? Envy, though, is used over and over again to dismiss even mild challenges to the ruling class, because it is so emotive. Irrational feelings are utilised politically but often sanctioned by a gleam of so-called logic. I would say it suits the elite to encourage a widespread culture of envy.

Envy, like outrage, is now part of our mood music. You can’t escape it. Women, especially, are often addressed as already in a constant state of envy – of the rich, of the famous, the thin, the young, the beautiful. Every day we are shown pictures – in Daily Mail speak – of some woman’s “enviable” assets. We are apparently to envy a Kardashian “derriere” as we would a yacht, although neither of these things loom large on my horizon. There are indeed so many enviable assets in the world that you could feel a failure, and end up not wanting to bother at all. Envy brings inertia, and then, when it can rouse itself, shame.

The celebrity class exists for us to act out all these ambivalent feelings. We want them, we want to be them, but we also increasingly get our kicks from gloating when it goes wrong for them. We glory in their unhappiness. We like to watch them abuse each other in boutique zoos or eating maggots. That’s entertainment.

When envy shades further into actual resentment, we can actually wish people harm because of what they have. The minute the 99% don’t accept that the 1% earned their place at the top of the hierarchy through sheer talent and ability alone, anarchy will ensue. So there are the endless justifications for inequality again, as though it were a personality trait rather than a political product.

The go-to villains here include Mitt Romney and his offensive nonsense about God being on the side of the 1%. Or Bono’s reinterpretation of De Tocqueville, who had noticed the American ability to keep envy at arm’s length. Bono said that when Americans look at a man who lives in a mansion on a hill they think: “If I work really hard I could live in that mansion. In Ireland, people look at the guy in the mansion on the hill, and go, one day, I’m going to get that bastard.” Some of us look at man and mansion and wonder about taxes, but never mind.

Obviously, it would be nicer for the megarich if we all simply worshipped them while punishing ourselves for our own inferiority. We spin round contradictory ideas: anyone can make it, any time, anywhere; the exceptions prove the rule. Yet given the slightest bit of class mobility, many seek to purchase the connections that will help their children “get on”. For a Labour MP to say that there are fewer and fewer exceptions to the rule is not exactly class war; it’s just stating what we know to be the case.

All of this is part of that other fairytale: meritocracy. If we were a meritocratic society, we would do away with private education tomorrow, because we would trust our children to be able to get on in the world. Instead, we have this very peculiar roleplay, where the rich and powerful present themselves as being victims of the class system. It’s not easy being posh.

More seriously, a culture of envy leads to entire political parties based on one emotion: resentment. Hatred travels downwards and sideways. What else is Ukip? It is not a project based on anything but envy, this nasty, depressing and insular emotion. Envy neutralises empathy, thus the cause of people’s problems is seen to be those with less, not more power and wealth than them. Envy privatises anger, so we feel individually bad. We should indeed transcend the politics of envy – but that would require a graciousness that even well-born pop stars are unable to muster.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/21/james-blunt-politics-of-envy-punching-down

What exactly is a wazzock? A guide to the James Blunt 'controversy' for non-Brits

The singer-songerwriter is in dispute with a Labour MP about something or other. What’s going on? Allow Esther Addley to explain

 James Blunt: rocking out. Photograph: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

Esther Addley

Monday 19 January 2015 15.11 EST

A British politician suggested the success of actor Eddie Redmayne and singer James Blunt raised questions about the diversity of the arts in the UK. Blunt hit back with an open letter calling the MP a “classist gimp” and a “wazzock”. The politician responded calling the singer “blooming precious”. Erm, sorry. What?

Allow us to explain. And like many things in ultra-modern, 21st-century Britain, it helps to have a sense of the British class system, and where the characters involved fit into it. 

The players

Chris Bryant MP, the politician in question, has just been appointed the arts spokesman for the Labour party, the leftwing opposition party. He represents a poor constituency in rural Wales, where not many people go to private schools.
Bryant, by the way, was also a leading critic of the Murdoch press during the phone hacking scandal and once had photographs of himself posing in underpants, taken from his Gaydar gay dating site, published in a national newspaper, but those facts are less relevant to the story in hand.

James Blunt is a multimillion-selling crooner whose love-to-hate-it earworm You’re Beautiful was voted the seventh most annoying song of all time by readersof Rolling Stone. He is also, in the classic British sense, posh (to be clear: Posh Spice even in her current fashion incarnation, is very much not-posh).

Evidence for the singer’s poshness may include the facts that Blunt is a former officer in the British army, and his real name is spelled “Blount” (he dropped the “o” to make it easier to pronounce – it’s a posh British thing). But it certainly turns on the fact that he attended Harrow school, the second poshest and most exclusive of England’s public schools (which are, it is important to say, not “public schools” in the sense that a normal person would understand it, but very decidedly private). Not entirely irrelevantly, so did Benedict Cumberbatch.

As for Eddie Redmayne: also posh. He went to Eton, the poshest public school of the posh, posher even than posh Harrow. As did Dominic West, Damian Lewis and Hugh Laurie. And Princes William and Harry. (If you’re now wondering if every British actor on US TV went to Eton, best not to start on the British government.)

Ok, so …?

So that’s the background to Bryant’s comments, in an interview with the Guardian, in which he said that while he can celebrate the success of Britain’s more privileged stars, he will also seek to address a “cultural drought” in areas outside comfortable south-east England.

“I am delighted that Eddie Redmayne won [a Golden Globe for best actor], but we can’t just have a culture dominated by Eddie Redmayne and James Blunt and their ilk,” he said.

Bryant wondered if today’s cultural conditions would produce another Albert Finney or Glenda Jackson, both of whom came from humble backgrounds. British broadcasters also had a responsibility to produce “that kind of gritty drama, which reflects [the country] more. We can’t just have Downton programming ad infinitum and think that just because we’ve got some people in the servants’ hall, somehow or other we’ve done our duty by gritty drama.”

(Important explanatory note for non-Brits: a majority of us do not live or even work in stately homes).

Blunt’s reply was indignant. He “happened” to go to a boarding school but had bought his first guitar with money saved up through his holiday jobs packing sandwiches. No one at his school could help him with his musical dreams because “I was expected to become a soldier or a lawyer or perhaps a stockbroker”.

“Every step of the way, my background has been AGAINST me succeeding in the music business. And when I have managed to break through, I was STILL scoffed at for being too posh for the industry,” he said, proving that an expensive education does not teach you to avoid capitalising words in the middle of sentences. Bryant was teaching “the politics of jealousy” and was a “prejudiced wazzock”.

A what?

So what – and at last we get to the nub – is a wazzock? Glad you asked. Urban Dictionary defines the term as a mild insult directed at “one who is foolish, one who has made an arse of themselves, one who is rather daft”. (The rest of those Britishisms we hope you can work out for yourselves.) It is one of a number of faintly limp insults that are more often used ironically than in seriousness. See also: twit, pillock, wally, plonker. Basically, they can all be used on telly without frightening your gran. (This list, by the way, does not include wanker, which is much ruder than many Americans seem to realise. and normally asterisked in British publications other than the Guardian.)

“Blooming”, meanwhile, is the polite form of “bloody”. Which is the very much less polite form of “very”.

One further note: Blunt signed his note “James Cucking Funt”, a neatly self-deprecating nod to the rhyming-slang nature of his second name. It’s not the first sign of his own sense of humour – after being a figure of open scorn for some years, the singer has recently gone through a dramatic reputational rehabilitationthanks to his witty ripostes to Twitter critics.

While there was plenty of praise for the singer on the social network on Monday, including from Gary Lineker, the TV presenter and former English footballer, others were less clear where they stood.

Hope that helps.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/19/james-blunt-wazzock-chris-bryant-guide

James Blunt has misunderstood the relationship between privilege and success

Sarah Perry

January 20,2015

James Blunt has misunderstood the relationship between privilege and success

The burden of making ends meet is often death to creativity

The exchange between Chris Bryant and James Blunt raises a question deserving more considered attention, which is this: does wealth and privilege helps you to artistic success? The answer’s so starkly obvious it hardly seems worth saying, but say it I must: yes. Yes, of course it does.

The operation of privilege in the arts is subtle and misunderstood. For example, the notion that connections secure publishing deals is absurd: no editor risks a hard-won reputation by publishing a book because it was written by an Oxford chum. The slush pile is an equal opportunities employer, and it’s worth noting that Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist – one of the most acclaimed and successful debuts of this or any year – was discovered there.

Yet lack of privilege remains too high a barrier for too many, and too many voices go unheard (as an aside, Bryant’s having implied that we need working-class voices for ‘grittier’ subject matter is unspeakably condescending).

READ MORE:

JAMES BLUNT WRITES STINGING OPEN LETTER TO 'CLASSIST GIMP' CHRIS BRYANT

Creating a career in the arts when you have no money and no connections is difficult and wearisome. This is not because the door’s locked and the key issued to a select few, but because the ordinary life as lived by most - beginning work at 18 or younger because you must pay rent, or working through college to pay your own tuition and emerging crippled with debt and needing work - leaves little room for art.

We must recognise privilege when we see it, and understand we’re not talking about seven figures in a Coutt’s account. I’ve met those who think six months as a chalet girl before an internship at the BBC constitutes the daily grind; those who protest “I only went to Edinburgh!” as evidence of being on the back foot, socially speaking.

Here’s the thing: if your cousin knows someone who needs an unpaid intern, but that’s OK because you’ve got a room in your Mum’s friend’s house in Shoreditch for peppercorn rent, you’re greatly privileged. If you can manage on a little photography work (using the digital SLR you got for your 21st) because you’re house-sitting for an aunt who’s gone travelling, you may not feel wealthy, but you’re rich in time, the great currency of privilege: time to sing, to write; time to find out if you have what it takes. What’s more, the burden of making ends meet is often death to creativity: never have I felt less like writing than when plunging through every coat pocket in the house in the hope of finding the bus fare to work.

Subtler still, the confidence of privilege enables an easeful move through the social aspect of life in the arts. I’m largely accent-less, and possess a PhD and a piano (the latter brought in evidence against me whenever I plead ‘not guilty’ to being middle class), but find publishing events so alarming I frequently hide in the toilets. And the chance of my spotting across the room a friend of my mother’s or an old college pal, and beckoning them over for a chat, is vanishingly small: arts events are not overly supplied with small town ex-Biblical fundamentalists educated at a polytechnic.

Envy achieves nothing: it leads to a mistrust of those both privileged and gifted, suggesting they cannot possibly have been the latter without the former, which is as unjust as it is illogical (Mitford! Woolf!). The only solution, of course, is the creation of open-access privilege in the form of more and better arts funding. The government’s recent evisceration of the arts risks creating a kind of class-based arts culture that will impoverish us all.

As for me? Well: certainly I’d have finished my first novel years earlier if I’d not been diligently avoiding a repeat of what I call The Bailiff Incident, but I’ve had privileges of my own, and in the publishing world have encountered nothing but welcome. That strange childhood that gave me this strange imagination, the ability to walk miles along the banks of the Cam though I’ll never know one end of a punt from another, great strokes of blinding luck: these are riches too, and I’d not swap them for anyone’s.

Sarah Perry is a writer and novelist. Her first novel, After Me Comes the Flood, is out now from Serpent's Tail.www.sarahperry.net 

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/james-blunt-has-misunderstood-the-relationship-between-privilege-and-artistic-success-9989541.html

James Blunt's comebacks - would they work for your career?

James Blunt has mastered the art of the comeback. Why don’t more of us take this approach to our critics?

James Blunt's Twitter comebacks are the stuff of legend; and now that legend has a new chapter, with his brilliant reply to MP Chris Bryant on the subject of privilege in the arts. Most people would never dream of trying this approach with the critics and bullies they encounter in the course of their career. They're far more comfortable staying quiet, letting colleagues get the upper hand, seething for days, and then holding a grudge for the rest of their life.

In their mind the comeback is for the playground, where 'Yeah? So's your face' passes for the height of sophisticated wit. This image isn't helped by the likes of Lord Sugar. Even when he's in the boardroom with his so-called Apprentices, saying the things we've been shouting at the screen for the best part of an hour, listening to his comebacks is still a toe-curling experience. Nobody wants to hear a grown man whine "Don't tell me you're just like me. You're not like me. I'm unique."

Blunt, however, has mastered the three step process of replying to his critics in a way that wins the support of everyone around him - something we could all benefit from at work.

1. He chooses his targets carefully

Nobody is going to appreciate you using a masterful comeback against a senior manager or a vulnerable intern. However, if like Blunt you use it to give as good as you get to the bullies, you'll win the support of all those around you.

Great responses to his bullies recently have included one to a tweet that said "James Blunt is one ugly m*th*er f*cker." He replied with "And how's your modelling career going". And when another wrote: "James Blunt just has an annoying face and a highly irritating voice", he replied, "And no mortgage."

2. He knows his audience

The best put downs start with an understanding of the person who has insulted you or attacked your position. You can then respond in a way that will demonstrate both your understanding of their point of view - and your own.

In James Blunt's case, he's mostly dealing with people who hate him and his music, and he has a couple of approaches. One is by joking that he hates himself more, such as his response to the tweet: "I must be 1 of only 2 who genuinely likes every James Blunt song. The other person being him." To which he replied "Nope, you're on your own." And another is by pretending to humour them, such as replying to "I cannot put into words how much I hate James Blunt" with "Try singing it."

3. He's funny

Humour will help you get away with a great deal, and Blunt is funny. To one Tweet claiming "That James Blunt song is utterly horrific, horrific", he replied. "Yet so many people bought it, bought it." While to one who said "James Blunt is a major B*ll end", he replied "That's Captain B*ll end to you."

Nobody is pretending that a witty comeback will silence critics and bullies for good. However, if you can respond to a bully in a way that leaves everyone laughing, and thinking more highly of you, then they'll think twice about attacking again.

So what do you think? Will this approach work for you? Or will you stick with the stiff upper lip and an hour or so of complaining to your other half when you get home?

• By Sarah Coles, Jan 20, 2015

http://money.aol.co.uk/2015/01/20/james-blunts-comebacks-would-they-work-for-your-career/

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