Not Nice?......Deer & Limpets…....Magnificent Monumental Mushroom Up-date…….Statement From C.A.A.T……..
by Bernie Bell - 08:50 on 29 June 2025
"Not nice
Confessions of a Van head.
Ian Marchant
June 25
I must have heard this shortly after its release in 1973, when I was fifteen, but how? Did Whispering Bob play a bit on the Whistle Test? Did Johnny Walker play a bit on his brilliant Radio One lunchtime show? I certainly remember him playing ‘Madame George’ at about this time, but it wasn’t the live version. However it came about, I heard a bit of ‘Too Late to Stop Now’, and bought the album, which rocked my world.
I wanted to be a singer and Van Morrison was one of my first masters. Listening to Van was how I learned to sing the blues, how I learned to phrase stuff. He gave me a way to tap into my strange teenage romanticism; I sang along with ‘Into The Mystic’ - ‘and when that foghorn blows, you know I will be coming home’. I was fifteen, and I hadn’t been anywhere to come home from. Rod Stewart’s ‘You Wear It Well’ evoked similar feelings for a far-future girlfriend who I hadn’t treated very well. Romanticism came with a side of unearned regret. At fifteen, I had no chance of a girlfriend of anykind. It struck me that if I could get to be the singer in a rock and roll band, only then could I get a girlfriend. So I played this album, and sang along as best as I could, using an old golfclub as a mike, my equivalent of the guitarists tennis racquet. And there came a day, five years later, when I was the singer in a rock and roll band, and had a girlfriend. So my scheme worked, I guess.
The band Van used on ‘Too Late…’ were called The Caledonian Soul Orchestra’ and they got under my skin too. Yes, guitar, bass, drums, piano, but also a proper horn section and a string quartet. My fantasy band was big, and all its members were girls, in particular all the girls I fancied from school. I can’t remember who played what, but in the end it had eighteen members. Parts of this fantasy came true in 2007 when together with my old musical partner Chas Ambler we did an event in Morcambe called ‘Your Dad in Las Vegas’ where we became the world’s biggest duo, and played with a twenty piece orchestra, several of whom were actual girls.
In ‘The Breaking Wave’, the band’s founder, Nigel ‘Sparky’ Parkin, put up a notice in 1976 in the student union at Warwick University, reading ‘Wanted, musicians for new band. Influences, Velvets, Roxy, Krautrock, Monkees, Throbbing Gristle etc’.
These days, I’m too infirm to walk very far. Like, really, a hundred yards at best. I struggle to get up the stairs, or in and out of chairs or the car. So when Hilary and I go shopping in Morrisons, she shops and I sit in the car listening to Qobuz on my phone. This week, I had a Van playlist going, and I ended up listening to ‘Astral Weeks’, and it struck me that Sparky could well have added that to his list. It’s an astounding piece of musical improvisation. And since The Breaking Wave are my actual fantasy band come to life on the page, they too have, at their fullest extent, ten members, several of whom are actual women.
And yes, I know Van isn’t very nice. That’s why this post is called ‘Not Nice’.
Anyhoo, ‘Listen to the Lion’.
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My response to Ian’s piece……..
“All I can do is agree. I'm still listening to Van - a lot - certain songs help to ease my troubled mind – others set me off groovin’.
He has a reputation for being grouchy - who wouldn’t be grouchy when they feel and see so much?
I mention Van….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/02/13/and-theres-tb/
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/12/23/music-re-cycling-the-ocean/
And I quote his songs - a lot.”
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Deer & Limpets…..
https://archaeologyorkney.com/2025/06/26/phd-blogs/
My tuppenceworths…..
https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/06/07/you-can-never-have-too-many-links/
https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/04/28/fun-with-limpets/
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Magnificent Monumental Mushroom Up-date…..
It’s opened up!.....
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Statement From C.A.A.T……
“WE ARE ALL PALESTINE ACTION. CAAT SOLIDARITY STATEMENT.
We are writing this statement in unequivocal support of Palestine Action and the outrageous decision by this government to try to proscribe them.
The British government is currently aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide. There is one clear legal and moral path available to them – imposing a full two-way arms embargo. Instead they are labelling those taking action to stop genocide as terrorists.
Let’s be clear. Direct action is not terrorism and taking action against genocide profiteers is not terrorism.
There is a long and proud history in the peace movement of direct action at military bases and arms companies. Keir Starmer himself was part of the legal team defending the Fairford Five during the Iraq war. Using the protest at Brize Norton as an excuse for proscription is manufactured outrage. It’s an excuse to do what Israeli and arms trade lobbyists, such as Lord Walney, have always wanted. For generations, from Greenham, Aldermaston, Fairford and others, the peace movement has taken action against military bases – actions that regularly involve breaching security, getting inside and causing damage. This is not something new. This is legitimate opposition to illegal wars. This is not terrorism.
At CAAT, we are the proud custodians of one of the hammers used by the Seeds of Hope Ploughshares women to smash up a hawk aircraft bound for Indonesia in 1996. CAAT supported the women, and they were eventually acquitted by a jury.
Supporting those who dismantle the tools of war is at the heart of CAAT’s past and present. Successive governments have failed not only us as citizens, but more importantly, the Palestinian people. They have stood aside while Israel commits horrific war crimes. They have ignored international law. They have misled parliament, obfuscated and done everything in their power to protect arms dealers’ profits. Instead of imposing a full two-way arms embargo, this Labour government has instead increased the UK’s arms trade with Israel – licensing £127m of arms in the last three months of 2024 – more than 2020-2023 combined.
When our government fails to act, it is down to us, ordinary people with a conscience, to take action. We applaud those who feel their moral duty to disarm weapons factories outweighs the risks of imprisonment. We cannot sit back while UK companies profit from genocide, when Palestinian children are killed by 2000lb bombs dropped from F-35 combat aircraft that the UK is ensuring remain operational with its supply of spare parts.
Attempting to proscribe Palestine Action is designed to scare us, to intimidate our movements and to divide our solidarity.
It won’t work. When the state remanded the Filton 18 on the spurious basis the action has “terrorist connections”, it hoped that it would deter people. It didn’t. The actions have continued because people care, because they have a conscience, because taking action against genocide is more important than the personal consequences.
Now is the time to be courageous. We will defeat this ban through mass opposition. Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said he was “shocked” by the emergency demonstration held this week in Westminster. He shouldn’t be shocked. Our movements are based on solidarity. And it is essential that this solidarity continues.
We are all Palestine Action!
Please write to your MP and ask them to speak out against the ban….
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/palestine-action-briefing/
Follow CAAT and Palestine Action on our social media for updates and further emergency protests.
And do try and watch To Kill A War Machine, the film about Palestine Action while you still can. Emergency screenings are happening across the country before the film is potentially banned next week. Details are here….
https://tokillawarmachine.com/#ScreeningsSection
With thanks for your support,
Charles and all the CAAT team
PS - For further information about what the implications of the ban might be and for some legal thoughts from Netpol, click on this link….
https://netpol.org/2025/06/26/palestine-action-ban-guidance/
SUPPORT CAAT HERE
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