Gig round-up! First up, Billy Bragg...

March and April were great gig months here at Tomkies Towers. Billy Bragg, my all-time favourite politico-romantic-folk hero played the Academy with his usual blend of sharp wit, biting satire and passion for fairness and equality in society. The concert was part of the Hope Not Hate campaign and Billy did the campaign proud. The audience was a resassuringly mixed bunch - a lot of us who have no doubt grown up with Billy through the Thatcher years and beyond - but more importantly perhaps - a wildly enthusiastic contingent of teens and students. Good to know that there is a new breed of commited young people ready to campaign for a fairer society and take up the baton from us oldies! (And yes, that is a cup of tea - hats off to the man who can still rock it out clutching a brew of a different kind!).

It was many years after he died that I realised my Grandad was what you might call a "quiet Socialist" - never overtly political (no idea how he voted - you didn't discuss that kind of thing back then) but a true believer in equality for all. He fought in the war with time in India and Jerusalem. I remember his tales of swimming in the Suez Canal and nearly being swept away by the huge ships. I only wish I could remember more and had listened more carefully. I'd like to think he'd like Billy Bragg and this song reminds me of him - this one's for you, Grandad.....