The Tony Blair issue

Tony Blair - also known as former Prime Minister and leader of the Labour party, the man responsible for Blairism and New Labour, and one of the biggest red Tories out there. I try not to talk about Tony Blair if it can be avoided, I think ultimately the involvement of Tony Blair in current political affairs is counter-productive - let me explain. Tony Blair is not representative of the Labour Party or at the very least, he is not representative of what the Labour Party is now in 2016. We are moving past the times of New Labour and Blairism ('bout time) and entering the age of Corbynism, Labour are becoming reconnected with the grassroots movement, the links with the trade unions and socialist parties, that they began with.

The issue being that Tony Blair continues to make public statements about the status of the Labour Party and his opinion is still widely listened to and respected by people, the words he says still make an impact because of the position of power he once had. This wouldn't be such a bad thing if he was productively supporting the party he claims to be backing, but all Blair seemingly does when making statements about the Labour Party is complain that they've moved too far to the left since he left government which does nothing but undermine the party. When someone with that amount of political influence makes sweeping statements like it would be a 'very dangerous experiment' if Jeremy Corbyn's Labour with its 'populist policy-making' got into power, it is an outright endorsement for the Conservatives, they can and they will capitalise on the fact that a so-called Labour supporter (and not just any so-called Labour supporter but the one who just so happened to be Prime Minister for 10 years) isn't even supporting Labour under its current leadership, and that to me sounds much more dangerous an experiment than the idea of a Corbynite government.

Not only do Blair's statements endorse the far right, they also reignite support for New Labour which divides not just the members of the party but also members of the public. Division in the Labour party is feeding right into the hands of the Tories and we cannot afford to give them fodder in political discourse. It is vital that the Labour party are united under the common goal of defeating the Tories, and that cannot happen when red Tories are bringing down the party from the inside. What's being presented from that is that Labour's internal politics are not consistent, why would anyone vote for a party that can't unite and inspire their own members let alone the general population? Outside of the party, members of the public are reminded of New Labour and it's possible that they could defect to Tory because Blair is essentially saying that if Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party gets into power, it would be disastrous. It's blatant that Blair is telling us to vote for an alternative, and in this two-party state realistically the only alternative is Conservative. If members of the public who support New Labour take on board what Blair is saying, we may have possibly lost a huge chunk of Labour support - I repeat, we cannot afford to do that.

Another issue with Blair chipping in on these issues is that a lot of people don't respect his opinion and may completely disagree with him - myself included! This is a problem though, because if miraculously Blair does stop bitching about Jeremy Corbyn and gets behind Labour before 2020, this could be a negative endorsement for Labour and could result in people abstaining from voting. Jeremy Corbyn's tagline when running for leader was that he was advocating 'a new kind of politics' and a move away from centrist* Blairite policies. If Jeremy Corbyn is advertising a non-Blairite style of government and he is endorsed by the biggest Blairite there is, Blair, I somehow doubt that many people will be convinced that Labour are going to act any differently to how they have when they have previously been in power. Tony Blair's input in this discussion is not remotely helpful for the left, and Labour has and always will be fundamentally at its core a left wing party, so if Blair cares as much as he claims about the future of Labour, he would do the admirable thing and stop publicly making statements about Labour. It's counter-productive and Tony Blair should no longer have access to this public platform.

On a final note - Tony, if you want to talk about a 'very dangerous experiment', do you want to talk Iraq?

*BLAIRISM IS NOT CENTRIST IN THE SLIGHTEST. LET'S BE REAL. 

The problem with eggs

Since going vegan about a year ago, I've had a lot of different comments from my peers. I've obviously heard the generic "bUT HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITHOUT CHEESE??!!11" but I've also heard from some of my vegetarian friends "I understand giving up meat and dairy, but why eggs?" so the time has come for me to explain what exactly the problem with eggs is.

*queue the militant veganism*

A common misunderstanding regarding the egg industry is that it doesn't result in death like, obviously, the meat industry does. However, contrary to popular belief, the egg industry is intertwined with the meat industry - it still results in the mass death of animals. Only female chickens can produce eggs rendering male chickens as useless and they are either grinded up, or, even more sadistically, put into plastic bags and left to suffocate to death. They aren't even used for meat after this point because chicks don't have much muscle and it wouldn't be profitable to raise them as 'broilers' or 'fryers' so their lives are deemed useless right from the off and for this, they're killed. This is just the beginning.

Conditions in egg factory farms are abysmal. Chickens are kept in cages made of wire mesh which are layered on top of each other, which means faeces fall from the upper tiers to the chickens down below. This results in ill health for chickens. Secondly, chickens have to endure extremely uncomfortable conditions as the cages are usually very overcrowded - a cage which is roughly 16-18 inches has to hold up to 6 chickens which all have an average wingspan of 32 inches, go figure. This stresses them out to the point that the average super layer hen has an average laying span which is over 15 years shorter than hens that produce eggs naturally. When egg production slows down with hens in egg factorys, they're then slaughtered for meat. These hens are bred into a life of exhaustion, stress, and ill health and then murdered when they have nothing left to offer because their bodies have been exploited for human consumption. 

Some may argue that buying organic or free range eggs avoids these cruel methods of production, and this myth has been widespread because the industry capitalises on the guilt of the ordinary person. However, 'free range' is merely a marketing term. In order for a brand to be able to use the label 'free range' they need to allow their chickens to have access to outdoor areas but there is no specification of how long the chickens must spend outside or how much space the chickens should be given outside. Free range egg farms may be marginally better than factory farming, in the same way that a sh*t with a sprinkle on it is better than your bog standard sh*t, but at the end of the day it's still a sh*t. Hens in free range egg farms are often confined to mud-filled pens or crowded sheds, so there are still the issues of overcrowding and illness. The issue is still present, it's just been relocated so they can stamp 'free range' on their eggs and Middle Class Mary can feel good about herself. 

The white paper: what you need to know and why you should be angry

In 2010, there was public outcry over the tripling of tuition fees by the Con-Dem government. 6 years later, we're under a completely Conservative government and the higher education White Paper has been published - if you thought £9000 a year was bad, it's about to get a whole lot worse.

Photograph: Stephanie Kalber/Demotix/Corbis

The White Paper allows 'inflationary increases in tuition fees for institutions that meet basic standards in 2017-18', and this is 'ahead of the introduction of differentiated caps in 2019-20'. This means that by 2018, some Universities will be able to charge more per year than others and by 2020, Universities that score highly in terms of teaching quality will be able to raise their fees to whatever they like. The discourse used makes it seem on the surface like the Universities that offer the best education will be rewarded, but really it's a neoliberal restructuring of the higher education system to benefit the elite and exclude those from poorer backgrounds. On top of the fact that maintenance grants have been scrapped, it isn't hard to see that this is is a purely ideological tactic. The way it's heading, someone from a poorer background would have to take out an extortionate loan to go to one of these 'better Universities' and when they come out the other side, they'll have a bomb of a loan to repay. Whilst they may come out with a degree from a prestigious University and be more likely to get a job, it is still unfair when you remember that those from richer backgrounds will be able to get the same degree from the same prestigious University, and be able to get Mummy and Daddy to pay it back and that's only if they take out the loan initially which people from richer backgrounds don't always have to do because they've got the dolla in the first place. 

This all plays into the Conservative's ideological warfare, it is the principle at hand that the Conservatives are only fighting for the privileged few. Just a few months ago, George Osbourne announced his budget which directly targeted the disabled. A few years back, Iain Duncan Smith introduced the Bedroom tax which directly targeted the poor. The Conservatives are slowly culling off the groups that don't affect them, it's reinforcing hierarchy, it's reinforcing inequality, it's neoliberalism at its worst and it is wholly unacceptable.

The rebrand

I've been absent from my blog for a few months and even when I was posting on here, I still wasn't posting regularly. I've been getting a bit bogged down with Uni deadlines and general socialising, and I've also wanted to change the direction my blog was going in. I said a while ago, I just wanted to talk about whatever the hell I want but I've still been feeling a little bit boxed in in what I can talk about, so I felt a rebrand was necessary.

What I like to talk about is politics, whether that be feminism (it's always about feminism) or the dipshittery of the Tories. I know not many people follow me on here for that, but I have really lost interest in beauty and fashion. I hardly ever go on Bloglovin' these days because that's basically all the content that was in front of me, I've only really kept updated with a handful of blogs. All I tend to read is articles because politics is what interests me more than anything. Don't get me wrong, I still love wearing makeup and I love shopping but I just wasn't feeling inspired to write about lipsticks anymore.

Enter 'one frank female'. Thanks for sticking with me over the past few years. If there are any political/feministy blogs you like to read, please comment down below with them as I'd really love to follow some!

15 songs y'all should listen to by The Smiths

The Smiths defined an era in the 80s, they created a musical safe haven for the awkward, the shy, and the socially aware. Iconic guitar riffs, basslines, racing drums, combined with poetic, melancholic, sarcastic lyrics - The Smiths are one of a kind.

The Smiths are one of my favourite bands - it was inevitable, I grew up with parents who are dedicated members of the Moz army. One of my friends when discussing me recently said I "don't go more than 5 seconds without thinking about Morrissey". This post has been in my drafts for a while because it's been ridiculously hard to decide what songs by The Smiths I would recommend to a newbie, but a lot of people have told me over the past year that they want to get into The Smiths and don't know where to begin, so consider this your starter pack..

DISCLAIMER: The song meanings I am talking about are my interpretations, if you interpret them differently obviously that's fine - Morrissey was often very ambiguous in his lyrics!

I say y'all over text to sound cool and casual, but IRL I'm not much of a y'all person - sorry to destroy your perceptions of me.

THIS CHARMING MAN {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}
This song has so much going for it, right from the iconic introductory riff. This song is about a whole range of things. The most obvious theme being making a sexual debut (to use Laci Green's term) with an older man, but I think there's a lot more meaning to this song besides from sex. I think this song is also about wanting to start living and stop overthinking everything - like the line"why ponder life's complexities when the leather runs smooth on the passenger's seat?" sums up the song for me, and it's about the protagonist trying to enjoy life and live in the moment rather than over thinking.

THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT {THE QUEEN IS DEAD - 1986}
This is one of the first songs by The Smiths I ever heard (I think the first that I actually paid attention to was The Queen is Dead which I'm gonna talk about down below) and it was actually played at my parents' wedding - I obviously wasn't there to witness that but my Mum was about 6 months pregnant with me so y'know I was listening to The Smiths before I was born, so it's got that emotional significance for me. I wholeheartedly think this is one of the greatest love songs of all time (right up there with Something by The Beatles or The Luckiest by Ben Folds). I just think the lyrics are bloody brilliant - "if a double decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die, and if a ten tonne truck kills the both of us, to die by your side, well the pleasure, the privilege is mine". I think the song's just about that honeymoon phase in love (I'm making it sound like I've experienced it but nah #foreveralone) and not wanting to be separated from your significant other because like all the feels.

HEAVEN KNOWS I'M MISERABLE NOW {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}
This song also has a pretty iconic intro, I think the combination of chords Johnny Marr uses are just so satisfying to listen to and I quite like the bassline too (although, the best bassline in any song by The Smiths is hands down Barbarism Begins at Home - it's so good that there's a performance where Johnny Marr stops playing guitar to listen to it and dance with Morrissey). It's a sarcastic song about depression and not finding joy in anything anymore except for 'in the haze of a drunken hour' and the protagonist doesn't leave the house and questions their friendships and relationships with people. What I love about The Smiths and Morrissey's solo work, is that the songs tackle serious issues regarding mental health but in a relatable way with a catchy melody which I think is rare to find in music. Usually songs that are about depression are . . . depressing (great use of vocabulary, Bess) but The Smiths make songs about depression relatable to those suffering with it but the song's not slow or dull or boring like other songs on the issue, they're still enjoyable songs which I think is quite a rare thing to find.

THE QUEEN IS DEAD (TAKE ME BACK TO DEAR OLD BLIGHTY) {THE QUEEN IS DEAD - 1986}
Now this was the song that got me into The Smiths. To be honest, this entire album was the start of the obsession with The Smiths. I first heard this song on my Dad's Jubilee playlist, we're not a pro-royal family at all and we went away for the jubilee weekend a few years ago so Dad made a playlist to listen to on the car journey, and this was on there (along with God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, obviously). This song is just epic. I hate that word because I think it got thrown around a lot to describe anything in 2012 but that's the only word I can think of to accurately describe this song. This song is essentially an anti-monarch anthem. It illustrates how the Queen symbolised national unity during World War I (that's why there's a war song in the introduction) and how the Queen is seen as a Mother in the UK, but how the whole system is archaic because the Royals are out of touch and don't care about the things that don't affect them. Simply put, this song is Morrissey calling for a revolution. I repeat, this song is epic.

PANIC {LOUDER THAN BOMBS - 1987}
This song was written around the time of the Chernobyl disaster because apparently Radio 1 DJ Steve Wright reported the Chernobyl disaster and then went right into playing Wham! which is obviously quite inappropriate, and the song doesn't have anything to do with people's lives. Marr said in a 1987 interview with NME: "'Panic' came about at the time of Chernobyl . . . The story about this shocking disaster comes to an end and then, immediately, we're off into Wham!'s 'I'm Your Man'. I remember actually saying 'what the fuck has this got to do with peoples' lives?' We hear about Chernobyl, then, seconds later, we're expected to be jumping around to 'I'm Your Man'." To me, this song is about not relating to mainstream music (because I'm such a hipster) because the songs that are constantly played in the UK top 40 or in the clubs don't say anything to me about my life. This song got me through High School when all my friends were listening to One Direction and I was the weird kid listening to the Pope of mope.

I WANT THE ONE I CAN'T HAVE {MEAT IS MURDER - 1985}
This song on a basic level is about wanting to be with someone but you can't for whatever reason. Morrissey often made his lyrics character ambiguous so they can be interpreted in so many different ways, for example a lot of people think specifically this is about a gay person being in love with someone who's not come out as gay. Simply put, it's about being driven insane because you can't be with the one that you want.

THE HEADMASTER RITUAL {MEAT IS MURDER - 1985}
There was a time when this was my favourite song by The Smiths, and it's definitely one that I rarely skip when it comes up on my shuffle. As with all of the songs by The Smiths, I love the guitar part - I think Johnny Marr is the best guitarist in the world, I love the combination of chords in this song with the riff, it's pretty darn splendid. This song, to me, is about school in the 60s/70s where school really was quite brutal regarding the whole physical abuse thing, but I also think there's a bit of a fish out of water story going on in the song like I imagine all the kids in their uniforms accepting the education system the way it is and one kid seeing the clear flaws with it and wanting to break away ("I want to go home, I don't want to stay"). I used to listen to this song first thing when I was leaving school on a Friday afternoon, it's just really satisfying to go home for the weekend and listen to a song which basically shuns school. Also, Morrissey's yodelling is on point.

I KNOW IT'S OVER {THE QUEEN IS DEAD - 1986}
I never used to be a massive fan of this song, in fact alongside Some Girls are Bigger Than Others it was one I always skipped when listening to The Queen is Dead album but I decided to give it a proper listen when my Mum said she preferred this song to This Charming Man - I still think that was quite a sweeping statement and not one I agree with, but it is now one of my faves. This song is the classic tale of unrequited love, in this case with someone who had never really experienced love and is now in a state of sadness and despair to the point where they feel dead ('Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head') and they're trying to go about their lives as usual ('It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to cry, it takes guts to be gentle and kind').

HOW SOON IS NOW {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}

Using two guitars, multiple reverb amplifiers, tremolo, syncopation, and a glass slider, Johnny Marr successfully created one of the most iconic song introductions of all time in this song. This song is about being shy ('I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar') and feeling unloveable ('I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does'), so much so that you're giving up hope that you'll ever find anyone. This song to me is biographical and one that I think most self-conscious, shy people will be able to relate to - this one is for us, guys.

SHEILA TAKE A BOW {LOUDER THAN BOMBS - 1987}
This song is one for those feeling the bitter winds of teenage angst and an anthem for non-conforming. 'How can someone so young sing words so sad?' suggests that the protagonist isn't satisfied with their average life and they want to break free, they want to grow up and find someone who loves them rather than being in education and trapped by their suburban family life.

WILLIAM, IT WAS REALLY NOTHING {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}
This song is about being pressured into marriage, the protagonist is trying to convince their friend not to get married for the sake of it because we only have one life, so why rush into marriage? I also think it's about feeling trapped in "a humdrum town" and wanting to escape and live life beyond the expectations and norms of your hometown.

HAND IN GLOVE {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}
This song is about being in love and having this common egocentric view that your love is the best one out there. It's quite melodramatic and almost teenage-like especially with lines like "no I really don't know and I really don't care". It's also got a bit of a harmonica solo at the beginning at the end of the song and I always appreciate a bit of harmonica (I'm into 50s rock'n'roll, how could I not be?) as well as a nice riff throughout the song.

NOWHERE FAST {MEAT IS MURDER - 1985}
This song is an attack on consumerism and how we have new products thrown in our faces constantly, and this is all but bread and circuses to distract us from inequality. The rise of consumerism has resulted in the average Joe's morale being weakened, to the point where the protagonist doesn't care whether they live or die ("when I'm lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death, and neither one particularly appeals to me").

BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN {THE QUEEN IS DEAD - 1986}
This song is about speaking out of place or saying too much, it seems like it's autobiographical seeming as Morrissey has a tendency to say very bold statements and annoy a lot of people. The constant references to Joan of Arc make this evident because she was burned at the stake for saying what she believed, and Morrissey is jokingly comparing himself to her.

PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES {THE SMITHS - 1984}
It's the music over the lyrics that makes this song for me. I love the syncopation and the bassline in this. I believe the song is about someone pressuring the protagonist into sexual relations and not wanting to reciprocate which may be autobiographical as Morrissey identified as asexual at this time.



What's your favourite song by The Smiths/Morrissey?