Billy Bragg addresses Parliament with the Clash in tow
No, not the funk band, the British House of Legislature. Taken from Billboard.com:
"Outspoken singer/songwriter Billy Bragg hiked up his sweater to show off a T-shirt featuring the punk band the Clash as he testified yesterday (March 7) in Parliament in London, telling legislators they were out of touch with the British people. "I look at you here in your suits and ties and me sitting here in my Clash T-shirt, and I don't really see myself represented here," he told the House of Commons Public Administration Committee. "The majority of us don't see ourselves."
You can read the rest of the article below [it's short but pretty interesting].
Asked to speak about how public appointments are made, Bragg blamed Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor party government for making young people cynical by failing to live up to its promises.
He rebuffed a 44-year-old Welsh legislator who pointed out that he and the 44-year-old Bragg were from the same generation and both grew up on punk rock. "You should see my audience," the musician told lawmaker Kevin Brennan. "They are all the same age as us, and they don't look like you, mate."
Bragg, whose music has a leftist political message, said it was important to convince young people that they could have an impact on government. He urged lawmakers to change the way members of the House of Lords are selected, saying the legislative body should include ordinary people who lack political connections.
On Tuesday, Elektra released "England, Half English," a new album from Bragg and his band the Blokes. "I'd been thinking about identity and what exactly it means to be English in a multicultural society," Bragg recently told Billboard. "History is important in shaping who we are. But I wanted to define being English in terms of what's happening today."