CAUSE I LIKE THEM BOTH

Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins picks her favourite singer
Arun Starkey
MON 7TH NOV 2022

The 1980s and 1990s were brimming with unique vocalists that raised the bar for everyone else moving forwards. Björk, PJ Harvey, Siouxsie Sioux, Jeff Buckley and even Kurt Cobain rank amongst the most original vocalists in music. Although those aforementioned names remain stellar performers, none can eclipse Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins in the realm of individualism.

Active between 1979 and 1997, the Scottish band enjoyed a career that saw them become revered by everyone from popstars to those on the fringes of the arts. Whilst each band member brought something different to the fold, with Robin Guthrie having a successful career as a solo artist after their split, the definitive aspect is that of Fraser’s otherworldly vocals.

Notably, her soprano vocal range is bolstered by a varied style of writing that features straightforward English, semi-comprehensible lines and abstract mouth music at different points, augmenting the ethereal music. Wanting her approach to be as dream-like as possible, for some tracks, Fraser revealed that she used foreign words without knowing what they meant, with them only holding meaning for Fraser herself.

Given that Fraser’s work is so original, fans have often sought to understand a little more about her inspiration. When a discussion surrounding favourite singers was raised by Melody Maker in November 1993, Fraser made the reveal. Unsurprisingly, she chose an equally unique vocalist, Nina Simone, noting her artistic skill and depth as a human being. Fraser made it clear that she finds solace in Simone’s work, as they share similarities, with both enduring what she described as “a rough life”.

Fraser said: “Robin was going ‘Björk! Björk! Choose Björk!’ but I didn’t give in. I chose Nina Simone because she’s played such a big part of my life recently. Lawrence from Felt made me a tape with ‘Nuff Said on one side and Baltimore on the other. I thought it was brilliant then. But now… I’ve developed much more, both a singer and in my own life.”

Fraser continued: “Nina Simone… she’s, she’s just done so much. I don’t know much about her life but that doesn’t bother me, because I’ve learnt so much about her through her material. She’s so vulnerable. And I can really relate to that. A lot of her songs are about being fallible. She’s a really dysfunctional person. And dysfunctional people are attracted to each other. I guess that’s why I am attracted to her. We both had a rough life. She’s familiar.”

Fraser then turned her attention to her favourite Simone tracks, with 1959’s version of ‘Wild is the Wind’ her personal highlight: “I adore her versions of ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ and ‘Four Women’. Perhaps because I’m having a sad day. And so my favourite song is Nina Simone’s version of ‘Wild is the Wind.’ And I’ll probably play it quite a lot today. Especially the live version; this live version I’ve got is just fucking, I don’t know, I just haven’t got the vocabulary. I mostly listen to Nina Simone when I am feeling really raw. The more raw I feel, the more I relate to her”.

She added: “And when she sings, when she performs, she tends to get very caught up in what’s she’s singing about. When you listen to Nina Simone, she’s so vulnerable. And because you’re implicated in her plight, you automatically share it. I don’t really do that with people. And I want to do that, and so I guess I am using her with which to do that.”

Concluding her account, Fraser briefly touched on Simone’s sexuality and its positive impact on her and other women: “I’d like to talk about Nina Simone’s sexuality, but I am very much out of my depth there,” she said. “In fact, I think Nina Simone is going to be a way of finding out more about my sexuality, and how I fit in with other women, you know, in my world. I don’t know what kind of impact I’ve had in it. Or what kind of impact it’s had on me. But I know I get a lot of help from the experiences she sings about.”

 

 

CANCON

Alanis Morissette cites “anti-woman sentiment” for dropping out of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony

Tom Taylor
TUE 8TH NOV 2022 

Alanis Morissette has made it very clear why she pulled out of her scheduled performance at this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony citing the “anti-woman sentiment” of the music industry.

The singer was set to perform a duet alongside Olivia Rodrigo to honour one of this year’s inductees, Carly Simon. However, on the night, Morissette was notably absent from the ‘You’re So Vain’ performance.

While she had not been publicly billed so nothing seemed amiss at the time, Morissette has since taken to social media to voice her reasons for pulling out after hearing “misinformed rumblings”.

“I have spent decades in an industry that is rife with an overarching anti-woman sentiment and have tolerated a lot of condescension and disrespectfulness, reduction, dismissiveness, contract-breaching, unsupportiveness, exploitation and psychological violence (and more) throughout my career,” she wrote.

Adding: “I tolerated it because nothing would stop me from connecting with those whom I cared about and resonated with. I live to serve and connect with people and so over the years I sucked it up on more occasions than I can count in order to do so. It’s hard not to be affected in any industry around the world, but Hollywood has been notorious for its disrespect of the feminine in all of us.”

She did not detail any specific reports of sexism or misogyny in the message, but simply said that “at a point in my life where there is no need for me to spend time in an environment that reduces women.”

Concluding: “I have had countless incredible experiences with production teams with all genders throughout my life. So many, and so fun. There is nothing better than a team of diverse people coming together with one mission. I’ll continue to show up in those environments with bells on.”

UK

Grocery price inflation hits 14.7% and still too early to call the ceiling, says Kantar

By Tony Corbin in Industry News 8th November 2022

Take-home grocery sales rose by 5.2% in the 12 weeks to 30 October 2022 according to the latest figures from Kantar, the fastest rate of market growth since April 2021.

Four-week grocery price inflation has also hit another record high since Kantar began tracking prices in this way in 2008, now sitting at 14.7%.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “Yet again, we have a new record high figure for grocery price inflation and it’s too early right now to call the top.

“Consumers face a £682 jump in their annual grocery bill if they continue to buy the same items and just over a quarter of all households [27%] now say they’re struggling financially, which is double the proportion we recorded last November.

Consumer concerns

“Nine in ten of this group say higher food and drink prices are a major concern, second only to energy bills, so it’s clear just how much grocery inflation is hitting people’s wallets and adding to their domestic worries.”

Own label sales have jumped again by 10.3% over the latest four weeks, as shoppers adopt different strategies to manage their budgets.  The branded goods market grew far slower at 0.4%.

McKevitt added: “Food and drink spending is generally non-discretionary so it’s not easy for shoppers to cut back the amount they buy.

“Many are looking to reduce costs in other ways and the big shift to own label is still accelerating.  While some of the rise will be down to price inflation, we can clearly see the trend in sales of the very cheapest value own label ranges, which are up by a whopping 42%.

“These items currently represent just under 3% of the market, although retailers have been adding new products in recent months, so it will be interesting to see if this continues.”

Some consumers found light relief at Halloween this year although sales were down compared with 2021.

“Our data runs for the four weeks to 30 October so picks up all but the final purchases shoppers made for Halloween,” said McKevitt.

“The data shows just over one in ten households bought a pumpkin in October, but sales didn’t match the levels we saw last year.  There’s clear evidence that the new regulations for products high in fat, sugar and salt are changing the way these items are sold.  The proportion of confectionery bought on promotion during the month of October was 26%, down from 36% this time last year.”

“This time last year two million consumers had already bought their festive Christmas pudding.  We’ve seen 32% fewer shoppers doing that this time around, suggesting people are not trying to spread the cost of their purchasing – at least not in October.

World Cup

“This Christmas is going to be a bit different of course, with the men’s football World Cup kicking off on 20 November.  The novelty of two home nations playing for the first time in nearly 25 years should generate a lot of excitement and could boost sales at the tills depending on when the games fall.  Beer in particular does well when the football is on.

“During the 2018 men’s World Cup, the number of shoppers buying beer to enjoy at home tripled on the day of England’s first match against Tunisia.  The evening games for the 2022 tournament will likely generate the biggest sales including England’s match against the US on 25 November.”

‘Big Four’

Aldi was the fastest growing retailer in the latest period, increasing its sales by 22.7% year on year to now hold a 9.2% market share.  Lidl boosted sales by 21.5% to take its market share to a new record high of 7.2%.

Asda again led the traditional ‘Big Four’ with sales growing by 5.3%, maintaining an overall market share of 14.3%.  Meanwhile, sales at Sainsbury’s increased by 3.3% with its market share now at 14.9%.  The largest retailer Tesco had a 27.0% share and saw sales grow by 3.1%.  Morrisons’ market share is now 9.0%.

Iceland grew slightly ahead of the market, with sales increasing by 5.3%.  Co-op’s sales rose by 3.3%, while Waitrose’s sales dipped by 1.9%.  Online retailer Ocado held sales flat versus last year and it has a 1.6% share of the market which equals the share of symbols and independents.

Total Till Roll – Consumer Spend 12 weeks to 31 Oct 2021 Share 12 weeks to 30 Oct 2022 Share Change YoY     £m % £m % %     Total Grocers 28,893 100.0% 30,398 100.0% 5.2%     Total Multiples 28,406 98.3% 29,926 98.4% 5.4%     Tesco 7,964 27.6% 8,209 27.0% 3.1%     Sainsbury’s 4,385 15.2% 4,531 14.9% 3.3%     Asda 4,128 14.3% 4,346 14.3% 5.3%     Morrisons 2,878 10.0% 2,747 9.0% -4.6%     Aldi 2,290 7.9% 2,811 9.2% 22.7%     Lidl 1,800 6.2% 2,187 7.2% 21.5%     Co-op 1,819 6.3% 1,880 6.2% 3.3%     Waitrose 1,448 5.0% 1,421 4.7% -1.9%     Iceland 653 2.3% 688 2.3% 5.3%     Ocado 489 1.7% 488 1.6% 0.0%     Other Multiples 552 1.9% 618 2.0% 12.1%     Symbols & Independents 487 1.7% 472 1.6% -3.1%

No point raising Primark prices if consumers are cash-strapped - AB Foods boss


LONDON (Reuters) - There is little point raising fashion retailer Primark's low prices when consumers are short of cash, the boss of its owner said on Tuesday, adding that the group could expand its customer base if rivals take an alternative approach.


Shoppers holding newly environmentally themed bags stand outside a Primark store in Liverpool© Thomson Reuters

"With cash starved consumers there's not much point," George Weston, CEO of Associated British Foods, told Reuters.

He said if Primark raised prices further it would sell less and undermine its value credentials in the eyes of consumers.

"There's a chance we'll come through strongly with increased market share if others take different decisions on price," he said after AB Foods reported full year results.

Weston said Primark shoppers were generally being cautious on spending and budgeting more.

"People are buying essentials when they need them, not in anticipation of needing them," he said.

However, he noted that cold weather items, such as hats, scarves and coats, and items to keep people warm in the house, such as snuddies and thermal leggings have been selling "incredibly well, because we think people have been trying not to turn their central heating on."

Weston also reckons Christmas sales have started earlier.

"People are spreading their Christmas purchases across three or four pay days, rather than relying on cash that they have in hand in December," he said.

He said Primark stores in the UK were still performing better than stores in continental Europe."Northern Europe has a well developed habit of saving money when they know there's a bill to come, so Germany, Netherlands, Austria are all lagging on the sales front ... Spain and Italy are better," he said.

(Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Paul Sandle and Kate Holton)

Affirmative action isn’t discrimination. It’s politics right-wing justices abhor and will strike down 

 Opinion
Opinion by AlterNet - 
By John Stoehr

Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks.© provided by AlterNet

The Supreme Court appears ready to end affirmative action, or the use of race in college admissions. If the hoopla among liberals is any indication, the pending decision is a BFD. But let’s pause a minute.

First, consider what the Editorial Board’s Rod Graham said recently. Our neighborhood sociologist said the actual number of college students who’d be affected by a negative ruling is small, because the number admitted as a consequence of affirmative action is small.

Whatever the court decides, Rod said, colleges and universities will continue diversifying the racial constitution of their student bodies because it’s in their interest to. If the court rules against affirmation active, as appears to be the case, admissions officers will carry on. They will, Rod suggested, find other ways of achieving the same goal.

READ MORE: 'The wrong debate': Robert Reich takes aim at mainstream media's affirmative action panic

Second, consider the question at the center of the case.

Then dismiss it.

That question is this: Is it discriminatory to use race as a factor in college admissions? The plaintiffs think yes. The rightwing justices seem to think so, too. But that question presumes something.

That’s what we should focus on. Not the question. But the question’s presumption, which is this: the status quo is politically neutral.

READ MORE: Columnist likens U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing supermajority to a ‘junta in long black robes’

Yeah, nah.

Related video: Supreme Court hears affirmative action arguments from UNC and Harvard students

Duration 1:32   View on Watch

The status quo is not “the way things are.” Saying so is itself a political statement. Why? Because, however we choose to define it, the status quo is the sum of history, a product of all decisions made before us, all the choices that arose from the politics of their particular time and place. Politics begets politics begets politics.

To say the status quo is “the way things are” is to say that any attempt to change the status quo – any attempt at politics – is inherently suspect on account of it being abnormal when compared to the normal. Instead of politics versus politics, which is what challenges to the status quo are, it’s the status quo (or “custom and tradition”) versus dark forces threatening God, country and family.

America was founded as a republic for rich white men. Therefore, each generation, brandishing the flag of liberal democracy and wrapping itself in the Declaration of Independence, has had to fight against an entrenched status quo to secure their constitutional rights and privileges. In America, the status quo is white power.

At each juncture, the status quo (white power) tried to depoliticize the fight, first by accusing advocates of liberal democracy of being troublemakers bent on smashing “custom and tradition,” as if custom and tradition were not themselves products of history and politics.

Eventually, defenders of the status quo resort to slander, smears and even sporadic violence. In one case, defenders broke apart the republic. To the confederates, the stakes were just too high to compromise. Slavery was democracy. Free the slaves, as they alleged Abraham Lincoln would, and enslave free white men. This wasn’t politics versus politics. This was the end of politics. This was war.

Normally, though, a majority of people – especially, a majority of elite stakeholders – recognize that the status quo, rather than standing up for “customs and traditions,” was standing against liberal democracy – and all the business opportunities that liberal democracy makes possible. Defenders of “customs and traditions” end up reconciling with challengers’ demands, thus establishing a new status quo.

The point here is that one kind of politics battles another kind before they come to terms. It’s politics versus politics, not good versus evil. When it’s politics versus politics, upright citizens can make political choices. When it’s good versus evil, as was the case in the antebellum south, there is no political choice. It’s the end of politics. It’s war.

Some allege that affirmative action is discrimination based in race. That seems right – if you forget about history and all the political choices made in the past that inform the present. In other words, the allegations ring true only if you take the humans out of history. Since that’s impossible, we are then forced to recognize an obvious truth.

Affirmative action is not discrimination.

It’s the opposite.

Indeed, it’s a compromise of one kind of politics (the civil rights movement) fighting and defeating another kind (Jim Crow apartheid). Its purpose, in the beginning, when Lyndon Baines Johnson initiated the policy, “was to overcome at least some of the accumulated human damage caused by 350 years of slavery and Jim Crow, and to ensure further progress toward equality,” wrote historian Nick Kotz.

Conservatives who trust you’ll forget history have made affirmative action seem like a social evil. Kotz wrote in 2005 that affirmative action programs have been “vigorously attacked in Congress and the federal courts and criticized for ‘discriminating’ against the white majority.” Kotz added: “With conservatives dominating the federal government, civil rights groups and other liberal organizations have waged a mostly defensive battle to protect the gains of the 1960s.”

In other words, the status quo (white power) never liked affirmative action on account of affirmative action challenging the status quo. And until this week, white power had no hope of defeating it.

That hope is now in sight, but only because white power managed to take affirmative action out of the political arena and put it in the courts, where justices who dislike affirmative action are going to say that it’s a social evil, rather than what it is, a product of politics.

Politics begets politics begets politics. So the fight to “ensure further progress toward equality,” as Kotz said, will continue – short of war, it never ended. It will carry on in different shapes driven by different motives. As Rod Graham said, it’s not like the Supreme Court’s decision will stop colleges from doing what’s in their interest to do. They have chosen to defend what is, to them, a new status quo.

Canadian company ‘deeply concerned’ that Iran may be using its engines in war drones

Tom Blackwell -National Post

An Iranian Mohajer-6 military drone was shot down by Ukrainian forces and shown off in a CNN broadcast last month. A logo of Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products was visible in photographs of the wreckage.


A Quebec-based company says it stopped selling aircraft engines to Iran in 2019 and is “deeply concerned” by reports that some of the motors are being used in Iranian military drones, including at least one flown by Russia in Ukraine.

Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) says it is investigating the reports, confirming that a string of thefts of the engines is one of several possible explanations for how they might have ended up in Iranian unmanned planes.

Its Austrian subsidiary Rotax did also once sell to the Islamic Republic, and a Tehran-based engine maintenance and overhaul company, Mahtabal , still describes itself as Iran’s official representative for Rotax aviation engines.

BRP — better known for its Ski-Doos, Sea-Doos and other recreational vehicles — stressed that the components are designed for light civilian aircraft, not military vehicles.

“We are deeply concerned and are taking this situation very seriously,” said spokeswoman Biliana Necheva. “We have already started an investigation into this matter to attempt to determine the source of the engines.”

It’s the second time in two years the company has been embroiled in controversy over use of the engines in warfare. It halted sales to Turkey after news emerged that that country’s Rotax-powered Bayraktar TB-2 drones were targeting Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Ottawa also prohibited use in the Bayraktar aircraft of target-finding cameras made by another Canadian company. (Ironically, Ukraine is now flying the Turkish drones, with the federal government donating those same Ontario-made devices it had earlier barred Ankara from buying.)

Meanwhile, a water-jet and possible engine from one of BRP’s Sea-Doo jet skis was spotted by a British defence analyst in a photograph of a unique marine drone apparently used by Ukrainian forces. The autonomous boat was recovered recently by Russia after washing ashore in Crimea.

Asked about the latest news regarding the Iranian drones, Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Lama Khodr said the government has a number of sanctions in place related to Russia and Iran, including bans on the export to the two countries of military equipment or goods that could be used in making weapons.

“Bombardier Recreational Products has opened an investigation into the situation,” she said. “We will follow developments closely.”

Canada's Sea-Doo powered the Ukrainian marine drone used against Russian fleet: analyst

Iran admitted last week what had become all but undeniable, that it had supplied Russia with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) now being employed in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. It said they were sold before the war started.

Most of the attention has centred around the Shahed-136 kamikaze drone, a frightening element of the ongoing Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s electrical and water infrastructure. The attacks have left millions of civilians with limited access to power and clean water.

The Rotax engine was spotted in a different model — the Mohajer-6 — that’s used for both surveillance and firing missiles. It was shot down by Ukrainian forces and first shown off in a CNN broadcast last month. The company logo figures prominently in photographs of what appeared to be a Rotax 912 engine.

The same part — or a facsimile of it — was also discovered in another Mohajer-6, downed by Kurdish forces in Iraq last month.

And a pro-regime news site — Iran Press News Agency — ran a story last year about yet another Iranian military UAV — the Shahed-129 — that it said was powered by the Rotax 914 engine.

Though it’s aircraft engines, known for their light weight and fuel efficiency, are primarily used in civilian craft, they do have a history with above-board defence applications, too. The United States’ Predator, which pioneered modern drone warfare, was driven by a Rotax 914 engine.

Necheva said the company’s internal controls — including a military-sales policy — strictly limit use of its products for defence purposes. BRP prohibits sales destined for military activity in Iran, Turkey or Russia, she said.

And it has not supplied any engines to Iran since 2019 “and none will be sold moving forward,” said Necheva.

Those found in Iranian UAVs could have been counterfeit — there are reports of copies being made in China — removed from civilian planes purchased by Tehran, or stolen, she said.

In fact, BRP-Rotax has documented a surprising string of thefts of over 150 of its engines from as long ago as 1996. Most were pilfered from airfields in the U.K. and Europe but at least one was taken here, at Carp, Ont., in 2009, according to a list on the company website.

An Iranian-American expert on Iran’s military and intelligence sectors, who asked to be identified only as Mehdi for security reasons, said Iran may well have used those methods to source engines. But he argued most of them were likely obtained through front companies.

He pointed to Tehran’s Mahtabal , whose website describes the firm as an “aviation engine repair and overhaul organization” and “the official representative of Rotax air engines in Iran,” according to a Google translation of the Farsi.

The site’s homepage features photographs of a series of Rotax engines, though it does not appear to actually be selling them, and hyperlinks from the images to BRP-Rotax web pages are broken.

BRP was sold by Bombardier Inc., in 2003, eventually becoming a publicly traded company. Bombardier had acquired Rotax in 1970.

‘BIG BANG’: Meteor destroyed man's California home?

Denette Wilford - Yesterday -  Toronto Sun

Firefighter walking towards blaze that destroyed home in California.

Michelle Bandur KCRA

on Saturday

A Nevada County man believes a meteorite hit his house catching it on fire! Penn Valley Fire is also investigating if that’s the cause after many people saw a bright ball fall from the sky and land in the area of the home. The family lost everything including one dog, another was saved. (The one in the picture) Here is their GoFundMe.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/my-sons-house-was-destroyed-by-f…

Did a meteor fall from space and cause a massive fire that destroyed a California man’s home?

Dustin Procita, a rancher in Nevada County, wasn’t sure what had hit his home on Friday night until after firefighters put out the blaze.

“I heard a big bang,” Procita told KCRA . “I started to smell smoke and I went on to my porch and it was completely engulfed in flames.”

The structure burned to the ground after the object — which witnesses saw flash across the sky — slammed into his house.

“Meteorite, asteroid — one of those two,” Capt. Josh Miller, of the Penn Valley Fire Department, told the news outlet. “I had one individual tell me about it first and like, ‘OK, I’ll put that in the back of my mind.’

“But then more people — two, three or four more — started coming in and talking about it.”

Miller added: “Everyone I talked to said it was a flaming ball falling from the sky and landed in that general area.”

Procita had just gone inside and was on his couch when the apparent meteor hit his home.

The house was instantly engulfed in flames, and crews battled the fire for several hours.

Procita was able to save one of his dogs but he was unable to get to the second one, according to a GoFundMe campaign created by his mother.

But after seeing footage others had taken of the incident, he counts himself “lucky that it was 30 feet away from me and not five.”

The farmer admitted he was shocked when they said it was a meteor

“I watched meteor showers and stuff as a kid,” he said, “but I definitely didn’t look forward to them landing in my yard, or through my roof.”

The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing and could take up to two weeks.

Procita was able to joke about the so-called lucky fireball destroying his home.

“They say it’s a 1 in 4 trillion chance, so I guess I might be buying a lottery ticket today.”