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Student union fears
‘terrorist takeover’
Political societies on campus repeatedly blocked
The student union has been blocking
attempts to set up a politics society,
saying it would be “hijacked by ter-
rorists” and “open a back door for al-
Qaeda on campus”.
Early last term, third year engineering stu-
dent Khaled Jamoos attempted to set up what
he called a Current Affairs Society: prominent
speakers would come to City and talk to stu-
dents on topical events. He presented the idea
to the SU’s student activities administrator,
Rowan Lord.
“He was being very polite and sympathetic,
but said he ‘strongly advised’ not to put the
proposition forward because it ‘wouldn’t be
authorised anyway’”, said Khaled. “When I
asked him as to why, he said that ‘it was too
general’, and that pretty soon, maybe when I
graduate, ‘other people might take over’.”
Mr Lord further clarified his concern by
musing that “terrorism is current affairs” and
that “whoever takes over the society might in-
vite, say, the second in command in al-Qaeda”.
He then said that the Student Union wouldn’t
want to open a back door for al-Qaeda on cam-
pus. “I asked him whether the student union
would single out ‘the second in command in
al-Qaeda’, even if I wanted to invite him”, said
Mr Jamoos. “He answered that yes, of course,
the Student Union monitors and checks on
every speaker invited to speak on University
premises, but he wouldn’t want to take the
risk.” Following the conversation, Mr Jamoos
postponed the establishment of the society in-
definitely.
This term, however, another student took up
the task. Second year international politics stu-
dent Holly Ryan attempted to set up a politics
“They might invite the
second-in-command of
al-Qaeda”
society late last year. Her proposition was re-
jected by the student union, following a simi-
lar argument. She tried again this October, but
the decision is being continually postponed.
“I went to see Rowan Lord eventually, to
find out why it’s taking them so long”, says
Ms Ryan. “He explained to me at that as a new
council had just been voted in, the proposition
hasn’t put to a vote yet.”
“But then he said that he doesn’t think it will
get authorised, as it’s likely to open a door for
extremist elements on campus. He gave terror-
8 November 2006
ist recruiters as an example.”
When asked whether he didn’t think, follow-
ing the Union’s own logic, that the Muslim so-
ciety was posing the same risk, Mr Lord said
“well yeah, but we’ve had a Jewish Society
here for generations and we wouldn’t want to
seem discriminative.” On another occasion he
said that the Muslim society is “not allowed”
to hold events on any topic that is not directly
connected to religion.
It should be noted that a City chapter of the
RESPECT coalition functioned on campus
throughout last year. When challenged on that,
Mr Lord said: “Well, obviously, if you have
a political party behind you, we can’t say no.
But without that there isn’t much of a chance
we’ll authorise such a project.”
The students then asked him whether he
didn’t think that this was impinging on stu-
dents freedoms. Mr Lord said that he’s afraid
he wouldn’t be able to give his opinion on that
topic.
When approached directly by the Inquirer for
comment, Mr Lord simply said “I am not al-
lowed to speak to you.”
The debate society was also disbanded by the
student union last year following a contentious
discussion about religion, and has not been re-
instated since. DR
99% shun elections
The student union has elected nine
officers, after elections were held in
mid-October. It has also elected 18
delegates to the union council.
Less than 300 votes were cast, representing
a turnout of less than 1% of the student popu-
lation, and like the last elections in March,
some candidates were running unopposed.
The most votes were cast for the post of ra-
cial equality officer, which went to Shahram
Shayesteh. The Inquirer will bring you state-
ments from the new officers at the earliest
opportunity.
The executive committee manages SU busi-
ness, including services and resources. The
committee provides three sabbatical posts at
a yearly salary of around £17,500. The exec-
Stop climate chaos
Twenty-five thousand protestors
gathered in Trafalgar Square on Sat-
urday in a demonstration calling for
action on climate change.
The rally was organised by Stop Climate
Chaos, a coalition of groups that counts Ox-
fam, WWF and Unison among its support-
ers. SCC is urging the Government to reduce
greenhouse gases by 3 per cent each year,
and ensure that global greenhouse gases are
in an “irreversible decline” by 2015.
The march follows the publication of the
Stern report, a hefty inquiry into the eco-
nomic repercussions of inaction on climate
change. Commissioned by Gordon Brown, it
TheInquirer
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utive officers are: Tom Abbott, the SU presi-
dent, Shereen Sally, welfare and education
officer, and Simon Katchay, the communica-
tions officer. Katchay is editor-in-chief of SU
publication Massive.
The union council, to which 18 candidates
were elected, is responsible for holding the
executive officers to account. So far, the
SU has had a tricky time making democracy
work, but has managed to implement two
policies, one concerning health and safety,
during the last year. EC
More information on the inner workings of
the SU is available to view online at www.
cusuonline.org, along with details of clubs
and societies.
warns that global warming could reduce the
global economy by as much as 20 per cent.
Anshok Sinha, director of Stop Climate
Chaos said: “If we all come together we can
stop climate chaos.” It would certainly seem
so. Celebrities turned out to decorate the
demonstration, with appearances from KT
Tunstall and Razorlight.
In an explicit response to President Bush’s
continued downplaying of the effects of cli-
mate change, the march began at the US Em-
bassy. No arrests were made at the demon-
stration, and in a rare moment of agreement,
police and campaigners estimated the atten-
dance at 22,500 and 25,000 respectively. CA
Editors
Dimi Reider, Emily Clarke,
Stephane Reissfelder, Tom Walker
NUS protest
over top-up fees
The National Union of Students staged
a national protest against top-up fees
on Sunday 29 October, saying that the
fees are discouraging poor students
from coming to university.
The demonstration, titled ‘Admission: Im-
possible’, aimed to highlight the fact that uni-
versity applications are down 15,000 this year
– a decrease of 4%. The drop-off is especially
stark coming after years of growth in the num-
bers.
NUS president Gemma Tumelty said: “The
decision to go to university is becoming an in-
creasingly hard one to make for many people
in society - particularly those from families
where there is no history of going into higher
education, and where finances are tight.”
390,000 students started on full-time UK
higher education courses this year, compared
with 405,000 in 2005 and 375,000 in 2004.
The NUS also fears that the £3,000 cap on
top-up fees could soon be lifted, allowing some
universities to charge far higher fees than oth-
ers and so creating poor-quality, ‘cheap’ edu-
cation for those who cannot afford the best.
Education minister Alan Johnson has been
quoted as saying that students will “learn to
love” top-up fees. TW
Waterstone’s
set to close?
Waterstone’s recent woes put City’s
bookshop at risk of shutting down any
day now.
Profits at the HMV group, which owns Wa-
terstone’s, are down 20% from last year, with
sales down 15% over a particularly bad sum-
mer.
While the company has not confirmed any
cuts yet, it is widely thought that campus
stores will be the first to go, and six out of the
28 campus Waterstone’s have closed already
this year.
Those that remain have lost their specialist
managers, with the managers of nearby high
street branches running them by proxy in-
stead.
Two Cass students, Chris Benyayer and
Moritz Knickrehm, are trying to fill the poten-
tial gap in the market by launching Booknerd,
a second-hand book service, in the main uni-
versity corridor and online.
Chris Benyayer said: “Buying a book from
Waterstone’s is an expensive investment. Stu-
dents will do a lot to save money, especially
when it comes to books, and people are more
in the know about saving online now.”
However, a Waterstone’s spokesperson in-
sisted: “We have no plans to close this store so
the rumours are just that – rumours”. TW
Contributors
Cecilia Anesi,
Fatima Rahim, Gilad Halpern,
Rene Butler, Jesper Lofgren
Library fines:
punishment or profit?
City students paid £4 each in fines last year, with some
racking up over £300. Fatima Rahim gets your views
A
s if tuition fees and accom-
modation costs weren’t
enough to contend with,
students face an additional
financial demon – library fines.
When you’re busy worrying about deadlines
and the like, the last thing on your mind is
whether your books are overdue. And then
comes the trip back to the library when,
shock-horror, you discover you have a book
out that was due weeks ago and are left with
a lofty fine.
Cue the apologetic librarian. “Sorry, you
can’t borrow any more books until you pay
back your fine.” Wouldn’t it have been cheap-
er to just buy the books in the first place?
At our university, it often would be. City
University’s library fines are expensive: while
most universities charge 20 to 30p a day
for overdue seven day loans, City charges a
whopping 75p a day. A lot of students feel
this is too pricey.
According to official figures, the average
amount paid in fines last year was £4.00 per
‘Anyone
with £50 in
fines is not
showing
respect’
The library’s
director Brendan
Casey responds
to our story
student. Those we interviewed had fines rang-
ing from £2.20 to over £300.
“It’s not fair,” says a third year student who
does not wish to be named. “I’m forgetful and
tend to take out at least two or three books at
a time. When I remember it’s usually on the
day and there’s no way I can go back home to
collect them because I live too far from uni,
so I end up getting fined.”
Ashka, 21, agrees. “It’s even more dif-
ficult with short-loan books. Sometimes it’s
impossible to return them on time if it clashes
with lectures, and you can’t renew by phone
or over the net if there are other people with
requests on the books.”
Mas, a third year politics student at London
Met, says her university charges 30p a day in
fines on seven day loans and 50p per hour for
short loans, and she still finds that a lot. She
says: “I have every sympathy for City stu-
dents. I understand the need for these charges
so students won’t just keep the books forever
when other students need them – we all know
how annoying that is. But at the same time
The students we interviewed proposed
a number of solutions to the library’s
problems. We put a few to Brendan
Casey, City’s library director, to get
his response.
The library should set up an email/mobile
reminder system to warn you before your
books are due back, rather than after.
Response: “When we issue a book a receipt
with book details and date due is printed. In
addition it is possible to renew 24/7 from any-
where in the world. The cost of doing this by
email or text is prohibitive and money can be
better spent on front line staff, user training
and so on.”
The library encourages students to make a
note in their phone diaries reminding them
when their books are due.
Fines should be reduced to a reasonable
amount which students are able to afford
and is more in line with other universities.
Response: “We charge 75p per day on only
a portion of the collection – this is based on
levels of demand and the need to encourage
students to act responsibly towards their peers
and give everyone a decent shot at getting the
books they want.”
“Ideally no student should ever have to pay
maybe they should think about reducing the
fines.”
Not all students are sympathetic towards
those who have to pay library fines, however.
Chris Williams, a postgrad law student,
feels that it is unjustified to claim that the
system is unfair. “It’s easy to renew a book.
You can renew by phone. And at the end of
the day, it’s your responsibility to make sure
your books are returned on time so that others
can also have access to them.”
Vojtech Mares, a second year computer sci-
ence student, recalls how stressed he was last
year while trying to get hold of a book before
his exams. “I was waiting for a software
engineering book for two days before it was
returned. I couldn’t study because someone
had selfishly kept the book.”
It is a sentiment echoed by sociology and
media student Risha: “It is frustrating when
you can’t get hold of a book you need.”
However, she concedes that perhaps the fines
could be reduced, and an upper limit for fines
brought in.
fines, but there is a responsibility on the user
here in terms of fair dealing with their peers.
The more in demand the collection and the
worse the rate of returning on time, the high-
er the fee. As a library we’re not looking to
make money out of you but we must ensure
that the service benefits all students. The sys-
tem is designed to regulate use and behaviour
patterns… it is designed to be fair. It only pe-
nalises those who don’t keep their end of the
bargain.”
Students who have returned their books
late for a good reason should be granted a
reprieve, and total fines should be capped
at £50.
Response: “Anyone who generates £50 in fines
(bearing in mind the ability to renew 24/7) is
not showing respect for either collections or
their fellow students. If your fines are £10 or
more, you may set up an agreement whereby
you pay a minimum of £5 per week until the
entire fine is cleared. Last year we spent £13k
replacing stolen or defaced books alone! A
large number of our students complete their
studies without ever racking up a fine and
where there are mitigating circumstances we
have a comprehensive appeals system.”
Problems with the library? Email us at
inquirer.city@gmail.com
Picture of the week
A protester takes a break from Saturday’s
Climate Chaos march. Send us your pics! CA
London lives
Rene Butler
Who is it that sticks all those calling
cards in London phone boxes?
We all know what they offer, but who actu-
ally goes by the title of phone-box-calling-
carder, or, for the upwardly mobile, ‘telecom-
munication booth marketing executive’?
Whatever you call it, there’s probably
more than one of these distributors, perhaps
even rival posses. But, if you were to meet
Sabrina - little more than thin bones in an old
oversized sports jacket- on one of her mini
marathons around zone one, you’d think the
cards were all her own doing.
If Sabrina worked for Royal Mail there
would be none of this “delivery by midday”
crap. Your post would be delivered before
toothpaste meets the brush.
The problem with this girl is that it’s impos-
sible to get near her. As soon as you think
she’s going to enlighten you over the calling
card biz, an empty phone box is spotted and
she’s off again. Even if you ask nicely, the
most you get is a mumbled sentence.
Being slightly aggressive yields a more
considered response. This approach Sabrina is
more used to. Not that she said as much, but
the subservience written on her face when she
meets with her fist-clenching boss speaks vol-
umes. This pillock’s job title is no mystery:
‘Scummy Bully of the Weak’ fits him nicely.
And what does our law do to protect Sa-
brina and her ilk from such tyrants? Nothing.
They’ll give her six months for call-carding,
while mateyboy gets a ticket for parking his
Merc on Dean Street.
The views expressed in this newspaper in no way represent the views of City University or the
student union. The Inquirer is an independent publication run by City students.
Man about town
Jesper Lofgren
Friday began in a typhoon of air-
kissing and long-overdue hugs and
ended in a dense fog of tequila shots,
confessions of love and cab ride
oblivion.
Only the fact that I awoke the next morning
fully clothed and alone assured me that I’d
actually made it home. This need to scrape
my mind off the bedroom floor occurs every
time I get together with Sean – an archetypal
Sloane who happens to be single, erudite and
stunning, with an exuberant taste in scarves.
On Saturday, Sean and I decided to go gay.
Not literally. We just realised that we’ve done
Islington, we’ve done South and we’ve been
to all the top-class bars in the West End. So
why not go gay and sniff out all the single
girls in Soho?
Fag hags are horny girls. They hang out
with gay guys all day long who endlessly talk
about cock and how to get it. Together they
go clubbing in Soho’s Old Compton Street,
inspired by Sex and the City. They down shot
after shot with their new “best friend” in G-
A-Y or Freedom. These girls claim that they
love gay bars because they can get away from
sleazy guys out on a hunt.
Naturally, that’s where we come in. After
a couple of hours the girls will be overly
excited after watching good-looking guys
fearlessly snogging each other. Time for Sean
and I to go in for the kill. The basement bar
of Freedom was our venue. After a couple
of minutes spent infiltrating the groups, we
flirted a bit with the boys and then began the
isolation of our main targets. I went for the
Spanish looking brunette and Sean picked the
blonde. They loved us. And we gave them
love. Next week we’ll be doing the lesbian
community.
TheInquirer comment
The ongoing refusal of the student
union to allow its members to en-
gage in any political activity on
campus is not just the cowardice of
bureaucrats anxious to avoid con-
troversy.
It’s far more ominous; it is a sign of our
times. Gone are the days when student
unions offered the clear and critical voice
of a younger generation. Enter days of dull
disenfranchisement and apathy – enforced
apathy, on this occasion.
Student unions long ago surrendered
their independence. In almost every uni-
versity in the UK, a bizarre twist of the
“closed shop” policy resulted in students
automatically becoming members of their
university’s union; the catch is that, con-
sequently, membership fees – the core of
student union finance – are channelled
through university, which is free to with-
hold services and resources at its (entirely
undemocratic) discretion.
Students of City University have been
rebuffed on several occasions when trying
to establish a forum for political debate.
In a democratic society, for students to be
refused the opportunity to discuss ideas
outside their classrooms is deplorable. A
university that prides itself on its dedica-
tion to multiculturalism, and one which
houses well respected journalism, social
science and politics departments, should
not be so reluctant to allow its students to
debate politics and current affairs.
The claims apparently made by Rowan
Lord are nonsensical; but they are sincere.
The student union really does believe that
unseen Al Qaeda recruiters hover around
the university, waiting to tear at our gentle
souls the minute the union lets down its
watchful guard. They readily equate “de-
bate” with “terrorism”; and there is noth-
ing more dangerous in human experience
than making this equation.
Far from being a site of freethinking
and free exchange of ideas, the university
seems to have become a laboratory for
new forms of censorship and conform-
ism. It helps to alter the way some students
and teachers think, tending to make them
closed-minded and fearful of challenging
arguments.
Students have the right, if not the obli-
gation, to actively participate in every as-
pect of the society they are part of. They
have a right to learn of human rights and
the ways they are commonly violated, be
it by guerrillas or by governments – even
if it happens to be our own government.
Political involvement doesn’t make us
worse students; on the contrary, it educates
and enlightens us, and it contributes im-
mensely to our society, of which we are,
after all, members and citizens. You would
think that the Student Union would want
to encourage such engagement. And most
importantly – this should be our personal
decision. Not the university’s, the student
unions, or any body of authority – an au-
thority, we should reiterate, that is given on
our permission.
The Editors
detached
the arts and culture bit
film
The Devil
Wears Prada
If you’re a TV director with some
extra millions, no masterpiece at
hand, and a far-from-brilliant cast,
the prescription for glory is easy to
memorise: Meryl Streep.
Because if it hadn’t been for her mesmeris-
ing presence or immeasurably accurate
acting skills, this film would have stayed the
predictably formulated fable it essentially is.
Andy (Anne Hathaway), a scruffy coun-
try girl, comes to New York on a quest for
professional fame after graduating with
distinction from journalism school at a pro-
vincial university. In a fantastical sequence of
events, she lands in the Prada-stricken offices
of Runway, a leading fashion magazine, as
the personal assistant of its terrorising editor,
Miranda Priestley (Streep).
The character is unofficially based on the
legendary Anna Wintour, the domineering
editor of Vogue, who has been calling the
shots in the fashion world for decades.
The film soon revisits every possible cliché:
Andy lets her not-so-gratifying job come be-
tween her and her friends, affect her hitherto
fairytale love life, and ultimately sway her
to sell her soul to the devil, by undergoing
a total makeover, in a submissive attempt to
understand the fashion world from within and
integrate in it.
Frankel directed a few Sex and the City
episodes, and it is clear that he loves New
York and is well familiar with its captivating
spirit. The camera vivaciously escorts Andy’s
dashes around Manhattan, as she is constant-
ly follows Miranda’s capricious orders on
her mobile phone. At times you wonder how
Scenes of a
Sexual Nature
If you go into this film expecting to
see what the title promises, you’ll be
disappointed.
The only ‘sexual nature’ in this film is
Hampstead Heath, and the scenes are of
conversations about love, marriage, breakups,
divorce, and more besides.
The setting is, of course, beautiful, and
when the film opens with a kite flying over
the heath you feel like you’re in for some-
thing special. What a shame, then, that what
you get is some kind of amateur drama
workshop. Well, actually, that’s a little
unfair, as the unknown actors all put in quite
good performances – it’s the likes of Ewan
McGregor and Catherine Tate who let the
side down. You get the feeling that they could
practice acting for the rest of their lives and
still be indistinguishable from the trees that
surround them.
Worse, unfortunately, is the quality of
the writing. There are flashes of brilliance,
especially when the melodrama lets up and
the film switches briefly to comedy, but most
of the time you find yourself sighing at the
know your classics
M
Maybe the first “globalised” film-
maker was Fritz Lang, an Austrian
Jew who fled from Germany to
Hollywood when the Nazis came to
power.
Although many were not allowed to leave,
some outstanding intellectuals, like Albert
Einstein or Sigmund Freud, were given carte
blanche to resettle in the West. Fritz Lang is a
less famous example.
Lang’s films were cornerstones of early
German cinema, especially Metropolis, a
futuristic fantasy and a cinematic triumph of
1920s modernist thinking. Upon arrival in
America, Lang directed a series of films that
did the unthinkable: they fiercely critiqued
she’s not experiencing a nervous breakdown,
and at others you wonder how much more
enjoyable this film could be if she did.
However, just one freezing glance by
shallowness of the ideas. A woman in her
40s who’s desperate to have children? A gay
man who’s addicted to casual sex? Clichés
abound, and insulting ones at that.
The most mystifying episode concerns
a couple who have just got divorced and
brought their decree absolutes with them to
the heath, despite apparently being madly in
love and really getting along very well. We
are never given a reason for this – I guess
divorce is just fashionable nowadays.
It’s a sad film to watch, because at its core
is a good idea. You find yourself cheering
for the writers more than the characters,
especially when they’ve managed to go a few
minutes without messing up. With a bit more
thought, this could have been great. TW
the self-indulgent and righteous American
society.
One of his most important films in Germany
was M (1931). This trailblazing thriller is of
tremendous value because, arguably for the
first time on the silver screen, a murderer is
portrayed with human characteristics.
M (Peter Lorre), a lonely and emotionally
shaky weirdo, seduces and murders little
girls. Lang was innovative and courageous
enough to depict M as a miserable and de-
plorable soul, and not as a monstrous maniac
whose incorrigible conduct merits nothing
but painful death.
In one of the closing scenes, after being
caught by the police, M is being brought to
justice and pathetically pleads for his life.
Only decades later will such a ploy to blur
the boundaries between right and wrong, and
allow the viewer to identify with the criminal,
have become (nearly) a convention. GH
Streep, one venomously nonchalant “that’s
all” or one majestically standoffish facial
expression will be easily worth your time and
money. Here she comes to save the day. GH
 music
The Yardbirds
The
he 100 Club is glowing in red light,
and nostalgic posters of jazz festivals
gone by litter the walls like a school-
girl’s collage.
The support act, Rollo Markee and the
Tailshakers, do nothing to diffuse the unadul-
terated cool. Rollo
has a face that looks
like he would rather
be stealing your
car, but the band
performs all kinds of
numbers in a jump-
ing rock and roll
disguise. The stand
out track here was
Work Song, a tra-
ditional chain gang
arrangement that got
a new working here
– for the crowd less
in chains.
As quickly as they
had started, Rollo
and the band disap-
peared, taking their
double bass and
quaffs with them
and left the stage ready for the Yardbirds.
With two founding members still intact, this
reporter was worried that the gig would have
to be watched with eyes shut. Not so. With
the help of long-time-fan-turned-frontman
John Idan, guitarist Ben King and harmonica
and maracas extraordinaire Billy-Boy (great
books
The Rebel Sell
Do you hate consumerism? Annoyed
by all those advertisements? Tired of
your Gap sweatshirt and your Adidas
sneakers?
To fight capitalism, there’s only one way:
don’t conform, resist assimilation and ‘think
different’! Yet funnily enough, this subver-
sive statement could easily be confused with
a tagline from one of the latest ads. In The
Rebel Sell, two young Canadian academics
– Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter – point
out this irony, and argue that anti-conformist
discourse, held in turn by beatniks, hippies,
then punks, has always spoken in marketing
parlance.
They claim that anti-consumerism has
become one of the major cultural forces in
post-millennial Western life. Seem doubt-
ful? A close look at the non-fiction bestseller
lists confirms that, for years, they’ve been
dominated by books that are deeply critical
of consumerism: No Logo, Culture Jam, Fast
Food Nation, and many more. Two of the
most popular and critically acclaimed films in
recent memory were Fight Club and Ameri-
can Beauty, which offer almost identical
takes on the homogenizing and emasculating
effects of modern consumer society.
playing, shame about the name), the Yard-
birds are still hanging on to a raucous sound.
Original band members Jim McCarty and
Chris Dreja are no nostalgic limelight hug-
gers though, with Dreja sticking on rhythm to
allow the young ‘un King to peddle serious
rock guitar through the evening. Near the
end of the evening, the ‘Birds launch into a
bit of self promotion: “We could have written
this really...” they claim as the dirty slides
of Dazed and Confused scream around the
club. Well, maybe – but look at the person-
nel you’ve had in the last 40 years. Still, the
Yardbirds have retained a certain cool, and
to see them stomping around in Soho was a
glance back to a different time. Man. EC
Heath and Potter deliver sharp reviews
of these two blockbusters and debunk their
subversive anti-consumerist claims as a mere
restatement of the “critique of mass society”
that has been around since the 1950s. The
authors then proceed to unravel the obses-
sion to conceive of culture as an ideological
system. They explore Freud, Marx, Marcuse
and Debord among many others with a wealth
of interesting examples at hand.
In short, they say, counterculture thinking
– from anti-globalisation to feminism – holds
that individual expression and non-confor-
mity is the way to subvert the stifling and
alienating system in place and solve political
problems. However, such rebellion is ir-
relevant to capitalism, which simply responds
with ‘seditious’ consumer goods – be they
biker jackets, nipple piercings, organic
produce, or Naomi Klein’s latest attack on the
evils of corporatism.
The Rebel Sell exposes the cardinal sin
of countercultural rhetoric: the belief that
improvements in social policy are meaning-
less if they do not lead to the dismantling
of the whole system and a radical change
in consciousness. In fact, most problems in
society are really caused by collective action
problems, the book argues – not by the infa-
mous ‘System’.
The Rebel Sell is an invigorating read,
Kasabian
You could say Empire has qualities
of original art which reach beyond
anything that has been before.
It has Tom Meighan’s vocals inspiring the
lyrics of Serge Pizzorno to a deliberately
deep, yet vague meaning.
The lyrics are left open to interpretation:
Shoot the Runner? What’s that about? It
sounds almost militaristic, but it doesn’t mat-
ter, as the barbed rifts which play around the
swaying bass could carry any words.
In part, the album harks back to ‘70s glam,
but Shoot the Runner doesn’t pause for a
tribute to that era or any other. The Kasabian
sound is an exacting marriage of pasty psy-
chedelia and legitimate rock: just listen to the
power-electric effects on Stuntman and the
title track, Empire.
Me Plus One is way out in the sticks as far
as love songs go; none of that, thanks. You
can still get your meaning across with skilled
harmonies and guitar zeal, you know.
British Legion is like a delicate-cut stone.
It is on this track that Pizzorno removes the
veil of the harmonies to announce himself as
the band’s second striking lead vocalist. It is
a slow, acoustic wonder-romance – although
Kasabian definitely aren’t soppy, there’s a
craggy earnestness to all this.
And Kasabian believe in earnestness – why
else would they still buy their veg and socks
at Leicester market, despite this number one
album? Pet Sounds status is a long way off
for everyone save the sycophants… but let’s
not rule it out. RB
presenting a brave and original argument:
anti-capitalism is just the latest mundane sub-
culture, seemingly iconoclastic but actually
distinction-seeking and pretentious. The fact
this subculture has replaced socialism as the
basis of progressive political thought contrib-
utes to explaining the left’s decline – today’s
progressives prefer to fantasize about total
radicalism rather than work towards social
equality.
In places, however, the book is unfair,
polemical and too dismissive of lefty activ-
ism as either the product of youthful folly
or crazed sectarianism. Indeed, the authors
can sound nostalgic and their treatise a blind
conservative defense of the establishment
– when they aren’t in attack mode, the authors
preach conformism and concrete political
engagement.
They don’t seem to acknowledge that there
could be reasons beyond escapism or status-
seeking to travel to exotic places, purchase
fair-trade and organic produce, or convert to
another religion. In the end, the book avoids
admitting that an increasing number of people
truly are growing weary of mass-marketed
images being offered as a seductive substitute
for meaningful social change. SR
The Rebel Sell is by Joseph Heath and An-
drew Potter, and is available in City’s library!