The Magnificent Goldberg

Whenever I see someone with a new avatar, I feel like waving. HI Sidewinder! It looks like a Lansdowne LP. MG

George Baker? Rudy wasn't used to recording organists with bass players unless they were called Shirley MG

They don't seem to have released anything new for quite some time, however. MG

Weird answer... In Cuba, because of the embargo, they have become very good indeed at recycling old computer monitors. Even if they're completely US, there's a load of semi-precious metals in them which can be profitably (if you're Cuban) reused. Now that Castro's retired... MG

I'm not sure where you get that idea from. A central part of the study of history from at least 11 onwards is the critical study of source material to detect bias and assess reliability. The study of historical interpretation lies at the heart of everything we do in secondary school. My 12 year olds will, for example, study the 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' story to evaluate two competing interpretations - was he a glorious hero or a selfish fool. My 13 year olds have just been looking at the Great Depression to decide if 'The Hungry Thirties' is actually an accurate picture of all of Britain at the time - exploring the way that myths can actually obsure the complexities of what really happened. I'm currently preparing 17-18 year olds for a paper on the Cold War where demonstrating an understanding of conflicting interpretations of the Cold War and supporting that understanding with source references is vital for success. In what way does that sanitise, falsify or indoctrinate? I'd have hoped it was teaching the sort of critical thinking that we need in young people! Quite disappointed to be told I'm teaching a bunch of lies and propaganda. Good on yer, Bev! But it isn't the way I was taught history in the fifties and apparently isn't the way Mark was taught, either. 'Course, we still had an Empire, then... MG

MG, granted, I am just seeing these short clips, and can't see what if anything the drivers see to tell them about these car killers. Do people from smaller towns know about these??? Someone lost could turn down the wrong street, someone that was talking to the passenger...who knows??? What I do know is if you look at the first clip again, that guy hit his head on the windshield! I mean, stupid to not have his seatbelt on, but still. The other clip shows a car that got airborn. People clearly get hurt, was that the intention of these devices??? Or was it to increase business auto repair shops? And I imagine the traffic becomes a lot worse after a car gets impaled at a light. Hows a towtruck get there??? Just seems quite 1984 to me. One time I am glad we have so many trial lawyers in the U.S. Cities would lose millions if they tried them here.... Right, thanks Berigan. I suspect you're seeing these clips wrong. Two or three of those cars that got caught were trying to slide through tailing a bus tightly. They knew what they were doing. Would the US justice system have sympathy with people who got hurt trying to break the law? (And indeed, breaking the law, by not wearing seat belts?) MG

Most working class kids find the thought of education beyond the compulsory school leaving age pretty frightening. There's little family tradition of higher education, paid work (if it can be found) brings immediate financial reward, and the prospect of student debt is alarming. So if they do go on, they generally want something that they feel can give them a secure future (of course there are individuals who always break out of that - I work with a colleague from a mining community who went to Oxford to do history (did well, loathed the academic atmosphere, loved the football!) and has one of the most incisive brains I know; but he would be the first to tell you how a-typical he was of his year, most of whom left school at the first opportunity). Middle class kids - like my nephew - have been raised in the expectation of going on to further education, nourished in an environment where learning in all its forms is valued and experienced with parents and their friends and have the ultimate fallback of parents bailing them out if the debt becomes overwhelming. So the 'intellectual life' comes inside their radar as a possibility. This may not be as we want it to be, it may not be as it should be. And schools go out of their way to broaden horizons as far as possible within the constraints placed on them by league tables, funding streams favouring practical courses etc. But it's what actually happens. Walk into any state school on Post-16 sign up days and see the queues at maths, science, ICT, business studies, health and social care and the like (we now have courses in motor vehicle maintainance and construction that fill up immediately). There's no compulsion from the school to move that way - these children are making a free choice, based on what they and their parents see as having the greatest opportunity. If schools in Britain have been guilty of anything in the last 50+ years it has been of trying to steer pupils through a curriculum model that places academic learning as the be all and end all, with more vocational learning as second best. That is being righted at present, though with a danger that it will tilt too far the other way. The real challenge will be to attain some sort of balance. It's also worth noting that the drive towards vocational learning in the state system is not reflected as strongly in the private school sector where studying Latin and Greek 'for their own sake' remains quite normal. Now who sends their children into private education? Most of what you say, Bev, is as factual as can be (though queues at post 16 vocational courses doesn't seem to match very well with a majority of working class kids fearing education post 16). But I think it misses the point Allen was making, which is that YOU (and me and us) shouldn't undervalue intellectual pursuits by thinking of them as innately suitable only for the middle classes, because that attitude - and, because of your position, yours more than his or mine - is catching (or has been caught already). And, even if the pass has indeed been sold and the position is hopeless (but is it?), we should continue to resist. MG

Have a very good Birthday, Hans. MG

Happy Birthday, John, and many thanks. MG

Gasp! Thank you, Allen. MG

Tommy McCook - Hot lava - Third World MG

on the guy's homepage you can download his papers including this one http://www.econ.ubc.ca/nnunn/research.htm Thanks very much. MG

Also this one: Irwin Stokes (tp), Lou Donaldson (as), Lonnie smith (org) Mark Elf (g-1), Bob Cranshaw (b), Willie Seaberry (d), Raymond Orchart (cga) A&R studios, 5 February 1975 Untitled orig #1 -1 Untitled orig #2 -1 Untitled orig #3 -1 Don't worry about it George (This has GOT to be one of the greatest titles ever!) Funky mama Misty There was a non-organ session the day before, also unissued Lou Donaldson (as), Herman Foster (p), Mark Elf (g-1), Bob Cranshaw (b), Willie Seaberry (d), Raymond Orchart (cga), unidentified fem voc. A&R studios, 4 February 1975 Make someone happy -1 Don't take your love from me - 1 When I think about you (voc) -1 Do me like you do What now my love (voc) We'll be together again MG

What's wrong with it, Berigan? BTW - first video looks like Regent Street, London. BIG traffic problems in London. MG

One of the big problems with this sort of thing is that they tend to treat Africa as if it were homogenous. And of course it isn't; it's probably the least homogenous of the continents. So different mixtures of peoples, different cultures, different climates and different environments (and different rates of climate change) will all lead to different development paths (or the lack of them). To establish a theory like this soundly, it would be necessary to control for all of those variables and most people can't - perhaps, indeed, no one could. Nonetheless, if the basic research - on numbers taken from each locality - is well done, that's good, because it can be used for a number of different purposes. MG

Further thoughts. From what I know of their societies and the structure and history of their states, it seems likely that the Soninke, Mandinke, Hausa, Sosso/Susu and Songhai were developing indigenous middle classes before the scramble for Africa. And it seems certain that the Wolof were; the Jolof Empire, a voluntary union, broke up into its constituent six Wolof kingdoms as a result of the coastal kingdoms seeing more advantage in trading with the French; a view that would almost certainly have originated within trading interests. Following the slave trade's abolition, European traders turned to other goods, which is mainly what caused such middle class development as arose in Africa (though not in the areas in which trans-Saharan trade hd been important since the beginning of the ninth century). This Atlantic trade would have started earlier, in the absence of the slave trade. Of course, had there been no slave trade, the funds that really made the Industrial Revolution take off through railway development, might well have been insufficient for that task. With a slower Industrial Revolution, a faster development of an indigenous middle class of traders, and the absence of the Maxim and Gatling guns, Africa would probably not have been colonised. But with a slower Industrial Revolution, the entire history of the world would be different. MG

I'm sure the slave trade did have an effect, but maybe not in the way one would expect. What was happening in some places in the latter half of the 19th century, before the "Scramble for Africa", was the development of a middle class of commercial traders (ie non-monopolistic). This hasn't been studied enough, I think, but it was certainly happening in Asante, Buganda and Kongo, and probably elsewhere. These traders were, without exception, expropriated by the European colonists, because they were competing with the European firms which were the ones supposed to benefit from the operation. It's possible to conceive that, had larger domestic markets existed, this bourgeoisie could have formed earlier and could have been more powerful. Maybe a more powerful bourgeoisie in Africa would have made colonisation a less tempting idea? (And of course, it's the bourgeoisie that could have made the nation-states of Africa run, as happened in Europe and America.) MG

For a detailed exposition of this issue, see "Black man's burden: Africa and the curse of the nation state" by Basil Davidson. MG

I can't see this article, Guy. Is it likely to be its only publication anywhere? MG

Wikkid! MG

Yes, it really makes you feel good. MG

Someone who was in poor health???? Do I win anything??? Perhaps an autographed copy of Allen Lowe's pamphlet, My Heros of the far left??? MG

Couple of nice videos From Guinee Conakry Sekouba Bambino - Lahidou from the CD "Ambiance ballon" - Super Selection, issued on CD Syllart no number From Senegal Ouza, my favourite musician of all time (= Grant Green) 6 heures, from the CD "6 heures" issued on CD by Ouza. (Ouza always uses his backing vocalists like this; told me he got the idea from Ray Charles & Margie Hendrix.) MG

It's not all in gospel music MG

The Odell Brown is nice, though i prefer him in a small group setting. Me too, but I've got 'em all now, except for the ones he's flogging on his website. MG