text: Joel Durston 2016-05-26T04:50:45-04:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=joel-durston Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Joel Durston Good old fashioned elbow grease. Tinkling the Ivories While the World Burns tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2016:/theblog//3.9590690 2016-04-01T08:53:35-04:00 2016-04-05T07:59:01-04:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ Firstly, they don't value life, or at least not as much as everyone else does. They live and get to spread terror in this life or they, in their eyes, get 72 virgins in paradise and all that rubbish - it's a win-win. Of course it's very unlikely they get the young nubile beauties in the afterlife (or if they do it's not quite as imagined), but the important thing is suicide bombers - and other terrorists - think they do. Terrorists also win either way in terms of the response to terror. With a forceful response from governments and authorities - military intervention, increased security, anti-terror measures etc - they get their desired apocalyptic war between 'Islam v the West'; with a more acquiescent institutional response they brag about it being easy to escape the authorities and so spread their terror and their vision for the caliphate. Much of the reaction to Brussels, as with other terror attacks, has been a figurative puffing out of the chest; the idea of not being cowed and that any fears are irrational. This is admirable, but takes an unrealistic view of human nature. As Zoe Williams writes in the Guardian, "if the raison d'etre of the terrorist is to poison a society with terror, that society must find the antidote, not pretend it wasn't toxic." Psychologists such as Daniel Kahneman have shown many ways in which humans act in very irrational ways. One of these cognitive biases, which explains why terrorism generates so much attention, shock and fear, is the availability heuristic, whereby people significantly overestimate the frequency or probability of something based on how easily and vividly it can be brought to mind. Are you more scared of death by terrorism...or furniture?. Presuming the former, then that proves the point, because a host of seemingly safe things are in fact far more likely to kill than terrorism, including, in America, being crushed by unstable TVs and furniture. But it's very easy to think that that Metro stop in Brussels could have been your tube stop, as you went about your day. After all terrorists have struck civilians in the UK, have tried to various other times and plan to in future. This is not to say we shouldn't address our cognitive biases and prejudices, but nor should we deny our very nature in pretending we're immune from fear. Often accompanying the idea of 'irrational' fear are the claims of a 'sensationalist' reaction from the media, as if the cold blooded murder of innocents, in support of a clash of civilisations, is not that shocking an event. From journalists like Simon Jenkins, who claims "news channels acted liked Isis recruiting sergeants" in their coverage of the Brussels attacks, it betrays a really quite baffling lack of appreciation of their own industry. Media reports that which is out of the ordinary, which terror attacks are, and publications and news channel increasingly have to compete to get readers/viewers/listeners. So it's calling for a remarkable amount of restraint and self-negation to suggest people don't get angry and worried about terrorism. But does our reaction matter? Maybe not that much. It's hardly as if a jihadist is going to read a few mocking tweets or a thinkpiece like this and suddenly denounce jihad, nor is anyone really calling for ordinary Britons to take up arms and travel to Syria, Rambo-style, to fight ISIS (as some have bravely, or comically, pledged). But shifting the framework of acceptable debate would mean more opinions could be explored rather than just dismissed as reactionary or insensitive. I'm not calling for anything like brainfart-made-flesh Donald Trump's call to ban Muslims from travelling to be on the table - but Brexit should be. On balance, I'm in the In camp, but it's not wise to basically completely shut down the debate, implying that voting out of the EU even in part on security grounds comes to down to unreasonable fear, as some such as Owen Jones have. It's a very admirable position of Schengen countries to allow people to travel between them sometimes without so much as a glance at your passport at the border. And very nice as a traveller. Interrailing around mainland Europe a few years ago, I only had to produce my passport twice in around a dozen border crossings. But imagine I was not just enjoying a jaunt around Europe but a recent convert to jihadism, carrying explosives and or guns; freedom of movement becomes "freedom of movement for Kalashnikovs", as Nigel Farage said soon after the Brussels attacks (the statement was arguably ill-timed, but that doesn't necessarily make it wrong). 'Nice' suddenly becomes 'naive' - and we don't live in a nice world. There are many things in the EU's favour in this regard - sharing of intelligence, European Arrest Warrant etc - but the idea Europe is safer from terrorism due to the EU is not beyond criticism. An honest approach to the threat faced may also mean people are more willing to surrender a few civil liberties to give security services more means with which to prevent terrorism. Personally, I'm torn between thinking Edward Snowden is a hero and a traitor, but the polarised debate his revelations created highlight the deep tension between security and liberty. Yes, governments looking at private (or 'private') correspondence is invasive - and security at airports is annoying - but do these issues trump people's safety to walk down the street? It's a very difficult question - not that you'd know that from the rhetoric of some civil libertarians. So let's drop this 'tough guy' image and start admitting that, in many ways, the terrorists are winning. Because we're not going to win by sticking our heads in the sand and thinking jihadism will be beaten by memes and a bloke on a piano singing Imagine; tinkling the ivories while the world burns.]]> The State of the Unions tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.7943506 2015-08-05T17:03:48-04:00 2015-08-06T07:59:01-04:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ corrupt, neoliberal world. There's truth to it in places, but it's major failing of many that they feel to see some of the same issues with unions. Of course unions have played a vital role in securing hard-fought rights for workers - and have been on the right side of history many times (also arguably on the wrong side at times). This doesn't mean they should be above criticism. They're certainly not above throwing some pretty bold criticisms about themselves. Last month, Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis, describing planned Conservative changes to strike legislation, said: "These spiteful prosposals will deny millions of ordinary workers a voice at work." And Mick Whelan, the General Secretary of train drivers' union Aslef, went even further by claiming the plans "smack of Germany in the 1930s" when trade unionists were "rounded up, imprisoned and executed". This is hyperbole worthy of a fringe UKIP politician. The strike laws merely require unions to attain a 50% turnout in ballots for industrial action; 40% support for industrial action from all eligible voters in key public sectors; that members must opt in to paying unions' 'political levy' paid to political parties; and allow employers to find temporary staff for strikes. Far from 'imprisonment' or 'execution', these rules serve to empower individual union members against activist minorities or the power wielded by union bosses. They are - or should be - a matter of simple democracy, not left v right party politics. Contrary to all the scaremongering, unions and industrial action would still be legal; it's just the mandate for their action would be made higher, so, for example, the majority of the London bus network could not go down at the behest of just a sixth of London bus drivers. (The recent tube strikes, including the one today (August 6) and yesterday, voted on by three different unions, would still be legal under the new rules. Aslef for example saw a 81% vote in favour from a 97% turnout. The RMT's vote would probably be legal because it was voted for by 92% of an unknown turnout.) It all illustrates a hypocritical, arrogant strain of left-wing opinion which loudly champions liberalism and democracy, then cries bloody murder when these return results, or governments, they don't like, typically dismissing Tory voters as brainwashed by the neo-liberal media. (There's some equivalent but opposite opinion from the right it must be said.) Even this dismissive trope does not work for union votes as the vote merely concerns workers' own livelihoods. So, if working conditions really are unfair, who better to judge that than the majority of those workers? Union bosses' professions to 'representing their members' are, at best, dubious when strikes are held which around three quarters of union members did not actually vote for. Of course such strikes are voted by the (usually clear) majority of those who voted, but they betray a presumptuousness that those who did not vote feel similarly. Writing in the Huffington Post, Paul Embery, London's Regional Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, writes: "[...] it is perfectly reasonable, when extrapolating results of ballots for industrial action, to conclude that the votes cast are an accurate representation of the views of those balloted as a whole." It is not reasonable at all. I'd go so as far as to say it shows a contempt for democratic process. There is a qualitative difference between voting and not voting. If people don't vote in a strike ballot, there is no strike. Striking is bold action against the status quo (or future status quo) therefore it should require clear majority approval. It stands to reason, then, that low turnouts should be treated as a sign of, at best, members' indifference to a strike and, at worst, lack of support. Strikes are a vital democratic right, but they should not be taken lightly; support from those who deign to offer it should not be assumed. All of it renders ridiculous the claim from Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the TUC, that the government's measures read "like something straight out of a George Orwell novel". Ms O'Grady (and many others) would really do well to actually fucking read some Orwell, whose writing typically critiqued the evils of too much power in the hands of too few, not individuals' right to make political choices. None of this is even to mention all the others affected by strikes who do not get a say in them - the general public. After all, prospective strikers have a vested interest in industrial action. Not to say they are self-serving bastards - the vast majority I know and hear who have taken strike action have thought long and hard about the decision and merely want what they consider fair remuneration for their hard work. Nor am I arguing for one minute that workers from other professions should get an equal say in every public sector strike; that would create a kind of modern-day servitude to the taxpayer. But the facts remain that prospective public sector strikers stand to benefit from strikes at the expense of the (sometimes massive) inconvenience for millions of others who could not vote for them. So it behoves unions to have good support for the disruption. This fundamentally differs from elections and referendums - the moderate or low turnouts from which are a typical comeback from unabashed union supporters when defending strikes' (supposed) legitimacy - which everyone gets a vote in. If people do not vote in these and are unhappy with the result, then they only have themselves to blame. Rather than always resorting to cheap jibes about 'nasty Tories', the left should take a long, hard look at the state of the unions.]]> Are Politicians Really All the Same? tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.6708750 2015-02-18T17:05:35-05:00 2015-04-20T05:59:01-04:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ politicians are all the same. 'OK, so the youth are disillusioned, so what?' I hear you say. Plus ça change. There's no doubt some truth in that, but I don't think they/we (I'm 26 - I don't know if I still qualify as 'youth') used to be so deified, especially when they offer such inanity. Now you can rely on the Question Time crowd to applaud such thought and Russell Brand has over nine million Facebook followers, a bestselling book called 'Revolution' and is treated as a serious political figure. Such young people should not automatically be lauded. They are idiots. A lot of the time at least. Certainly, those who sympathise with or support the contradictory politics offered by movements like Anonymous. They complain that governments are "unconstitutional", "oppressing" us by "infringing our civil liberties", meaning "LIBERTY NO LONGER EXISTS". Yet they also "PROTEST AGAINST AUSTERITY". So they simultaneously despise the state but are furious that it is being taken away from them. That makes them either masochists or morons. Personally, they only serve to remind that it's far easier to oppose something than to have made it in the first place. Am I alone, at least among non-Daily Mail readers, in thinking the vapidness of many young people is about as much to blame as deficiencies in the political system for the fact just 24% of under-25s declare an interest in politics (according to a Hansard report). I don't actually think this is necessarily a bad thing; people can live a perfectly moral and decent life just doing well by friends and family and watching the X-Factor or playing football. In fact, doing such arguably indicates a measure of contentment with one's life and leisure time which allows this, and which is notably absent in less democratic countries riven by some hellish mix of corruption, civil war, crumbling infrastructure and disease. Frankly, the world, in many respects, could do with giving less of a shit - if this was the case there wouldn't be nearly as much homophobia, slut-shaming or body hang-ups, for instance. Granted, it's arguable how much difference there is between the two/three main parties, the Conservatives, Labour and, to a lesser extent, the Lib Dems (I think there are fairly significant differences). But even if you believe there is little between them, these are far from the only viable parties to support, especially at the moment as traditional voting patterns collapse and fringe, or once-fringe, parties come to the fore. To the left of these parties, you have the Greens; who believe in just giving people money (the citizens' income); a zero growth, sustainable economy; decriminalising weed and legalising membership of terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. (They actually share many views with Russell Brand, so I find it bizarre why he and like-minded people don't vote for them.) And to what I will call the 'right' - with some caution because the definition, and indeed the party, is far from precise - is UKIP, a party whose only defining characteristics would seem to scepticism of immigration, hatred of the EU and angry righteousness. Some of these ideas might make sense (though I'm sceptical), but truly there are some really quite radical ideas and characters on both sides, and neither have had significant power as yet, undermining the cliché that they're all the same. And there's now a good chance that one such party could have a significant effect one way or another in the election - forming a coalition government or gaining more seats - or, as Armando Iannucci says, further on in the linked Question Time, this is the most open election in about 30 years. The Green Party have embraced crowdfunding to help them stand in 75% of constituencies (a 50% increase from the last election) and fringe parties like the National Health Action Party are standing in some places. Indeed, the changing dynamics are already having an effect as parties seek to stop voters, and MPs, moving elsewhere, notably to UKIP. The times we live are painted by many - Russell Brand types on one side, Daily Telegraph readers (comments section) on the other and David Icke types on 17 different sides simultaneously - as some kind of Orwellian hell-hole people are condemned to live in, with an array of "manipulative" bete noires arraigned against them; The BBC, 'eco warriors', the 'human rights judicial dictatorship' and bankers/the "elite"/"the 1%", to name but a few. But these are not the times we live in. Never has there been more information channels and never have they been easier to access (arguably too easy, as reputable newspapers across the world struggle to survive in a digital era). And, unsurprisingly, never have they been more accessed. Indeed, not just accessed - never have they been made more, by any old Tom, Dick or Harry, as testified by the fact we now have words which basically didn't exist a decade or two ago (or at least not in the same context); tweeting, googling, Facebooking, Instagramming, blogging, vlogging and so forth. (If those verbs which I capitalised should be, they might not be ten years from now.) Not only is there wide array of political parties and organisations, it's in many ways a golden era to access and support them. So I don't buy people espousing this one-sided rose-tinted idea of the dispossessed youth, wronged by the system and valiantly speaking truth to power with coruscating political analysis. Far more, I'm reminded of Winston Churchill's line: "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."]]> Top 10 Albums of 2014 tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.6369788 2014-12-22T20:53:32-05:00 2015-02-21T05:59:01-05:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ The Black Keys - Turn Blue After scratching just under the surface of chart success for about a decade, The Black Keys finally hit the big time around 2011 with El Camino, a foot-stomping, drumming-on-the-wheel, open top American road trip album if there ever was one. However, while their professional lives were soaring, their personal lives were coming off the rails - singer Dan Auerbach going through a messy divorce and drummer Pat Carney having new-found huge success overwhelm him to the extent he sought treatment from a hypnotist. Turn Blue channels this into a more "moody" album; finding a great, woozily psychadelic middle-ground between the vaguely glam rock stomp of El Camino and the atmospheric if often unremarkable bluesy rock of their earlier six albums. Nowhere else have they really produced a song like Weight of Love, an almost-seven-minute epic which moves from a long instrumental intro into a slow bluesy number and culminates in a wig-out of screaming guitars which Led Zeppelin would be proud of. Bombay Bicycle Club - So Long, See You Tomorrow Bombay Bicycle Club returned in February, two and half years after A Different Kind of Fix, with a handful of new ideas to make this album their most successful (number 1) and probably their best. Frontman Jack Steadman wrote it having travelled to Europe, Turkey, India and Tokyo and, while it would be an exaggeration to call it 'world music', it does have definite nods to these expanded horizons, and mixes them with electronic and funk touches. (Their name, which came from a now-defunct chain of restaurants, actually arguably belied a fairly typical English guitar band sound in their early days - although to be fair they hadn't even passed their GCSEs when they started out). Most notable is the Indian influence. Steadman stayed with an Indian studio owner for a month, the most obvious fruit of those labours being Feel, in which the band sample a 50s Bollywood film and make it their own. It's confident and happy without being cheesy or sentimental - the sound of a bound coming of age. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream The War on Drugs finally got some - very deserved - acclaim this year with this album, two albums and over ten years after their first beginnings. 'Lost in the Dream' is an apposite name for the hazy, vaguely psychedelic Americana within. 'The War on Drugs', however, is not such an apt name, as it's what you'd imagine Springsteen would sound like if he'd done some weed, chilled out a bit and stopped stressing about taking on The Man as just a Regular Joe from New Jersey. And brilliantly so. Ben Howard - I Forget Where We Were The fear - or mine at least - with Ben Howard's second album was that, following impressive popularity for his fine first album Every Kingdom, he would move a bit more towards James Blunt territory with a mediocre stadium-filler. In fact, he's moved the other way. I Forget Where We Were sees Howard explore far richer, more expansive terrain - only one of the ten songs comes in at under four minutes and three pass the six-minute mark - making a strong claim for him to be spoken of in the same breath as songwriters like Jeff Buckley and John Martyn. Goat - Commune I can understand why this African-electronic-rock-jazz-infused psychadelica (???) has not reached a bigger audience, but that does not mean Goat's relatively anonymity is merited - because they make such a thrilling, inventive mess of noise, with a refreshingly flagrant disregard for anyone's neat little musical boxes (Yeasayer are probably their closest musical bedfellows). They hail from a small town in northern Sweden called Korpilombolo, which they claim has a long tradition of voodoo practice which have affected the music of the town and, in turn, their own. As Paul Lester says in The Guardian, it's probably rubbish, but the fact they even claim it is telling. The lead singer's vocals may grate on some but - like fellow Swede from the not-dissimilar Knife, Karin Dreijer Anderssen - they have undeniable passion and give Goat's music character. Anyway, they're secondary really to the crazy musicianship. FKA Twigs - LP1 Continuing the recent genre of 'Noir & B', which has included Weeknd, Kelela and Banks, FKA Twigs, this year brought us probably the weirdest, example of the sparse, ethereal marriage of R&B and electronica - adding some healthy dollops of Kate Bush and Bjork in the mix too. With her high-pitched, vaguely choral/classical voice - influenced from her time at a Catholic school - singing of things such as seducing another woman's man (Two Weeks) and female masturbation (Kicks), it's certainly the most NSFW. In the video for Two Weeks, which Guardian critic Kitty Empire described as "ecstatically filthy", Tahliah Barnett sits on a chair, writhing around dressed and spray-painted as a golden Egyptian goddess as she pours milk from the end of her fingers on a submerged version of herself below, and sings: "My thighs are apart for when you're ready to breathe in." ("If it's a raw subject, I write lots of things and then pull out all the fluff words.") Admittedly, some songs, with eery, dissonant, disconnected sounds, are arguably mood over music, but there's so much vision and ambition. Robert Pattinson, her boyfriend, is a lucky guy. SBTRKT - Wonder Where We Land Aaron Jerome - under his masked alter-ego of course - returned with his sophomore effort this year. Some of it works better than others, some of it is of the instrumental stuff is unremarkable and for my money his debut album is (marginally) better, but what's impressive about it is its range and confidence (there's 15 songs and 21 songs on the album and bonus album respectively, albeit a few small interludes). It covers similar soulful electronica with Sampha as the first (Temporary View), piano torch music (If It Happens), electro-funk (Gon Stay) and whatever the fuck New Dorp. New York, with Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, is. It's awfully pretentious to say music is a 'journey', but this album really is. Royal Blood - Royal Blood ....On the other hand, Royal Blood are not a complicated band - two blokes, songs recorded in one take (mostly), ten songs over in just over 32 minutes...number one album. Thank you very much. But that's testament to just how monstrous the hooks and riffs are, and perhaps a gap in the market for a band offering straight-up rawk, among indie bands with various pretensions and affectations. Bassist/singer Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher create a very loud and skuzzy sound you would expect to see in a darkened bar in a film as a fight between rival biker gangs breaks out. To the uninitiated, that will probably give a pretty good idea if you'll like this album. I read one comment on their nomination for the Mercury Music Prize being like having a Mars bar as a dish on Masterchef. It's a fair comment, but I still love it. Jamie T - Carry on the Grudge Jamie Treays compiled a whopping 180 songs since the release of Kings and Queens in 2009 to choose from for this album - and it shows, because this is an album of real class. It shows Jamie maturing with age, moments of light and dark, and touches of soul (Love Is Only a Heatbeat Away), funk (Trouble) and punk (Rabbit Hole, Peter) among his distinctive indie/ska. Lykke Li - I Never Learn It's a surprise our love of all things Scandi has not translated to Lykke Li, her three albums having only reached numbers 112, 37 and 33 in the chart (compared to 3, 2 and 2 in her native Sweden). And it's a shame too, as she makes some fine, alternative, emotional and grand pop music. But pop music with proper strings, piano, drums and guitar - it is to most current pop as a Michelin Star restaurant is to McDonalds.]]> Why Aren't More People Going Green? tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.5881868 2014-09-25T10:53:33-04:00 2014-11-25T05:59:02-05:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ I think there is a large aspect of contradiction in all this championing of 'democracy' when, like it or not, the Conservatives did get more votes than any other party in the last election, and by a non-negligible amount (7%). Yet I feel there is some merit to the arguments, partly because I read the Guardian and half-swallow its politics, but mostly because polling shows that people in the UK, when separated from party-political allegiances at least, actually mostly favour public ownership of the NHS, energy companies, Royal Mail and railway companies - only the former of which is actually, to generalise, under public ownership ('state' ownership, which tends to have more negative connotations, if you prefer). And because polls during this government have shown widespread rejection of austerity, sometimes by margins of about two to one, along with support for reducing inequality even if it cuts overall wealth (However, one should be wary of reading too much into these economic surveys, as recent polling shows that, despite significant cuts, 65% did not think the quality of council provision was falling, and of course there's age-old political adage of people wanting lower taxes and more public spending...) But I'm not here to preach either way. Merely to suggest - given there is such a mood where the newly political Russell Brand is not universally laughed off as some kind of ridiculous Private Eye satire come true - that people stop complaining about a lack of 'political voice' when they have a perfectly good outlet for it - the Green Party. Because despite passionate grassroots campaigning and support for the - popular - policies described above, they gained a measly 1% of the vote in the last election and that has only risen to around 2-5% (and even that may be benefiting from the 'Shy Tory' factor). This is not meant as a sarcastic suggestion. I suggest it because, while I wouldn't vote for the Green Party, I do respect them and think they are decent people and because their lack of support is so inimical to voters' stated complaints and preferences. Anyone who complains about the self-serving mendacity or beige professionalism of current politicians would be well-served to remember that Caroline Lucas - the Green Party's first and only MP, in Brighton got arrested for standing up to fracking on environmental grounds, by causing a roadblock and stubbornly resisting moving. If people want more more nationalisation and less austerity, why has the major political shift during this government, from former Tory and Labour voters, been to a party headed up by a former commodities trader which believes in "free trade, lower taxes, personal freedom and responsibility" and that "the state in Britain has become too large, too expensive and too dominant over civil society"? It's the political equivalent of turkeys voting for Christmas...or at least it would seem that way. (A big caveat is that it's a little selective to choose those measures of polling. Recent public attitude aligned far less well with the (typical) left on welfare, immigration and the EU, but still I think support for the Green Party is surprisingly low). The most obvious reason for the lack of Green support is the - understandable - idea that they will just be a wasted vote for left-leaning voters, letting the Tories in by depriving Labour of a vote. But a lot of people are becoming with Labour now so this idea should hold less water. A big factor in must be an image problem for the Greens; tarnished by the idea it's a single-issue party full of 'self-righteous humanities graduates'. The latter is arguable, but the former isn't, whatever you think of the policies themselves (the party name is probably a double-edged sword in this respect). It also doesn't get a great rap in the press. Unsurprisingly The Sun, Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph aren't too enamoured to them or their motives, but more left-leaning papers such as the Guardian, surprisingly, and the Daily Mirror don't give them much attention. Owen Jones and Polly Toynbee, among others, comment a lot that Labour is not strong enough in its left-wing convictions, which is arguable, but to me it begs the question: 'why not consider going Green?' In his most recent article, leftier-than-thou Seumas Milne describes an "insurgent campaign" (for a Yes vote but "present among Labour voters across Britain"), "fuelled by a rejection of austerity, privatisation, illegal wars and the grip of the Westminster elite". But when he considers who will represent such people in England, he doesn't even mention the Green Party, instead discussing Ukip and the Tories (critically). That's even for left-wing people who go in for the idea of conventional game of politics. Russell Brand has a lot to answer for here, since (somehow) a fair number of people actually think there's something in his idea of not voting as a positive and viable means to change, so surely he's shooting his cause in the foot by telling people not to vote. And therefore probably hurting the Green Party, which his views are closely aligned to. I think represents Brand represents a growing trend in individualistic politics; selfie politics, if you will, whereby people are happy to be promote their politics but not so much to put them to use in the difficulty world complete with sometimes grubby compromises that is party politics, where their views would actually be of some use in our democratic system. Herein lies, I think, a couple of paradoxes of the left. There are big strains of individualism and libertarianism within left-wing movements sitting alongside ideas of co-operation and 'solidarity'. The ideas aren't necessarily irreconcilable, but they present issues. Is it 'co-operation' for rich people to be made to pay half or more of their income to the state, or 'coercion'? How tolerant should we be of what could equally be called intolerance or 'freely expressed opinion'? Is religion liberating or oppressive? And so on and so forth. Also, there has been an interesting coalition of much of the left and the libertarian right on state control over data in the wake of the Snowden revelations. Part of the problem is that the idea of protest and progress against the establishment is pretty fundamental to the left, so what to do when the left becomes the establishment? Looking across the Channel, in just over two years as President, leader of the Socialist Party Francois Hollande has seen its approval rating drop as low 13%, amid a stagnating economy and unemployment doubling in 2013 to just over 11%. A look at the Green Party's record in power in Brighton since 2011 may also be instructive for this. Their running of the city has seen a vote of no confidence, 'rebel' Greens trying to oust council leader Jason Kitcat, rubbish going uncollected during a six-week dispute with refuse workers (in which Mr Kitcat was trying to push through changes while his deputy was protesting them with binmen, supported by MP Caroline Lucas) and widespread opposition to a proposed 4.75% council tax rise. To be sure, these will be not dissimilar to some problems in councils up and down the UK. But what makes it different is that the gritty realities of governance are much further removed from the Greens than the other three parties - and there are some measures they have introduced which, like them or not, only they could have introduced. For example, the (abandoned) plan to implement 'meat-free Mondays' at the council and removing Mr and Mrs from official council forms. Also telling is the internet, which is riven with passionate debates about what you can and can't say about certain minorities ('intersectionality' basically); throwaway lines about Brazilian transexuals or how men tend to be more campaigning in their atheism; if men can and should be feminists; what privilege people have and if/how much that disqualifies them from certain debates...and so on and so on. To be blunt, identity politics, with groups making various claims to their position on the victimhood hierarchy. It's all certainly too much for 'militant feminist' Julie Bindel. This is harsh, because there is inequality and unfairness in the world that merits discussion, but in truth the idea of too many exponents of this kind of politics in serious power scares me. I've somewhat argued against the thing I was suggesting. But still, if you think the UK is in the grip of a suffocating 'neo-liberal consensus', why not put your morals where your mouth is and vote Green, warts and all...]]> Nadal and Djokovic Hold No Fear for Raonic tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.5517289 2014-06-21T04:17:15-04:00 2014-08-20T05:59:05-04:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ With Del Potro injured, World No.9 Raonic has just been seeded in the top eight - a major boon which means he would meet no higher-ranked opposition until Nadal in the quarter-finals. However, neither Nadal or the man Raonic lost to in the French quarter-final, a certain Mr Djokovic, cause too much fear for the Montenegro-born player. "I'm sort of right there among the top eight right now," he said. "I think I compete well with those guys, pretty much every time. Against a few of them, I've got a better head-to-head record. But especially against those top two guys [Nadal and Djokovic] I've got to keep putting myself in the position of playing them constantly just so I know how to deal with the situations better. I felt like the last two time I've played them I have been able to match their level, but they sort of stepped over me in important moments. I wasn't as comfortable or calm in those moments as they were. I'm prepared and ready [for Wimbledon]. In the first rounds I'm not going to play my best tennis. I've just got to find my way through those, but I know I can just keep playing better and better and the seeding gives me a chance to sink my teeth into the tournament." Raonic was speaking at The Boodles event in Buckinghamshire - a somewhat laid-back Wimbledon warm-up, sandwiched between Queen's and the real thing starting Monday - where he beat Dutchman Robin Haase 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 (championship tie-break) but narrowly lost to Ernest Gulbis 7-6, 7-6. Gulbis will be looking to build on his recent semi-final success at the French Open and has also been playing some strong tennis at The Boodles, despite admitting to feeling "clumsy" on grass. Elsewhere, Marin Cilic, who has been as high as World No.9 but currently sits at 29, stormed past World No. 15 Fabio Fognini, Murray's conqueror in Italy's recent Davis Cup win over Great Britain. The Croatian is now being coached by Goran Ivanisevic, the only Wimbledon wild card winner, after defeating Henman in that rain-delayed, three-day semi-final and another five-setter against Patrick Rafter a day later on "People's Monday". Cilic said: "Goran is my idol and my childhood hero, so to be together with him has always been my dream. Now on the tour I'm learning a lot from him and he is helping me to serve better, as I have hit the most aces on the ATP Tour this year, so it seems things are working well. That is a special touch from Goran as we know he was one of the best servers on the Tour. I'm really excited to be playing at Wimbledon and to have him among my team is going to be a huge help. We watched him in all his finals [three times losing, one winning] and we were ecstatic when he won it." Cilic starts his Wimbledon campaign against Paul-Henri Matheiu, a Frenchman he is very well acquainted with after playing six times in the space of 10 months. He said: "He can always play dangerous so I have to ready and careful." Being careful would always be sage advice to anyone watching Cilic and Ivanisevic doing service practice on the lawns of SW19. Novak Djokovic was also being cautious as he decided to pull out of his match against Haase, as a precautionary measure ahead of Wimbledon, due to a niggling wrist injury he has had since Monte Carlo in April. The Serbian was in Stoke Park as part of announcement by his sponsors Uniqlo of a three-year sponsorship deal of the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour. He kicks off his Wimbledon campaign against Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev on Monday.]]> Waiting to Feast at Tennis' Top Table tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.5506237 2014-06-18T04:59:01-04:00 2014-08-17T05:59:05-04:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ Earlier, the Latvian got 'engaged' to a fan who proposed to him, and the Latvian's strong play, and easy-going humour, won him several more admirers he wanted to "celebrate" with in the crowd - at the more laid-back Wimbledon warm-up than the more well-known Queen's. "I like you a lot - but not yet," he said to the woman in the crowd. Nevertheless, he lapped the lucky lady's attention after the game - along with that of several others. And as well he might given he had just beaten a close rival and due to the stunning form he is in. Earlier in his career, the 25-year-old found himself in hot water for allegedly soliciting prostitutes and making controversial comments like female tennis players need to think about having kids. But recently he has been letting his racket do the talking, as in 2013 he jumped over 115 ranking points from the year before to enter the top 30, and now sits at a career high of World No. 10 following some fantastic performances at the French Open, including beating Tomas Berdych in straight sets and Roger Federer. It is hard to conclusively judge the pair's respective Wimbledon hopes from a warm-up tournament like Boodles - just as it is hard to discern too much from international football friendlies - but with that caveat, on this evidence both Gulbis and Raonic are good bets for a strong run at Wimbledon this year. Indeed, a Wimbledon tie between these two could prove quite a tasty match-up - a kind of battle between those looking to feast at tennis' top table, as Gulbis and Raonic currently sit at World Numbers 10 and 9, a little way behind the established pack of the big four plus Stan Wawrinka (at No.3), Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Juan Martin Del Potro. Both players utilised their big serves well here, losing only one of a dozen service games each (Gulbis played one awful service game where he was broken to love - his "favourite" of the match). Particularly the 6'5 Canadian Raonic, who rained down aces and unreturneds on his opponent. Allied to his big forehand, Raonic's serve - described by a certain Mr Djokovic as one of the best in the game - could prove a real weapon on the hallowed lawns of SW19 from next week. Also, at just 22-years of age, he is improving with every tournament. However, Gulbis, by his own admission, may need to work a bit on his grass court game. On a few occasions in the first set he had dig himself out of holes after his volleys and half-volleys were found wanting - something a top-class returner such as Djokovic or Murray would surely capitalise on. Speaking about his first-game Queen's exit, to World No.67 Kenny De Schepper, Gulbis said: "I feel very clumsy on grass but it's getting better." John Isner faced another up-and-coming player, 21-year-old World No.75 Jack Sock, and the two entertained the crowd - many of whom slightly sozzled on the Pimm's and champagne - with both their play and their repartee. The first set saw the 6'9" Isner shout "that's not gonna work," just before dispatching Sock's mediocre lob. Sock then told himself the same thing when he tried it again a few points later - to the same result. The first set also included a serve hitting a lineswoman square on the head, a foot fault called against Sock, to his faux outrage; and Sock - jokingly - taking off the lineswoman's glasses so she could see the line, then checking the next ball on his side - a metre out - was indeed out. In between, there was also some rather good tennis. Sock won the first in a tie-break, lost the second 6-2, but took the match 12-10 in the deciding championship tie-break. Along with Sock, 20-year-old Dominic Thiem will make his first Wimbledon appearance this year. And although he said afterwards grass is not his surface at all, he played some strong tennis to push World No.18 Kevin Anderson in a 6-4, 7-6 victory for the South African.]]> 'The Wolf' Hungry for Another Canary Wharf Title tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.5013748 2014-03-22T13:36:43-04:00 2014-05-22T05:59:01-04:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ The Yorkshireman, at 33 years of age, is in some of, if not the best form of his career. He currently sits at number one in the world following a thrilling five-game victory against Ramy Ashour in the final of the Swedish Open in February, and various successes last year, including his third World Championship in Manchester, the Hong Kong Open and helping England to the World Teams Championships. He is also enjoying life off the court, having recently announced that he and his new wife Esme are expecting. 'The Wolf' will begin his quest for his fourth Canary Wharf title on Monday against Scottish wild card Alan Clyne, and if he progresses will face the winner of a tasty all-Egyptian tie between World No. 13 and seventh seed Omar Mossad and World No. 16 Karim Abdel Gawad. Matthew told Squash Site: "I really love the vibe at Canary Wharf it's one of, if not the best atmosphere on tour. I was struggling around that time last year so I'm excited to try and put on a better show this year." Most likely to prevent Matthew taking the title is fierce rival and fellow Yorkshireman James Willstrop, four-time champion at Canary Wharf. "It's an electric venue and an electric tournament. It's an absolute pleasure to play it and I just really look forward to it," he told The Metro. Willstrop faces a potentially tricky tie against Daryl Selby, also in some of the best form of his career at World No. 10 (career high number 9), if both Englishmen beat qualifiers in the first round. The game would be be a repeat of the same game last year - a close 3-0 for Willstrop. Also on that side of the draw, Selby's good friend Peter Barker, who beat Nick Matthew in a thrilling semi-final last year, has one of the most difficult first round draws of the seeds in the form of World No. 18 Saurav Ghosal. If sees off the Indian's challenge, he is likely to play German 'Tree Chopper' Simon Rosner in the second round. In the other games, Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez - who thrilled the crowds last year with his reckless disregard for his body, performing many full-length - will play Adrian Grant, who makes the short hop over the river from Greenwich. They play for the right to challenge the 'Dark Prince', Egyptian Karim Darwish, if, like Rosner, he beats a qualifier in the first round.]]> Policitians DO Listen to Us... But Too Much tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.4694926 2014-01-30T09:47:44-05:00 2014-04-01T05:59:01-04:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ Politicians just don't listen to us these days - so goes probably the common, and personally most inane, refrain in current UK politics. But is there actually much truth to it? I don't think so. In fact, I think quite the opposite is true, and that that's slightly dangerous as people can be idiots - as Mark Corrigan says, "People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people, Jeremy!" (I like Coldplay too.) Certainly in many respects, we have a political culture relentlessly focused on the 'common man' (speaking figuratively, not in gender terms). Twitter is used as a soundboard for political ideas. A few hundred complaints about a TV show to Ofcom from lily-livered Guardian readers and/or boring old Daily Mail-reading farts are taken seriously as 'outrage'. TV news will often go to the person in the street, even if the story is really about nationwide or global economic changes average Joes, to be frank, do not know much about (I'd pretty much include myself in this). And newspapers very often report polls on what we think, to the extent Survation, YougGov and Ipsos MORI are almost the Holy Trinity of politics (this trend sometimes creates an echo chamber of rubbish, like when the Daily Express reports that its readers oppose immigration. People who constantly read that they are being ripped off and robbed off their identity by 'alien parasites and fraudsters' don't like immigration - no shit!). And then there's the focus group, the idea which started in the corporate world but has become almost the holy grail of modern policymaking. Bill Clinton called members of focus groups the most powerful people in America. All the main UK parties have tech wizards in their teams to scrutinise every minute detail of demographic polling, and then feed this back to politicians so they can decide, say, if 'striver', 'strong middle-class' or 'hard-working Britons' is the best way to build support for their policies. The Thick of It is the best satire of this culture I've ever seen, exposing the huge disconnect between politicians' stage-managed public and private personas. (The show is of course ostensibly fiction, but could well be what actually goes on behind the cameras. Indeed, many policies shown actually prefigure ones later announced by the real-life government , and, according to The Independent, Armando Iannucci's team have been approached by real-life politicians looking for their political insights.) I should say none of this applies to UKIP, which is basically its main appeal. As for the effects of all this, just look at politicians pronouncements, politicians routinely talk about their constituents they have spoken to and meld their lives into heartwarming stories to back up their policies (the link is an Owen Jones rant, but the left do this about as much as the right). Of course these will be selective, but I'd like to assume that politicians are not such complete shits that they regularly make such stories up. And in the run up to next year's election, with polling currently finely split between Labour and Conservatives, politicians are jumping over themselves to appeal to that mythical political haven, 'the centre ground'. Indeed, to the extent they're kind of stealing each other's policies and become somewhat hard to define. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, after initially railing against austerity economically (and socially) but then finding trust in Conservatives running the economy was outpacing that of Labour, agreed to match the Coalition's government's "day to day spending totals" if elected. (Yet on Sunday, he told the Andrew Marr Show the last Labour government's public spending was not to blame for the financial crisis and George Osborne choked off a recovery. Beats me.) Also, after general support for the Coalition's welfare changes, shadow welfare secretary Rachel Reeves has claimed Labour would be "tougher than the Tories" on benefits. Which is confusing for anyone who has listened to the party's persistent criticism's of the perceived harshness of Iain Duncan Smith's policies. And, as polls show toughening views on immigration, Ed Miliband issued a significant mea culpa for Labour's previously liberal policy on immigration. But the Tories do it a lot too, for better or for worse. After calls of excessively high energy bills, notably due to green levies, David Cameron recently rolled them back. (Granted, traditionally the Tories have not always been supportive of higher taxation and combating global warming, but David Cameron did plan to be the "greenest government ever" - what appears in hindsight a superficial populist pledge). And in response to many people and Ed Miliband's regular calls of a "cost of living crisis", George Osborne has gone against the Tory tendency to leave business alone by calling for an above-inflation rise in the minimum wage to around £7. Yet despite all this populism, hardly anyone actually likes or trusts politicians any more. For official evidence, look at voter turnout rates; for anecdotal evidence, just look in any newspaper, pub or social media site. Maybe we actually want to be led not followed. As resident old fart Janet Daley says in The Telegraph, focus groups "are a denial of what politics is all about. They are an insidious reversal of the political process, turning leaders into followers." These, and to a lesser extent polls, also pose inherent problems for policymaking, such as how questions are phrased, how one influential person can skew opinion and that they will inevitably, such is human nature, result in desire for more public spending yet lower taxes. On the other hand, Twitter lends itself to glib soundbites of opinion, often expressed by attention-seeking idiots - see, most recently, the reaction to TV show Benefits Street. The most realistic way of canvassing opinion might be to go to the pub - but then who wants to have a pint with a politician (except Farage and Boris)?! Maybe we don't want to be listened to, or at least not if that same right extends to those we deem 'fools' or 'fruitcakes' - which in a democracy it does. This means, paradoxically, if we listened to everyone we have to both have raise and lower taxes; ban fossil fuels immediately and ignore climate change; and banish and burnish benefit claimants. Arguably, we already pay too much attention to people - stopping or delaying long-term energy and transport projects for any Tom, Dick and Harry annoyed about a bit more noise in their town or a few dozen frogs getting displaced. For it is human nature to be somewhat Nimbyish and short-termist, but these are not very useful qualities for running a country. The NHS, the welfare state, a national rail system were not very popular when first proposed, but are now (generally) regarded as essential. And, recently, the Olympics faced huge scepticism and controversy before turning out to be almost faultless success. Politics often requires a 'fuck it, let's do it approach'. As the great (/mental) Kanye Wests puts it, "see there's leaders, and there's followers. But I'd rather be a dick than a swallower."]]> Best Albums of 2013 - One to Five tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.4458924 2013-12-17T09:04:58-05:00 2014-02-16T05:59:01-05:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ 1. Arctic Monkeys - AM The Sheffield lads returned from the (relatively) mixed success of Suck It And See with this belter - a collection of after-hour tales, described with Alex Turner's ever-sharp eye for human interaction. Musically, it blends blends bluesy Black Keys-rock with touches of West Coast hip-hop like Dr Dre, who Turner and co. have professed love for. That the Arctics have developed such an American sound having once sung Fake Tales of San Francisco ("He talks of San Francisco, he's from Hunter's Bar/I don't quite know the distance, but I'm sure that's far") shows the distance the band have come. Not that their first albums were bad - they're still brilliant - but would people really buy that they were often not getting into clubs and getting rejected by girls? No, is the answer - and they deserve much credit for realising and moving on. Do I Wanna Know. 2. Lorde - Pure Heroine With pop this year increasingly anodyne and, in many aspects, seemingly only serving to anger feminists and Mumsnet, Lorde named her debut album very aptly. For this is what pop should be; intelligent, seductive (but definitely not in a Miley Cyrus/Rihanna way), and challenging; especially amazing given Ella Yelich-O'Connor made this on a break from school (she was still 16 when this was released in late September). Her smoky, soulful voice - not completely dissimilar from that other recent pop innovator, Lana Del Rey - is layered into clever harmonies over hand claps and xx-esque minimalist electronic beats and drums. It's at once a very distinct sound and one which wraps her myriad influences. There's not many young teens already with the good taste to devour Fleetwood Mac, James Blake, Yeasayer and Etta James and high-brow literature. And lyrically it's just as good; a kind of cri de coeur against vapid celebrity from a girl who is obviously both fascinated and repelled by it, and a celebration of suburban outsider adolescence as adolescence, rather than "adult"-lescence (she's from suburban Auckland). Ironically, this comes across as far more grown-up. To wit, she says: " I'm obsessed with really high-profile celebrities who get really fucked up" but, on Royals, sings "But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom/Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room/We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams." Miley, Britney, Katy - sit down, you just got schooled. Tennis Court 3. Foals - Holy Fire Foals have managed their ever-difficult trick; moving from widespread critic - and hipster - acclaim to chart success and playing stadiums without, it seems, losing many initial fans. Holy Fire is perhaps their best yet - like Total Life Forever, taking the Oxford band away from the "math rock" of Antidotes - impressive but obtuse - into lush indie rock, keeping their intricate guitar work but adding melodies and lyrics one can actually understand. Great album for running to by the way, especially on a summer scene (kind of) like the album's front cover. And some good videos. Out Of The Woods. 4. Jai Paul - Jai Paul ...And the Foals are responsible for another selection in this list - I only heard this late, through Yannis Phillipakis' recommendation. Turns out this Londoner has been knocking about mysteriously underground, like a musical Bansky as one blog put it, since a cult classic demo called BTSTU in 2007. I can understand how he slipped under the radar (or mine, rather), because this doesn't at all fit any convenient musical boxes. But he should be bigger because this is brilliantly bonkers; Bollywood sounds filtered through upbeat electro and Prince-esque funk and falsetto vocals (that's a big compliment - I fucking love old school Prince). I actually realised after writing much of this, and listening to it only recently on Youtube [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me9RtPju_ys ], that it was not released properly, only leaked. Sounds like he's suffered for quite a while in the musical wilderness. But things are pointing up with a nod in BBC's sound of 2014 poll. Let's help him get out. Str8 Outta Mumbai. 5. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories The coolest musicians this year were, in fact, robots. Masterfully playing on pop music's current insatiable appetite, the French duo teased the world with three 15-second trailers, and from there after it was digital love around the world (I'll get my coat...). Get Lucky was not only the year's third biggest selling single but seemed to infiltrate everyday life, like the way great (or just sexually explicit) pop does. And rightly so, as Get Lucky is the pinnacle of an album which, with the charts increasingly an amorphous blob of pop/R&B/EDM, mines the sometimes overlooked or much-mocked depths of soul, disco, house, Chic and Jean Michel Jarre - and then takes it out of this world. Figuratively speaking on curtain closer Contact, which begins with the audio of commander of the Apollo 17 moon mission in 1972 set to some tinny background keyboard, then builds, like a rocket ship taking off, into an epic crescendo of percussion, spacey synths and something which sounds like dial-up internet gradually exploding - but in a good way. There is some filler here, but it works brilliantly as an album and - not that there are no others - it's great to have a dance/pop album breaking new horizons. Literally. Contact.]]> Best Albums of 2013 - Numbers Six to 15 tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.4452121 2013-12-16T06:43:49-05:00 2014-02-15T05:59:01-05:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ 6. Arcade Fire - Reflektor Not ones to rest on their laurels - number one albums and widespread critical acclaim - Arcade Fire this year went all disco on our posteriors; at first appearances, a strange move for a band that has, going through the albums, sung about various deaths in their family and community, global and theological doom and suburban ennui. But this kind of disco existentialism, like, totally works, blending the band's thrilling chaotic music and hope-in-hopelessness lyrics with the golden - or, rather, shimmering silver - touch of LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy. An album that should, in its departure from their other material and scale of ambition, put these Canadians somewhere in the pantheon of great rock music. Supersymmetry. 7. Haim - Days Are Gone These three Californian sisters have long been the critics' next big thing (BBC's Sound of 2013) , and finally released their debut album in late September, living up to expectations. They have an irresistible brand of West Coast guitar pop, like a modern-day Fleetwood Mac, you may well have heard (rightly); intricate Destiny's Child-esque harmonies and funky little drum loops and guitar riffs all manufactured into, at times, pop perfection. There are some good dance remixes too on the bonus disc if you buy the longer album. The only really disappointing thing about the album was that it was released at the end of summer, not the start. Falling. 8. Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe Electronica and dance is often thrilling but a little emotionally cold, and pop often catchy but with little edge - which makes this Glaswegian trio's debut, a brilliant marriage of the two, so impressive. A honeyed Glaswegian accent singing over electronica can sound odd at first but Lauren Mayberry's voice is a nice counterpoint to all the heavy, sometimes discordant synth, giving a warmth to the whole affair. So when she sings, on Gun, "No place for promises here/You better run, you better run so/Hide, hide, I have burned your bridges/I will be a gun, and it's you I'll come for," you still think aah, ain't that cute? Some of that might just because she's a bit of an indie crush for me to be honest, but still, a very recommended listen. Night Sky. 9. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City If their self-titled first album was the sound of living campus life to the full, and Contra the sound of making their way in the big bad world, this, their third, is the sound of the New Yorkers settled and trying to work out what it's all about. A tenuous analogy perhaps, but academia has been a great influence on Vampire Weekend (Oxford Comma, anyone?). Not that this musical step is a bad thing; far from it. There's some more soul-searching songs in here (Obvious Bicycle, Hannah Hunt, Hudson, Young Lion), alongside more the band's more typical, jubilant African-rap-punk (Diane Young, Finger Back, Worship You). Everlasting Arms. 10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away Nick Cave seems to have mellowed a bit with this album, but this is a man for whom the following is pretty typical lyrical fare: "We are violated in our sleep and we weep/And we toss and we turn and we burn/Well, we are hypnotized, we are cross-eyed/ We are pimped, we are bitched, we're sold such monstrous lie." So to say he's mellowed is not exactly saying much - but thankfully so, as you couldn't exactly imagine him doing happy and carefree, could you? Instead of rigtheous anger, this is a more contemplative, soul-searching record; replacing the raucous rock sound with soaring strings and, occasionally, gospel soul. Sounds like what a Cormac McCarthy novel (or film adaptation - No Country for Old Men, The Road) would if turned into music. And brilliantly so. Jubilee Street. 11. Justin Timberlake - 20/20 Experience The world's favourite ex-boybander returned to music this year from a seven-year hiatus of films, funnyness, fucking beautiful women and celebrity celebrity-ness. And from the wait came (generally) good things - the Jazz-meets-Timberland of That Girl and lead single Suit & Tie, the slightly bizarre but brilliant Gloria Estefan-inflected R&B of Let The Groove Get In, and the sprawling (over 7 minutes) neo-soul of Mirrors, Spaceship Coupe and album closer Blue Ocean Floor. Like Prince, what's great about the 'Trousersnake's music - sex is, characteristically, a fairly common theme here - is the scope and ambition. Where much R&B is fairly identikit stuff, even in single songs the 20/20 Experience feature an array of clever touches, inventive melodies and pops off in various directions. Basically, this is the album Futuresex/Love Sounds tried, but often failed, to be, and one which cements JT's place as the prince to Prince's throne. (Part 2 was also good). Let The Groove In. 12. Janelle Monae - Electric Lady I'm bemused how this lady isn't bigger, because she's basically like Beyonce, but, as good as Beyonce is, edgier, crazier and just generally better (Beyonce probably shades in the looks department, but that's not exactly a damning comparison, and this is meant to be music criticism). Electric Lady follows on from where the (also brilliant) Archandroid left off, taking in perhaps even more directions - rap, neo-soul, jazz, funk, jazz-funk - and rolling them all into a great album, unified by the concept of Miss Monae being some sort of intergalactic pop megastar...or something or other. One can't complain, as it's a conduit to music this exciting and experimental. Q.U.E.E.N.. 13. Rudimental - Home This Hackney four-piece have certainly amassed quite a collection of friends in the music businesses for newcomers - only one song on Home isn't credited as having someone 'featuring'. They choose well, though, for this is an impressive collection of dance and drum 'n' bass inventive, soulful and varied to be nominated for a Mercury prize, yet with enough of a pop and R&B sensibility to get daytime Radio 1 airplay and a couple of number one spots (for Feel The Love and Waiting All Night, minor summer anthems of 2012 and 2013 respectively). Powerless. 14. AlunaGeorge - Body Music I don't quite know whether to proud or ashamed of liking this album. Soulful electronica is my bag, but at times, thanks to Aluna's girlish voice and simple lyrics about teenage crushes ("Your body is like music, baby/I wanna play it again", various doo doo doos and na na nas etc), this can seem a little like you're listening to two typical 14-year-olds let loose in the school music room, mucking around with all the factory beats on the school keyboards (we've all been there). But - to overly string out the analogy - they are at least near the top of their class, and certainly get an A for effort and enthusiasm, and George's production creates some expertly-crafted pop songs. It will be interesting to see if they graduate to better things on their next album. Bad Idea. 15. Kanye West - Yeezus You can say many things about Kanye West - and many have - but you can't fault his ambition. Yeezus - West's "god name", as opposed to "slave name" - is...well, it's hard to tell really, unlike his other albums which have their own distinct identities (College Dropout - angsty backpack hip hop; Late Registration - soulful reflections on life and love; Graduation - celebrity hedonism; and the fairly self-explanatory 808s and Heartbreak and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy). This is both Yeezus' great strength and weakness, as West just throws everything, lyrically and sonically, in an aural assault to see what sticks - although it's far more claustrophobic than his last solo effort, the grandiose hip-hopera that was My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I think it sounds like Kanye having a mental breakdown after a crazy night in which he ended up in some dirty underground German nightclub with industrial techno vibrating all surfaces. Stuart McIntyre in the Guardian thinks it sounds like "40 minutes of him sonically kicking some saucepans down the stairs and huffing the "God" over and over again like a third-rate Napoleon Dynamite knock-off". Whatever it is, it's fair to say West hasn't found complete peace of mind with Ms Kardashian (and, latterly, daughter North West). And for that, as listeners, we should be grateful... generally. New Slaves.]]> Best Albums of 2013 - Numbers 16-25 tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.4426105 2013-12-11T11:09:06-05:00 2014-02-10T05:59:02-05:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ 16. Lissie - Back to Forever There seems to have been a emergence of Fleetwood Mac-love in recent years. Tapping into this nostalgia is Lissie (real name - Elisabeth Corrin Maurus), a 30-year-old Illinoisan, with this, her sophomore effort following the moderately successful Catching a Tiger. Back to Forever starts in cracking fashion, with The Habit, Further Away (Romance Police), and Shameless - three slices of classic Americana which make you - or at least me - wish they were played blasting out of the transistor radio of a 67 Camaro with the top down on the American open road. Indeed, the album consciously harks bark to the America of yesteryear, with lyrics of beer kegs, pick-up trucks, "cheap thrilling" and "freewheeling" and laments over celebrity culture (Shameless) city living (the inappropriately named Love in the City) and how America lost the trees, lakes and mountains to factories and now doesn't even have those (Mountaintop Removal). An intriguingly romantic vision to these ears - and I daresay many Americans too, Republican and Democrat alike, given the county's troubles with debt, the environment, big data, Medicare and actually having a functioning government. I say we aid our transatlantic cousins and help Lissie rescue Ammuurrrikkaaa. The Habit. 17. London Grammar - If You Wait Following in the steps of The xx, come this (suffice to say) London girl-boy-boy trio of Hannah Reid (lead singer), Dot Major and Dan Rothman, who make stylish, noir-ish electronic indie for the after hours. Beauty and boredom are often two sides of the coin in music, and this may well be soporific to some, but there's real craft in these songs and they do sometimes let loose, such as Metals & Dust, the vague calypso strains on Flickers and Darling Are You Gonna Leave Me?, and, courtesy of Disclosure, the squelchy electronica backing to Help Me Loose My Mind (sic...I think - why does everyone spell 'lose' like that?). Hopefully, they break out of their shell a little more in the future. Metal & Dust. 18. Daughter - If You Leave Ok, so this new(ish) London trio are hardly going to win any prizes for originality, with their fragile, torchlit indie emoting. But they're ahead of many of their peers, thanks to the instrumentation and Elena Tonra's superb voice, which make it sound both big(ish) and intimate. Destined to soundtrack the relationship-trouble bits to high-brow British indie films and BBC dramas. Youth. 19. The National - Trouble Will Find Me The National have been ploughing a similar musical furrow for over a decade now; yearning orchestral-y folk-rock perfect for beardy English Lit students. The Ohioans fittingly-titled Trouble Will Find Me offers more of the same, which is nice, but mostly just that - nice. And it's best taken in small doses, before Matt Berninger's voice goes from 'earnest' to 'droning'. Sea of Love. 20. Anna Calvi - One Breath Anyone who thinks Florence (her of the Machine fame) has gone a bit mainstream would be well advised to check out this successor to Anna Calvi's Mercury-nominated self-titled debut. But Anna Calvi is no newbie just out of Brit School. At 33, she's amassed a breadth of experience in the industry, and this is evident in the her vocal range, which, even in the same songs, thrillingly veers all the way from operatic to grungy. Tristan. 21. Woodkid - The Golden Age ...Yes, that one off the o2 advert (Run Boy Run) or the Assassin's Creed advert (Iron). Bit hard to describe this one, but it sounds a little like a medieval musical prodidgy transported into the 21st century and let loose on protools; and like something which could soundtrack both the slow, tense bits of Game of Thrones and, for a few songs, the more epic, death-y parts. Which can only be a good thing, even if more of the latter would be preferable. Run Boy Run. 22. Disclosure - Settle It's a very impressive achievement if an act can conquer the charts, the Mercury Prize (nominated) and Ibiza. But that's what this Surrey duo did this year with their sleek (some would say overly so) electronica, featuring a veritable who's who of new British talent, including Sam Smith (on the toe-tapping Latch), AlunaGeorge (the number one White Noise), Jessie Ware, Jamie Woon, London Grammar, and even Eliza Doolittle sounding edgy and cool by association. Latch. 23. White Denim - Corsicana Lemonade I've always felt White Denim deserve a bit more recognition, given people are now growing tired of fellow Deep Southers Kings of Leon's brand of anthemic rock. But then again, part of these Texans' appeal is precisely their lo-fi carefree aesthetic. Corsicana Lemonade carries this on - their intricate and improvised guitar jams sounding like a perfect soundtrack to a Texan barbecue (indeed that might be the kind of theme the title points to - Corsicana is a place in Texas). Cheers Up/Blues Ending. 24. Drake - Nothing Was The Same Aubrey Drake Graham may be hard man for most of us to relate to, what with all the record sales, fast cars and A-list women and still usually not seeming that happy with all of it, but at least he's more interesting than most rappers today (though that's as much a slight on current rap music as praise of Drake). His fourth album mines similar territory to his previous albums - Drake's languid, introspective, articulate rapping over the type of drumbeat-heavy electronica The XX might make and those weird high-pitched autotuned voices in the background. It's not as good as it's predecessor Take Care, but it has its moments, including Wu-Tang Forever, Hold On, We're Going Home, and Too Much, which features the very impressive Londoner, Sampha (whose own version is much better in truth). Hold on, We're Going Home 25. Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle In between this and her third album, A Creature I Don't Know, Laura Marling moved to LA, and many commentators made much of the move, claiming it had a profound effect on her music and that she had matured. There's maybe slightly more echoes of the 60s and 70s folk of Joni Mitchell and co, but this has always, to some extent, been Marling's bag, and even on debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim - released just three days after she could legally drink, many songs written when she was 16 - she sounded 18 going on 38. This is another solid album of earnest, emotional, erudite folk, even if songs blend into one and pass you by a bit. Maybe best listened to in her now home (she actually moved just after recording it) - cruising the LA hills, top down, and hair, as one of her icons would say, blowin' in the wind... Saved These Words]]> Squashed Unfairly in the Olympic Bid tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.4324518 2013-11-22T12:04:49-05:00 2014-01-25T16:01:55-05:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ This came to mind recently when I was lucky enough to get press accreditation for the World Squash Championships - the biggest event in squash. Does this look like your typical 'old man's game'? It certainly surprised my brother and a friend - both sports fans but with only a passing knowledge of and interest in squash - who came along for two quarter-final nights. My brother sent a similar photo to his girlfriend, who occasionally plays squash with him, and he got the reply: 'That's not what I expected!' (Presumably she expected little more than a poky court in a leisure centre). Which is the point I want to make. It's a shame squash gets so little in mainstream press, because, anecdotally, there is a big nascent interest in the game, in addition to the considerable concrete interest in the it worldwide (estimates range between around 15 million and 30 million players over 147 to 185 countries). I wrote a similar piece to this earlier this year, claiming the sport deserves a bigger profile and Olympic inclusion could help this, but I think it bears repeating after the recent decision to reinstate wrestling as an Olympic sport for Tokyo 2020 instead of accept squash. Obviously in the squash world, people were not best pleased at this, the sport's third straight unsuccessful Olympic bid. But I've heard and sensed the reaction was not too dissimilar from the sport world in general. That's certainly the case in the comments below the linked BBC article. Admittedly, this Inside The Game poll does (to my surprise) show significantly more support for wrestling than squash (42.2% to 32%), but there is more support for squash than the other five sports combined. And squash has not just lost out to wrestling in Olympic but, in the bid for the 2016 Olympics, golf and rugby sevens. It may sound churlish and petty to compare the relative sporty-ness of sports, but since such a consideration - along with commercial viability and prospective boost to the sport - is what the Olympic process involves, this is what I am going to do. Rugby sevens is exciting and - I can only imagine from my few not particularly successful encounters with rugby - physically very demanding. But it is by no means the most popular, well-regarded form of rugby; more of an entertaining sideshow. Nor is it really the most tense and dramatic of sports. Think of gladiatorial sporting battles and do any of the sevens form of rugby really spring to mind. But rugby sevens looks like a fantastic choice next to golf! When the ancient Egyptians invented the Olympics as an epic test of mind, body and soul - a contest of faster, better, stronger - did they really envision portly 40-somethings driving or strolling around some gardens swinging around a glorified stick, carried by their little helper?! Suffice to say, I'm not a fan of golf. But on a serious note, I do appreciate it's a game of immense skill and strategy. But it's one with a very successful and popular professional circuit already; it simply does not need the Olympic spotlight. And, from what I've heard from friends and media, it does not even particularly want it. This is in addition to many other sports which were already in the Olympics despite doubts about their inclusion - football (bit of a joke tournament) synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics (are they even 'sports'?), BMX (do people do this over the age of 15?), dressage ('horse dancing?!'), and beach volleyball ('just an excuse for porn'). And as a direct comparison, each of the other three main racket sports - tennis, badminton and table tennis - are Olympic sports, despite tennis, like golf, arguably being big enough already and table tennis being, let's face it, basically a youth club activity. Squash can be a gladiatorial battle of body and mind - a combination of speed strategy and skill. Indeed, after his recent third World Championship win in Manchester, Nick Matthew said that the physical element is obvious to anyone in the crowd, but that what is not so immediately obvious is that "mental torment, that mental chess". Granted, squash is not the biggest or most commercial sport, but it is really pushing forward in this regard. The widespread consensus is that, after a long history of management and televisual failures, the game is making great strides in broadcasting the game, with cameras now often placed in all four corners for slow-motion replays, in addition to the main camera. And, being effectively played in a box, which can be built anywhere with a small amount of space fairly quickly, squash is played in some of truly amazing venues, including Hong Kong's harbour, San Francisco Bay, Grand Central Station and, most spectacularly, when Egypt hosted the World Championships, the Pyramids of Giza. It's a shame the sport won't grace the magnificent Tokyo Bay, the gleaming Tokyo Tower, its beautiful gardens or dazzling neon jungle...]]> Ashour Survives Scare in Manchester tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.4173826 2013-10-29T11:13:14-04:00 2014-01-23T18:58:21-05:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ This is because Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema took the first game from the Egyptian World No.1 and had two gameballs to take the second too. In fact, Ashour, while not as magical as he can be, did not do much wrong - the result being far more down to solid, deep rallying from Anjema. But Ashour saw off the pressure - just - to eventually progress 10-12, 13-11, 11-3, 11-4. After one point late in the second game he shouted several words, gutturally and in his native tongue, showing just how on edge he was, as, unlike some other players, Ashour rarely loses his cool (in truth he's not often in a position where he needs to). After Ashour had saved two gameballs, Anjema called two consecutive lets at 11-11, and was a little hard done by on the second - a drop shot which Anjema was clearly there to play in some capacity, probably easily enough to merit a stroke. He certainly thought so, protesting to the ref "why is that a let? I was there!" The fact he slowly fell maybe made him seem a bit desperate, but on the other hand it illustrated the extent of the obstruction and his willingness to play the shot. The officiators, however, thought there was "distance" between player and ball. From the replayed point, Ashour showed precisely why he holds this title twice - the grit and desire behind all the trickery. He could only scrape a very tight ball slow into the middle of the court, from where Anjema seemed to have the shutout to the backhand corner. But not only did Ashour get there, with a near full cross-court run, he had enough time and wrist flexibility to get the ball back down the line, then go on to win the point - and, on the next point, the game. The next two games were somewhat more comfortable - Ashour growing in confidence and Anjema not being able to keep his level - but Ashour's roar at the end of the game let everyone know he had been in for a battle. "LJ played very well, it's always like that, all the players play well very well against me. I haven't had a player play badly against me for about three years," Ashour said. "It's kind of hard for me, but on the other hand, it motivates me..." Ashour's compatriot and sixth seed Mohamed Elshorbagy also nearly fell to a surprise loss, as Adrian Waller was at one point 2-1 and 7-7 up - a "winning position" which he was "disappointed not to convert". Though, from his protestations to the officials - there were points where he would open the door to speak to them every three or four rallies - he certainly felt they didn't do him any favours. At 7-7, Elshorbaby hit a ball that was "so far down" that Waller hardly played it, losing the rally when it turned out the ref deemed the ball good - which it probably wasn't. (Lesson to all the kids out there: play the whistle!) Such was the regularity and obstinance of his objections, that he earned himself a point violation to lose the game 11-7, after he had a (borderline) let appeal for a ball in the corner rejected. "I'll talk as long as I think it's right, and I was right," he protested. "You're losing control of this. Speak between yourselves; he's running into me." They traded blows again up until 8-7 (to Elshorbagy) in the fifth, where Waller was given a no let, which was upheld after a review, and then only received a let on his appeal in the next point. Again, he was not happy about this, and, this time at least, had good reason to be - not only due to the decision itself but its importance. He went on to lose the replay and the matchball after, and the game 11-6, 6-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7. "I Played quite well tonight. It's always hard playing someone who's so highly ranked," he said. "I feel like I can compete with the top guys but it's just having the opportunity to do that on a regular basis." Fellow Englishman Chris Simpson, World No.21, also lost in an agonising five sets to a top 10 player - losing out to Spaniard Borja Golan 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, in by far the longest game of the round at 110 minutes. He said: "I played well, and had my chances in the fourth and the first. I think it came down to the fourth really, as I was quite tired in the fifth, and a bit disappointed with how I faded physically. "So obviously I am very disappointed at the moment, but hopefully I can take some positives out of it." Other home hopefuls fared better, however. 3rd and 4th seeds - and arch rivals - James Willstrop and Nick Matthew both progressed fairly comfortably against compatriots in straight games - Willstrop beating Joel Hinds 11-4, 11-4, 13-11 and Matthew beating Zahed Mohamed 11-5, 11-4, 11-5. Essex's Daryl Selby also won 3-0 - victorious 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 over Surrey's Charles Sharpes. Things were not so easy, though, for 7th seed Peter Barker, who took 72 minutes to see off Australian Ryan Cuskelly. 11-4, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5. And nearly take Cuskelly's hand off in the process - Barker going perhaps hitting too close on a cross-court and Cuskelly moving across maybe a tad too early. Other high seeds to win in straight games were Gregory Gaultier (2nd), Karim Darwish (5th) and Amr Shabana (8th).]]> Ashour Looking to Extend Winning Run at the Squash World Championships tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.4148936 2013-10-23T09:34:13-04:00 2014-01-23T18:58:21-05:00 Joel Durston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-durston/ Such is the Egyptian's focus on the tournament, and the gruelling toll of the PSA tour, that he chose not to play the prestigious US Open, where the strength of the various other pretenders to the throne was displayed. World No2 Gregory Gaultier was in imperious form in Philadelphia, where he did not drop a game all tournament and near-dominated Nick Matthew 11-4, 11-5, 11-5 in the final - the "Wolf" himself playing well, having beaten fierce rival and fellow Yorkshireman James Willstrop in three sets in the semi-finals. The fiery Frenchman has significantly improved mentally and, recently, seems to have added even more agility to his game, which makes him the strongest challenger to Ashour. If the seeding plays out as expected, and Ashour beats Matthew (4th seed) and Gaultier beats Willstrop (3rd seed) in the semis, Manchester will be set for a fireworks in the final, perhaps even better than their recent five-game thriller in San Fransisco's Netsuite Open. There are many other strong players looking to make sure that isn't the case though, including four more Egyptians in the top 10 seeds - veteran Darwish (5th seed), 22-year-old Mohamed Elshorbagy (6th), wily old fox Amr Shabana (8th) and Tarek Momen, taking the 10th seeding from Omar Mossad, the only top 10 player not to be playing in Manchester. More strong home representation for the Manchester crowd to support comes in the form of Essex players Peter Barker and Daryl Selby. World No7 Barker, squash's "Mr Consistency", is enjoying a bit of a twilight in the game, having earlier this year beaten Matthew to get to the final of Canary Wharf (losing to Willstrop) and won the Colombian Open, which he attributes to enjoying the game more after realising "squash is not the most important thing" to him. Selby is also enjoying life at the moment, currently sitting at World No14 (not a career high but more than respectable), having won all of his six matches in France this summer to help England to the World Team Championship, beating favourites Egypt in the final, and with wife Lucie having given birth to their son in January. This year, the quarter-finals onwards will be staged under the magnificent arched glass of the Manchester Central exhibition centre - moved from the National Squash Centre, where the three rounds before the quarter-finals will still be played. And, understandably, the players are excited about the idea. In his Yorkshire Evening Post column, James Willstrop, for whom the "pulsating" event is sort of a homecoming, said: "Time will tell if it proves to be as exhilitaring a spectacle as a Grand Central Station, San Francisco Bay or the Pyramids at Giza. "But this is certainly a mouthwatering prospect for any squash enthusiast." And Ramy Ashour said: "Every single player, from number 1 to number 64, wants to win this title - everybody trains for it and is very, very hungry to get in there and compete and show the world they're up to the standard." "It's going to be a crazy month of competition over there. So you guys should come and watch - it's going to be interesting." Tickets for the event can be brought from: http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/PSA-Mens-World-Squash-Championship-tickets/artist/1853765 . And the BBC Sport website is broadcasting the quarter-finals onwards live, and the final is also available on the red button and on a BBC2 highlights programme.]]>


text:
Hello friends
I am using Aircel Mobile in that i am not able to access internet. I think there is some problem with GPRS Settings can anyone know how to get Aircel GPRS Settings ? I am using Nokia E71 mobile phone
Hello friends
I am using Aircel Mobile in that i am not able to access internet. I think there is some problem with GPRS Settings can anyone know how to get Aircel GPRS Settings ? I am using Nokia E71 mobile phone
To get Aircel GPRS settings send SMS WAP to 121. you will receive settings save that settings in your mobile phone. Then restart the the phone , now you can access internet on your nokia E71 mobile phone.
Aircel GPRS settings
Access Point is : aircelgprs.po
Domain Name is :aircelgprs.po
User Name :
Password :
IP address : 192.168.35.201
Send SMS in following format
GPRS BP <1st 3 letters of ur phone brand> <phone model> and SMS it to 57788...
eg: GPRS BP NOK E71 to 57788
Hey SLNVINOTH, my problem is not solved. I will be thankful to you if you can help me and give some solution here.
NAME : Aircel Online
Homepage :http://google.com
User Name :Blank
Password :Blank
Use preferred Access Point :No
Open Access Point Setting
Proxy address :blank
port :8081
Then Disabled the proxy again
Data Bearer : Packet Data
Bearer Settings
Access point Name
aircelgprs.po (Postpaid)
aircelgprs.pr (Prepaid) don't give space between letters
Then to main menu and make your Personal Configuration settings as Default
Switch off and on
now u can use GPRS
Please check and revert
Apn : aircelgprs
Hey, I dont think what you have provided here is right, there is no configuration under settings. There is under connection and no personal configuration....
To activate mobile office on your phone Send MO to 2567 from your Airtel mobile (Toll free number). To activate Airtel GPRS you need to send GPRSACT from your Airtel number to 511
any body tell me how to use opera mini mobile browser use with aircel net
when i open opera then msg come packet data subscribe frist and stop working
my aircel net is working on computer and mobile by nokia browser
help me
Check the access point or APN first. Then check if wrong access point is being dialed. Delete all the access points in your mobile and accept the access points for browsing on your phone.
Yes its works on opera mini witout any issue, make sure that you have selected the correct default configuration setting and access point. Look for this options in setting -> configuration (If using Nokia.).
thanks for reply
now i m able to connect phone to my pc and access my internet
but when i open opera mini on my mobile then not connect ant msg comes subscribs packet data friest and close
pls again help me
i m using nokia 2600c
and setting is ok now connect with my pc and acces internet .
now setting is
accesspoint setting:
proxy ---enabled
bearer setting-----
packet data access point---aircelwap
and all setting same .....
activate default in all application also default
but prob same .......in opera mini not connect
even i used to get this message at first, but when i tried below steps its resolved
look dude its very simple,
1st delete all the the modems that u have selected
2nd if your pc suite is working fine, then simple connect you cell to your pc
3rd. then open one touch access,
4th, select configure or settings from it.
5th then, select the modem from the dropdown
6th then, configure manually,
7th then, in connection name tab : simply enter : aircelgrps
vvvv imp things before doing all the settings, call to call center request him to sent aircel gprs settings & also ask him about the intialisation commands.
these commands are very useful
Dear friends,
I have Sciphone i9+++ (clone of I-phone) gifted by one of my friend. I am using Aircel prepaid connection with it. I want to use GPRS services in it but am unable to understand the settings. Contacted the Aircel customer care, but they are also unable to help me out... Can any one help me out..... ?
Leave the other fields blank. Confirm whether the service is activated or not.
Go to the direct aircel cell city and not the office where you pay the bills.
I have HTc mobile and went to aircel chinnamalai, next to checkers hotel. They gave this solution only.
Iam not satisfied with the aircel connection at all, tower itself disconnects every ten minutes and had to restart mobile for the gprs to work.
I subscribed with Pocket Internet unlimited :98/- package
Iam Located at K.K.Nagar chennai.
Last edited by skkn; 26-08-2009 at 07:24 PM.

subset: commoncrawl