The recent death of George Jones attracted scant attention in the UK, where he was less well known as a performer than for being married to Tammy Wynette, or for the Elvis Costello’s cover of his hit “Good Year for the Roses”. Yet Jones was an enormous star who had US number one hits in five consecutive decades, and has consistently been acknowledged as what the social historian Curtis Ellison described as “the most powerful singer in the history of country music”.
Jones’s personal life story played out in tragic miniature the social changes that transformed the Southern working class in the 20th Century. Country as a commercial genre of folk based music rose in unique circumstances as the South was industrialised and urbanised after rather than before the rise of mass communications and the commodification of art. George Jones, like other performers of his generation, saw his world change around him, and the turmoil was captured in songs; not songs of great events, but the daily experience of ordinary people.
Born in a log cabin in East Texas in 1931, as the eighth son of a working class family, with an alcoholic father and a religious mother, Jones began as a professional performer at just 9 years old, with a few guitar chords he had learned at the Saratoga Assembly of God, and a repertoire of gospel and simple country tunes he picked up from listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the wireless. And it was on the radio that he heard Hank Williams.
“Hank Williams came along and oh, oh my goodness, I couldn’t think or eat nothin’ unless it was Hank Williams – and I couldn’t wait for his next record come out”
Here were the raw ingredients that made George Jones. Click to continue reading
Three days ago, more than 
After a recent discovery of a solidarity page on Facebook with the title of “International Community to save Palestine” which at this moment in time has over 8,000 likes, the problems with international solidarity with the Palestinian struggle must once again be addressed. Although those that liked this page may well have good intentions, the term “save” carries many dangerous connotations and should not be accepted whatsoever. Since the very beginning of international activism, there has always been a fine line between solidarity and victimisation, especially when it comes to the Palestinian cause. When internationals begin to learn and understand more about the horrendous acts of colonial Israel, it may motivate several to mobilise in order to shine more light on these crimes against humanity; however that does not make any international a spokesperson for the Palestinians, nor does it mean they should continue to treat Palestinians as inferiors .As a Palestinian, it must be made clear: we have a voice of our own and we do not need people to speak on our behalf, we are not mute and we refuse to be silenced. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand that by taking a position to speak on behalf of the Palestinians one is also committing the act of silencing Palestinians. If you want to show solidarity, then act as an echo rather than a voice for the call of liberation and justice.
The Death of Baroness Thatcher
The March-April edition of the Israeli left magazine 
The danger of the campaign for Scottish independence becoming associated with anti English racism is becoming increasingly apparent. On two separate occasions within a matter of months – involving first Iain Duncan Smith and most recently UKIP’s Nigel Farage – protesters and left wing supporters of Scottish independence have heckled both with chants of ‘Get back tae England!’ when they have appeared in Scotland.
Venezuela’s independent National Electoral Council (CNE) has concluded the first stage of the audit of the vote initiated following April’s Presidential election and has found “zero error”.