Happy Days Are Here Again

Fifteen years ago I predicted in this space that The Screaming Bin Lids were bound for glorious things. They had an angry, uplifting sound and a song that seemed certain to infuse the mind of the multitudes – ‘Running Uphill’, a ballad of wry and wistful mien about the Bloody Sunday families’ campaign for truth, with a hard rock edge and a chorus you couldn’t dislodge.

Ten years ago, I predicted in this space that The Whole Tribe Sings were bound for etc...With Lids Paddy Nash and Deccy McLaughlin out front, the Tribe played across the North and up and down the east coast from Boston to Raleigh and back for two ecstatically-received shows at C.B.G.B’s in New York. Nash’s deliriously infectious ‘Happy’ provided the soundtrack for the coast-to-coast launch of Harp. There was nothing to stop them except that for reasons mysterious they came home broken up.
Now Paddy is back with the Happy Enchiladas and a new album, When We Were Brave, which confirms him as a songwriter on the cool cusp of genius and with a band perfectly attuned to his ardour. ‘Barefoot in Verona’, which he wrote for his partner, ace tambourineist Diane Greer, to sing, is a deliciously wicked pop-song that could incite a Stormont Assembly to jump and down waving their knickers in the air. ‘Martin’, about a close friend who died by suicide, would draw tears from a stone for its sorrow and loss. “When he was young he was the first one out at night/ The last to go inside, he never let you down in a fight/ When he was young he was the tallest in our street/ The captain of our team/ And the boy with the biggest dream was Martin.” ‘Billy Bragg Jeans’ is the sort of love song your partner looks askance at you afterwards for never having written a song like that for her. Trust me on this.
But don’t take my word about the Enchiladas’ oeuvre, my track record on predicting megadom for bands with Paddy Nash in them being somewhat imperfect. Download ‘Billy Bragg Jeans’ for free via paddynash.co.uk – you’ll see for yourself.
Ace tambourineist? When Diane Greer was in pigtails and pinafore she led a tambourine troupe which made it to the finals of Opportunity Knocks. But Hughie Green didn’t want the little plump girl with a glint in her eye in the line-up. So she was dropped. A few years back, Paddy bought her a new tambourine inscribed “Get over it”. You can tell she’s a trained player.

There’s still time to sponsor a bag of cement for the MV Rachel Corrie, setting off for Gaza next month. The Free Gaza Movement hopes the ship will deliver 700 tonnes of cement as well as school and medical supplies to the besieged population.
Israel has allowed virtually no reconstruction materials into Gaza since the onslaught in Dec 2008/Jan 2009, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and reduced 11,000 houses, 105 factories, 20 hospitals and clinics and 159 schools, universities, playschools and technical institutions to rubble. John Ging, Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, says, “I have no cement or steel or iron. We can’t get in one bag of cement, one pane of glass.” Israel evidently wants the Palestinians to live in misery amid ruins until they lose heart and leave.
If that seems a harsh judgement, consider the military order issued this month designating certain categories of Palestinians as “infiltrators”. Under the headline “IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) order will enable mass deportation from the West Bank”, the Israeli daily Haaretz (April 14th) explains that the order will apply to West Bank residents whose ID cards give Gaza home addresses, those born in the West Bank or abroad who for various reasons have lost their residency status, and foreign-born spouses of Palestinians – tens of thousands in all.
The order declares that “a person is presumed to be an infiltrator if he (sic.) is present in the area without a document or permit which attest to his lawful presence in the area without reasonable justification. [Such documentation] must be issued by the commander of IDF forces in [the West Bank] or someone acting on his behalf.”
Palestinians must have written permission from the Israeli military to remain in the small part of Palestine supposedly recognised by the world as legitimately under Palestinian jurisdiction... This is ethnic cleansing, being carried out before the eyes of the world.
The Free Gaza Movement hopes to send out a flotilla of ships from Turkey, Greece, Malaysia, Belgium, Sweden, Indonesia and Ireland. Donations towards the Irish vessel can be lodged with Bank of Ireland, 32 South Mall, Cork – account number 41818255, sort code 902768, IBAN IE58BOFI90276841818255. If you know anybody who might donate supplies, contact Caoimhe Butterly at [email protected].

Derry is in the five-city final to become UK City of Culture. UK? Bit of controversy about that. If there was a City of Two Cultures award we’d be a shoo-in.
If we win, we’ll host the BBC Sportsperson of the Year and the finals of both Strictly Come Dancing (or maybe it’s the X Factor, who gives a fuck?) and the Brit Awards. The Brit Awards. That’s presumably where we get to vote for our favourite soldier of the Troubles. “And the nominees are – Sgt. Harry Duckworth of the 2nd Anglians; Corporal Reginald Lewis of the Greenjackets; Major Neil Hannon....”