Billy Bragg: Last News

J.K. Rowling.During an appearance at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Tuesday (October 11), the presenter discussed his views on cancel culture with interviewer Mariella Frostrup.Norton said: “You read a lot of articles in papers by people complaining about cancel culture and you think, ‘In what world are you cancelled?’ I’m reading your article in a newspaper, or you’re doing interviews about how terrible it is to be cancelled? I think the word is the wrong word. I think the word should be ‘accountability’.”When asked about how that applies to Rowling, who is described as facing “anger, rage and attempts at censorship” for her views on transgender people, Norton replied: “What I feel weird about this is when I’m asked about it, then I become part of this discussion.One of the most sensible takes on ‘cancel culture’ I’ve seen.

British presenting royalty Graham Norton has left Twitter soon after Harry Potter writer J.K. Rowling criticized him over comments about transgender people made in a recent interview.

Billy Bragg has responded to J.K. Rowling after the Harry Potter author accused the musician of “misogyny” for voicing his support of Graham Norton’s views on transgender rights.Yesterday (October 13), Bragg shared a clip of Norton discussing ‘cancel culture’ and trans rights at the recent Cheltenham Literature Festival.“Norton really good here on John Cleese, telling him that ‘cancel culture’ is just accountability, and JK Rowling, suggesting that the media talk directly to trans teens and their parents rather than merely amplifying the takes of a celebrity,” Bragg wrote on Twitter to accompany the clip.Norton really good here on John Cleese, telling him that ‘cancel culture’ is just accountability, and JK Rowling, suggesting that the media talk directly to trans teens and their parents rather than merely amplifying the takes of a celebrity.

Billy Bragg has joined the strike efforts of Starbucks employees in Buffalo, treating the union members to a performance of the song ‘Solidarity Forever’.Visiting the strikers at the site of Starbucks’ first unionised store in Elmwood, Bragg was among those calling on the corporation to ensure fair and safe working conditions. The musician and activist appeared at the strike on Tuesday (October 12), six days after union members first shuttered the store on October 6.According to Buffalo’s WIVB, Bragg performed a live rendition of the popular trade union anthem ‘Solidarity Forever’.

Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott have announced a UK headline tour for later this year – tickets will be available from here.The duo will hit the road this November in support of their fifth studio album ‘N.K-Pop’, which is due for release on October 7 via EMI. They’ll be joined at the gigs by “very special guest” Billy Bragg.Kicking off at Swansea Arena on November 26, the tour will also stop off in Blackpool (28), Glasgow (December 2), Portsmouth (5), Sheffield (9), Manchester (10) and other locations across those two months.The stint is set to culminate with a performance at London’s O2 Arena on December 17.Tickets go on general sale at 9.30am BST next Thursday (September 1) and will be priced at £30. You can purchase yours from here and find the full live schedule below.NOVEMBER26 – Swansea Arena, Swansea27 – Cymru Arena, Llandudno28 – Blackpool Opera House, Blackpool DECEMBER01 – Bridlington Spa, Bridlington 02 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow 03 – Stockton Globe, Stockton-on-Tees05 – Portsmouth Guildhall, Portsmouth 06 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham 08 – Resorts World Arena, Birmingham 09 – Utilita Arena, Sheffield 10 – AO Arena, Manchester 17 – The O2 Arena, LondonHeaton and Abbott have already previewed the forthcoming ‘N.K-Pop’ with the singles ‘Still’ and ‘Too Much For One (Not Enough For Two)’.With the former song, the pair aimed to “raise awareness for folk who have lost a child, whether by miscarriage, stillbirth or in infancy”.The full tracklist for ‘N.K-Pop’ is as follows:01. ‘The Good Times’ 02. ‘Too Much For One (Not Enough For Two)’ 03. ‘Who Built The Pyramids’04. ‘I Drove Her Away With My Tears’05. ‘When The World Would Actually Listen’06. ‘Still’07. ‘I Ain’t Going Nowhere This Year’08. ‘Sunny Side Up’09. ‘Baby It’s

At the age of just 18, talented singer songwriter Seb Lowe is about to make his debut at the Glastonbury Festival. It's an incredible moment for the Oldham teen who up until a year ago was simply posting his own songs as videos on social media site TikTok.

Glastonbury has announced the line-up for its Shangri-La area at this year’s festival, with the likes of Bob Vylan, Brass Against and Nova Twins set to perform.The bill continues to grow for the returning Worthy Farm festival, which will be held next month from June 22-26.Shangri-La, a popular live music and late-night area located in the south-east corner of the festival site, has now revealed its line-up and theme for 2022, ‘WE THE PEOPLE’.“Shangri-La 2022 presents: WE THE PEOPLE,” a statement on the festival’s site reads. “Community, collaboration and hope for the next generation.

Yard Act, Billy Nomates and Billy Bragg are among the leading names on the line-up of Glastonbury‘s Left Field for 2022.The stage is celebrating “20 Years of Pop and Politics” at this year’s Worthy Farm festival, which runs from June 22-26.Left Field will host a mix of live music and debate next month, including the Bragg-hosted ‘Radical Round-Up’. The war in Ukraine, Black Lives Matter and “what’s next for the climate emergency” will be among the topics discussed by Left Field’s panels this year.Live music will come from the likes of Yard Act, Billy Nomates, Bragg, Jamie Webster, Brooke Combe, The Magic Numbers, Kam-Bu, Yola and The Regrettes.Speaking about this year’s Left Field line-up, stage co-curator Bragg said in a statement: “So much has happened in the three years since we last gathered under the Left Field big top.

Great Expectations. Tickets for both shows can be purchased here and here.Upon hearing the news, Izzard previously said in reply to a tweet by Billy Bragg: “Totally agree with Billy.

Billy Bragg and Ukrainian punks Beton have spoken out after an online debate emerged when the band were accused of co-opting far-right imagery.Last week, Beton reworked The Clash’s iconic track ‘London Calling’ to create ‘Kyiv Calling’, a protest song against the ongoing Russian invasion. Their rendition was then shared by The Clash’s social media accounts, as well as by Bragg.Bragg then deleted his share and issued a statement, after images were brought to his attention of Breton members wearing Ramones-inspired t-shirts, with the word ‘Ramones’ at the top of the logo replaced with the word ‘Banderas’.

Billy Bragg has criticised Ukrainian band Beton for their supposed far-right links, after they released a cover of The Clash’s ‘London’s Calling’.Last week, the Ukrainian punk band reworked The Clash’s iconic track to create ‘Kyiv Calling’, a protest song against the Russian invasion.Ukraine has officially severed diplomatic ties with Russia, and declared martial law, after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an attack on the neighbouring nation on February 24. Since then, The United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has estimated that the conflict has claimed 1,900 civilian casualties.

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Billy Bragg has praised a new academic project to catalogue the history of the English protest song from 1600 to the present day, saying that songs “can’t change the world” but can “bring people together”.A website catalogue of about 750 songs in the Our Subversive Voice project has been produced, presented alongside interviews with key songwriters.The University of East Anglia (UEA) project includes Royalist songs from the English Civil War up to modern entries like Grace Petrie‘s 2016 song ‘I Wish The Guardian Believed That I Exist’.Bragg himself has two of his songs in the catalogue – ‘Between The Wars’ and ‘It Says Here’, among tracks the artist has previously covered including Florence Reece’s ‘Which Side Are You On?’ – and told the BBC that the project was important to show the political tradition of songs in England.“People think political pop music was something invented in the 1970s, but traditionally song has been used to get messages out, without them being edited by the government or establishment,” he said.“When I took part in the miners’ strike in the 1980s, I was a little punk rocker guy… the folk singers were already there and their repertoire was more radical than mine and much of it had been written in the 19th Century.”Asked about the impact of protest songs, Bragg said: “It can change some things, but it can’t change the world. What it does is it brings people together in solidarity – for example to raise money for a cause.

Hello all. Not much to say about such monumental sadness, but mam passed away yesterday afternoon, January 30th 2022.

Billy Bragg has spoken out about why he’s changed the lyrics to his iconic track ‘Sexuality’ to make it trans-inclusive.The folk singer is currently on a UK tour and has changed the lyrics of the 1991 track from “Just because you’re gay, I won’t turn you away/ If you stick around, I’m sure that we can find some common ground” to “Just because you’re they, I won’t turn you away/ If you stick around, I’m sure that we can find the right pronoun”.In a new op-ed for The New Statesmen, Bragg went into detail about his reasons for changing the lyrics after gender-critical activists voiced their disapproval with his decision to rework the song.“Last week, I found myself under fire from gender-critical activists on Twitter, who were agitated to

BANKER-bashing singer-songwriter Billy Bragg made a £2.5million profit after he sold his mansion — to a Goldman Sachs executive. The leftie singer, 63, bought the 25-room Victorian villa with his partner for £630,000 in 1999.

Billy Bragg has changed the lyrics to his iconic song ‘Sexuality’ in support of trans rights.The folk singer is currently on a tour of the UK and has changed the lyrics of the 1991 track from “Just because you’re gay, I won’t turn you away. If you stick around, I’m sure that we can find some common ground” to “Just because you’re they, I won’t turn you away.

Billy Bragg has shared a brand new song – listen to the family-orientated track ‘Pass It On’ below.The track is the second preview of Bragg’s upcoming 10th studio album ‘The Million Things That Never Happened’, announced in July with the release of single ‘I Will Be Your Shield’.“I read somewhere that the second most googled thing after pornography is ancestry,” Bragg said in a statement. “People want to know where they come from, why they were born, where they were born.“You can get facts from the web, but details are priceless and can often only be learned orally from relatives.

Yungblud, Maggie Rogers, St. Vincent and Lucy Dacus are among the artists who have spoken out against Texas’ strict new abortion law which came into effect this week.The new legislation, Senate Bill 8, bans most abortions in Texas and makes the state the most restrictive in the United States in terms of access to abortion services, according to the New York Times.It prohibits aborting a foetus once cardiac activity can be detected, which is generally around six weeks – a very early point in a pregnancy, when women may not even know they are pregnant.

Billy Bragg has announced the release of a new album – get all the details on ‘The Million Things That Never Happened’ below.The legendary songwriter’s 10th studio album will come out on October 8 via Cooking Vinyl, and is being previewed today (July 14) by first single ‘I Will Be Your Shield’.“To me (‘I Will Be Your Shield’) is the heart and soul of the album,” Bragg said in a statement.

Courtney Love has covered Britney Spears’ ‘Lucky’ in the latest part of her Instagram covers series – scroll down the page to watch it below.Love launched the series last month with a cover of Billy Bragg and Wilco’s ‘California Stars’, with The Big Moon’s Juliette Jackson playing guitar on the performance.Now, the Hole frontwoman has shared the next instalment. “Someone asked me what cover I’m going to play next – I don’t have a guitar player handy so…” she introduced the video, pointing to herself.