Metal Underground.com

First two episodes have been good. Some interesting stuff happening.

If you guys fancy watching the Septicflesh interview I posted earlier, it'd be very much appreciated. Cbella can let me know I ballsed my attempt at speaking Greek up :P

Neither BG, just a fucking idiot :P

I've just got word that my plans to emigrate are well on and I could be in Spain in six weeks time! As if Spain needed any more British people :P

Just need a change of scenery really. Britain's alright but the weather is more or less always horrible. I've always wanted to emigrate and there's a metal festival about an hour from my new place so no brainer really.

There's a few other reasons, such as my hatred for the British government among other things, but all in all I think I'll be much happier abroad. I love to travel and I'm much happier in the sunshine (which Britain can look quite nice in, during the two weeks a year we get any sun.)

Great to hear that you and the kids can bond over music. It's always been something that's kept me and my dad close over the years.

I remember our Finnish member Wolf talking about how much he hated living in Spain but we'll see. Funny enough, speaking of Mediterranean authorities, I found being questioned by Greek police when me and two friends were flying to Turkey (the only one with a beard didn't get his passport taken off him, go figure) was a much better experience than when we came back to London and got taken away by armed security and searched. Though one of them promised to kick the arse of the guy who called them for wasting their time so badly.

I'm looking forward to my niece being able to enjoy music more. She likes Rammstein but doesn't share my sister's enthusiasm for Evanescence... Fortunately.

Cbella - She's only three months but already just like her mother with her bossy attitude and demands for attention. I'm looking forward to being the cool uncle who plays video games with her and takes her places.

Bruno - I can tell you don't follow European politics too much because we don't have a socialist government. The opposition is led by a socialist (a real one, not the Bernie Sanders type.) We're governed by the Conservative Party, who I will try to describe without getting into rhetoric. David Cameron is a devout Thatcherite whose government has attempted to bring back some of her policies such as the right to buy scheme (in which people can buy the social housing they're in,) but they've been very unsuccessful. In addition to this, they have been increasing tax breaks for the rich, while taking away money from the disabled and dying, with almost 2,000 deaths (confirmed) as a result of their decisions thus far, whilst the department is still refusing to reveals the full figures.

The thing about socialism in Europe is that there's different takes on it. There's the traditional stance of trade unionism which has been brought back by the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, there's the more extreme end that borders on Communism of SYRIZA in Greece (though, they've had to put some of their deeply held beliefs to one side thanks to German pressure,) there's the more student orientated socialism espoused by Podemos in Spain and so on and so on. Many countries in Europe don't actually have socialist governments and most that do are socialist in name only such as France, whilst even some Scandinavian countries (which you will have heard Sanders bring up) actually have conservative governments such as Denmark and I think Norway (don't quote me on that though.) Many of the former Communist countries in Eastern European have very right wing governments and socialism barely exists there any more in the perceived state. Many of these countries do still have institutions brought in by former socialist governments however, perhaps most famously the NHS (National Health Service) in Britain, which has saved millions of lives, including Stephen Hawking. That example brings us back to my problems with the British government, who have been selling it off piece by piece to the point where some public intellectuals such as Tariq Ali in his book, The Extreme Centre, claims it exists in name only now.

As for a lack of personal responsibility etc. in Europe, it's not true at all. If anything, I find the current government interferes with personal lives much more than the last Labour government did (which at the time, was far from socialist but that's another story.) I don't remember the Labour government airing adverts telling you to trust them or putting up posters that look frighteningly like the cover of 1984 saying "We're watching you."

"I'm not sure how much the Prime Minister's speech is empty talk"

Pretty much all of it. There's been no steps taken to provide free child care, or even to make it more affordable as far as I'm aware. Youth mentoring was introduced years ago by Labour, where school kids gain work experience by joining a company for a week (I worked in a kids play area for example.) The housing idea is bullshit. What they've been doing is demolishing council housing estates and building new ones that poor people can't afford. David Cameron himself has even expressed his concern that his own kids won't be able to own a house when they're old enough. First I've heard of the Troubled Families Programme but reeks of shite to me. It's worth remembering also that Cameron regularly did cocaine at university, where he also had to fuck a dead pig's head to gain membership to a club, and as serving Prime Minister, left his children behind in a pub. He's a cunt.

As far as American conservatism and such is concerned, I don't feel I can really comment on it since I'm not an American citizen and I've never lived there, so a foreigner's opinion on what America should do is a bit cheeky. I will say that internationally, the Republican Party has been seen as a big joke the last two election cycles (don't worry, Obama and the Democrats get a lot of stick too.) It just seems like only nutcases are being put forward and there hasn't been a respectable name in the running since John McCain, who I think would have easily beat the Democrats if he ran again.