This Week… The League Of Clean-Shaven White Men

 
Commentary

"Everyone’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s really an easy way: Stop participating in it” – Noam Chomsky

"How can one not be fond of something that the Daily Mail despises?" – Stephen Fry

"A photograph is a moral decision taken in one eighth of a second" – Salman Rushdie

"Made in Scotland – from girrrrrders" – Irn Bru advert


More absolute tabloid toss from the Daily Mail this week. Having initially refused to report the Finsbury Park attack as a terrorist incident, they then decided to describe terrorist Darren Osborne as a "clean-shaven white man". Riiiiiight. Talk about double standards. Me personally, I'm just shocked and appalled that the clean-shaven white man community haven't come forward to condemn this atrocity. Maybe now I'll have to grow a beard to try and get through airport security with ease. Of course the Mail also focused on the mosque's (past) links to extremism, and even blurred out Osborne's face. Compare that to the treatment of the Grenfall Tower resident who comitted the heinous crime of having a faulty fridge! Yeah, because it was his fault that high-rise burnt down, rather than government-enforced austerity and deregulation.

Speaking of Grenfall Tower, grime MC and North Kensington resident AJ Tracey and his brother Mickey spoke to the Guardian, highlighting the disparity between government and local community in terms of response to the disaster. Definitely worth a watch:

On a lighter note, let's talk about juice. We get through industrial quantities of Irn Bru in the office. Our esteemed editor Ally loves it so much we had to convince the local newsagent to start selling it, for both their sakes – Ally's sweet Scottish tooth is probably paying off the guy's mortgage. So brace yourself mate, as this week came the news that the origins of Irn Bru – Scotland's other national drink (whisky, not Buckfast, ffs) – might not lie north of Hadrian's Wall after all. According to David Leishman of the University of Grenoble, the first 'Iron Brew' drink was launched in 1889 by a New York-based company, and was marketed as “the ideal American drink”. There's pictures and all that as well. So there you go. Oh, and the 'Highland athlete' on the side of every can? Designed by an English firm. But despite having absolutely nothing to do with Scotland, somehow, so let's raise a fizzy orange glass to this peculiar Caledonian triumph of branding.

Ransom Note Records are very proud to say that our seventh release is out today! Timothy, you are a champion among men and we love you. If you're feeling the vibe, why not buy a copy on our Bandcamp? Or maybe set it to repeat on Spotify while you're asleep? Please. Tim's soup supplies are running low and we really don't know how he's going to make it through to winter otherwise.

Finally, shouts to Dazed who drew our attention to @darkstockphotos, the most amazing Twitter account we've seen in a while. Absurd stock photos for every dark, depraved situation you could probably imagine. A lot of them involve axes and ski masks. Imagine if shooting these was your job! We'll leave you with some of our favourites.

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