Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is

So, of course, everyone knows that the current German number one is an anti-tax anthem, prompting NYLPM to say it's "very difficult to imagine it happening here."

If only that were true, but the drummer from the Small Faces, Kenney Jones and Rober Hart from Bad Company are attempting to disprove that with a single.

It's aimed at "stealth taxes" and is directed mainly at Gordon Brown. They were interviewed on Today this morning and it was suggested to them that it wasn't a very rock and roll position to be taking. Kenney Jones' day job, of course, is running a polo club.

Talking of horses and right wingers, a couple of weeks ago the Countryside Alliance were crowing how they'd got a rapper - The President - making a record in support of their bid to prevent the senseless slaughter of animals in the name of sport. There was clearly an unspoken air of "see - there is someone who isn't related to the British Royal Family who believes in our case... and he's a black man. Only now it turns out that the President actually thinks that fox hunting reminds him of the way slaves were tracked down in the deep south, and suggests that - just as the CA hijacked the campaigns against fuel prices and rural depopulation and tried to suggest they showed support for chasing and ripping foxes up, so they took his song about freedom of choice and tried to paint it as a pro-fox hunting track:

[The President in fact says] "My grandfather was a farmer and we used to hunt rabbits and deer, but that would be for survival purposes, it wasn't sport. I don't kill animals and laugh about it. I care about the farmers, who play a role in society, but I've never said that I'm for fox hunting. I don't have anything against foxes. My message is about freedom."

There's a further twist, mind you - according to the Countryside Alliance website, if you look for the original press release that accompanied the news story"The page you are looking for has been either renamed or retired."

Now, we hate to see things retired when they're still socially useful, but luckily, the page is still in Google's wonderful cache:

"A record written and performed by US rapper 'The President' in support of the Liberty and Livelihood March will be released on Monday 21st October. 'Balance' is the official March song and will also be performed live at the Albert Hall as part of Whip Craic, a fundraising Gala in aid of the Countryside Alliance on Wednesday 16th October."

So, then, the official march song of the Land and Liberty March was by someone who objects to hunting for sport? Hey, maybe the Countryside Alliance are more broadbased than we'd been led to believe.