Pop Star Heroes by Craig Hanlon-Smith
Pop Star Heroes by Craig Hanlon-Smith
Whatever position taken on the subject of Brexit, there is some agreement that on all sides of the discussion behaviours have led much to be desired. Neither lies nor fears projected during polarised arguments are attributes we should be aspiring to and yet we perhaps shouldn’t be surprised that these characteristics emerge.
New Year’s resolutions are easy to make and easy to break. Fitter Confident You is a great way to start and to stay focused by Craig Hanlon-Smith.
Forgive them father. They know not what they did. Nor did they care by Craig Hanlon-Smith @craigscontinuum
Sporting myth has it that the game of Rugby was invented by someone picking up a football mid-game and running with it. For years I was convinced that guy was a disgruntled school-age homosexual, who one wet Wednesday afternoon thought “f*** this, I’m off” and just legged it the heck outta there.
ANOTHER season emerges and another reason to be offended. Radio stations proudly issue statements that having re-listened to the coercive and rape promoting Baby It’s Cold Outside the track is banned.
Anniversaries can be peculiar events. Is it ever clear what exactly we’re remembering or commemorating? In the case of a death are we reminding ourselves of the loss we feel? In which case is the anniversary very much about the self? Or do we genuinely commemorate the life, although gone, once magnificently lived?
It took many years for me to appreciate the game changing LGBT+ artists of my youth. Thirty-five years ago I would have been terrified to associate myself with openly gay popular music performers for fear of a correct assumption that I was leaning that way too. When I think now of Jimmy Somerville, Bronski Beat and their 1984 album Age of Consent, emblazoned with the pink triangle symbol of gay oppression, imprisonment, torture and death, I appreciate how brave and progressive that was for artists at that time.
Craig Hanlon-Smith caught up with two newbie boxers to discuss the benefits and pitfalls of this seemingly feisty sport – Anthony, who is originally from the North East but now lives in Cardiff, and Sue from Essex, who lives in Folkestone and works in London.
And so at a gently ripe 46 years old, our protagonist is calm and content, a happy homosexual with, hopefully, half his life ahead of him. It’s now June 28, 2018, exactly 49 years to the date since the Stonewall riots of New York launched the LGBT+ civil rights movement and international Pride events were born.
