He’s being a bit of a… Tim Booth calls out Morrissey amid far-right support claims - Echo

He’s being a bit of a… Booth calls out Morrissey amid far-right support claims - Echo
Press Association 2018

Tim Booth has labelled Morrissey a “dick” amid claims the revered singer supports the far-right.

The former Smiths frontman has just postponed his UK and European tour dates with his management saying “logistical problems” were to blame.

Booth and Morrissey were contemporaries in the Manchester music scene of the 1980s, as members of James and The Smiths respectively, with Booth saying the pair were once friends.

The 58-year-old, who is preparing to release a new album with James titled Living In Extraordinary Times, told the Press Association: “I knew Morrissey as a friend when he was sweet, very shy, very frightened. Wanting success, wanting what happened with The Smiths and also terrified of it simultaneously.

“I saw about their seventh gig in Manchester and they were fully formed. They were ready, they were lock and loaded. And we weren’t.

“They were so kind to us. Morrissey called us the best band in the world, they took us on tour, they tried to take us to America but we actually turned them down. And they were so sweet, all of them, for years.

“But I know he’s become a bit of a dick.”

Booth also said Morrissey’s former bandmate, Johnny Marr, “kept that band together” and was “one of the sweetest human beings you will ever meet”.

Morrissey, 59, recently sparked fury when he expressed sympathy for the jailed EDL founder Tommy Robinson.

Protesters labelling themselves former fans of the singer planned to hold an anti-racism party to coincide with his gig at the Castlefield Bowl in Manchester before it was postponed.

Booth added: “As I say, he did some very kind things for us so therefore it’s hard for me to say he’s a dick but he’s being a dick at the moment.”

Tim Booth performing with James (Karin Albinsson/PA)

 

[countthree]

They need to watch this. It explains why Tommy Robinson formed the EDL and how the police have been hounding him with arrest after arrest ever since on the orders of (our useless) government.

People who scream about TR being racist are simply illustrating their ignorance of what he's about. He's working class - no political party represents the working class. Labour abandoned them years ago when Britain was de-industrialised. They were left to rot. People who attack working class concerns are quite happy with the neverending two-party Tory/Labour circus we've had for coming up to a hundred years now. They don't want change. They're comfortable with things the way they are.

The establishment are shit scared of people who rock the political boat, because they know they will appeal to many people, meaning they themselves will be overthrown. This fear filters down from on high to the whiners on social media who do the establishment's social correcting/policing for them.

Even for rebellion you British are very civilized. I can't imagine one of the many activists protesting in the streets of my country being arrested by an old man wearing lenses and a woman. I just can't imagine the situation.

 

[URBANUS]

Skinny's dream was born out of frustration:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...easants-selling-human-heads-1920s-famine.html

 

[URBANUS]

Even for rebellion you British are very civilized. I can't imagine one of the many activists protesting in the streets of my country being arrested by an old man wearing lenses and a woman. I just can't imagine the situation.

They hate the fearless who won't back down and the rest envy Tommy for being everything they are not. I've seen this thing over the years even within nazi groups who were quick to condemn Breivik when all he did was do something they all would do if they dared admit or had the balls to.
In future they will all have to do far worse things than Breivik did in order to stay alive.
In Sweden we talk about clinching the fist in the pocket instead of doing something and so when one person finally acts the others are quick to condemn it even though they previously stated they would want to do the same thing.
People are animals and belong to a group and as soon a someone acts outside of that group then things become tricky. I think the envy towards that someone that did something makes the others condemn him or her.

 

[URBANUS]

 

[firstodie]

I’m with Charlie on this one. Yes of course the authorities don’t always play fair. But when you’re in court and the judge says « Stop that or I will hold you in contempt of court » it is a good idea to stop.

I agree that the working classes have been ignored, patronised and accused of bigotry when they voiced reasonable concerns about immigration.

But there is another working class/underclass phenomenon I’ve noticed which I think is relevant to Tommy Robinson’s popularity: the obsession with paedophilia. The belief that most people in power are part of some big paedo ring. The ´paedo hunters’ whose motives are not perhaps as pure as they make out. The constant statements about how awful paedophiles are (as if people needed this pointing out to them). To my mind there are two reasons for this. Firstly, as with immigration, working class communities are more affected by paedos... if a sex offender is released from prison, chances are they can’t support themselves and are housed by the authorities in council housing, amongst working class communities. Secondly, everyone likes to have someone to look down on, and no matter how low your position in society, (even if you’re an incarcerated violent criminal) you can still look down on the paedos. And they’re people you can wish violence upon without anyone really caring.

When you don't have a lot of money, all government policies affect you disproportionately. Like the minimum price per unit of alcohol in Scotland. Money cushions you from the effects of bad policy and free's you up to be more of an idealist. No matter how hard they try, people who've never been used to financial hardship, invariably overlook the very obvious fallout that their idealist policies will have on the poor. These considerations are just not part of their vocabulary, I don't think they intentionally seek to cause hardship to the working class... they're just oblivious..... perhaps, sometimes wilfully. People harp on about freedom and mix this up with a 'free' economy. A free economy isn't freedom. Capitalism, isn't freedom, it needs regulating. Sometimes, what looks like constraint is the direct opposite. I'm for more regulation, personally, because I'd rather see the majority of people with a modest amount of money, than a few with it all. There's no 'freedom' in destitution.

 

[Anonymous]

I have only just read what James Maker said about Morrissey. It is totally brilliant he is a great writer very eloquent. He talks about why Morrissey is not xenophobic or racist or whatever in anyway. James Maker is a true friend.

Is Morrissey racist? The answer is an emphatic 'no'. In the forty years that I have known Morrissey, I have never once heard a racist epithet pass his lips. The terms 'racist', 'fascist', and 'Islamophobe' are so freely used nowadays against those whose opinions and worldview differs from our own, that they have lost their power and meaning.

Also, there is a worrying trend on the Left that, ironically, echoes fascism in its intolerance of reasoned debate. One is not only 'wrong' in expressing a different opinion, but one is also now 'evil'. I believe that calling Morrissey a racist is unjustifiable and wrong.

However, if you want to run out of the house wearing a garment ill-suited to the elements in order to throw "Viva Hate" (Morrissey's first solo album) into the Manchester Ship Canal, then that is, of course, your right.

In supporting Brexit, this does not make Morrissey an immigrant-hating 'Little Englander' who lives only to reverse the metric system and bring back steam trains. The truth is, there are myriad reasons why people voted to leave the EU. One of them is a mistrust of Brussels technocracy where unelected representatives make decisions that are arguably a matter for sovereignty.

Patriotism and Nationalism are very distinct: the former is characterised by an affection (love and/or pride) for one's country; the second is a more extreme and unforgiving form of allegiance to one's homeland. Morrissey might be guilty of patriotism, but not of nationalism.

Opposing Sharia Law in the UK, or FGM (Female genital mutilation), or institutionalised misogyny—which is (trigger warning) widespread in the developing world—is an appropriate Western response borne of democracy and the development of civil liberties. It is neither racist nor Islamophobic.

After all, if I were to move to the United Arab Emirates in search of a better life, I wouldn't reasonably expect to be able to build a hot dog stand empire, serving pork products whilst dressed in a gender-neutral miniskirt.

To oppose halal slaughter is to oppose slaughter with additional cruelty. The zakat tax payable for Halal certification is used by Islamic organisations to fund mosques and religious schools. Such is the many-tentacled nature of zakat, it is difficult to determine whether it is also being used to crowdfund Islamist extremism. There is a growing concern in some quarters that it might be. (Zakat is the third Pillar of Islam.)

Hitler was indeed 'Left-wing' in the sense of incorporating the word 'socialist' into the party's name to cynically draw voters away from communism and towards populist nationalism dressed as socialism. Hence, 'Hitler was Left-wing.' Morrissey was not suggesting that Hitler and Yvette Cooper (for example) share the same political ideals. The fact is, Left-wing totalitarianism looks little different to Right-wing authoritarianism — if you're being oppressed, it's the same experience. (Yvette Cooper is a British Labour Party politician.)

Again, is Morrissey a racist?
My answer is an emphatic 'no'.

 

[vegan.cro spirit# 453]

I have only just read what James Maker said about Morrissey. It is totally brilliant he is a great writer very eloquent. He talks about why Morrissey is not xenophobic or racist or whatever in anyway. James Maker is a true friend.

Is Morrissey racist? The answer is an emphatic 'no'. In the forty years that I have known Morrissey, I have never once heard a racist epithet pass his lips. The terms 'racist', 'fascist', and 'Islamophobe' are so freely used nowadays against those whose opinions and worldview differs from our own, that they have lost their power and meaning.

Also, there is a worrying trend on the Left that, ironically, echoes fascism in its intolerance of reasoned debate. One is not only 'wrong' in expressing a different opinion, but one is also now 'evil'. I believe that calling Morrissey a racist is unjustifiable and wrong.

However, if you want to run out of the house wearing a garment ill-suited to the elements in order to throw "Viva Hate" (Morrissey's first solo album) into the Manchester Ship Canal, then that is, of course, your right.

In supporting Brexit, this does not make Morrissey an immigrant-hating 'Little Englander' who lives only to reverse the metric system and bring back steam trains. The truth is, there are myriad reasons why people voted to leave the EU. One of them is a mistrust of Brussels technocracy where unelected representatives make decisions that are arguably a matter for sovereignty.

Patriotism and Nationalism are very distinct: the former is characterised by an affection (love and/or pride) for one's country; the second is a more extreme and unforgiving form of allegiance to one's homeland. Morrissey might be guilty of patriotism, but not of nationalism.

Opposing Sharia Law in the UK, or FGM (Female genital mutilation), or institutionalised misogyny—which is (trigger warning) widespread in the developing world—is an appropriate Western response borne of democracy and the development of civil liberties. It is neither racist nor Islamophobic.

After all, if I were to move to the United Arab Emirates in search of a better life, I wouldn't reasonably expect to be able to build a hot dog stand empire, serving pork products whilst dressed in a gender-neutral miniskirt.

To oppose halal slaughter is to oppose slaughter with additional cruelty. The zakat tax payable for Halal certification is used by Islamic organisations to fund mosques and religious schools. Such is the many-tentacled nature of zakat, it is difficult to determine whether it is also being used to crowdfund Islamist extremism. There is a growing concern in some quarters that it might be. (Zakat is the third Pillar of Islam.)

Hitler was indeed 'Left-wing' in the sense of incorporating the word 'socialist' into the party's name to cynically draw voters away from communism and towards populist nationalism dressed as socialism. Hence, 'Hitler was Left-wing.' Morrissey was not suggesting that Hitler and Yvette Cooper (for example) share the same political ideals. The fact is, Left-wing totalitarianism looks little different to Right-wing authoritarianism — if you're being oppressed, it's the same experience. (Yvette Cooper is a British Labour Party politician.)

Again, is Morrissey a racist?
My answer is an emphatic 'no'.

Hitler was left wing in the same way Stalin was socialist. All the Stalin purges were directed towards socialists, killed millions of them. So yes Moz is 100 percent correct.

 

[Anonymous]

Bloody hell, what the f is going on in Italy? why do you tolerate this? this would last about half a second in the USA. why, why ,why? don't you all believe you deserve peace?

 

[Morrissey-so-old.com]

WtF? "you have to say to yourself for f*** sake"??????

Is this your 30 minute playtime at the insane asylum.
The back to the rubber room LOL

The only Rubber there is Vegan.Hoe is the one stuck in in your ass from the used condom. Oh look at you Vegan.Hoe doing anything you can to get my attention.

 

[vegan.cro spirit# 267]

The only Rubber there is Vegan.Hoe is the one stuck in in your ass from the used condom. Oh look at you Vegan.Hoe doing anything you can to get my attention.

this particular specimen will get to be Einstein in G23 'upcoming' Divine Moz hating DH Insanity universe.

 

[countthree]

Bloody hell, what the f is going on in Italy? why do you tolerate this? this would last about half a second in the USA. why, why ,why? don't you all believe you deserve peace?

This is terrible, but do you have the slightest idea about how many MILLIONS of Italian people have been condemned to exile during the last couple of centuries? Maybe there are more descendants of Italian people outside Italy than inside it. That is why Italy looked so peaceful and EMPTY at the begining of the video. That is what happens in a place where literally millions were deprived of their roots and properties and were obliged to make a new life from zero in the Americas and other continents. Refugees, euphemistically called migrants, who even sended money and food to help Italy during times of war and famine, whose descendents could come back to the lands of their families only as tourists. Imagine the feeling of looking at a place robbed to your family knowing generations worked to build it, only to find it occupied by the descendants or the buyers of the thieves. Italy is the door of Europe. Ir seems it's not so easy being the doorman after all.

 

[Anonymous]

a group who have been living off one hit a long long time ago,another in the long list,who will be next.

They’ve sold over 25 million albums world wide.

 

[URBANUS]

They’ve sold over 25 million albums world wide.

Why am I not impressed to hear that?

Maybe cause I was more than half my age when they started to sell albums so those are figures over a loooooooooong time.

He shouldn't have sold his wig though some claim he smoked it and got cancer.

I dunno if he would smile at me these days like he did then.

 

[URBANUS]

This is terrible, but do you have the slightest idea about how many MILLIONS of Italian people have been condemned to exile during the last couple of centuries? Maybe there are more descendants of Italian people outside Italy than inside it. That is why Italy looked so peaceful and EMPTY at the begining of the video. That is what happens in a place where literally millions were deprived of their roots and properties and were obliged to make a new life from zero in the Americas and other continents. Refugees, euphemistically called migrants, who even sended money and food to help Italy during times of war and famine, whose descendents could come back to the lands of their families only as tourists. Imagine the feeling of looking at a place robbed to your family knowing generations worked to build it, only to find it occupied by the descendants or the buyers of the thieves. Italy is the door of Europe. Ir seems it's not so easy being the doorman after all.

Just you wait until the muslim terrorists bomb the vatican to pieces.

 

[Vesper Nocturne]

They’ve sold over 25 million albums world wide.

I sure hope that means someone's gonna turn up to that aerobics class

 

[Surface]

Why am I not impressed to hear that?

Maybe cause I was more than half my age when they started to sell albums so those are figures over a loooooooooong time.

He shouldn't have sold his wig though some claim he smoked it and got cancer.

I dunno if he would smile at me these days like he did then.

Well I’m surprised as it’s 5 times more than The Smiths and Morrissey combined efforts The Smiths started in the same year as James. On the cancer front I think your confusing Tim with Morrissey.

 

[Truthercize]

I sure hope that means someone's gonna turn up to that aerobics class

 

[Vesper Nocturne]

Even I would go to those two guys' classes above. Yeah, sorry to break to everyone, Tim's class is not gonna be like that. Also i agree with all of the negative comments about the puketastic goatee.

I will say that Tim and Johnny are clearly on opposite sides of the hair spectrum. One is like "I dont care! I still have a gross goatee! So naaah!" The other one is like, "I will do whatever it takes, just so i never turn into that other guy"

But actually, Richard Simmons IS Tim's spirit animal... or he might even be Tim's donor dad.

Because if Tim had hair, I dont really know that I'd ever be able to tell the two of them apart anymore

I think we should have the Richard Simmons videos again

 

[URBANUS]

Well I’m surprised as it’s 5 times more than The Smiths and Morrissey combined efforts The Smiths started in the same year as James. On the cancer front I think your confusing Tim with Morrissey.

No not at all and it seems you believe musicians get any of that money.

LOL