News about Billy Bragg

Paloma Faith and Kate Nash are amongst the stars taking a stance against far-right riots as UK braces for more anarchy.  Singers, actors, athletes and politicians have signed an open letter from British anti-fascist group, Stand Up To Racism, to condemn 'racism, Islamophobia and hatred.' Billy Bragg, founder of The Specials Jerry Dammer, Eliza Rose, Frank Turner and ex-England cricketer Azeem Rafiq have also thrown their support behind the organisation. 

The maverick artist's dinghy with dummy migrants was used for crowdsurfing during the festival performance by rapper Little Simz last night - 24 hours after first being unveiled during the set by Bristol rock band Idles. Critics have branded the boat 'tasteless' and Mr Dowden this morning added his voice to the backlash, saying he was 'really saddened' by the gesture. He highlighted how trafficking gangs endanger migrants who hand over thousands of pounds for hazardous journeys across the Channel which can prove fatal. Only two months ago, five people - including a seven-year-old girl - died while trying to reach Britain by crossing the Channel from France .

The rapper wowed Glastonbury without a band or backing singers for several songs and just the aid of a DJ for much of her set. But in footage showing her performance, the controversial dinghy can be seen in the corner of the screen. The inflatable was first seen during the Idles' performance, and it has since been described as 'tasteless'. Only two months ago, five people - including a seven-year-old girl - died while trying to reach Britain by crossing the Channel from France. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said of the Banksy dinghy: 'How childish. Illegal immigration, from which hard criminals make millions, is neither cool nor edgy.' One furious BBC viewer said on X: 'I think it's in appalling taste and absolutely inappropriate in that setting.'

An inflatable boat with dummy migrants which was launched onto the crowd at Glastonbury during a gig was let loose by Banksy . Idles, who were performing a set when the incident took place, say they were unaware of the stunt until they left the stage. During last night's set, the rock band also led the Glastonbury crowd in chanting 'f*** the king' as the festival turned political with the band's vocalist Joe Talbot also singing an 'anti-Farage song'. Idles' politically-charged performance was just one of a number of statements made during the third day of the festival in Somerset.

In 2007, Fergie won a Mother Of The Year award from the American Cancer Society. But, in 2010, her fatal greed led to her offering 'access' to her former ­husband in exchange for half a million pounds to an undercover reporter known as 'the Fake Sheikh'.

Pop star CMAT has responded to people who trolled a video of her performing at BBC Big Weekend by leaving fat-shaming remarks, forcing the broadcaster to turn off comments. She was referring to a clip released by BBC Radio 1's Instagram page, in which the Irish singer, whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, 28, was filmed ripping off her shirt to reveal a tighter outfit underneath during her set on Sunday afternoon

As part of the Jurassic Coast, a Unesco World Heritage site, Hive Beach in Dorset is certainly stunning. But it's also dangerous. In the past year, there have been eight rockfalls on this beach - two in the past seven weeks alone. The most recent, last month, contained boulders the size of cars.

When I read that the expression 'back in the day' was now considered beyond the pale, I thought to myself: About time, too. It's a horrible Americanism which has crossed the pond and wormed its way into our own, original version of the English language. What does it mean? Which particular 'day'? What's wrong with 'in the 1970s' or 'once upon a time' for that matter? Same goes for 'issues' instead of good, old-fashioned 'problems', 'train station' for 'railway station' and 'delivery' in the political sense, not a bloke in a white van turning up with a package from Amazon or a leg cutter from the Pavilion End.

Official government data shows 113,045 people aged 34 and under registered to vote on April 16 - a 350 per cent surge on the day before that accounted for 73.8 per cent of the 153,614 registrations yesterday (inset left). And the number of registrations from younger voters has almost doubled from the last equivalent local elections in 2021, when local, mayoral and police elections last took place on the same day. The push came following the last-minute 'Give an X' drive from celebrities including Michael Sheen and Billy Bragg (right, top and bottom), as well as Chicken Shop Date YouTuber Amelia Dimoldenberg, to encourage younger voters to vote.

As he was described as 'our revolutionary poet laureate' for his fearless body of work, tributes were paid to Benjamin Zephaniah today. His death - only weeks after a brain tumour diagnosis - left behind jobs that condemned bigotry and shone a light on the plight of some of society's marginalized groups. The death of the Birmingham-born poet, who also appeared in Peaky Blinders, stunned writers, poets, and musicians influenced by his art.

The singer, 65, appeared on the program to address the song he had released in response to Oliver Anthony's overnight hit Rich Men North of Richmond. Billy was mistakenly sworn live on air and was forced to be pulled up on the blunder by host Ian King during the interview, but was left red-faced.

Billy Nomates made news this week after the BBC was required to delete a video of her Glastonbury set. On Friday afternoon, Tor Maries, the singer-songwriter, real name Tor Maries, appeared at Worthy Farm's Park Stage. However, after videos of the 33-year-old musician's gig were later posted on BBC Radio 6's social media pages, she was confronted with a number of online trolls' invasive remarks.

After being hit with a surge of online 'personal assault,' a Glastonbury performer has begged the BBC to delete footage of her set. Billy Nomates, a singer and actress who goes by Tor Maries, appeared on Friday afternoon at the Worthy Farm's Park Stage. However, after videos of the 33-year-old musician's gig were later posted on BBC Radio 6's social media pages, she was confronted with a number of threatening internet trolls' online comments.

Since JK Rowling (left) said that lesbians have "sensibility at odds with their biological reality," he has slammed musician Billy Bragg (right) as "homophobic and misogynistic." This comes amid a tumultuous academic debate over Kathleen Stock's (inset top) address at the Oxford Union on Tuesday, which saw trans rights campaigners disrupt it after five minutes. Professor Stock gave the address at the debating club, where activists branded her "transphobic and trans-exclusionary" and attempted to prevent the activity from taking place.

Mizzy is a new kind of urban hero for the stupid; an 18-year-old boy with flinty entitlement, an amoral moron who has adopted the terrorization of innocent bystanders as a form of entertainment. Mizzy (pictured) has made himself known by posting videos on TikTok showing him being welcomed into the homes of strangers, stealing an elderly lady's dog in a park, insulting Orthodox Jews, and suddenly walking young girls in late night train stations, stroking their hair and asking them if they want to die. His response is that he is really asking them if they want to dye, and that's why there is such outrage on the internet.' This is the level of idiocy we are dealing with; this is the sea of criminal delinquency into which we have fallen. Mizzy, the real name of Bacari-Bronze O'Garro from Hackney, East London, will not have to mention that his victims are children who are afraid by his behavior.

JK Rowling (right) made the remarks on Friday, just after it was announced this month that a new decade-long TV series of Harry Potter (image from the films, left) would be produced. Rowling has been branded transphobic for a variety of remarks she has made about the LGBT+ movement, including the fact that transgender people and women should not be allowed to enter single-sex spaces that match their gender. Many proponents of trans rights are calling for a boycott of the new television series, which is likely to run for a decade and see Rowling play the lead role as a producer. 'Dreadful news,' she wrote on Friday. I feel duty bound to share.' Activists in my posts are organizing yet another boycott of my work, this time in the aftermath of the Harry Potter television show. I've taken the precaution of laying down a lot of champagne as forewarned.'

On Thursday night, the Prime Minister (right with the venue's manager) moved from Canberra to Tivoli, in inner Brisbane, to enjoy Billy Bragg's show on Thursday night (Mr Albanese waving to fans left). Despite being in the capital earlier in the day, he made it to the concert, which began at 8 p.m. Some people are curious if he used the prime minister's jet for the trip because it was so quick. Mr Albanese's use of the jet has not been confirmed, but critics have fuelled rumors on social media.

After Q+A host Stan Grant (left) blasted the dominance of white faces onscreen, journalist Antoinette Lattouf (right) branded local television a 'neo-Nazis wet dream.' Ms Lattouf slammed multicultural Australia on traditional television shows, claiming that it was now severely behind the rest of the world in terms of diversity, and Grant said the lack of diversity gave viewers a false picture of the multicultural society in which they live.

A university drop-out in her early 20s has exposed the difficult decision that younger Australians are being compelled to make - whether they're reading or placing food on the table. Bella Mitchell-Sears stunned ABC's Q+A panel on Monday night with the revelation that her living expenses shot up so much she had to abandon her university degree. Ms Mitchell-Sears, who had aspired to be a teacher at the University of Melbourne, was studying an arts degree, but is now losing hope.

Singer Billy Bragg has been mocked by social media users after he said he dropped the word 'boys' from his hit Which Side Are You On? It's more 'inclusive'. As he weighed in on the changes he's made to Roald Dahl's children's books, which are being rewritten to remove words deemed offensive, the singer, 65, told followers of the changes he's made to his music. Puffin has hired sensitive readers to rewrite portions of text to ensure that the books' can be enjoyed by everyone today,' with substantial changes made to descriptions of the characters' physical appearance. Many of Billy's followers took to the comments section to post sarcastic responses to his tweet. One wrote: 'So stunning & brave!How do make such Herculean efforts for the righteous good! You should be on the next honors list mate,'cos that's what you need - a big 'ole medal pinned on the saintly chest.'

Singer Billy Bragg has revealed he has dropped 'boys' from Which Side Are You On? It will be more 'inclusive.' As he weighed in on the changes he's made to Roald Dahl's children's books, which are being rewritten to remove words that have been deemed offensive, the singer, 65, told followers of the updates he's made to his music. Puffin has hired sensitive readers to rewrite chunks of text to ensure that the books can be enjoyed by everyone today, with substantial changes made to descriptions of the characters' physical appearance.

For the past 24 hours, the Harry Potter author and the left-wing rabble-rousing singer-songwriter have been on Twitter. It began when Ms Rowling said 'bearded guys,' including Mr Bragg and Graham Norton, were defining what a woman is rather than women themselves. Bragg said she then that she was 'throwing [his] support behind rape and death threats." Last night, he replied, saying, 'I'm not complaining that you have a view,' JK. I'm upset that you conflate my opinion with support for rape and death threats. I have never shared such thoughts and if you had any self-respect, you would apologise for making such a blatantly insensitive accusation.' Today the spat continued and she said: 'Self respect?From the guy who tried to use the holocaust to attack feminists? Women who stand up for their rights are constantly threatened with sexual abuse. Many people have lost jobs and been targeted at demonstrations. Although it's good to know that you and Norton are OK with the culture, it's also important to know that.' When she visited Hamburg in May, she was referring to a tweet sent by Bragg when he landed there in May. "In the pavements, there are tiny brass plaques containing the names of Jews who lived in the building next to the plaque and were murdered by the Nazis," he said. People were encouraged to identify someone by their genes alone, which led to people's understanding of who they were identifying someone by their biology alone.'

Last weekend, a tumultuous row erupted over an interview with Graham Norton at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, where he slammed cancel culture. Billy Bragg retweeted a video of the interview and said Norton was'really smart' on cancel culture 'and JK Rowling,' according to Billy Bragg.' The author took responsibility for the tweet and chastised the artist for stepping bravely into their soapboxes to clarify who a woman is and throw their help behind rape and murder threats.'

Simon Mayo (pictured) appeared on local radio in his twenties and was quickly-tracked to Radio 1. For his contributions to broadcasting, the DJ and author received an MBE last year. He revealed he has a good relationship with the BBC but is happy not being there