"Thatcherites" - Billy Bragg

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Last edited Wed Sep 21, 2022, 02:08 AM - Edit history (1)

- Stephen William Bragg (b. 20 Dec. 1957), known as Billy Bragg, is an English musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock & protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is heavily centred on bringing about change & involving the younger generation in activist causes.

Bragg was born in in Barking, Essex (now in Greater London) to Dennis Frederick Austin Bragg, an asst. sales manager to a Barking cap maker & milliner, & his wife Marie Victoria D'Urso, who was of Italian descent. Bragg's father died of lung cancer in 1976, & his mother in 2011.. He developed an interest in poetry at the age of 12, when his English teacher chose him to read a poem he had written for a homework assignment on a local radio station. He put his energies into learning & practising the guitar with his next-door neighbour, Philip Wigg (Wiggy); some of their influences were the Faces, Small Faces & the Rolling Stones.

He was also exposed to folk and folk-rock music during his teenage years, citing Simon & Garfunkel & Bob Dylan as early influences on his songwriting. During the rise of punk rock and new wave in the late 1970s, Elvis Costello also served as an inspiration for Bragg. He was also particularly influenced by the Clash, whom he'd seen play live in London in May 1977 on their White Riot Tour, & again at a Rock Against Racism carnival in April 1978, which he admits was the first time he really stepped into the world of music as it is used for political activism...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Bragg
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- Liz Truss, An Heir to Thatcher Intent on Shaking Up Britain, AP News, Sept. 5, 2022,
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-boris-johnson-london-economy-bcc84e2cd22a42f1a1268234f4908c6e