Laurie Anderson

+I was privileged to be in Manchester last night for a Laurie Anderson gig Ark: United States V - the latest in a series of performances that began in 1983. The show was a bricolage of narration, memories, images, sounds and music which travelled from the personal to the universal. I joined Anderson's fan base in 1982 when I first heard O Superman, which introduced minimalism into mainstream culture. It was somehow an antidote to the drumbeat of Thatcher's Falklands war triumphalism and the dark clouds of the last stages of the First Cold War. Indeed, for Ark the stage was set with two nuclear clouds on either side, an ever present reminder that the nuclear threat is back with us, refreshed and ready to go. At 77 years old  Anderson walks around the stage guiding us in her intimate dulcet tones almost like a kindly grandmother. If I had one complaint it was that it went on for longer than my bum was comfortable with in the theatre seat. Three and a half hours. That takes some stamina. Perhaps in recognition of this, she wound the show up by teaching the audience a bit of Tai Chi. Typical Laurie.
 
+The Premier Inn in Manchester where I stayed must have a clientele of international financiers. Copies of the Financial Times and the New York Times were available for free in the lobby. Useful then to read in the FT 'Reeves demands City watchdogs allow greater risk in push to promote growth.' She said that regulations drawn up in response to the great recession of 2008 'went too far.' (Really? Doesn't sound like Alistair Darling to me) It seems that one area of Reeves' concern is the regulatory regime for bank staff below senior management level. According to the FT 'Under the regime, banks are required to carry out checks on large numbers of staff in risk taking positions to ensure they are suitable for their roles and record them in a public register.' Reeves wants a lighter regime so that banks can focus on growth. So what we need now will be a host of new obscure and complex financial products to get the whole show on the road, and at the same time we can be sure that no-one will dream of creaming off evermore generous cuts for themselves. No-one in the City has an excess of self-interest. And of course when the shit hits the fan the top dogs can repeat the Starmer defense 'It never crossed my desk.'
 
+Unlike the guys who ran London Capital & Finance which according to a judge was a 'failed 'mini-bond' provider [and] a Ponzi scheme that misrepresented itself in a 'widespread, fundamental and systematic' way.' Creditors are now owed £379 million in total. (p.13) Hasn't somebody described the City as something like a Ponzi scheme (as well as a Laundromat)?