Politics

If guitar music, as we’re told, is entering its niche-interest jazz phase, rap is having its psychedelia moment. Experimentation is the norm, boundaries are tumbling, anything goes. And if Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky and Future are the era’s fab four, and Kanye West increasingly its Syd Barrett, Run the Jewels must surely be the Monkees. A pre-scripted collaboration between Killer Mike and El-P with a cartoonish comedy aesthetic – this is the duo who tempered their darker second album Run the Jewels 2 with a remix album that used only cat meows for beats – they are nonetheless creating some of the most direct, masterfully crafted and memorable music of the age. As the pair arrive, miming to Queen’s We Are the Champions beneath two huge inflatable zombie hands making the band’s trademark gun-and-fist sign, their double-act dichotomy is instantly apparent. Mike is the old-school master, hyper-rapping boastful verses laced with jabs at … [Read more...] about Run the Jewels review – a political awakening beneath the jokes

Ahir Shah made his name – and secured a 2017 Edinburgh comedy award nomination – with polemical standup about the disintegrating state of the world. This year’s set, Duffer, tries something different. It’s about his grandmother, who was deported from the UK – and from Shah’s family home – when he was five, and whom he met for the first time in 22 years on a recent trip to Gujarat. It’s a show with lots to recommend it, even if Shah’s style probably lends itself better to political than emotional comedy. There is a political dimension to Duffer, mind you: Shah uses his gran’s enforced exile from Britain to make strident points about immigration policy. But mainly this is a personal set, about his ethnicity – there’s a gleeful opening routine about British Indians’ secret success (“Jews are taking a lot of our heat!”) – his struggles with depression, and the tug on this atheist millennial of … [Read more...] about Ahir Shah: Duffer review – political standup gets personal

Theresa May has briefed senior ministers on the status of the Brexit negotiations as concerns grow in some quarters of her cabinet and party that she is prepared to agree an indefinite customs backstop to ensure an open border in Ireland. The prime minister summoned members of the Brexit “war cabinet” on Thursday to build support for the terms of the withdrawal agreement and try to head off resignations before seeking the backing of her full cabinet and the rest of her party. Ahead of the critical European summit next week, some cabinet members want any backstop arrangements – which could place all of the UK in a customs union after the end of the Brexit transition period in 2020 – to be clearly time-limited. But EU officials say that May has conceded that it will not contain a firm end date. Instead, the UK would stay in a customs union, likely to be described as a customs arrangement by the prime minister, on an indefinite basis. However, the British … [Read more...] about Brexit: May faces cabinet backlash over indefinite customs union

Unemployment could rise sharply in Northern Ireland if the UK crashes out of the EU, the head of the civil service in the region has said in a letter to local political parties. Security in the region could also be undermined, David Sterling said, adding: “The planning assumptions include the possibility that, in some scenarios, a no-deal exit could result in additional challenges for the police if the approach appeared to be unfair or unreasonable for some of those most affected.” Sterling warns that EU tariffs could kill off some farming and food processing interests. “In effect, there is currently no mitigation available for the severe consequences of a no-deal outcome,” the letter says. “These consequences do not arise from the possibility of checks or controls on either side of the land border, but would simply be the direct consequence of the legal position that would apply. This point is well understood by the business community.” The letter … [Read more...] about Brexit threat to Northern Ireland jobs revealed by civil service chief

Andrew Montgomery runs the last shop before the Irish border. Set 60 yards back from the swirling River Foyle on the site of a demolished customs post, his enterprising pet supply business is in danger of being swept away by post-Brexit tariffs. The firm’s Puppy and Junior range of dog snacks is a paragon of European cooperation: the ingredients come from Kilkenny in the Irish Republic, the bags are manufactured in Italy and France, and the product is assembled in the UK. Dano’s Petshop has thrived as the border between Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, and Lifford, over the bridge in County Donegal, in the republic, has been physically and psychologically erased. Where an 18ft army checkpoint, known as the Camel’s Hump, stood during the Troubles, 18ft-high stainless-steel sculptures of dancers and musicians now overlook non-stop flows of traffic between the two countries. Half of Montgomery’s customers, he estimates, come from the UK, half from … [Read more...] about Post-Brexit tariffs will ‘wipe out businesses’ near Irish border