We pick up the story after our hero and key to the secrets of graphic design, logos, and intellectual property (Tristram Hunt, for it is he) has twice submitted his name unsuccessfully for selection as a Labour parliamentary candidate…
After being parachuted out of New Labour’s Milbank Palace into a safe seat in Stoke, the biographer of Engels and picket line-crosser spent five years slashing Labour’s majority before letting it be known that he would be giving up the seat at a time when the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn were at their most embattled.
[Can’t get enough of that PHWOAR!!! factor? Get your Apoplexy Tiny Letter here.]
He had substantial political differences with the new leader, y’see. And probably thought someone else would do a better job.
After taking up his position at the V&A, Tris’s ongoing confusion manifested itself in the acquisition of the t-shirt below.
As the nation’s storehouse for contemporary design and fashion, we are delighted to acquire the Corbyn T-shirt. It is also a rather strong statement of our belief in curatorial autonomy
said the crazy revolutionary.
Now, as Westminster front-benchers go, Corbyn seems to be far from the worst – although my Jewish friends have some strongly-held reservations about his positions regarding the Middle East. But I heard him chatting about his allotment on the World At One yesterday, and he was absolutely in his element.
So, the t-shirt’s kinda perfect. Nice and simple, easily digestible, don’t think about it too much.
Odd that Corbyn thinks it “difficult & problematic” for Scotland to have a separate legal system given that we already have one 😖 https://t.co/s7jZKwhdTI
— Joanna Cherry QC MP (@joannaccherry) August 27, 2017
As a former academic Scots lawyer… WTAF?
Cos thinking about things too much lands you in the same boat as the original Kopyright Liberation Front, the KLF.
The KLF, for it was they, were formerly The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. And The JAMs were aggressive plagiarists, legally threatened by Swedish pop miserablists ABBA, as well as joyous pretend-y collaborators with Whitney Houston.
Then, of course, they got famous – as evidenced by the pic above. And – as evidenced by the pic above – that didn’t lend itself to overthinking things. Overthinking things gets you in trouble.
The KLF ended up, it is claimed, burning £1MM.
Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty have just made one of their occasional re-appearances in a KLF-like guise, after a self-imposed 23-year moratorium on discussing the money-burning incident. It seems that they’re still shell-shocked.
To launch their new book, 2023, the JAMs orchestrated an event – It’s not a book launch – in Liverpool, utilising volunteer fans in roles as gravediggers and the recipients of tattoos, and celebrating an imaginary – more or less – band called Badger Kull.
It seems like the fans were joyous to be there, and there was all sorts of interaction and interactivity. Maybe when you’ve been around the block, that’s the way to go – to actually touch people – localism, personal contact, imaginary bands, and fuck the brands.
