I’ve been working on some songs, old and new, which are loosely connected by being about England or English places. Of course the subject of England is a hot one at the moment and if you’re like me, you’ll despair of the direction we are heading in. Politically, there are some signs of progressive policies around the margins but I can’t honestly say I see things improving for the foreseeable future. I’ve certainly been encouraged by the number of younger people taking an interest and I can only hope that my generation, I’m talking 40 and up, the ones currently in charge of everything don’t make a complete mess of things.

I’m not a patriot. I’ve always been relatively happy to be English, after all most people are something, but it doesn’t define me, I don’t think we are better by any measurement. I’d betray my country before I betrayed my loved ones that’s for sure. Most of the songs are not however, political with a big flashing capital P. I’m hoping to finish them all by the end of the year and then decide how to make them available for your pleasure.

Here’s one of them. The lyrics were mainly the work of Shaun Belcher a poet and artist and are concerned with the degradation of the beautiful English countryside. I recorded it in my living room to test a new microphone and it’s not turned out too bad.