PLEASE HELP FOOD BANKS: BUY AND PUBLICISE THIS SONG.

This post isn't going to be any surprise to what Stuart Campbell would call "Alert Readers" (and I don't think that Wings is the only blog who has them). You knew it was coming.

The scandal of Food Banks is one of the greatest indictments on this government of heartless toffs. Yes they around in the days of Tony Blair but the growth of their use over this couple of years of "welfare" reforms has been a national disgrace.

I read a tweet the other day from a lady in Aberdeen who said: I'm voting YES because when I look out to sea, all I see is oil rigs; when I look inland all I see is food banks.

"Even people in work are on breadline"

Although this post isn't essentially about what way people are voting in the referendum, it goes without saying that a great deal of the problem of hungry kids and even hungrier parents can be traced back to the Westminster "Welfare" reforms of Iain Duncan Smith, which have been roundly condemned by the Scottish government and by the majority of Scottish MPs in Westminster. 

Smith's chaotic management of London's Department of Work and Pensions; the reforms he has brought in that have failed dismally (and those, like ATOS, that were brought in by a seemingly equally heartless Labour Party before 2010); the demoralised staff who have no earthly idea what the next change, or failed IT system will bring; the relentless rise in the cost of housing, electricity, gas; the stagnation of wages; removal of the tie between inflation and benefit increases; the introduction of bedroom tax, zero hour contracts. All have exacerbated an already unacceptable level of poverty in what likes to call itself one of the world's richest nations.

Well, a lot of Britain isn't.

Food banks, Red Cross parcels... call them what you will. They are a return to soup kitchens. 

And that is an abomination in an oil rich country.

It almost seems like it has been done on purpose to make David Cameron's legacy, The Big Society, look like it is a reality. But Labour in the UK has promised to be every bit as hard on social security as the Tories have been, so there is no change from London on it way.

Yes, people are helping. Every week in most towns there is a supermarket or a bank or a charity shop collecting food to take to the local foodbank. And individuals, sometimes poor people themselves, are making their contributions.

Some of it, of course, is. And at our expense.
(It they must have a pretentious French menu you'd think
they'd get someone who knows enough French to type it,
someone who knows about accents!!)

Most people do what they can. No one really needed David Cameron to make us a big society when it comes to people going hungry.

But some do even more. 

For example, these guys, The Libations, went into a studio and recorded the inspiring Darren Docherty song "Caledonia".

When Richy Duncan sent me the link to this song a week or so ago I started playing it while I was working on another post. But very quickly I stopped working and started listening. I'm a bit fussy about music. I'm not really a musician myself, but I have been playing the piano by ear since before I could reach up and see the keyboard. Actually I have sensitive ears. Badly played or sung music really grates...and I can pick out a bum note at 100 meters... but good music really inspires.

This, I promise, is really good music. First rate musicianship and sung with passion by a singer who lives every word of the lyric.

Tubby isn't going short, and that shirt didn't come out of Primark!

If you're a Scot, a Yes Scot or a No Scot, you'll be touched. You couldn't fail to be.

And, after all, whichever way we vote; and whichever way the country votes, we must do something about children going to school hungry and parents who have to go without food so that their bairns don't.

The song is available to buy on Amazon and iTunes. (iTunes seems to be the best bet financially, not to mention the only one for which I have a link!)

But please don't buy it till after midnight UK time Saturday. We want the sales figures to count in one week!!

We can make this big if we spread the news. Most people will have some sort of social media contacts  Facebook, Google, Twitter...or indeed other blogs. Please help the Libations to help food banks by getting this out there and getting it bought.

A chart entry is not out of the question if enough people buy it in the first week.

I know the guys will be grateful to you, but far more importantly the hungry people will be even more grateful.

Thanks in advance...

PS :

PRESS RELEASE

CALEDONIA BY THE LIBATIONS

SINGLE RELEASE DATE 27TH JULY 2014 – ITUNES & AMAZON

CHARITY SINGLE – ALL PROFITS TO GO TO SCOTTISH FOOD BANK CHARITIES

New ‘flash recording’ of Caledonia goes viral to raise money for food banks.

Compelled by their shared disbelief and sense of injustice at the growing Food Bank crisis in Scotland, Martin and Ross Henderson hatched a plan to record a beautiful new arrangement of Caledonia based around the inspiring vocal of their friend and singer Darren Docherty.  They hope that catching the mood of the nation will highlight the issue and raise some much needed funds for the many voluntary organisations that are working so hard to alleviate the problem.

“Like so many people, we saw the heartbreaking footage of Denis Curran telling a hushed Holyrood Committee in no uncertain terms, just how desperate the situation really is.  Spurred on by his powerful words, we thought we’d try to help.“

Once the musicians had been assembled, a studio was booked and the daunting task of rehearsing, arranging, recording and mixing a version of the song, worthy of its reputation and popularity began.  There were some nerves as the group met for the first time and started to run through the song, with no clear idea how the day would pan out.  And then something magical happened.

Within a matter of hours a new arrangement was conceived that adds a powerful twist to the old favourite. This process was captured on video shot during the session.

The gamble appears to have been a good one as it's racked up thousands of hits within just 48 hours of being shared on youtube. Hopes are now high that the single could reach the charts.

The band have already been offered a slot at Party In The Palace in Linlithgow on Saturday August 9th  2014.

  

Caledonia by The Libations is available now on iTunes and all profits go to food bank charities.