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From The Desk Of Martin Carr: Gina Miller

Martin Carr first made a name for himself in the early ’90s as the guitarist/songwriter of the Boo Radleys, whose Everything’s Alright Forever (1992), Giant Steps (1993) and Wake Up! (1995) remain essential listening from the Britpop era. The Boos disbanded in 1999, and Carr began releasing records under the bravecaptain moniker for the better part of a decade before issuing Ye Gods (And Little Fishes) under his own name in 2009. Carr is back with third solo LP New Shapes Of Life (Tapete), a compact, sophisticated and personal pop album inspired in part by the death of David Bowie. Carr will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.

Carr: British politicians in 2018 are a collection of cowards, nincompoops and charlatans. Our government front bench alone is stacked with dishonest, self-serving, party-before-country (and self-before-party) rogues. The readiness of a government to throw parliamentary democracy under the bus in order to sate the prejudiced whims of newspaper editors and pound shop Himmlers after a referendum that was won on the promise of more democracy, more parliamentary power was, well, unsurprising to say the least. Gina Miller challenged the authority of the British government to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union using prerogative powers, arguing that only Parliament can take away rights that Parliament has granted. Not one of our politicians copied suit, the establishment howled and stamped their feet, our judiciary was threatened by a national newspaper. Miller was abused and received death threats, but she won. The Supreme Court ordered that Parliament had to legislate before the government could invoke Article 50. Democracy had won the day, and we have one woman to thank. Of course, once it went to Parliament they all voted for it anyway because they are dicks.