I don't want to change the world, I'm not looking for a new England ... oh, wait, I am.
Billy Bragg is campaigning to change the House of Lords. It is something which could be applicable to Canada too. For many years there has been a campaign for an elected Senate, though I doubt the crustaceans who are active in Canada would have much in common with Bragg.
You've got to hand it to Billy Bragg. Most of his peers are either playing the Bournemouth Pavilion in an eighties nostalgia night or they're resuscitating flatlined careers eating caterpillars in the Australian outback. But Bragg, the troubadour of the Kinnock years, has his gaze fixed on higher things than a reunion tour with The Human League or a dose of C-list reality TV. He still believes a pop star can change the world - just a little bit.For years he has been doggedly campaigning for a cause that could not be less glamorous. He has not written a song about it because it is, by his own admission, "dry as a bone". Yet his effort could be about to achieve what all those earlier, more dramatic struggles - for the miners, against the bomb - never did. He could, just for once, be on the winning side.
Bragg's cause is the reform of the House of Lords (you can see why a three-minute pop song has so far proved elusive). Like a lot of people, he has a scheme for what should replace the current mix of bluebloods, cronies and party hacks - all of them unelected. Unlike a lot of people, when he pesters MPs with his ideas, he tends to get his calls returned.
Maybe we should hook him up with Ed Broadbent.
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