Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Archive for Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Support the RNLI!

Posted in Politics with tags Fascism, Nigel Farage, RNLI, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, xenophobia on September 8, 2026 by telescoper

I see that the fascist mob that is nowadays given free rein by the UK police to roam the streets, block traffic, close ports, and generally do whatever they like, has now, at the behest of wannabe Führer Nigel Farage, turned its attention to the brave men and women of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Volunteers of the RNLI have had their photographs and other personal information circulated in the cesspool that is X/Twitter in an attempt to intimidate them. The reason? For rescuing people in danger of drowning in the English Channel.

Only the lowest of the low would attack these brave and selfless volunteers who risk their own lives saving lives at sea. As a regular donor to the RNLI I have today increased my contribution and will be wearing my RNLI pin badge in support of the brave men and women who regularly risk their lives to save those in distress at sea.

Incidentally, in case you were wondering, the RNLI also serves Ireland: there are 59 lifeboats based in 45 stations in the Republic as well as Northern Ireland. It also over two hundred years old. Here’s a short video celebrating the bicentenary in 2024:

If you wish to donate to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution then you can do so here.

3 Comments »

Lord, Let Me In The Lifeboat

Posted in Jazz, Politics with tags Bunk Johnson, Jazz, Lord Let Me In The Lifeboat, RNLI, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Sidney Bechet, xenophobia on September 16, 2019 by telescoper

Yesterday I noticed a now-typical outburst of British mean-spirited xenophobia in that people are cancelling their donations to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution on the grounds that it spends a massive 2% of its budget saving lives abroad rather than in the UK. Or at least claim to be cancelling donations. Judging by the kind of people commenting on Twitter I’d bet than none of them has ever donated anything to anyone in their entire crab-faced existence. The face of `Global Britain’ as represented by the Daily Mail gets more umpleasant by the day.

Anyway, as a regular donor to the RNLI I have this morning increased my contribution and will be wearing my RNLI pin badge in support of the brave men and women who regularly risk their lives to save those in distress at sea.

Incidentally, in case you were wondering, the RNLI also serves Ireland: there are 59 lifeboats based in 45 stations in the Republic as well as Northern Ireland.

Anyway, I don’t want to let all this get anyone down so I’m sharing this piece of music which sprang to mind. Lord Let Me In The Lifeboat was recorded in 1945 for the Blue Note label by a band led by Sidney Bechet and Bunk Johnson. The latter had just come out of retirement courtesy of Sidney Bechet’s brother Leonard, a dentist, who furnished trumpeter Johnson with a new set of false teeth to allow him to resume playing. Not a lot of people know that.

Understandably, Bunk Johnson’s chops were not in great shape on this session but Bechet’s certainly were! When I was a lad I used to spend a bit of time transcribing clarinet solos from old records, and I remember doing this one by Sidney Bechet. The notes in themselves are not hard to play, but few people could generate that heavy vibrato and rich tone!