Author: Jonathan

Radiohead, one of the UK’s most popular and political rock bands, have turned down a request to play at Live 8.
Singer Thom Yorke has campaigned on some of the same global issues as Live 8, such as the reform of trade laws.
But a band spokesman said they could not play because the band were too “spread out” and guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s wife had just given birth.
Yorke and Greenwood did appear on the Band Aid 20 single. The Live 8 concerts take place in five cities on 2 July.
The London leg of the event in Hyde Park will feature Madonna, U2, REM, Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney.
Fans have until midnight on Sunday to enter a text message competition to win one of 72,500 pairs of tickets.
Radiohead spokesman Murray Chalmers said: “They were asked but they can’t do it.
“Jonny is out of action because he and his wife have just had a baby and the rest of the band are spread out all over the place at that time.”
The spokesman added he did not know whether the band endorsed Live 8 and its aims.
From the BBC.

The Guardian Unlimited is reporting more about Thom’s recent campaigning for The Big Ask:
Radiohead are texting the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs. Thom Yorke, Radiohead’s Chief Black Pencil, is campaigning for Friends of the Earth’s The Big Ask – a crusade for a new law to force the government to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 3% each year – and, as tactics, he is frightening Margaret Beckett.
“Margaret doesn’t want to debate carbon emissions or climate change with Thom on Channel 4 News because she had a very bad experience with Boy George on Question Time,” says a press officer. “So he’s texting her.”

Check out some great pictures by Andrew Kendall of Thom supporting “The Big Ask” event yesterday here.

Thom is featured in a new film called Eat This! which is a documentary that explores the reality behind the livestock industry, and the ethics of eating meat.
Inspired by Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine and Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize Me documentaries, Eat This! is a collage of vox pops, animation, guerilla reportage and interviews with experts and celebrities.
In his interview, Thom outlines the reasons he stopped eating meat: “A list of things I guess. First thing was Meat is Murder, The Smiths. The second thing was getting sick all the time every time I ate meat -just getting sick a lot and the third thing was I started going out with this girl and I wanted to impress her so I pretended I’d been vegetarian all along and I immediately felt a lot better, a lot healthier. I was concerned, as many people are, about that you’re not going to get all the things you need in your diet, you’re going to get sick all the time, but the exact opposite happened to me, so I never looked back, it was never a problem straight off.”
Asked whether teenagers should care about factory farming, Thom retorts, “Yeah, they should care that society deems it necessary to create this level of suffering in order for them to eat food that they don’t need, they should care about that. There is enough suffering in the world and if you choose to physically ingest it, then you should at least be aware of what you’re doing rather than assuming that that’s your right as a human being to do it.”
You can view a clip on Thom’s interview at http://www.eatthis.org.uk/star_veggies.html.

Radiohead front man Thom Yorke is today (May 25) calling for thousands of people across the country to back The Big Ask, a new national climate change campaign to make the Government legally responsible for reducing the UK’s impact on global warming.
It comes as a NOP survey shows that nearly three quarters of the public believes the Government is not doing enough to tackle climate change.
The UK is failing to meet its climate change targets and The Big Ask campaign, launched by Friends of the Earth, challenges the Government to bring in a new climate change law. The law would force the Government to take responsibility for the UK’s contribution to global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions by three per cent every year.
The Big Ask campaign is backed by a new report by Friends of the Earth which shows how the Government can meet carbon dioxide reduction targets without nuclear power. Carbon dioxide emissions have risen under Labour.
The new law would force the Government to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, by three per cent every year. This would make it easier and more affordable for the UK to meet its target of cutting 1990 carbon dioxide levels by 60 per cent by 2050, and avoid the need for more expensive and drastic action in the future.
The public can back the campaign by logging onto www.thebigask.com (live from May 24).
A NOP survey for Friends of the Earth, published today, confirms that the public wants the Government to show leadership on climate change. The poll revealed that:
– 73 per cent do not think that the Government is doing enough to tackle climate change;
– 55 per cent think that the Government should be taking the lead on climate change – 26 per cent said individuals; 13 per cent plumped for business.
Friends of the Earth director, Tony Juniper said:

“Climate change is the biggest threat the planet faces. Urgent action is desperately needed. But despite Government promises to cut carbon dioxide levels, emissions are continuing to rise. The Big Ask campaign aims to make the Government legally responsible for tackling climate change. We want a new law requiring ministers to cut pollution by three per cent each year, making it easier and cheaper to meet to the UK’s carbon dioxide reduction targets. But we also need the public to help by asking the Government why it isn’t acting on global warming, and asking their MPs to back the Climate Change Bill. It could be the most important question you ever ask.”

You can read more at:
Radiohead’s Yorke in climate call (BBC News)
Thom’s greenhouse nightmares (Radio 1)
Thom Yorke On ‘Big Ask’ Campaign (Xfm Online)
Yorke Unperturbed by Gallagher Criticism (Contactmusic.com)
Radiohead star backs climate change law (ITV)

Okay, maybe we did. It’s been busy, okay? Anyway, we want to wish a very happy birthday to Phil Selway who celebrates his 38th birthday today.