“…government exists to serve and respect the people and can only do so by trusting the people; that every individual has the right to privacy and that personal information is exactly that — personal; that every individual has a right to justice — access to proper representation, to know the evidence against them, and be punished only if a normal court of law has decided the law has been broken; that every individual has the right to communicate, move about, assemble and express him or herself without the state obstructing, interfering with or monitoring those activities; that government and the state are not the same thing; that good government is only possible when these liberties are respected and government is fully accountable to the people.”
Excellent article by Henry Porter in today’s Observer newspaper about civil liberties under attack in the UK. Link below to the full text.
Pet Shop Boys have arrived in Spain and are looking forward to their first summer show at Icónica Santalucía Festival in Seville today!
Recent Pet Texts
Pet Shop Boys enjoyed a beautiful start to their summer tour with festival shows in Seville, Lisbon and Madrid over the past week. After a short break, the “Dreamworld” tour is set to continue in Spain, Italy, Wales, Belgium and Sweden, before finishing in England at the end of August. All details at the link below. Photo: sirbermejo/Instagram
Great show at the Kalorama Festival tonight in Lisbon and lovely to meet Jae and Gus of Boy Harsher backstage. We love the mix they did for us of “New London boy”.
A fantastic audience in an amazing venue. Last night in Seville was a great start to our summer tour!
Photo: Holger Schwark
We introduced a new band member in Seville last night. Bubba McCarthy has taken over on drums from Afrika Green who is pursuing her studies. Good luck, Afrika, and welcome Bubba!
Looking forward to the first concert of the summer tour tomorrow. It’s hot in Seville! Neil and Chris xx
A new edit for the Gui Boratto remix of Sam Taylor-Wood’s “I’m In Love With A German Film Star”, originally produced by PSB, is now available to stream at the link below. The track is part of the new “Kompakt 500” compilation, celebrating Kompakt Records’ five hundredth release.
To celebrate today’s vinyl reissue of Pet Shop Boys’ “Discography”, two fans from the unofficial PSB “In Depth” podcast series are discussing in detail all 18 songs featured on the compilation. The first part of the podcast is out now at the links below, with part two to follow next week.
We are very sad to hear that Alan Yentob has died. Alan was a legend in British TV, responsible for some of the BBC’s finest programmes including the documentary series, “Arena” and “Imagine”. We were lucky enough to be the subject of one of his “Imagine” documentaries broadcast last year. He was a stimulating person to spend time with and a great supporter of all artistic endeavours. We send our sincere condolences to his wife, children, friends and colleagues. Neil and Chris x