Oh The Humanity!

(A War Child, Yesterday)

"War, huh, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin'" Sang Edwin Starr in 1969. Well for one you get to see really cool explosions on the telly. Seriously though, war is a terrible thing and it has filled countless people's lives with needless suffering. If you need any further proof than that then recoil in horror at the news that Keane are to release a single for the charity War Child on October 29th.

The Night Sky, according to NME.com, is written from the perspective of a child living in a war zone. Growing up in notorious conflict area East Sussex, this is a harrowing subject Keane frontman Tom Chaplin knows only too well. Having spent many a morning avoiding unexploded landmines on his way to class at the £8404 a year Tonbridge Boarding School in Kent, Chaplin is not only the perfect candidate to write about the horrors of living in a war zone, but he's also a big fat arsehole.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for charities such as War Child helping to stop bloodshed across the globe but this whole culture of celebrities trying to save the planet sticks in my craw. If you criticize for a second the self congratulatory actions of these pompous egoists then you get labeled a despicable swine. The worst offender of this lot is fat mouthed bully Bob Geldof. Despite the fact that his overblown Live 8 extravaganza was organized to raise awareness of the plight of African Nations, the entire event suffered from a glaring lack of any minority artists on the bill. Certain hard bitten cynics argued that the event was merely staged to rehabilitate the careers of certain faded rock stars.

While these claims are unfounded and petty even by my standards I cannot help get wound up every time pampered jet-setting hypocritical dungheaps like Keane release a song for charity. Rather than buying the garraunteed awful single, just give the money straight to War Child if you really want to contribute to the cause. Simple as. I won't be doing it though seeing as there's nothing I hate more than war children. Well possibly Keane.

S.B.