{"id":94484,"date":"2026-08-01T08:01:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T07:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=94484"},"modified":"2026-08-01T08:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T07:05:17","slug":"rise-up-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/08\/01\/rise-up-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise up now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/07\/31\/the-bottom-is-rising\/#gsc.tab=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video had a theme<\/a> based on a campaign slogan used by Troy Jackson in the USA. It was:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We are from the bottom, and we are rising.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yesterday evening I received an email from one of the regular commentators on this site, Simon Slade. He said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Hi Richard<\/p>\n<p>As a long-standing amateur guitar player and a bit of a composer, I was inspired a week or so ago to write a reggae protest song using a combination of my own work and AI. Yes, even at the age of 74. It was pretty much there but for a few of the final lyrics that I wasn\u2019t quite happy with. However, watching your video this morning gave me the few lines I was looking for!<\/p>\n<p>Obviously I\u2019ve no idea what your or Jacqueline\u2019s, or your boys' taste in music is, but I suspect, like mine, it\u2019s very wide. I hope you enjoy it. Obviously best played loud through a good sound system!<\/p>\n<p>Kind regards<span style=\"color: #888888;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Simon<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I listened to the song, and really like it.<\/p>\n<p>Jacqueline and I had, in fact, just been listening to Baroque songs for lute and a single voice by Thomas Dunford and Lea Desandre (both amazing musicians) and then embraced this song with enthusiasm.<\/p>\n<p>So, without further ado, give this a listen:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px); height: 150px;\" title=\"Rise Up Now\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/player-v2\/?i=htqkk-1b263e9-pb&amp;from=pb6admin&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;rtl=0&amp;fonts=Arial&amp;skin=f6f6f6&amp;font-color=&amp;logo_link=episode_page&amp;btn-skin=c73a3a\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\" scrolling=\"no\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>These are the lyrics:<\/p>\n<p>Why are we still counting every coin<br \/>\nWhile the Man in Parliament still pretends it's fine<br \/>\nFood up, rent gone up, not even the plate is mine<br \/>\nSame cheap food, unpaid bills, same old tricks? NOT THIS TIME<\/p>\n<p>Rise up, rise up now<br \/>\nHands together, no backin\u2019 down<br \/>\nThey use all their lies against us<br \/>\nWe are at the bottom, we are rising now<\/p>\n<p>Come hear the drum in the shelter, come hear the people hum<br \/>\nNo more bending for the few while the many bite their tongue<br \/>\nFrom the food-bank to the back gate, we are sick of your pill<br \/>\nWe want decent food and equality, not the lies from your hill<\/p>\n<p>Rise up, rise up now<br \/>\nHands together, no backin\u2019 down<br \/>\nThey use all their lies against us<br \/>\nWe are at the bottom, we are rising now<\/p>\n<p>We are not born for the waiting room, not born to stay polite<br \/>\nWhen the hungry see the ledger, they can read the numbers right<br \/>\nSo sing it low, then sing it loud, let this whole land know the plan<br \/>\nWhen greed feed on suffering, then the people make a stand<\/p>\n<p>Rise up, rise up now<br \/>\nHands together, no backin\u2019 down<br \/>\nThey use all their lies against us<br \/>\nWe are at the bottom, we are rising now<\/p>\n<p>No more lies, no more divide<br \/>\nEveryone needs, can offer to provide<br \/>\nJust some care with a steady hand<br \/>\nFeel the change, coming to this land<\/p>\n<p>Rise up, rise up now<br \/>\nHands together, no backin\u2019 down<br \/>\nThey use all their lies against us<br \/>\nWe are at the bottom, we are rising now<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>And might I ask one favour? Please do not spend the day posting comments on the curse of AI. I have heard them all. It is a reality. Unless you can prove you railed against Dylan and his use of an electric guitar (and if so, why?) I am not interested, not least because I need a hassle-free day.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday&#8217;s video had a theme based on a campaign slogan used by Troy Jackson in the USA. It was: We are from the bottom, and<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/08\/01\/rise-up-now\/\"><em> Read the full article&#8230;<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,204,35,16,147,224,106,223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging","category-economic-justice","category-economics","category-ethics","category-inequality","category-neoliberalism","category-politics","category-politics-of-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94484"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94486,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94484\/revisions\/94486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}