Kevin Morby is a singer-songwriter with a ton of solid jams and some interesting lyrics. Here are some of our favorites. 1. "That city music, that city sound, oh how you're pulling my heart strings, let's go downtown." - "City Music" The title track off of Kevin Morby's new album City Music starts out with a less rock feel to it and instead, with a more relaxing folk indie vibe. These lyrics basically embody the entire song, which is to say that the city brings the best energy and definitely the best music.

2. "And all the music in my ears, sounds beautiful down here, and I could hear the drummer roll, and I could her the choir cry." - "Dorothy"

3. "With you always at my sideAs we tell all those stories told." - "Dorothy"

Another great section of this same song that reminds us how brilliant and meaningful it is. Morby personifies his guitar as someone that has always been with him through thick and thin. With his music he is able to tell stories and the lyrics express how grateful he is for that.

4. "Walk with me on the wild side, with my head in the air full of some child's cry." -"Wild Side (Oh The Places You'll Go)"

5. "May we fill these lungs with laugher, and may we shake these bones with style." - "Aboard My Train"

6. "But all of them are aboard my train, but all of them are a friend of mine, and oh my darling, can't you see, oh that babe, and you, are a part of me." - "Aboard My Train"

Yeah, another good lyric from the same song...We just can't choose! Towards the end, Morby talks more and more about all of the people and places he's loved and seen.

7. "In the garden where we built a home, black flowers...Like everything once is now over, just has everything now has died." - "Black Flowers"

8. "If you come to find out who you are, may you find out, may you find out who you are, and if you come to search for what is lost, then may you find it, may you find it at any cost." - "Parade"

9. "Nowhere to go, step out of my shadow, take me as I am, a man." - "Cut me down"

10. "I'm out wandering the streets, silently carrying a song, until it gets to loud, and comes rushing out of my mouth." - "Destroyer"

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10 Poetic Kevin Morby Lyrics - Baeble Music (blog)

In a fast paced world where careers often come first, putting off that sick day could be more dangerous than you think.

Picture your perfect sick day. What does it look like? Is it one of comfort; curled up under a quilt, with candles and relaxing music playing? Is it you, binge watching your favourite show with a hot drink cradled in your hands? Whatever it is, the ideal sick day is best filled with relaxation.

It's common knowledge that the best way to get better is to slow down, take a breather and let our body recover. So why then, are Brits taking fewer and fewer sick days?

A survey by National Accident Helpline has revealed some worrying statistics about the UK's working population. Nine out of ten Brits (89%) admitted to dragging themselves out of their sickbeds to go to work, with over half (53%) having taken no sick days in the last six months.

Research by the Office for National Statistics also shows an overall falling trend in the amount of sick days taken between 1994 and 2016. Whilst it's understandable that money or job security worries keep us going in when we probably shouldn't, we really need to consider the impact that this is having on our health.

Doctor Jamie Shah says you risk making things worse if you go to work when you're ill.

"You do need time off when you are ill to recover properly, because if you are working continuously you aren't getting that extra nutrition and rest you need.

"You also risk causing yourself more stress, which is proven to reduce the body's immune system." Working through illness also affects your mental ability, says psychologist Joan Harvey.

"If you go to work when you're ill you're more likely to make mistakes.

"The issue is that there are a lot of tougher absence policies in the workplace, so people are terrified to not go in," she says.

Tech entrepreneur Andrew Ward doesn't go to work when he's ill out of fear, but because it's essential that he isn't beaten by illness. If he's too ill to make it into work, he will still work from home. He hasn't had a day off work for half a year.

"If I'm ill I try to work; I would have to be very ill to not do anything. I hate being forced to take a day off work due to illness. It takes all the power and control away," he says.

His aversion to duvet days has led to intense stress.

"You do sometimes get periods of very high pressure from pushing yourself when you're ill. You could be forced to put extra time in over the weekends and evenings.

"I'd say stress is a contributor to me getting ill."

His driven nature has paid off, leading to a successful career as Managing Director of an app development agency and he is happy with his fast paced life, but this doesn't mean there's not a price to pay for refusing to slow down when he's ill. He and his wife Anna spent four years without going on holiday.

Andrew's idyllic weekend is not one spent in front of the telly, but where he gets stuff done. He's been known to work 13 hours a day because he struggles to switch off.

It's not just men working in the high octane business world who suffer; I'm a 21-year-old female student whose fear of missing out and refusing to take a step back has put my health at risk.

There have been weekends when I've slept for only a few hours because I'm trying to juggle a social life as well as working, and I have taken myself to university when I should have been bed-bound with flu.

This means I suffer with chronic stress and recurrent illness. I ended up in hospital four times over six months with Peritonsillar Abscess; a potentially serious complication of tonsillitis. The first time, I had dragged myself into university before giving in and realising I needed to call A&E. I carry on despite wanting to curl up under a duvet.

Even if I do manage to stay in bed, I'm not actually allowing myself time off. Mentally, I'm still attempting or obsessing over work, guilt coursing through my groggy body as I click Watch Next on the latest Netflix binge series.

This is partially to do with guilt. Modern life is extremely demanding and students are put under immense pressure to compete with thousands of others to get a job when we graduate.

These pressurised feelings of guilt are understandable, especially as Britain has such a workaholic culture, but working a lot isn't even making us work better. The latest release from the Office for National Statistics shows that we just aren't that productive as a country. Output per hour worked in the UK was 15.9% below the average for the rest of the G7 advanced economies in 2015.

Long, demanding working hours are also having a negative impact on our mental health.

Almost one in four employees from the 2016 Britain at Work Report said that they have had to miss work over the past 12 months because of stress-related conditions and the Work Family Balance report found that workers often feel their life is skewed towards work to the detriment of their families.

Our need to get things done may be down to money issues and internal or external pressure. The National Accident Helpline survey found that reasons for working when ill included money worries (25%), pressure from colleagues (11%) and pressure from the boss (19%), with well over one in 10 having been threatened with disciplinary measures as a result of taking sick leave.

This doesn't come as a surprise to life coach Lucy Owens.

"People come to me with extreme dissatisfaction with their work but keep going because they don't want to be seen as a slacker," says Lucy.

PR Executive Claudia Barnett has often learnt this the hard way.

"Sometimes I've been known to massively push myself to the extent of burn out. It happened towards the end of last year where I just couldn't push forward anymore and literally had to stop my life for a while to recover," 23-year-old Claudia says.

She has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), often known as 'pure OCD', and says her condition worsens when she's stressed, run down or lacking in sleep.

"This is why 'slow living' is important to me- to give myself and my body a chance to recover," she says.

Hearing that you need to take more time off when you're ill can be frustrating when you have bills to pay and a family to feed, but learning how to look after yourself and slowdown could prevent a devastating burnout.

Illustration by Meg Mundy

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Beware The Burnout: The Danger Of Overworking - HuffPost UK

Tom Colicchio wants every child to taste an apple by the age of three. Thats just one of the many odd comments the celebrity chef and restauranteur makes in a new video for his liberal political action committee (PAC), Food Policy Action. Over the past several years, Colicchio has worked really hard to position himself as a political mover-and-shaker. He endorsed Hillary Clinton and introduced her at a rally in Pittsburgh the day before the election (didnt help).

Last summer, he visited the Republican and Democratic conventions to promote his Plate of the Union campaign, passing out free nibbles from a food truck while urging lawmakers to make food policy a priority. He has testified on Capitol Hill for mandatory genetically modified food labels and against any cuts to subsidized school meals.

The Twitter timeline of this temperamental chef is a nonstop rant against President Trump and Republicans. (He tweeted me the day after the election, demanding to know where Trump stood on climate change and what I told my two daughters about Trumps election. Then he blocked me.)

Colicchio is rounding up his foodie friends, many of whom were pals with the Obamas but are now marginalized by the GOP, to fight the administration and Congress over the 2018 Farm Bill, a massive piece of legislation that directs spending on hundreds of programs from crop insurance to food stamps. This bureaucratic behemoth is renegotiated every five years; the 2014 farm bill cost nearly $500 billion.

In his video, the same guy who charges $275 for an eight-ounce Wagyu beef filet at his Las Vegas steakhouse says that providing good, healthy, affordable and safe food is not just my job, its my passion. Colicchio declares we all have a right to healthy food and accuses the Trump administration of putting Big Ag and their profits ahead of health, safety and consumers.

Colicchio lives in some alternative universe that does not reflect the reality of America, where most of us have quick access to the cheapest, safest, and most abundant food supply in the world. Instead, Colicchio bemoans how healthy food should not be a luxury afforded to a few or for those who live near farmers markets. A tomato shouldnt cost more than a fast food burger. A tomato does not cost more than a fast food burger, except maybe in Manhattan, where the chef resides.

In April, Colicchio visited House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers in DC to lobby for his liberal policy agenda. He manages to tie every issue from immigration to national security back to food. He told MSNBC that our system doesnt support food that we eat. We are really great at producing corn and soy, but were not great when it comes to producing food thats nutritious that people want to eat. Must be news to American ranchers and fishermen, not to mention all the wheat, citrus, vegetable, potato, and nut farmers across the country.

Whats galling about Colicchio is he professes to be a champion of affordable-food-for-all but pushes ideas that will raise the price of food, limit consumer choice, and prevent farmers from using technologies like genetic engineering that boost crop yields. For example, Colicchio is demanding federal funding for organic agriculture in the Farm Bill: We can counter abundant pesticide use by diverting some of our tax dollars from supporting chemically intensive conventional cropsto supporting organic agriculture, giving farmers greater incentives and assistance to ease the transition to organic production.

This is not only a bad idea but contradictory to Colicchios professed goals. Organic food is more expensive. Organic food is not healthier or more nutritious. And there are reasons American farmers refuse to grow organic crops (only about 1 percent of U.S. farmland is dedicated to organic crops): its more labor-intensive, time-consuming, and produces lower yields. Contrary to the wistful, locally-grown appeal of organic food, most of it is imported here from Mexico, Eastern Europe, and South America.

Colicchios false claims about dangerous pesticide use on non-organic crops may actually prevent lower-income people from buying fruits and vegetables. Some recent studies find poor people may avoid purchasing fruits or vegetables if they cant afford the organic version because they believe regular produce is full of harmful pesticides. Organic farms do use pesticides, just non-synthetic types, but Colicchio and his foodie buddies insist on peddling an organic fantasyland where weeds never grow and farmers tenderly pick tiny bugs off plants with their bare hands before releasing them unto a rainbow sky where they live happily ever after.

The chefs long knives will also be out to defend Michelle Obamas school lunch program (he thinks school lunch should be free across the board) and the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which he says needs to be more robust. He and his foodie fighters want more subsidies for fruit and vegetable growers and higher wages for farm workers. Kinda funny from a guy who just closed his second restaurant in New York City in less than a year and blamed skyrocketing rents, which are mostly due to that citys labyrinth of taxes and government regulations.

Colicchios agenda is not really a food fight; its just another big-government mandate dressed up in kale and quinoa.

Julie Kelly is a National Review Online contributor and food policy writer from Orland Park, Illinois. She's also been published in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, and The Hill.

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The Foodies Are Back To Fight For Counterproductive, Porky Ag Policies - The Federalist

Ralphs was the supermarket of choice for Inglewood hairdresser Elise Santos until grocery chain Aldi arrived in Southern California last year.

Aldi, a German-based discount grocer, opened its first U.S. store in 1976 but reached California only last year. Its now rapidly expanding and quickly has become Santos go-to market.

I prefer Aldi because it is smaller than grocery stores like Ralphs, she said, and the employees are friendlier and more helpful.

With 38 stores in Southern California, Aldi is just getting a toehold in the local grocery industry. But with the region already one of the most competitive in the nation, Aldi is adding to the pressure on Ralphs, Albertsons, Wal-Mart and other big chains as well as smaller grocers such as Sprouts to keep loyal shoppers and avoid losing market share.

The market is intense already, and when you put another horse in the race the field gets very crowded, said Ron Johnston, who publishes the industry-tracking Shelby Report.

Its about to get even more intense now that Amazon.com has agreed to buy Whole Foods Market Inc. for $13.7 billion. Whole Foods, the leader in the natural and organic food sector, has 465 stores including 85 in California. Whole Foods is widely expected to get more affordable under Amazon, which has transformed other retail segments such as books and electronics in part by driving prices much lower.

A few would-be rivals have already flamed out in the cutthroat Southland market. Fresh & Easy and Haggen Inc. both closed their stores in the region after failing to gain a steady following, due in part to operational and pricing missteps.

Undeterred, Aldi which mostly sells its private-label groceries at low prices plans to open at least 20 additional stores in Southern California in the next 12 months, said Liz Ruggles, Aldis marketing director.

Its part of the companys plan to spend $3.4 billion for an additional 900 stores nationwide by the end of 2022 on top of the 1,600 it already operates in the United States. The chain also plans to spend another $1.6 billion to remodel 1,300 of its existing U.S. stores by 2020.

That will further raise the stakes for competitors in Southern California, whose $45 billion in annual grocery sales makes it the largest U.S. grocery market, according to Johnston.

Besides Ralphs, the other players include Albertsons, which also owns Vons and Pavilions; Stater Bros.; Trader Joes; and big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Target Corp. that have aggressively expanded their grocery aisles in recent years.

Although Aldi is a newcomer to the area, the family behind the chain already has grocery ties to Southern California: Aldi is controlled by the Albrecht family in Germany; through a family trust, the Albrechts also own Monrovia-based Trader Joe's.

Albertsons is the biggest operator in Southern California with 20.6% of the market, according to the Shelby Report. Kroger, which also owns Food4Less, is second with 18.7%.

Albertsons said it was prepared to fend off Aldi and any other rivals, including Amazon and others who are trying to expand grocery deliveries.

Competition in the grocery industry is expected, Albertsons said in a statement. Our focus is, and will continue to be, to run great stores throughout Southern California. Ralphs did not respond to a request for comment.

All grocers battle over price, convenience, service and selection, with prices especially crucial in an industry where the companies scratch out only a penny or two of profit for every dollar of sales.

Indeed, Kroger said this month that lower prices were cutting into its profit margins and said its national same-store sales that is, sales of stores open at least a year and excluding gasoline fell for the second straight quarter.

Asked why Aldi would fare better than Fresh & Easy or Haggen in Southern California, Ruggles said we have four decades of experience in the U.S. and what were doing has proven to be a model thats working.

And another German-based discount grocer, Lidl, is coming right behind Aldi. Lidl on June 15 opened its first 20 U.S. stores in three Eastern states, and its entirely possible that Lidl could invade Southern California one day, Johnston said.

Another Inglewood resident, Patricia Foster, said shes sold on Aldi because the prices are half of what you would pay at Trader Joes, Ralphs or Target.

Aldis stores are smaller and carry fewer items than conventional supermarkets, and they rely on more customer interaction to keep overhead costs down. For instance, customers bag their own groceries and it costs a quarter to use a shopping cart (with the quarter returned when the cart is returned).

The downside is that means its sometimes not a one-stop shop.

I buy everything I can here but they have a limited selection, and I often have to go to another place to buy specific items, Santos said.

Another shopper, retired schoolteacher Jennifer Baugher, said she didnt buy produce at the Aldi Inglewood store because I can get better quality at Trader Joes or Ralphs and Im willing to pay more for that. But she said Aldi is very cheap compared to prices at [other] grocery stores in L.A.

Ruggles said Aldi offers the majority of what customers are looking for and that its been aggressively expanding its offerings of produce, fresh meat and organic products.

The research firm IBISWorld recently noted that smaller-store formats, such as those operated by Aldi, Trader Joes and others, appeal to many consumers because they allow shoppers to choose between a select number of high-quality products rather than thousands of brand names.

More supermarkets will follow this trend in order to appeal to a growing millennial demographic ages 18 to 34 that prizes premium private-label brands in convenient store formats, especially foods aimed at the health-conscious, IBISWorld said.

Whole Foods is aware of that trend and plans at least six smaller stores, called 365 by Whole Foods, in Southern California that are aimed toward millennials. The first one opened in Silver Lake a year ago.

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Southern California's grocery battle heats up with the spread of discounter Aldi - Los Angeles Times

War and Labor

Early on, Nestl pushed its business overseas, and it opened its first American factory in 1900. The outbreak of World War I led to rich government contracts for condensed milk and chocolate. By the end of the war, Nestl had 40 factories around the globe. In 1938, the companys factory in Brazil led to the invention of Nescaf, the first commercial product for instant coffee.

During World War II, the Swiss companys global operation supplied both sides of the conflict. Nestl won a contract to feed the German Army, and the food giants American factories sold Nescaf to the United States military.

That approach would later come back to haunt it. In 2000, the company agreed to pay $14.6 million to settle Holocaust-era claims that some of its companies in countries under German control used slave labor. As a rule they were not worried or uneasy about the situation, and as long as production was maintained they had no thoughts of intervening in the management or personnel policy of their subsidiaries, said a 2001 report by a Swiss historian.

Nestls growth accelerated after World War II. In 1947, the company merged with Maggi, the maker of the Fondor seasoning brand. It was followed by the acquisition of:

Crosse & Blackwell (a British maker of preserves and canned foods) in 1960

Findus frozen foods in 1963

Libbys fruit juices in 1971

Stouffers frozen foods in 1973

In the 1970s, Nestl executives predicted a sluggish future for the food industry and diversified into cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The company acquired a stake in LOral, the worlds No. 1 cosmetics company, and bought Alcon Laboratories, the No. 1 company in eye care products.

When Helmut Maucher took over as chief executive in 1981, he said that he saw his task as getting this somewhat the sleepy company to move ahead. The first German to lead the Swiss company since Mr. Nestl, Mr. Maucher set off a wave of food industry megamergers in the 1980s.

In 1984, Mr. Maucher (pronounced MAO-ker) made a $3 billion deal to acquire the Los Angeles-based dairy and foods company Carnation. At the time, it was the largest acquisition not involving oil in American corporate history. Like Nestl, Carnation had a long history that began with milk and then diversified. Founded in 1899, Carnation sold condensed milk to prospectors embarking on the Yukon gold rush. It later expanded into Friskies cat food.

In 1988, Nestl spent $5.5 billion to buy the pasta giant Buitoni and the British chocolate maker Rowntree. And in 1992, the company won a battle for Source Perrier, the worlds leading mineral water company.

Maucher has used acquisitions to help pep up the corporate culture and get the whole organization thinking about growth, Paul Strebel, a professor at the Imede business school in Lausanne, Switzerland, said in an interview in 1989.

In 2002, Nestl struck a $2.6 billion deal to buy the maker of Hot Pockets and Toaster Pizza snacks. But a joint bid with Cadbury Schweppes to buy Hersheys for $12.5 billion was rejected.

As the worlds largest food company, Nestl has been tied to a number of food scandals.

In 1976, Nestls marketing of baby formula in developing countries was tied to higher infant mortality rates. Critics said that Nestl sold its substitute for breast-feeding without regard for a lack of clean drinking water and refrigeration. A seven-year boycott of its products ended after Nestl agreed to change its marketing practices in compliance with World Health Organization bylaws on infant formula. Critics said the company began to revert almost immediately.

A 1998 report by Unicef said that children from Mali and Burkina Faso were brought by traffickers to work in Ivory Coast, the worlds top cocoa exporter. Small farmers could then sell the cocoa to the worlds big chocolate makers. A New York Times investigation later found that the widely cited number of 15,000 child slaves working on Ivory Coasts cocoa plantations was exaggerated.

In 2007, Canada confirmed an investigation into price-fixing in the chocolate industry. Nestl Canada later settled a class-action lawsuit for $9 million without admitting guilt.

In 2008, Hong Kong found that the toxic industrial chemical melamine in Chinese-made milk supplies had sickened 50,000 children, caused at least four deaths and led to global recalls.

And in 2015, a Nestl report cited widespread labor and human rights abuses in the seafood industry, exposing companies that bought seafood from Thailand to endemic risk. Sometimes, the net is too heavy, and workers get pulled into the water and just disappear, one Burmese worker said, according to the report. When someone dies, he gets thrown into the water. The report followed an article by The Times on sea slaves.

Last month, The Times reported that Nestl pays a $200 annual permit fee and nothing else to pump more than 130 million gallons of water a year from a well it owns in Michigan. That Nestl does it for free? Thats just crazy, said Jeff Ostahowski, vice president of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation. Businesses in the United States often get free water if they are willing to drill and pump it.

Nestls growth over the years has been driven by its expansion beyond the kitchen. Today, it sells more than 2,000 brands around the world.

It has recently tried to respond to shifts in regional appetites. In the United States, the chocolate business is waning as people eat healthier. Nestl said this month that it was exploring a sale of its American candy business.

That change may not come soon enough for investors. The hedge fund billionaire Daniel S. Loeb has urged the company to also sell its stake in LOral and sell off nonessential operations. As grocery shoppers go online and choices expand, classic food brands have stalled. Nestl now has to compete with a rising demand for organic foods and meal kits.

You cant take the way of life of one country and try to impose that on the whole world, seeing yourself in control and everyone else as a satellite, Mr. Maucher told The Times in 1989. Then youre not global. You have to remember there are different tastes around the globe.

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How Nestl Expanded Beyond the Kitchen - New York Times

If you struggle with stress or anxiety, you are far from alone. In fact, most US workers say they suffer from stress on the job. Thankfully, technology and science are teaming up to fix this growing issue with a whole slew of meditation and relaxation based tools. One example that's currently sweeping the industry is Aura, an app that helps you reach inner calmness through short, guided meditation sessions. Right now, you can get lifetime Premium access for just $59.99 via the Popular Science Shop.

While few of us have time for yoga classes and prolonged mindfulness, we can all spare 10 minutes. Aura helps you hit maximum relaxation in the minimum time by employing artificial intelligence that tailors your meditations to your state of mind.

When you open Aura, the app first asks about your mood and how long you have to meditate. Sessions last between 3 and 10 minutes with accompanying audio that has been crafted by meditation teachers and therapists. Aura even helps you track your mood over time, so you can see the improvement.

As a Premium member, you get unlimited sessions for life. Worth $399, Aura Premium lifetime subscriptions are now just $59.99 for a limited time.

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Aura uses artificial intelligence to deliver personalized meditations - Popular Science

Courtesy Holistic Life FoundationRobert W. Coleman Elementary, a school in Baltimore, Maryland, has a pretty unique approach to discipline. Instead of making unruly students stay after school or go to the principals office, teachers at Robert W. Coleman refer them to the Mindful Moment Room. The way this room looks is anything but punishing; in fact, its big purple cushions, stuffed animals, and beautiful artwork make it cozy and welcoming. In the Mindful Moment Room, students are paired with an instructor. For fiveminutes, the student is allowed to speak with the instructor about what happened. For 15more minutes, the student is led through mindfulness exercises such as breathing or yoga. Doing yoga can have great health benefits for kids.

But an unruly elementary school kid wouldnt possibly sit still and be quiet for 15minutes of meditation in school! Right?Wrong. This method has seen very impressiveresults. Most of the children do cooperate for the 20 minutes theyre in the room, but the results dont stop there. Incredibly, Robert W. Coleman Elementary has had no suspensions throughout the whole 2016-2017 school year. You read that rightover 300 students and not one suspension! Children can even request to go to the Mindful Moment Room themselves, and many do. Here are some discipline tips for parents.

The Mindful Moment Program, which is also in place at the nearby high school, was created by a Baltimore-based nonprofit called the Holistic Life Foundation. HLF also sponsors an after-school mindfulness program called Holistic Me, whichhelps children de-stress, offers tutoring, and even takes them on field trips to teach them about the environment.You wouldnt think that little kids would meditate in silence. And they do, saysKirk Philips, the program coordinator for Robert W. Coleman. Philips even remembers a Holistic Me Christmas party, where the kids had to meditate before opening their giftsand they did it! It was beautiful, hesaid.

Courtesy Holistic Life FoundationIf you need any more proof that the program is having an impact on the kids,HLF co-founder Andres Gonzalez remembers this adorable story. One Robert W. Coleman mothertold him, I came home the other day stressed out, and my daughter said, Hey, Mom, you need to sit down. I need to teach you how to breathe.'

Plus: heres a closer look athow breathing can improve mindfulness.

Source:upworthy.com

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This School Replaced Detention with Meditationand the Results Are Truly Mind-Blowing - Reader's Digest

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1972: Imagine is, more than anything, a love song, a quiet celebration of respite while the world all around is striking notes of discord and fear. Photograph: AP

Forty-six years after being recorded John Lennons Imagine is still generating headlines. Earlier this month the process to give Lennons wife Yoko Ono a songwriting credit began and Donald Tusk, president of the European council, used its lyrics to send a message to the UK over Brexit last week. In addition, during the recent election campaign, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced that the ballad was his favourite song. What is it about Imagine?

John Lennons Imagine is a crap song. Leaving aside what I think about the Beatles (lets just say Im not a fan), as well as my less-than-positive feelings towards Lennon himself, the song is, simply, a bad one. Overly sentimental at best and patronising at worst, everything from the infuriatingly catchy opening plinky piano keys to the basic, boring, irritating lyrics makes me want to rip out my ear canals. And the video? Its just as bad. We see Lennon and Yoko Ono strolling through the foggy, leafy grounds of a country estate (all while Lennon avoids steaming up his ever-present yellow-tinted glasses), before arriving at the front door and seemingly teleporting inside. The whole thing does little more than point out the irony of singing about owning no possessions as you muck around opening windows in an under-furnished, but very grand, large, white room.

The lyrics, bastardised by everyone from Cee Lo Green to European council president Donald Tusk, are eye-roll worthy in the extreme. Green changed Lennons atheist line and no religion too to the tamer and all religions true, so managing to make Lennons original bar even clunkier than it was already. Tusk, meanwhile, felt it wise to invoke the lyrics when talking about the possibility of the car crash that is Brexit somehow being reversed. Who knows? Tusk began at this months EU summit, you may say Im a dreamer, but I am not the only one. Because if theres one thing that the never-ending Brexit saga has been missing, its the chance of success being seen as as unlikely as world peace. On further thought, maybe the analogy is apt.

Perhaps the worst thing about Imagine is that despite all its chat of dreaming, the song definitely exists in the real world. The second-favourite chorus for every dude with greasy hair, a crap voice and a badly tuned guitar to sing in the early hours of a festival jam session the No 1 spot goes to Wonderwall which, for all its sins, at least is fun to sing in a big group Lennons song is determined never to die. As a teenage choir member I remember singing Imagine on repeat at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, perhaps the last place on earth that makes me feel hope for the world. As Ive grown older, each and every cover version, from Emeli Sands London Olympic ceremony closer to the impressively terrible Unicef group effort of 2014, has been more painful to listen to than the last.

On paper, the no borders, no religion, no possessions politics of the song gives off a pseudo-communist vibe I want to get behind, but I cant. Every line is just so sappy, and I cannot stand the level of earnestness needed to sing any of it with a straight face. Whenever I hear Lennon warbling imagine all the people/living life in peace, all I can think of is Id feel a hell of a lot more peaceful if I could imagine Imagine out of my life forever.

Yes, it was conceived and recorded in a Georgian country house with an estate of 72 acres, yet asked us to think of a world without ownership. Its lyrics are facile. Unlike the very best popular music, it was out of kilter with its time: the beginning of the 1970s were famously tricky years for the brotherhood of man.

But look at the man who wrote Imagine: it was John Lennon, the angriest and most cynical of figures, who had dramatically renounced idealism in his previous album (The dream is over, what can I say?) and was embroiled, throughout this time, in the twin tribulations of primal scream therapy and child custody hearings over Yoko Onos daughter, Kyoko.

Think of Imagine as a wispy moment, rather than the clarion call it has become, or the punchline, pace Donald Tusk, of a bad joke. It is an intimate, vulnerable song, an exhortation to love and peace that sounds exhausted, from beginning to end. There is a Sisyphean tension in that delicate four-note motif that introduces each line of the verse. Here we go again, I really believe in this, but I know, deep down, its not going to happen.

Too introspective to be anthemic, not pompous enough to make a stirring hymn, Imagine is the tentative vision of a secular sceptic, who knows that imagination will never be enough. And that is what makes it so moving. The evanescence of hope is Lennons theme; never has the utopian dream sounded so fragile.

In the months that followed the release of the song, Lennon reverted to his toughened self. In a spat with Paul McCartney, conducted in the letters pages of the Melody Maker, he all but disowned the delicate beauty of his song: So you think Imagine aint political? Its Working Class Hero with sugar on it for conservatives like yourself!! It really wasnt, but the exchange showed Lennons desperation to reconcile the disparate parts of his artistry.

His next album, the poorly received Some Time in New York City, dispensed with the sweeteners altogether. He threw himself into contemporary American politics with irritated disregard for artistic form. It was a furious elegy for the brotherhood of man, crudely conceived, sloppily delivered: Attica, Attica state, were all mates with Attica state.

The oneiric chords of Imagine never seemed so far away. But they have lasted. And now Yoko Ono is rightly recognised as Lennons co-writer on the song. It was her 1964 poem Cloud Piece that helped inspire its writing, as Lennon himself acknowledged. And it is a reminder that Imagine is, more than anything, a love song, a quiet celebration of respite while the world all around is striking notes of discord and fear.

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Is John Lennon's Imagine patronisingly sappy, or a moving meditation on hope? - The Guardian

Apr 4, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Avalanche center Mikhail Grigorenko (25) and Chicago Blackhawks right wing Marian Hossa (81) battle for the puck during the third period at Pepsi Center. The Avalanche won 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado Avalanche 2017 Draft: Analysis of Round 4 to 7 by Nadia Archuleta

According to areportfrom Mike Chambers of the Denver Post, the Colorado Avalanche are not going to extend Mikhail Grigorenko a qualifying offer. Thats nonsense. And, nonsense is starting to become the norm for Joe Sakic.

Let me make something very clear from the beginning. I do not think that Mikhail Grigorenko had a spot in the lineup next season. Hes a natural center, but mostly played wing in Colorado. However, his best performances were always when he was playing center, and the Avs have a current logjam at that position.

So, its likely he would have played wing again, and he hasnt show he can do that. He is a great third line center asset, but those are likely J.T. Comphers minutes for the foreseeable future. Hes also not a great skater, and thats probably what really hurt him with the current mold of the team.

Sure, he might not have had a spot in the lineup, but that doesnt change the fact that this was an excercise in stupidity.

In two years with the Colorado Avalanche, Grigorenko played 149 games, scored 50 points, was a -12 and averaged 14 minutes of ice time a night. He had a career year for 27 points in 2015-16, and a career high in goals at 10 in 2016-17. He averaged third line minutes, and he was just a bit below third line production.

Nonetheless, hes still also only 23 years old, and will be until the end of next season. Hes also a former No. 12 overall draft pick. And he averaged a 57.8 percent face-off percentage this year. Youre telling me that youre going to give all that up for free just because hes not the best skater?

Tomfoolery.

Maybe Grigs was asking for far too much money. Maybe the Avalanche cant find a spot for him in the lineup next year. And maybe there is even a chance that he is a pain in the ass as a locker room presence (I doubt it). Even if all three of those things were true, you cannot deny that this was another in a long list of boneheaded moves by Joe Sakic.

To give him away for free is ridiculous. Hes 23 years old didnt Sakic say something about getting younger? a former top 15 overall draft pick and has shown signs of improvement. He could be traded on his own for at least a fourth round pick and is definitely a good inclusion prospect to tip the trade scales.

Unfortunately, Sakic said sayonara, yet he extended Duncan Siemens ANOTHER QUALIFYING OFFER, this is insane!

Gabriel Bourque too! Sure, maybe it was money again, and Siemens and Bourque are cheaper to qualify. But, the organization hasnt really given Siemens much of an opportunity, and Bourque is an obvious constant AHLer. Grigorenko, on the other hand, has 217 games of NHL experience, and is still young.

I thought it was a mistake when he was exposed in the expansion draft, but this is an even bigger blunder.

Im going to bring it up again. I dont know if it has any merit, but it has to at least be considered.

What will Nikita Zadorov think of this decision?

We know that him leaving for the KHL is a possibility. What if Mikhail Grigorenko chooses to go play in the KHL (which, by the way, sources are reportingas a likelihood)? Is it not at least a bit of a possibility that Zadorov decides to take the moneyand play with his friend, in Russia?

Hes played his entire NHL career with Mikhail Grigorenko, that could be a contributing factor in his decision-making coming soon.

Finally, lets not forget the obvious. The Colorado Avalanche just gave up on one of the big assets they acquired in the Ryan OReilly trade. They didnt even get anything in return for parting ways.

My guess is that the Las Vegas Golden Knights choose to pick him up on the free agency market come July 1. That way they can get both of the assets they wanted during the expansion draft, Calvin Pickard and Mikhail Grigorenko.

Even if the Knights dont take him, you can bet that someone will count themselves blessed that hes essentially a free acquisition. Maybe it will even be the Buffalo Sabres.

Is anyone else infuriated by this news? I dont care if they didnt want him playing on their team anymore, hes an RFA with value and they gave him up FOR FREE.

Tomfoolery.

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Colorado Avalanche Choosing Not to Qualify Mikhail Grigorenko is Tomfoolery - Mile High Sticking

The Hindu

Jawan kills self in city ashram, blames superiors in note The Hindu They said Yadav booked a room at the Swami Narayan Seva Ashram in Mahalaxmi on Saturday and had been staying there since then. On Monday morning, when he did not open the door for a long time, the guest house management opened the door ... Army sepoy hangs himself in south Mumbai ashram, police find suicide noteHindustan Times Mumbai: Soldier commits suicide in Narayana Sewa AshramDaily News & Analysis Army sepoy hangs self in Mumbai ashram, suicide note names officersMid-Day India.com -Mumbai Mirror -NYOOOZ all 10 news articles »

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Jawan kills self in city ashram, blames superiors in note - The Hindu