The following was part of a concert review of Frank Turner’s solo tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first EP “Campfire Punkrock” earlier this year.
Now, nearing the end of the year, the actions and statements and basically everything about Katharina Reiche, the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy are still driving me up the wall. So I felt the need to pick this post as the first to repost here.
The one song I was most looking forward on at this particular tour and most enjoyed singing along to was “Thatcher Fucked the Kids” [lyrics / a live version in 2023] which I was pretty sure I’d hear Frank play.
In 2022, when Frank started to bring this song out of retirement for a bit and played it on a few ocassions I had already shared some of my thoughts. This time I was determined to write a proper long explainatory piece about why I can relate to that song SO much these days.
I spent a whole day on it. I had already gotten a draft of about 1.500 words and still was only half way through everything I thought I wanted to say. I stopped, reconsidered my approach and realized I’d never be able to be as clear and concise in my interpretation as this clear and concise song deserves. (That’s why Frank is the successful songwriter and I’m… not)
Let’s just say the song definitely still holds up, as Frank stated on stage each night. It holds up in the sense that governments – as in Germany at the moment – are too often run by folks who
[….] just closed your eyes to the other side
[are] a guy in a suit who wouldn’t lift a finger for anybody else.
[….] as soon as they were settled as the richest of the rich,
They kicked away the ladder, told the rest of us that life’s a bitch.[….] sold the future for the highest bid
If you’re interested in my take on the last one I could now easily give you a 30 minute rant on how our current Minister of Energy seems to neither care about the climate crisis nor about how to decarbonize the energy industries, because she used be a lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry. My rant would include terms like subsidies and electrical grid. What can I say? I’ve been working in the climate action field since 2012. Ranting about these current policies is kind of in my job description.
But that was the point in the 1.500 words draft when I realized: nope, a detailed dissection of the lyrics is not going to work.
My frustration with the current German government is based on all the lyrics quoted above. It’s based on the government’s ongoing tendency to protect the interests of the rich and wealthy while at at the same time punch down and make life harder for the working class, for single mums, for people who are a bit less fortunate and who haven’t been as privileged as most of the people in charge.
My frustration is based on the ongoing accusatory implication that anyone, who is in need of financial or other aid from the government is lazy, stupid and just needs to be taught a lesson by tightening the screws of the benefits system.
My frustration is very much based on the ongoing – often not even veiled – xenophobia or plain racism from our chancellor Friedrich Merz.
And anyone who looks [different] than me
Makes me check for my wallet and my phone and my keys,
They all really are fucking most of us over at the moment.
I have no idea how we will ever be able to bridge the rift they seem to very purposefully create with their policies and their “them vs us” narrative which only feeds into the neo fascist AfD party playbook.
But when no one ever smiles or ever helps a stranger,
Is it any fucking wonder our society’s in danger of collapse?
In a different context – the intro to “Be More Kind” – Frank talked about all of that each night as well. How we need to fight the fascists who are out there marching. But he also said the following (and I was determined to record it at my 2nd gig so I could remember and quote him on it)
Let us not become angry,
Let us not become hateful,
Let us not become small,
Let us not become incurious.Let us stay loving and kind and funny and joyous and human
And all of those good things.
Singing along to “Thatcher….” in a room full of like minded people helps me to handle my frustration.
Having Frank remind me to stay joyous and human and all those good things actually helps me to stay hopeful in this world we live in.
[First posted online on 25th April 2026]
