back to article Brian Eno's latest composition: A giant Christmas card with Julian Assange on it

Acclaimed lift music composer Brian Eno is orchestrating a mass mail-in to Brit home secretary Priti Patel so the great unwashed can tell her: "Don't Extradite Assange." At 3pm on 3 December, the background muzak technician will pull the sheets off an oversized digital Christmas card (pictured) outside the Home Office's …

  1. Alister

    Lullaby maestro Eno has long been an outspoken supporter of the leaker-in-chief

    I guess he didn't contribute to Julian's bail payment then?

    1. BebopWeBop

      He might have thought about contributing Cage's 4′33″ in that case.

  2. MiguelC Silver badge

    Boring Eno

    His solo music might be boring, but his collaborations with David Byrne are anything but...

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. 's water music

        Re: Boring Eno

        I was disappointed not find some puns on Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks given commentards' fondness for space travel issues and An Ending's frequent use in sci-fi soundtracks.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Boring Eno

          Space is a waste of time, maybe you've all realised

          1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

            Obvious troll is being obvious

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Boring Eno

        'Always Crashing In The Same Car' is quite appropriate for Assange don'tchathink?

    2. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Boring Eno

      The Windows 95 startup chime is underrated.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Boring Eno

      Another Green world is a classic

  3. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Assange is NOT a journalist.

    Journalists should be protected from the state. A free press is necessary to keep government powers in check.

    Releasing any information that comes your way without editing for content, or when it puts lives at risk, is not journalism. At best, Assange is an agitator.

    1. veti Silver badge

      Re: Assange is NOT a journalist.

      I don't think that's what Assange did. I also don't think Assange should be considered a journalist, but on the other hand, "whether he is a journalist or not" should have zero bearing on his legal position, because "journalists" have no special rights that don't apply to everyone else anyway.

      Assange fails journalism because he didn't tell us how he came by the leaked information. That means he failed at the most important part of a journalist's job - establishing a clear provenance or "chain of custody" for the information they publish.

      Not coincidentally, this "how" question is also why he's in trouble.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      Re: Assange is NOT a journalist.

      The "free press" is not a reference to media journalism. It is the principle that communication through various media should not be infringed by the state, or that the state or government should not restrict access to media and technology as a means of restricting the speech of the individual. That it creates some special social class of "the press", who have superior rights of access and protection over the common man, is one of the most pervasive and self-serving lies perpetuated on the world by that same self-serving elite.

      We should all be protected from the state, to the extent that anyone expressing facts or opinion by means of physical or ephemeral media should not face prosecution and ostracism by the state, merely because those facts or opinions are inconvenient or wrong.

    3. MyffyW Silver badge

      Re: Assange is not in jail for being a journalist.

      He's there because he (allegedly) sexually assaulted someone.

      Justice delayed - because of his antics in skipping bail - resulted in justice being denied to his victim.

      Stop shedding any tears for this narcissist.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Assange is not in jail for being a journalist.

        >his victim

        Remind me when he was found guilty of anything again please?

        1. DontFeedTheTrolls
          Headmaster

          Re: Assange is not in jail for being a journalist.

          "Remind me when he was found guilty of anything again please?"

          1st of May 2019, found guilty of skipping bail. It's even linked in the article.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Assange is not in jail for being a journalist.

            Who was the 'victim'?

            1. Carpet Deal 'em

              Re: Assange is not in jail for being a journalist.

              The people who paid his bail.

    4. gotes
      Coat

      Re: Assange is NOT a journalist.

      Assange is an agitator.

      I'm pretty sure he's not a large reptile.

      OK, OK, I'm leaving...

    5. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. hammarbtyp

    Assange != Journalism

    tying Assange to journalism is an insult to journalists everywhere. There are good, honest journalists around the world who are being vilified, suppressed and even arrested. Assange is not one of them, instead he is a parasite that feeds of the ideals of journalistic integrity

    Never much liked Eno's music anyway...

    1. Danny 2

      Re: Assange != Journalism

      Journalists everywhere disagree with you.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_of_WikiLeaks#Awards_and_nominations

      1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: Assange != Journalism

        Hmm the Kings got his lead hat on.

        Love the Ultravox live cover of that song.

      2. SundogUK Silver badge

        Re: Assange != Journalism

        Journalists everywhere are wrong.

      3. hammarbtyp

        Re: Assange != Journalism

        The most significant award was 8 years ago. At that point it was believed Wikileaks was a organisation dedicated to journalistic values. In the subsequent period we have learnt that Assange is primarily concerned about himself even to the point of selectively releasing information to damage certain democratic parties who he has issues against.

        Rather than a crusading protector of free speech, he turned out to be a petty demigod only interested only in his own glory, and screw anyone else (sic)

        Be careful who you make your heroes

        1. Danny 2

          Re: Assange != Journalism

          No Gods, and Precious Few Heroes - Dick Gaughan

          Assange was never my hero. You are admitting he did a lot of good at one point, and I knew back then anyone high profile needed to keep it in their pants.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Assange != Journalism

          I'm sure all the gay men in Saudia Arabia whose details his org leaked were really happy too.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Assange != Journalism

      @hammarbtyp: “tying Assange to journalism is an insult to journalists everywhere”

      If you've done nothing wrong, then you've got nothing to hide ;]

      1. katrinab Silver badge
        Flame

        Re: Assange != Journalism

        So will you give me your online banking password? If you have done nothing wrong, there should be no reason to hide that?

    3. macjules

      Re: Assange != Journalism

      A journalist is a person who collects, writes, or distributes news or other current information to the public. ~ Wikipedia

      Using that as a definition I rather think that Mr Assange can safely call himself a journalist.

  5. Forget It
    Coffee/keyboard

    Out Jezebel Out

    Out Jezebel Out

    https://youtu.be/ysGjmm648ds?t=68

  6. Claverhouse Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Creepy Plus

    God, what a vile little article.

    1. Chris G

      Re: Creepy Plus

      "God, what a vile little article"

      Sponsored by GCHQ,NSA and others.

      1. Clunking Fist

        Re: Creepy Plus

        Sponsored by GCHQ,NSA and others.

        And MSNBC, CNN and others.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Creepy Plus

      what a vile little article.

      Assange? Yes, we know.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Re: Creepy Plus

      Indeed it is. Completely unworthy of El Reg.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Creepy Plus

        Agreed. It's like kicking upwards has gone out of style. Disappointing.

  7. DavCrav

    "He started out as synth player in art ponce band Roxy Music to later embark on a solo career churning out albums with such inspiring titles as "Music For Airports"."

    Thanks for reminding me about this album. I'm right now trying to get my two-month old to sleep.

    Edit: not doing as well as Chopin's nocturnes. Well, apart from No. 13.

  8. the Jim bloke
    IT Angle

    I am very disappointed El Reg failed to mention Enos greatest achievement..

    ..the microsoft sound.wav

    from wikipedia The thing from the agency said, "We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional," this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said "and it must be ​3 1⁄4 seconds long.

    1. Danny 2

      Re: I am very disappointed El Reg failed to mention Enos greatest achievement..

      Eno does have an asteroid named after him. I slagged my ex off by pointing out she shared her name with a dwarf planet. Unfortunately she correctly retorted I share my name with a disturbed asteroid.

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
        Coat

        Sounds like one hell of a family

      2. Lazlo Woodbine

        Re: I am very disappointed El Reg failed to mention Enos greatest achievement..

        Your ex is called Pluto?

        1. Danny 2

          Re: I am very disappointed El Reg failed to mention Enos greatest achievement..

          Pippa. There are susans of dwarf planets named all over this messiverse.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I am very disappointed El Reg failed to mention Enos greatest achievement..

      He worked at the same educational institute that I did. He had left by the time I started there. However the chap who created Orac's startup noise was still working there when I was.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Looking at some of the comments it looks like people are split.

    Should governments come under scrutiny for what they say and do in secret?

    If you say yes then Assange should not be extradited, if you say no you are saying governments can do whatever they want and you don't care.

    Personally I don't see him as a journalist and think the leaks should have been handled in a much more ordered way which is what a proper journalist would have done (though there aren't many left in the main stream media) however some of the information still needed to be released in some form. It's where do you draw the line? It reminds me of the old Terrorist/Freedom fighter analogy, there is no right or wrong in this however I don't think he should be extradited because it sets a dangerous precedence for anyone else thinking of releasing information.

    1. veti Silver badge

      Is he a journalist? No. He didn't, himself, investigate anything. He's a publisher.

      But does that make any difference? I don't believe so. Neither journalists nor publishers have any special rights under the law that don't apply to everyone else as well. If you say "he shouldn't be extradited", you're saying that governments have no right to keep information secret from the public. That's a coherent position, but you want to think it through very carefully before espousing it.

      1. johndeer112

        The US is not his government. And they do have special rights, starting with https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press

        Maybe there are some legitimate government secrets, but warcrimes aren't among them.

    2. SundogUK Silver badge

      The whole point is that it wasn't a leak. Assange has been accused of actively helping Manning to steal the data and make it available to the US's enemies. That is espionage.

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

        He has been accused of, even when it is Assange which I despise, does not equal he is guilty of.

        1. katrinab Silver badge

          I don't think there is any dispute about the fact that he did it. There is a dispute about whether it is the right thing to do.

          1. Danny 2

            I think there is a dispute about that that.

            I am paraphrasing from far distant memory but Edward Snowden said something like Assange offered advice on how to guess a password and the attempt failed.

            The Register regularly tells us to try 123456 and if that fails try 12345678. Does that mean all the El REg staff should face 50 years in a US prison?

    3. Clunking Fist

      "Should governments come under scrutiny for what they say and do in secret?" Most especially if what the govt is doing is illegal.

    4. Carpet Deal 'em

      He probably wouldn't be nearly so controversial had done the responsible thing and redact personally-identifying details that contributed all of nothing to understanding the operation going on.

  10. Jim Birch

    This article would be very thin without a totally irrelevant bitch on Eno's music.

  11. SundogUK Silver badge

    Above you or below you, if someone is wrong AND an arsehole, they need a kicking.

  12. Cartimand

    Showing my age

    Liked his manic synth break in the middle of "Editions of You".

    All went a bit downhill after that.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Christmas card with Julian Assange on it?

    police Interview protocols

  14. tiggity Silver badge

    Looking forward to

    The Eno collaboration, all across the nation

    After obligatory HMHB reference a bit more serious

    Assange does not seem to be the most pleasant human in history, however that is immaterial to the role of WikiLeaks in revealing (often quite shocking) information that powerful interests (be they nation states, corporations etc.) would prefer to keep hidden.

    Allowing extradition for what is (in this case) essentially revealing some arguably very unethical (to put it mildly) behaviour by US is problematic - would we allow extradition of someone who revealed dodgy behaviour by the Norks, Russians, Chinese etc.) The espionage aspect is just a red herring so US can try and pretend its not about preventing leaks of suspect behaviour - after all receiving and revealing just about any "secret" data could come under all encompassing espionage charges.

    1. lukewarmdog

      Re: Looking forward to

      Have an upvote for HMMB who were in cracking form when I saw them last week.

  15. Slabfondler
    Gimp

    A bit unfair, IMHO...

    "Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy" is one of the best albums of it's time, and his work on the 801 Live project is equally good.

    1. myhandler

      Re: A bit unfair, IMHO...

      A *bit* unfair? - it's a nasty piece of writing when it refers to Eno - he's made an enormous contribution to music and produced what are seminal albums.

      Richard Currie shows how ignorant he is when all he can do is make jokes about ambient and Roxy Music. Perhaps you can look up Wikipedia next time?

    2. Poncey McPonceface
      FAIL

      Re: A bit unfair, IMHO...

      The chap's musical legacy is humbling†.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno_discography

      His initial quartet of albums "Here Come the Warm Jets" (1974), "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)" (1974), "Another Green World" (1975), and "Before and After Science" (1977) are widely regarded as mini-masterpieces, influential in the way that Kraftwerk are.

      https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/brian-eno-here-come-the-warm-jets-taking-tiger-mountain-by-strategy-before-and-after-science/

      9.5/10 – HCTWJ

      10/10 – TTMBS

      10/10 – BAAS

      Dunno why AGW is not one of them: “Though the album failed to chart in the United States or the United Kingdom, Another Green World was initially met with high praise from critics. Contemporary reception of Another Green World has been very positive; several critics and publications have placed the album on lists of the greatest albums of all time.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Green_World

      Eno has also contributed significantly to the art of *generative music* which marks him as a greater experimentalist than most in my book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_music

      Whatever you think about Assange, how Eno's legacy is treated in this article *because of his association with Assange* is breath-takingly ignorant.

      † (NB: I'm not saying that quantity = quality)

      Studio albums … 26

      Compilation albums … 13

      Video albums … 8

      EPs … 2

      Singles … 7

      Collaborative albums … 26

      Production … 43

  16. Muscleguy
    FAIL

    FAIL

    Assange is NOT ‘Serving 11moths’ he is on remand pending extradition. If you as a journalist cannot get this simple fact right in this snarkfest then you also cannot call yourself a journalist.

    1. Charlie Boy

      Re: FAIL

      I think you'll find he is serving the 50weeks he was sentenced to on 19th May. After that sentence is completed next year he maybe held on remand pending extradtion, depending how long the extradition proceedings take.

      Personally I think he's an A***hole and should be locked up for that, however I'm not so sure he should be locked up for publishing information that, at least in part, should have been released. For example I believe privacy is a right that should be protected from encroachment including from governments, and we might not have had GDPR (yes I know it's a pain), and more particularly the way our data is shared with the USA.

      1. kaicarver

        Re: FAIL

        If people were locked up for being a***holes the prisons would be a lot bigger.

        Seriously though, this is what passes for an argument online: he’s not nice, so he should rot in jail. This is the opposite of respect for due process, rule of law, and freedom of speech.

        It encourages the worst kind of sloppy, freedom-killing practices: “it is widely known” he is bad, so f**k him. Thanks for making a lot of three-letter government agencies very very happy.

      2. Brangdon

        Re:50 weeks

        His 50 weeks sentence ended on 22 September. Presumably it was reduced for good behaviour, or something. He is now being held purely over the US extradition request.

        See for example https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/sep/14/julian-assange-to-remain-in-jail-pending-extradition-to-us.

    2. TRT Silver badge

      Re: FAIL

      Has he been forced to wear a real wool Christmas jumper and locked in a lepidopterarium?

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: FAIL

        OK, OK. An apameatarium then, if you must be ultra pedantic, but (1) people are more likely to recognise the term Lepidoptera and (2) a moth breeding facility is also called a lepidopterarium. So I don't see what the problem is. Is it Christmas jumpers that caused offence? Would you prefer he was wearing a Nordic pattern sweater instead? Plenty of those in Sweden.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    so the great unwashed can tell her: "Don't Extradite Assange."

    this is a shameless (and pointless) self-promotion, sorry. Instead, it would be best to start collecting donations to hire the best mother(...) legal team there is on this planet for the upcoming Assange US trial....

  18. Far out man
    WTF?

    Let us hope that Assange does not get to that seminal work " Here come the warm jets"

  19. Martin-73 Silver badge

    Sigh

    Look I don't particularly like Assange... but if he helped chelsea manning... then that's one plus point. The US system is becoming more and more evil as time goes on... and I don't believe he was even IN the USA when the 'incidents' occurred? Therefore not a crime.. period. End of.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Guilty of providing succour to the enemy

    He did help Trump.

    Burn him!

    He's a witch!!

  21. Danny 2

    I can't believe he's not a nutter

    In context, and with respect to the two dead yesterday, Usman Khan always seemed like a better candidate for a prison cell or deportation.

    I don't ever quote Twitter or the Telegraph here but this is worth mentioning. The guy who took the knife from the wannabe terrorist was off duty British Transport Police, but the "ordinary Londoners" who first tackled him and were last to let go of him were also prisoners or ex-prisoners attending the same Cambridge University conference. This is from Tim Stanley of the Telegraph:

    Story of the London Bridge attack is incredible. He was a convicted terrorist, out on a tag, attending a "Learning Together criminal justice conference". Before you judge: ex-cons helped wrestle him to the ground, including "a killer on day release".

  22. e^iπ+1=0

    Send him home

    How about just deport him back to Oz when he's served his time, and let them handle extradition to the US or whatever?

  23. headrush
    Big Brother

    Last I heard, the investigation against Assange was dropped some years back. Then a new, presumably more pliable, Swedish prosecutor reopened the case, against even the original complainants wishes. The UK govt refused to allow the Swedish police to interview Assange while he was in the embassy. There was never an international warrant for his arrest or even specific charges filed. One of the complaints against him was a peculiar item of Swedish law whereby a split condom = rape.

    Make of it what you will. Its just the US being their usual arm twisting selves AFAIK.

    Big brother because history should not be twisted to suit a political agenda.

  24. Rich 2 Silver badge

    That is out of order!!

    I take exception to you having a pop at Roxy Music.

    That is all.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like