Billy Bragg
by Andrew Collins
He was a punk. He was a soldier. He was a flag-waver for both the Labour Party and the miners. He is Billy Bragg, best known as a passionate protest folk singer and a tireless promoter of political and humanitarian causes all across the world. His life encapsulates so much about his generation: born in the late '50s, passions forged by punk, politics shaped by Thatcherism, hope provided by the end of the Cold War and ideology galvanised by what he sees as a post-ideological 21st century. Serious about compassion and accountability, he likes a laugh too, and is enduringly popular. Billy Bragg remains to this day a much-loved songwriter and performer whose campaigning has now spanned four decades and shows no sign of relenting. Still Suitable For Miners is his official story, updated for the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Life's A Riot with Spy Vs Spy, and including the recording of his tenth album as a solo artist, Tooth and Nail.