When Britain's lost Rock Star met his old schoolmate, the Prime Minister (URL-Titel: The rock star and the prime minister)

Blog entry by Telegraph rock critic Neil McCormick after Leven's concert at London's Slaughtered Lamb to launch Gothic Road (February 2010). McCormick calls Leven “Britain's lost rock star” and the most talented singer-songwriter who never became a household name, and lists the stations of his life (expulsion over drugs, Doll by Doll, attack, heroin, CORE Trust with Diana). The core is an anecdote Leven told on stage (McCormick stresses that Leven is not always a reliable narrator): in October 2009 Leven accompanied Ralph McTell to his honouring by the All Party Folk Music Group in the House of Commons; there Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Leven's schoolmate from Kirkcaldy, persistently asked McTell whether “Streets of London” should not be called “Streets of Paris” for economic reasons, and praised the situation of the homeless under New Labour. Leven calls Brown a “political hero”. Note on the duet with McTell (“Cornelius Whalen”) on Gothic Road (release 4 April 2010) and listening recommendations from Gypsy Blood to Troubadour Heart.