It’s a trademark of the McCartney songbook: Silly Love Songs, My Love, Maybe I’m Amazed, When I’m 64, Martha My Dear – the list could go on and on, including his solo work outside of The Beatles and Wings. When people say “they don’t make songs like they used to” I refute that it is a quality issue. Music has never sounded better and artists can lean on decades of history and innovation to create brand new sounds but rather the “soul” of the music isn’t as strong; metaphors are layered on and the messaging isn’t as simple (a byproduct of a postmodern world in which connection is becoming increasingly difficult), so in an effort to bring the soul back to love music I want to highlight my favourite “yearning” songs from two of the greatest to ever do it, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. 

Here there and everywhere 
Here there and everywhere stands out as a completely individual song, the Beatles’ harmonies are much more prevalent in the mix creating a soft and intimate atmosphere as Paul tells us in the first lyric ‘To lead a better life I need my love to be here…’ .
He is wholly consumed by his love and nothing outside matters even in the slightest “Both of us thinking how good it can be. Someone is speaking but she doesn’t know he’s there” the simplicity is what sells it, everyone understands the feeling of being in love and being drawn to a singular person like a bee to honey. There’s no level of complexity that can sell how simple the intangible feeling is.
A subtle guitar and drum track is only required on a song that easily could’ve been a cappella. Even when you don’t have them near you they’re all you need as “to love her is to need her everywhere”. Having girlfriends and wives around the studio would be one of the straws to break the camel’s back in the Beatles but their devotion to loving their wives can never be understated and is reflected in all of their works, especially Paul’s. 

As 
An epic in every sense of the word spanning seven minutes (distinctly longer than the average length of four minutes a song was in 1976) and having three separate worlds each having their own voice, we open the song melodically as Stevie tells us “You can rest your mind assured. That I’ll be loving you always” and “As now can’t reveal the mystery of tomorrow. But in passing will grow older every day”. These themselves paint a picture of true love but to yearn it consumes your whole soul and being to yearn is to need no one else. How long will Stevie love this person?
‘Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky. Always
Until the ocean covers every mountain high. Always
Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea. Always
Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream’ 
We shift dramatically down a few octaves as a choir begins backing Stevie up forming a cacophony of noise, the piano is getting louder, the drums are getting faster like a heartbeat we feel his unmatchable desire. But this love isn’t just for him this world is for the world to understand, we’re buried into the instrumental’s increasing pace and intensity when a new voice blasts out; raspy, at his wits end, devoted screams out at us
‘Change your words into truth and then change that truth into love
And maybe our children’s grandchildren
And their great-grandchildren will tell I’ll be loving you‘
‘As’ stands as a testament that no matter what is going on in the world love will always survive and it’s the only thing that unites all of humanity together as an all-consuming feeling.

Knocks me off my feet 
There’s a sense of worry within a relationship; am I love-bombing or becoming repetitive and they’re gonna stop loving me as intensely as I love you as the phrase ‘I love you becomes null and meaningless’. Stevie sets the scene in a park strolling with the one he loves personifying the as an ethereal listener taking the words from their hearts and making them be felt ‘I don’t want to bore you with it. Oh, but I love you, I love you, I love you.’ The words could stretch on forever and take up all the time in the day as a pure show of devotion and love with it being mentioned 25 times in the song. 
‘I reach out for the part of me that lives in you that only our two hearts can find.’ The unity that love and relationships provides acts like a safety blanket for those internally. If this song were released more contemporaneously, you’d find some metaphor about a night out or a reflection on the togetherness yet there is such a simple tenderness in referring to a solution only being found through conjoined hearts and minds in a relationship. 

Despite having been in a devastating full-scale conflict with its imperialist neighbour for almost four years, the nation of Ukraine is not only fighting for its survival, but also its future.

One way in which the fragile nation is attempting to protect its uncertain future is by promoting tourism within its borders.

While for many countries around the world, such as Spain or Australia, this is an almost effortless undertaking, for tourism boards within Ukraine, a country currently ravaged by war, and frequent drone and missile attacks, it has proved substantially more difficult.

As of the writing of the article, about 20% of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory is currently pressed beneath the boot of Russian occupation, with this being the case for Crimea, and parts of the Eastern Donbas region since 2014.

Major cities such as Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa, and Lviv are no longer considered safe, with the UK government strongly discouraging any travel whatsoever to the vast majority of the country.

Before Russia’s military ambitions reared their ugly head in Ukraine in 2014, the nation saw about 20 million tourists annually, with the majority of them travelling to cities such as Lviv, Sevastopol (Crimea), and the capital of Kyiv.

The 2014 annexation of Crimea saw the number of tourists to Ukraine plummet by around 50%, primarily due to safety concerns, coupled with the fact that Crimea was considered a major attraction within Ukraine by internal and external tourists alike due to its more arid climate and stunning coastline on the Black Sea.

While constant war and threats of death continue within Ukraine, tourism still prevails within the nation, with almost 1.2 million people deciding to ignore the many warnings issued by their governments and entering.

The vast majority of those entering Ukraine during wartime are known as “War Tourists”.

The idea of war tourism itself is highly controversial in the modern era, primarily due to the fact that while some see it as a way to spread awareness of a struggling country while contributing to its economy and absorbing its rich culture, many others see it as taking advantage of a deeply troubling situation for attention and glorifying the deaths of both military personnel and civilians.

No matter which of these two arguments best represents your opinion on the issue, it is undeniable that tourism is beneficial to the economy of any nation, especially those that are at war.

The Visit Ukraine tourism site, was originally founded in 2021 in order to act as a guide to anyone intending to travel to the country, however it has since transformed into providing advice regarding how to navigate travel plans around the ongoing war, while remaining as safe as possible.

The site heavily advises that anyone wishing to enter Ukraine purchases “cost of war risk insurance,” which can be as cheap as three Euros, as even in the less affected parts of the country, risk of collateral damage is never zero, no matter how far they are from the front.

Being the largest country in all of Europe, when excluding Russia of course, Ukraine is home to a countless eray of stunning cities, towns and villages.

While it would be ideal to be able to encourage travel to each and every one of these locations, the war has made the potential costs of visiting such places too much for the average tourist to bear.

Despite this, however, many areas within the West of the country are relatively safe compared to its more central and Eastern regions/oblasts.

According to “Visit Ukraine”, tourism numbers in cities such as Lviv have actually increased since 2021, just one year before the declaration of full-scale war.

When talking about the West of Ukraine, it would be impossible not to mention the city of Uzhhorod.

Located in the far west of the country within the Zakarpattia Oblast, nestled against the border with Slovakia, the city of Uzhhorod is highly relevant within Ukraine today, as it is the largest city within the whole country that has not, as of yet, been hit by a single drone or missile, making it arguably Ukraine’s safest city as of now.

The city itself is vital to the Ukrainian military and civilian populations, as it houses thousands of refugees from regions more significantly affected by the war, especially young children, and injured soldiers who need time to heal and recover from injuries sustained in battle without needing to undergo the complicated process of leaving the borders of their homeland.

Additionally, cities such as Lviv are also commonly visited by tourists who decide to visit during wartime, since tourism has actually increased within the city, as mentioned previously.

While cities like Lviv, the capital of Kyiv, and many other urban areas within Ukraine are littered with bunkers in order to protect both civilians and tourists, they can nevertheless see days or even weeks of seemingly constant missile and drone bombardment, where civilian infrastructure is often targeted, taking the lives of dozens.

Obviously, since Ukraine has been fighting a full-scale war for almost half a decade, a plethora of members of the armed forces are critically injured, with those that survive needing rapidly supplied blood transfusions in order to save their lives.

Because of this fact, for any tourist that feels an obligation to help the Ukrainian cause in a more impactful way than just contributing to the economy, they can donate blood and/or blood plasma.

This could easily be seen as a moral workaround for anyone who leans towards the argument that tourism within Ukraine would be immoral, as in this case, you being there as a tourist and donating your blood would not only benefit the Ukrainian cause, but also potentially save the lives of someone’s son, husband and father.

To conclude, it is inevitable that some people will feel completely disgusted at even the idea of visiting a nation devastated by war, such as Ukraine, as a tourist, expecting a large aray of services to be provided.

While this argument does hold substantial weight, the fact is that if you take steps to benefit the people of Ukraine while spending time there by donating blood when visiting cities such as Uzhhorod, that are currently home to numerous injured soldiers and civilians in need of life saving aid then the nation will be slightly better off for it, and you will be doing a service, rather than purely having a service provided to you at the expense of the citizens.

Colden Common strengthened their grip at the top of Wessex Division One with a 3–1 comeback win over play-off hopefuls Cove.

Cove took the lead when Ash Upson met Armani Riley’s corner with a towering header at the back post.

They nearly doubled their lead soon after. Noah Ayres fired a low effort past James Egeland-Jensen but the flag was raised for offside, before Will Okine-Peters came within inches of making it two, his powerful header crashing against the crossbar from close range.

But the Stallions responded almost immediately. Just two minutes after Okine-Peters’ effort rattled the woodwork, Colden Common broke quickly on the counter. Brad Lethbridge picked out new signing Joe Johnson, who showed great composure to lob goalkeeper Stuart Norman and score his first goal for the club.

Colden Common pushed for a second before the break. Cal Archer saw his header strike the post, while Charlie Hitchings and Will Erdinc both tried their luck from distance but failed to test Norman.

Cove threatened again early in the second half. Okine-Peters found Charlie Oakley on the right, but he could only fire wide, before Higgs’ deflected strike forced a superb save from Egeland-Jensen after the ball deflected off Cam Stone.

Those missed chances proved costly. Hitchings soon picked out Sam Woodward in acres of space and the forward made no mistake, curling a composed finish into the bottom corner to give Colden Common the lead. The goal marked Woodward’s sixth in just seven appearances for the club.

Cove’s afternoon then took another turn for the worse when striker Kay Hampson was shown a straight red card following a challenge on Stone, reducing the Wasps to ten men.

Colden Common capitalised late on, adding a third through Stone after a well-worked move.

The hosts could even have added a fourth, with Woodward denied by a fine save before Johnson fired wide.

After the match, manager Steve King praised his side’s second-half display.

“I thought we controlled the second half and got the goals we deserved against a fellow promotion chaser,” he said.

 “The sending off didn’t change the game, we kept moving the ball quickly and I’m really pleased with the third goal.”

Colden Common are next in action with a trip to Miller Park, where they face strugglers Totton & Eling.