Even when the subject is forced, or violently forced, Paul McCartney has proven to be nearly incapable of writing a bad tune.

Many musical artists have addressed the Bloody Sunday incident — Jan. 30, 1972 — that left 26 unarmed Civil Rights protesters and others shot by British soldiers. But McCartney’s offering shortly following the tragedy was banned by the BBC and only reached number 16 in the UK singles charts, while, not surprisingly, it reached number one in the Republic of Ireland and Spain. So much for freedom of speech in Britain in the 1970s.

British Prime Minister David Cameron issued a statement this week in the House of Commons that called the Bloody Sunday shootings “both unjustified and unjustifiable.”

What happened should never, ever have happened. The families of those who died should not have had to live with the pain and hurt of that day, and a lifetime of loss. Some members of our armed forces acted wrongly. The government is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the armed forces. And for that, on behalf of the government — and indeed our country — I am deeply sorry.

As for McCartney, the incident was clearly troubling — for John Lennon as well — (The entire stew of conflict in Northern Ireland dating back to 1969 between nationalists, a politicized word for Catholics, and unionists, a politicized word for Protestants, is nicknamed The Troubles) for a country that appeared to be based on the principles of human freedom and civil rights. At the time, McCartney said:

I don’t now plan to do everything I do as a political thing, but just on this one occasion I think the British government overstepped their mark and showed themselves to be more of a sort of repressive regime than I ever believed them to be.

Here’s a video of the song:

Ok, I admit it. I’m quite addicted to sporcle.com, a site of which you best bring your A-game. Here, you can play any number of games that will test your knowledge of geography, music, politics, religion and other subjects. Recently, I have been playing some geography and have, subsequently, learned all countries in North America and Europe (It isn’t as easy as you think, and there are actually 23 countries in North America, not three.)

If you are interested in getting a firm grasp of the world as we know it, in all subjects, this is a wonderful resource that will, both challenge your knowledge and your patience. Next, I plan to tackle Africa and learn all the countries there, and then on to South America, Asia and Oceania. My friend, Blake, has done all the above and is now attempting, maybe at this point, succeeding, in correctly identifying all 195 countries on the planet. Here are records of my recent conquests. Allllright!, as Quagmire would say.

23 countries