One of the proposals in the MP's expenses report out yesterday is that those members who live within reasonable commuting distance of Westminster should not be able to claim a second homes allowance. How far is, say, an hour from Westminster?

(More: Showing our working)

By our reckoning, that's 60 constituencies out of London, and all 74 inside it.

Comments? | Permanent link

The second half of 1985, then. As before, we're giving a capsule review of every top 3 single, and others that made significant forays into the top five. Number one titles are linked to their review on the Popular blog, with which we're keeping pace, and videos are from Dailymotion where we think they're worth reviewing. Or, for younger readers, viewing.

Sister Sledge's Frankie continued its run at number one into July, keeping Harold Faltemeyer at number 2 with Axel F. It's a simple synth loop, taken from one of the big films of the summer, and once heard, never forgotten. Kool and the Gang were also kept at bay, the sloppy love song Cherish spent five weeks at numbers 4 and 5. As sloppy love songs go, it's not the worst. But it's not There must be an angel (playing with my heart) (video), which spent a week at number 1 for The Eurythmics. It was the only chart-topper for Dave and Annie - indeed, we'll not see Dave in this project again. The song was taken from the group's celebrity duets album - Stevie Wonder played the mouth-organ on this track, soul diva Arthur Franklin popped up on the next single.

(More: The remaining songs from late 1985. Red Box! Dame David! UB40! Phil Collins (again!) Jennifer Rush! Shakin' Stevie!)

The back end of 1985, then, and with the possible exception of Feargal Sharkey, no chart topper from the last four months of the year has stood the test of a quarter-century. That will change as we cover the first half of 1986. As ever, we'll be riding on the coat-tails of Tom Ewing's Popular project, which we do recommend to readers.

Comments? | Permanent link

• Religious people! If you subscribe to any of the following religions, we would like to hear from you. The religions in question are: Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Jewish, Islamic, Shinto. Our Religious Studies department is working on a paper about the day-to-day experience of the faithful, and this will help towards a college paper. If you're willing to help, send an email marked Religion to this address:
• Quizzing people! If you are reading this blog and applying for the new series of Only Connect, do please drop us a line. Our Ethics department wishes to keep everything so far above board it's visible from a mile off. If this is you, send an email marked Teacup to the same address:
• Everyone! Blogging will tend to be a bit light over the coming week or so. If you want something else to read, go consult our extensive archives. We have history stretching back to the start of 2002, if you're that desperate. Or look at the curated list of links on the left of the homepage, they're all worth it.

And if you don't have a working email program, there's always the comments.

Comments? | Permanent link