2July

The Group of Seven industrial nations met in Denver. The traditional photo-opportunity featured new British prime minister Mister Blair leading a cavalry charge of leaders on their bicycles. He then progressed to the UN Global Summit II at the UN headquarters, which ended without reaching an agreement on anything of substance. Slobodan Milosevic was appointed federal president of Yugoslavia. The Soufriere volcano on Montserrat began to erupt. The Mir space station suffered a near-catastrophic collision when an unmanned supply craft ripped into a pressurised module, severing a power cable and a solar panel.

Labour's devolution bills are to be scrutinised by a standing committee, rather than by the entire house; previous constitutional bills has been reviewed by the entire chamber. Llew Smith, the MP for Blaenau Gwent, said that he had been threatened with expulsion for questioning the idea of devolution. Labour proposed removing admission charges for museums. Westminster Abbey said it would charge visitors during August, and may make the entry fee permanent. Sinn Féin said that Mister Blair had resolved a decommissioning impasse in the Northern Ireland talks, by setting up an independent group on paramilitary weapons. Cecil Parkinson was appointed chairman of the Conservative party. Jonathan Aitken resigned from the privy council.

Carlton and Granada was granted the digital terrestrial television license; the company planned to show 30 programmes, beginning in late 1998. British Sky Broadcasting was forced out of the group following competition concerns. The rival Digital Television Network, supported by cable company NTL, was praised for its better programmes, and muttered about a judicial review. The decision cemented the position of BSB's sports and motion picture channels. News International donated £250,000 to publish educational materials. The Global Positioning System improved its positional accuracy from 100m to 10m. Manufacturers of in-car navigation hoped to reduce the price from £2500 per unit. The first domestic CD writer was launched; the hardware cost £600 with blank disks costing £3 each.

Newfoundland celebrated the 500th anniversary of John Cabot's arrival on the island; a wooden replica of his ship, Matthew, arrived in Bonavista. The Princess of Wales apologised for taking her sons to see a motion picture sympathetic to the IRA, and failed to attend a meeting at the Commons to discuss landmines. Rain interrupted play at Wimbledon - the loss of five hours on Wednesday was followed by a complete wash-out on Thursday and Friday, forcing the courts to open on the middle Sunday for only the second time. Hosepipe bans were still in force over much of southern England. The summer series of Countdown was won by Peter Cashmore. Michael Johnson suffered his first defeat in a 400m race since 1989. Evander Holyfield retained the WBA heavyweight boxing title after challenger Mike Tyson bit off part of his ear. The death was announced of Charlie Chester, comedian and entertainer. Performance poet Murray Lachlan Young was signed to EMI for £1.1 million.

The Guardian's tips for the top included Embrace, Cornershop, Ultrasound, Symposium, Travis, Subcircus, and the Lo Fidelity All Stars.

Eight new entries into the lower end of the chart. We'll quickly run through the first five: Sublime What I got 71; Isha-D Stay 58; Ascension Someone 55; Lakiesha Berri Like this and like that 54; Silver Sun Julia 51. Isha D's work was a re-release of a minor top 30 hit from early 1995; Ascension would re-release their hit in 2000 to slightly greater success. BBG's big hit was Snappiness in May 1990; their swan song Just be tonight made 45. Fourth single from the Beautiful South's album was one too far, as Liar's bar peaks at 43, exactly matching the peak of My book in late 1990. Their next single will be in 1998, and Perfect ten will hit number 2. The Wannadies had the backing of Mark and Lard, but Shorty can only make number 41.

Pushing them out was Kristine W, whose Feel what you want had been a top 30 hit in early 1994, and now re-issued to number 40. Third hit single of the year for Kenickie. Punka had just missed the top 40 the previous August. On re-release, it's in at 38, and is this week's best-selling seven-inch single, and will be ripped off by Jack Penate ten years later. Little Kim entered at 36 with Crush on you, not a cover of the old Jets number, but one that will be re-released to greater success before the year's out. Hurricane #1 had their second hit of the year, Just another illusion making it to 35. 34 is new for Scarface's Game over. Apollo 440 had had a massive hit at the start of the year with Ain't talking about dub; their follow up, Raw power, only makes position 32.

Blur were amongst the massive falls, with On your own tumbling from 5 to 22. At this distance, it's difficult to recall just how odd it was for Blur to record an album that was so difficult. Yet looking back at the group's previous recordings, it's entirely in character. The group's 1991 debut, Leisure, was clearly related to the Baggy scene, but was equally clearly not as deliberately foolish as anything the Happy Mondays ever recorded. Modern Life Is Rubbish laid down the parameters for the Britpop boom that would stem from its 1993 release - acutely observed, almost wilfully parochial, and nothing to do with the grunge fad that had ruled the previous year. Parklife (1994) was the archetypal Britpop album, and The Great Escape (1995) was, at least in part, a celebration of the scene. But it was also a satire, a view that Britpop was running out of ideas, a sense that it was the group's point of departure. 1997's Blur album had only the one sing-along track, and the needle behind Song 2 was overlooked by many people. The rest of the album was a hard listen, almost deliberately non-commercial, and we still find the second half of the disk blends into a mush. By 1999, the group was being less obstreporous, and 13 was a gospel-tinged celebration of life. The group released one more album before splitting, 2003's forgettable Think Tank. There was also a singles collection in 2000, and some double-albums available at places like Fopp. Oh.

Other massive falls this week included Primal Scream (18-48), the Brand New Heavies (21-43), Cast (9-24), Echo and the Bunnymen (8-16), and Ocean Colour Scene (4-11). The list doesn't include Depeche Mode, Home managed to fall only 23-26. Amongst those just above were James, with Waltzing along in at 23. It was the third and final hit of the year, and the time was right for 1998's hits collection. Jean Michel Jarre only ever had the one hit, and his latest re-working, Oxygene 10, came in at 21.

Microscopic teen band of the week: N-Tyce, whose Hey DJ! (play that song) came in at 20. They'll have four top 20 hits, but no top-tenners, before the record company pulls the plug in eleven months' time. Trance people The Age Of Love came in at 17, with the imaginatively-titled The age of love. This was amongst the genre's better tunes, simultaneously toe-tapping and laid-back. It bears repeating that we've not had a new top 40 single from Prince since March 1997, though two of his protogees are in the top 15. In at 15 came the New Power Generation's The good life, a re-release of a number 29 hit from 1995. One place higher comes former NPG member Rosie Gaines, holding at 14. Brightman and Bocelli drip just one to 13, displaced by the Fun Loving Criminals' double-A side. One side, a re-recording of 10CC's I'm not in love; the other, a re-release of the previous summer's Scooby snacks that does ten places better second time around. Three singles from the next album will peak around number 20; the group will have their one and only top ten hit with 2001's Loco, and they've not graced the top 40 since.

Fourth week in the top ten, and second at number 10, for Mr. President's Coco jamboo. In at 9 came the Pet Shop Boys performing Somewhere, the fifth single from the Bilingual album, and fourth to scrape the bottom of the top ten. The Shoppies won't return until 1999, but still have a remarkable hit-making career: of 38 single releases, 36 have made the top 20, and they've had 20 top ten hits. Got to be better than thinking up witty lines for Bitz.

The Course had already been top five with a cover of Ready or not; their second quick-turn cover was of Ain't nobody, a song that had already been a number 1 for LL Cool J in February. Mercifully, they never delivered a cheap and crap cover of any other number ones. That's especially good news for Eternal, dropping one to 7. Ultra Nate goes back up a place to 6, which makes her this week's fastest climber. The Verve's Bittersweet symphony drops from 2 to 5, overtaken by Hanson's Mmmbop.

No Doubt had one of the greater entries into the Follow That Files, as Just a girl entered at 3. This was far more typical of the group's fast-moving sound than their massive number one Don't speak. It was a slightly familiar song, having been released - and been a number 38 hit - the previous autumn. Highest new entry honours go to Sash!, this time with the vocals of Rodriguez. Ecuador was another techno work-out, this time set (obviously) to a South American beat. It couldn't dislodge Puff Daddy's I'll be missing you from the top, and it began to look as though nothing would.

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