1October

The regions stepped up their campaign for devolution within England; Labour's centralising tendencies refused this appeal, and scuppered a referendum in Durham and Northumberland in 2005. At their annual conference, Liberal Democrats reassured themselves that they weren't getting too close to Labour, and told Mr. Mandelson where to go when he suggested they tone down their attacks. William Hague said that the Conservative party needed to have a cultural revolution. Ulster Unionists went in to talks with Sinn Féin, walked out, had negotiations in separate rooms, and emerged with a formula that meant they would be talking at the same table. The government indicated that it was in favour of the pound joining the European Single Currency in 2002; and that it would not extend the life of the royal yacht Britannia. The death was announced of George Thomas, former Speaker of the Commons.

Solidarity won the general election in Poland. Two British nurses were convicted of murder in Saudi Arabia, and sentenced to eight years in prison and death, respectively. Photographers in Paris protested after the detention of nine colleagues following a drink-driving accident the previous month.

The Independent newspaper had a re-launch. The government announced that license plate year letters would be phased out in 2001. Andrej Sevoniouki became the second and final person charged under the War Crimes Act of 1991; he would later be judged unfit to stand trial, the other suspect had died shortly after charge. The BBC apologised for Eastenders; the apology was limited to the portrayal of the Irish, and not the fact that they allow this drivel to air at all. Radio 1 announced that Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley would be leaving the station's breakfast show, to be replaced by Kevin Greening, who would be assisted by Zoe Ball. Kevin Keegan was given a post at Division III Fulham FC. Andy Green and his Thrust team broke the world land-speed record, setting a mark of 714.144mph. Europe won the Ryder Cup, held in Spain, beating the Americans by 14½ to 13½. Tiger Woods won just 1½ points out of 5, setting a standard he has never failed to live down to.

The late September slowdown struck, with a mere 20 new entries this week. Some old songs took the chance to rise - Gary Barlow (49p in Woolies) recovered 7 places to 65, Boyzone went back up a couple at 56, Oasis's last single recovered 9 at 50, and there were only slow falls for Kylie (down 9 to 52), Dannii (down 9 to 45) and Notorious BIG (down 4 to 42).

The low entries: third and final minor hit for Rootjoose, Long way, 68; Black Science Orchestra vs Lisa Stansfield, The Line, 64; Mint Condition, Let me be the one, 63; T2 feat Robin S, You got the love, 62; Pierre Henry and Michel Colombier, Psyche rock, 58; Rangers FC, Glasgow Rangers (nine in a row), 54. No, Mint Condition wasn't covering obscure old Five Star tracks; yes, Robin S was covering the Source's minor classic; and yes, there really was a single celebrating Rangers' feat of winning nine consecutive Scottish championships. There wasn't one to celebrate the side's feat of failing to get out of the group stage of the European League for nine consecutive years. Curious, that.

Mrs Wood was one of those faceless disco acts who had one hit twice: Joanna reached number 40 in 1995, and number 34 on a re-issue this week. Third Eye Blind climbed four places to 33, and was only just topped by Daft Punk's Burnin, in at 30. That was the third single of the year, and was slightly less interesting than eating a packet of crisps. Another second-week climb, Chris de Burgh made number 29. Mercifully, this was his final appearance in the top 40 - at least to date, as there's always the possibility that A spaceman came travelling could improve on its number 40 position from Christmas 1986. Indeed, we think de Burgh is the only person ever to leave the top 40 from the fastest climber honour.

Sleeper came in at 28 with She's a good girl; we'll be discussing them later in the week. Super Furry Animals put Play it cool in at 27; it's gone on to become one of their more popular songs. Not so for House Traffic, Every day of my life was in at 24, and out the other ear. The Pixies were promoting their greatest hits package, a rather spartan two CD collection, and put Debaser in at 23.

The Rolling Stones had been founded in the 1960s, and became the decade's second most successful group, with eight number 1 singles, 14 consecutive releases into the top ten, and 13 top five albums. Unlike their great rivals The Beatles, the Stones didn't split while they were still popular, and continued to record and tour. The group's last top 10 hit had been Start me up in 1981, and though they were able to sell out Wembley Stadium on the night of two World Cup semi-finals in 1990, the group was primarily preaching to its existing fans. 1997's Bridges to Babylon album was produced by Don Was, with some tracks produced by the Dust Brothers, including the lead single Anybody seen my baby?.

According to Stones legend, it wasn't until Angela, daughter of guitarist Keef Richards, heard the track that anyone noticed how similar the song was to k d lang's classic Constant craving, and gave half the songwriting royalties to lang and her co-writer Ben Mink. lang has only had the one hit under her own right in the UK, and this is her only other top 30 songwriting credit. You wouldn't catch kd paying Angelina Jolie to appear in her videos as a stripper, as the Stones did for this song. Dirty old men.

Anyway, two further singles were released - Saint of me, number 26 in February 1998; and Out of control, 51 in August '98. The Stones have had a couple of top 20 hits since, but it's increasingly clear that they are relying on glories from many decades ago.

Into the top 20, and we note how George Michael's most recent singles have fallen like lead weights. You have been loved went 2-6-19, May's Star people plunged 2-14-32, and January's Older moved 3-11-27. His next single, Outside, was promoting his 1998 greatest hits collection. After that came a vanity project, Songs from the Twentieth Century. An attempt to come back in 2002 was a critical and commercial failure; a return in 2004 met with only slightly more success. Again, it seems that George is living on his past glories, and it's quite possible that the six singles from Older - all top three hits for at least a week - represented the beginning of the end for him.

The other fallers from the top 10: Cricket Martin (10-17), Blackstreet (7-15), Bellini (8-12), and Tina Moore (9-11). No Doubt's third release from the very good Tragic Kingdom was Spiderwebs, the album's opener; it only made number 16. 2 Eivissa's Oh la la la was another simple song that had carried over from the Med, landing here at 13. On the Network Chart, the Lighthouse Family had reached 14 on airplay alone, the Brand New Heavies knocked on the door of the top 20, and the Spice Girls slipped comfortably into the 40 like they'd never been gone.

The top ten began with former number ones from the Verve, slipping from 4 to 10, and Will Smith, moving 5 to 9. In at number 8 came the M People, performing Just for you. As we've discussed for the past few weeks, this band was astoundingly popular at airplay. The group released their first single, How can I love you more?, in October 1991, making number 29. Two more minor hits followed, before the big breakthrough came with a re-release of How can I... That was promoted to number 8 at the start of 1993, beginning a reign of terror that would make independent local radio a dangerous area for the rest of the decade. Cheap, soul-lite lumpen messes such as Moving on up (2 in September 1993), Open your heart (9 in 1995) and Renaissance (5 in 1994, and we couldn't hum it to you now or then) were ubiquitous. Heather Small, the group's lead singer, had a characteristic rasping vocal style. That's the polite way of putting it: warbling and gross key changes and not so much smokey as choking through a fug of stale tobacco smoke.

Worst of all was Search for the hero, a nauseating mess of over-processed beats, guitar-work that was trying to be rock but was more pebble, and lyrics that would inspire us all the way to the off-switch. It was a number 9 single in the heatwave of summer 1995, but the song was crying out to be used in a car commercial. Early in 1996, the song was used in a car commercial, and spent most of the rest of the year stalking the airplay top 100 like an unwelcome former lover.

Though the group's string of eight top-ten hits had come to a grinding halt after Search..., when Love rendezvous stalled at 32, they remained convinced of their own adequacy. Just for you was a calculated attempt to recapture the feeling of Search..., but with ever-so-slightly different emotions. It made number 8. There would be one more top ten hit from the group's Fresco album, Fishing rod street also hit number 8 in March 1998. The group released their inevitable singles collection in 1998, then went on an indefinite hiatus for some years; they've toured, but not released any records. During this time, band member Shovell hosted a video clip show on ITV2, back in the days when it was exclusively available to about 10,000 viewers on DTTV. Back when the channel was decent, then. Small has since released a solo single, Strong, which she allowed to be used for London's bid for the 2012 Crass Spectacle. In London. Not Manchester. That's loyalty for you.

U2's Please was the fourth single from their Pop album, and made number 7 by selling exclusively to their fanbase. Janet Jackson's big comeback - her first release since 1995's greatest hits - was the highly bizarre Got til it's gone. Sampling Joni Mitchell's Big yellow taxi, it was a song far ahead of its time, and number 6 was only achieved because it was Janet Jackson.

Chumbawumba dropped from 3 to 5, and Louise put Arms around the world in at 4. She had been part of the girl group Eternal, but left in 1995 to pursue a solo career, which reached its artistic zenith with the first single, Light of my life. She had released four singles during 1996, but let her old band have the limelight during the early part of 1997. Arms... became her biggest hit to date, and only 2000's 2 faced (a number 3 hit) would exceed. Louise released her singles collection in 2001, and had a brief comeback in 2003, Pandora's kiss made number 5. These days, Louise is best known for being Mrs. Jamie Redknapp, and has been spending time with her husband and son.

Dario G increased their sales over last week, but dropped a place to 3 as Oasis put Stand by me in at 2. Oasis continue to release an album every two or three years, and continue to have a fan base large enough to put every release into the top 5. The group's streak now stands at 18 consecutive top 5 hits since 1994, just three adrift of Pestside's current run. A new single is already clogging up Radio 1's playlist.

The second single from Be Here Now shifted almost 150,000 copies this week - almost as it would sell in the rest of the year - but was still beaten 5:1 by Elton John. He's now sold almost 3 million copies of Something about the way you look tonight and is on course to take the Biggest Selling Single in UK History early next week. Indeed, so great is his dominance that the Spice Girls have postponed the release of their new single by a week.

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