5March

Quirks wonders after all the performers who have had three consecutive singles peak at number two in the UK charts. To research this, let's look at all the acts who have had three or more number two singles, and go through their career looking for three in a row:

(Thirteen acts have achieved the feat. But which? 896 words)

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Music

6March

(More: Debut for van Helden, peak for Beck, and two grand soul numbers. 814 words.)

The Bee Gees held station at 5, and Sash! dipped from 2 to 4. Eternal's Don't you love me came in at 3, the group's tenth hit, and their biggest to date. The biggest, and best, was just around the corner. Career high-point this week for Kula Shaker, whose Deep Purple cover Hush became their second number two hit, and fourth top tenner in eight months. We're weren't entirely sure about the attraction of the band; yes, Tattva was a bit different, but anything using sitars will be different. After this, the Shaker will have another small hit, then implode.

Three weeks at number one for No Doubt, then, but they'll have to fight off the Spice Girls to make it a month at the top.

Our song to listen to is one of last week's new entries, from The Source feat. Candi Staton. It's been a top ten hit on three occasions, and that is surely enough to make it a grade A hit.

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Two Songs a Week

7March

While leafing through IT Veek this week (we read it for the pictures of servers on page three), our eye was caught by Tim Anderson's column. The headline..

Open Id still open to abuse

Excitement about an open-source single sign-on scheme must not trump security concerns

YADIS was nothing particularly ground-breaking, but thanks to Mr. Fitzpatrick's employment by a bunch of shysters, YADIS (since re-named Open Id) has the backing of a bunch of media harlots, and has some very moderate success.

YADIS is a back-of-the-envelope solution to a toy problem. It is not, and we don't think it ever can be, a replacement for serious two-factor authentication. We do not trust YADIS for anything involving money, for reasons well explained by Tim Anderson.

(More: Why YADIS is fit for purpose, so long as that purpose is mindlessly trivial - 809 words)

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Geekery

8March

Okay, we were going to put a certain song in this slot, but it turns out that we're a week off in our calculations, so that'll be a week hence. Instead, a highlight from It All Comes To This, the most recent album by Scala and the Kolacny Brothers. It's their take on Enjoy the silence, the old Depeche Mode song. We reckon it imbues the song with a sense of mysticism, a sense of wonder that's only hinted at in the original.

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Two Songs a Week

9March

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media

10March

(Fair trade, bikes, hot air, media, litter, Eurovision, and foreign relations. 578 words)

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Politics

11March

and Bert Bills and the Pet Shop Boys' She's madonna is the week's big new hit - number one in Lithuania, number 5 in the Netherlands, top ten in Latvia, and in at number 4 in Germany. They can't break past DJ Ötzi, but do beat Gewn Stiffeny (in at 6). Fatal Bazooka is straight into the top ten in France.

It's all change in Sweden, where there are 24 new entries in the top 60, and 12 records move into the top 20. Looks like all the Melodifestival entries have been released at once - Andreas Johnson and Jessica Andersson scrape the top 20, and we dread to think what the old xenophobe Wogan would have made of Magnus Uggla's song, För kung och fosterland. Sebastian, Mâns Zelmerlöw, and Vincent enter the lower half of the top ten, The Ark come in at 5 with The worrying kind, but the highest new entry, and Sweden's entry for Eurovision, is performed by Âvril Lavïgne. Er...

A new chart-topper in the Netherlands, Heartbreak away from Sharon Kips crashes straight in at number one. Jocelyn Stone also has a top ten hit in the land of dykes. British bands Muse and Mr Hudson and the Library enter the top 20 in Latvia.

 20 12 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow
 19 15 Herbert Gronemeyer - Lied 1.
 18 14 Cascada - Everytime we touch
 17 NE Take That - Shine
 16 10 Take That - Patience
 15 16 Sunrise Avenue - Fairytale gone bad
 14 13 DJ Ötzi - Ein stern
 13 11 View - Same jeans
 12  9 Clitring Aguilera - Hurt
 11 19 Kelis - Little star
 10  4 Ville Valo and Natalia Avelon - Summer wine
  9  6 Just Jack - Stars in their eyes
  8  8 Boys Aloud - Ruby
  7 NE Gwen Stiffeny - The sweet escape
  6 NE Gossip - Standing in the way of control
  5 NE Pet Shop Boys - She's Madonna
  4  5 Nelly Furtado - Say it right
  3  3 Fray - How to save a life
  2  2 Mika - Grace Kelly
  1  1 Nelly Furtado - All good things

Charts

11March

The back-word from last week's chart - Summer wine entered at 128, twenty places behind Charlotte Hatherley's I want you to know. At least one reader will be disappointed to know that the Bluetones' BBC Radio Sessions album limped in at 164. That was then; this is now.

Five new entries in 41-75. Great to see the Arcade Fire's Keep the car running in at 74; the Fratellis' Flathead bows at 67, Borders from Sunshine Underground at 56, Regina Spektor's Fidelity is in at 45, and Wifi comes in at 42. Re-entries for the Automatic and Linkin Park; significant climbs for Pink (60-43) and Cascada's first single (65-53).

LCD Soundsystem come in at 40, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly at 37, and Paolo Nutini climbs to 35 ahead of physical release. Full releases for the Seizure Sisters (29) and Jocelyn Stone (28) are moderately unsuccessful, but rising rock band Enter Shikari enters the top 40 with a massive climb to 27. Clitring Aguilera does well, Candyman is up 37 to 24, which is about 37 places too high. Madness have their first hit of the century at 23.

Calvin Harris cracks the top 20 a week before the physicals come out, suggesting a Big Hit. The Shoppies are in at 16, albeit with a little assistance from Bert Bills. It's the second smallest hit of Bills' solo career, ahead only of last summer's Sin sin sin. Lily Allen and O'Marion climb on full release, but are beaten by Biffy Clyro. We have no idea why this lot are so popular; they're very mediocre and have no appreciable talent.

Nelly Furtado climbs into the top ten; there will be no physical release of Say it right, making it the first record to appear in the 10 without a version that can be dropped on the foot. Fedde le Grand is up to 7, and Justin Numberwang climbs from 10 to 4. Gwen Stiffeny elbows Boys Aloud for number 2, but can't top Take That at the top.

Boys Aloud remain top of the albums chart, but the highest of six entries into the top ten comes from Arcade Fire - Neon Bible is in at 2. Russell Watson, Bryan Ferry (covering Bob Dylan, in a neat reversal of the Radio Active joke), Cascada, and Donny Osmond enter at positions 4-7, and the Greatest Hits (that's Hits) of Dolly Parton enter at 9. The rest of her's at number 10.

Air, Grinderman, Idlewild, Marty Wilde, Willy Mason, the Horrors, and Tracey Thorn enter between 21 and 40; Ry Cooder and Andrea Ross are just outside. Mr Hudson and The Library and Jack Savoretti scrape places in the 75. Only significant climbs are from Regina Spektor (a re-entry at 53) and Patrizio Buanne at 75.

 5  5 Fray - How to save a life
 6  4 Mika - Grace Kelly
 8  6 Kelis - Little star
 9  7 Gossip - Standing in the way of control
15 22 Lily Allen - Alfie
17 32 Calvin Harris - Acceptable in the eighties (12MAR)
18 12 Just Jack - Stars in their eyes
21 15 Killers - Read my mind
23 NE Madness - Sorry
27 72 Enter Shikari
  - Anything can happen in the next half hour
32 20 Jojo - Too little too late
33 24 View - Same jeans
37 NE Get Cape Wear Cape Fly - I spy
43 60 Pink - Leave me alone
44 30 Junior Jack - Stupidisco
45 re Regina Spektor - Fidelity
46 44 Nelly Furtado - All good things
52 42 Fratellis - Chelsea dagger
54 19 Pigeon Detectives - Romantic type
55 39 Ghosts - Stay the night (19MAR)
57 53 Razorlight - America
58 50 Snore Patrol - Open your eyes
59 51 Fratellis - Whistle for the choir
61 33 Maccabees - About your dress
66 re Linkin Park - Numb / Encore
67 NE Fratellis - Flathead
72 52 Bloc Party - The prayer
74 NE Arcade Fire - Keep the car running

Charts

11March

This week, we've been watching...

* Raven (CBBC) Some decent ideas, but not many.
* MI-High (CBBC) Aliens and humanity.
* Are We There Yet? (BBC-2) Why building new roads doesn't work.
* Shipwrecked (C4) Ooh, interesting.
* Dead Ringers (BBC-2) Great episode, ruined by continuity announcer talking all over the show.
* Skins (E4) You dirty little fucker, I never want to see your tiny twatty gob ever again. Time's up, you wanker. It's the political satire episode, which begins with Tony being kicked in the goolies, and people working out that we can never realise if he's being serious or foolish or insulting. And - if we're not very much mistaken - is that the statutory 0.1 of an entendre for the series? Anyway, Second skins is very probably good news, though we're going to remain sceptical about extending to a third series just yet.
* Blair (BBC-2) Peter Mandelson can't leave it alone, can he? Even now, he wants to claim that the proch. anc. BPM is something more than a complete incompetent, promoted one job beyond his abilities, but blessed with a lucky streak the size of the M25.
* Fort Boyard (TV5) Oh, bien.

... and listening to...

* Ockham's Razor (RN) explaining how Herr Hitler subverted the works of Mr. Darwin. Transcript.
* Lingua Franca (RN) on habeus corpus. Transcript.
* Vote 2007 (Radio Ulster) The assembly results, and thanks to cross-channel interference from Spain, it's the surreal prospect of IAN PAISLEY shouting all over some smooth jazz.
* Feedback (R4) in which Roger Wright and Jeremy Vine were utter arseholes. Mr. Wright, the controller of Radio 3, has recently changed the station's schedule. The net result is that daytime is a featureless plain of wall-to-wall classical music, with no obvious reasons to listen. Mr. Wright is pleased that he's super-serving those who equate culture precisely with classical music, rather than dismayed that he's cutting off those of us who don't believe in this dichotomy.
Mr. Vine, meanwhile, was defending his week-long feature inviting listeners to suggest something to remove from the nation's roads. He said that it was intended as a serious feature, and stated that he didn't see his mission as being to raise the tone of public debate. Actually, Mr. Vine, we do expect you to act like a proper journalist, not some jumped-up showman flogging his latest wares. Still, as he doesn't want to raise the tone, we look forward to Mr. Vine giving a fawning and sympathetic interview to the Hang 'em, Flog 'em, and Send 'em Back Where They Came From party. He can keep his aural version of the Daily Hell, and we'll just switch off Radio 2 for seven hours every single afternoon.

Media

11March

Following last Sunday's elections, Estonian prime minister Andrus Ansip has pledged to create a broad-based coalition. His liberal Reform Party remains the largest, just beating the not-quite-so-liberal Centre Party and the suspiciously-right-wing-but-still-left-of-Labour Pro Patria Party.(France 24 report)

Following last week's outbreak of silicon in petrol around London, Tesco has promised to pay for repairs to their customer's cars. Potential claimants should be aware that Tesco doesn't always pay until the bailiffs come in and confiscate the store's booze.

The email that made the BBC take an injunction last week hasn't been seen by the Corp, and may not be an email. It is, in effect, Ruth Turner expressing concerns about the veracity of Michael Levy's evidence in the cash-for-peerages investigation. A similar, if not the same, document was published by the Merchantes Grauniad on Tuesday.

This week's election was in Northern Ireland, where IAN PAISLEY's Democratic Unionist Party was returned as the largest party, ahead of Martin McGuinness's Sinn Fein. The two parties have moderated their positions significantly in the last few years, and prochain ancien British prime minister Mister Tony Blair has urged the leaders to seize the hand of history. More: Slugger O'Toole, perhaps the only blogger who actually understands Northern Ireland's politics.

Scottish train services were cancelled for two days, after a strike by signal workers. The Scottish Executive washed its hands of the situation.

The judge who authorised the lynching of President Sadaam of Iraq has applied for asylum in Britain. Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman came to the UK in December, and has subsequently entered an application to remain.

Most PC owners eventually become aware that the system clock in their computers is about as trustworthy as an MP confronted with a brown envelope full of used fivers.

Obituary file: Chris Lightfoot, a driving force behind many British citizenry projects and a strong privacy advocate. We would be less had he never bothered.

Sport, and Halifax has withdrawn from the 2014 Empire Games, saying that the risks associated are too high. The remaining competing cities are Glasgow and Abuja; the 2010 event will take place in Delhi.

In the Six Nations Rugby, Ireland beat Scotland 19:18, England ended France's grand slam ambitions 26:18, and Italy beat Wales 23:20.

The Presidential has been shaken up by the week-end's IFOP poll, which showed M. Popup 28%, Mme. Royal 23%, M. Bayrou 23%, M. le Pen 13%. Other sondages from IPSOS show Mme. Royal has a 5% lead over M. Bayrou. The wild-card in the electios, M. Chirac, will address the country at 8pm to-night; he's expected to announce that he will not be seeking a third term in office.

News

11March

After the various fronts passed through on Monday and Tuesday, the remainder of the week saw more sun than we've been used to, and temperatures remained slightly above normal for the time of year.

05 Mo showers            4/ 9,10.0
06 Tu rain o/n, sun      8/12, 6.0
07 We sun                4/11
08 Th sun to cloud       2/11
09 Fr rain o/n, sun      5/11, 3.0
10 Sa sun                3/13
11 Su sun to cloud       3/13

Rainfall in March: 53.5mm; monthly average: 52.3mm.
Degree heating days: 428
2005-6: 685½/808
2004-5: 604/677½.

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