16July

NATO invited Hungary, Czechia, and Slovakia to join the alliance. British special forces moved into Prijedor, Bosnia, where there had been reports of genocide during the civil war. Basque group ETA killed a councillor it had kidnapped. The Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life published its report, calling for a new criminal offence for elected representatives who abuse their powers. Following higher-than-expected inflation figures, the Bank of England raised its base rate by ¼% to 6¾%; the rate had risen by ¾% in the ten weeks since Labour had assumed power.

Ten new entries into the top 20, starting with Dubstar. It took far too long, but the group's Disgraceful album had finally become a sleeper hit during 1996, yielding the top 20 hit singles Not so manic now and the sublimely wonderful Stars. Not wanting to change a winning formula too much, No more talk was firmly and clearly in the same vein. Perhaps too similar - only the most devoted of fans could spot the progression, the second album received a cool reception, and the group just about went their own way. A shame.

(More: BA, BT, Massive, Silverchair, Ruth, Kiddyfiddler, and...)

In the week when the group's seven-minute video was played in full on Top of the Pops (and Puff Daddy was restricted to 72 seconds), when Noel Gallagher claimed the group was more important than god, it's no particular surprise to find that Oasis has the best-selling single. Do you know what I mean was a blatant re-tread of ground the group had covered on their previous two albums. If the likes of Slide away and Champagne supernova were like cutting your front lawn at the start of spring, Do you know... was the same lawn after it had been baked dry in an unyielding sun for two months. It was tired, predictable, staid, and joined the Verve in the litany of songs vying to be dropped in The Single Most Boring Single Bore. Oasis's lack of imagination was cast into sharp relief by their arch-enemies in Blur, who had gone off, reinvented themselves, and dropped from being massive hit-makers to being the country's biggest cult band in less time than it took to play this song once. Damon Albarn's crack about Oasis sounding like Status Quo was a joke, not careers advice.

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17July

Liz Kershaw says that brother Andy punched another Radio 1 jock in the chops during the 21st anniversary party in 1988. But she won't tell us who. Now, who in Radio 1's 1988 line-up would we want to punch in the chops? Answers on a postcard to the usual address, marked Steve Wright in the Ambulance competition.

If you're wearing a personal stereo, and there's thunder around, turn it off, otherwise it could be a potential death trap.

Behind the scenes at News 24 - a live blog (well, it was when it was being made) from the duty editor, and a calmer follow-up.

From the department of Blimey, That's a Good Picture! Sunrays, from Bitstop.

Marina Hyde urges us to Mock the weak. Poking fun at terrorists is far more than gallows humour.

New: Speechification, a blog expounding the many fine points of Radio 4, and possibly other speech radio. (For the curious, the Russell Davies who co-authors Speechification is neither the Russell Davies of Song Show fame, nor the Russell Davies who wrote Dark Season and other children's department productions.

Clare Short on real life in Palestine.

Gilmore quits presidential race shouted the BBC. This has to be good news for candidate Geller, making sure there's no split in the highly-driven smart-ass vote.

A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned the Sea Stallion, a replica Viking longship. Turns out that it's this year's Big RTÉ Project, complete with blog and GPS tracking for those few people who don't have G****e on a perma-blocklist.

Blowing away a myth: no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the earth was flat. The myth was propounded by zealous scientists, eager to ridicule the religious faithful without regard to such niceties as facts or evidence.

David Dimbleby on the importance of the BBC.

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17July

The one person who likes that vacuous nonsense that's been selling less fewer copies than anything else. Dorian Lynskey writes, Last year, Gnarls Barkley's curiously addictive Crazy deserved every one of its nine weeks at the top and I reckon the same is true of Umbrella. They are both bona fide, the-nation-has-spoken hits which still sound fresh and unpredictable.

Ah, nonsense. Mr. Berkley's work was annoying from the second time we heard it, which was still two plays (give-or-take 1.3 seconds) longer than it took to determine that Miss Na's product. Yes, she's got a decent voice, and doesn't over-use it, but it doesn't help that the lyrics are vacuous, the melody is unimaginative, and the result is tedium of the highest order. A better song of the summer? Heavyweight champion of the world. Not a good song, but a better one.

Which brings us to our list of songs for summer. Songs with a summery feel, that - unlike Mr. Lynskey's favourite - have sunshine and hot weather pouring out of the groove...

• My favourite waste of time, Owen Paul, 1986. The standard by which we evaluate all other contenders.
• Follow me, Uncle Kraker, 2001. Well, it's good in hot weather.
• Oblivious, Aztec Camera, 1983. A single released in December, naturally.
• The chicken song, Spitting Image, 1986. This is the one nod to silliness, there shall be none of your Macaronis or Ketchups or Pineapples.
• La bamba, Los Lobos. A serious song with very silly lyrics. To dance the goat requires a little gracefulness, and to keep going. For jings! Jings! Jings! Jings! I'm not a sailor, I'm a captain. Etc! ©Smash Hits 1987.
• Baila morena, Zucchero, 2006. It's a grand foot-tapper.
• Desire, Claudette Pace, 2000. Yes, a Eurosong entry.
• Crazy for you, Let Loose, 1993. We've long preferred the guitar-laden version that was a birrova flop, rather than the more washy hit the following year.
• Bring it all back, S Club 7, 1999. Part of the genius behind this band was the way they could bring summer to the darkest winter.
• Se a vida e, Pet Shop Boys, 1996. One of the very rare celebrations from Neil and Chris.
• Alright, Supergrass, 1995. Cheesy and silly.
• Searching, China Black, 1994. Obscurity reigns!
• Move any mountain, Shamen, 1991. On the umpteenth release, it finally became a hit.
• Mona, Craig McLachlan and Check 1-2, 1990. Classic call-and-response.
• Sweet little mystery, Wet Wet Wet, 1987. See the video.

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18July

Lydia Playfoot has lost her court challenge to a ban on wearing an advertisement for her parents' business at school. Miss Playfoot, the daughter of the Silver Ring Thing's UK franchisee, alleged that the decision allowed those in authority to stop christians from acting upon their beliefs and delusions. The school relied upon the elfin safeti shibboleth, rather than the moral argument that Miss Playfoot would still describe herself as christian when not wearing the commercial.

Mr. Choccers wonders why we didn't include NPR in our list of examples for the BBC to emulate. Three reasons. First, we wanted to keep the list short - we could have cited the CBC, SABC, pre-occupation HKBC, even the World Service of the last century.

Second, NPR is not so much a single national station as a provider of programmes to stations around the country. The bottom-up distribution model works where each transmitter decides what to air, but it's a complete reversal of the BBC's top-down way of working. There is an argument for reversing the traditional flow of ideas, but it deserves analysis in another place, and to be proposed by someone who passionately believes it to be a good idea.

Third, we're not entirely convinced that NPR's programming is the standard that the BBC should be aiming for. NPR does news and current affairs very well, and we would welcome a conversational news programme along the lines of Morning Edition - or ABC's Breakfast. We can't even call NPR Radio 3½ - philosophy and ideas seem to go almost entirely untouched. The network's syndicated classical programmes are never more challenging than the current Radio 3 daytime schedule, and we have no evidence of cultural patronage - the organisation doesn't commission new music. There are more programmes marked pop culture than there are radio plays. We see nothing as adventurous as a weekly play in English. There's Broadway Revisited, but no Musicals Now!.

Now, this may well be a failure in our research, and/or a difference between our expectations of a cultural station and those of NPR's audiences. Either way, we don't see NPR as a good model for The Third Programme. It is intensely safe where the BBC should be edgy, secure where there needs to be challenge. If no-one's shouting at their radio, the station isn't doing its job. Part of NPR's conservatism stems from its reliance on viewer donations, something the BBC never needs bother with.

Seve Ballesteros has retired from top-flight golf, but he will still be available for the Ryder Cup.

The nominations for the annual Song of the Year Award have been made. They are, in alphabetical order:

• Acceptable in the 80s Calvin Harris
• Rehab Amy Winehouse
• Beware of the dog Jamelia
• Catch you Sophie Ellis-Bextor
• Don't give it up Siobhan Donaghy
• Foundations Kathryn Nash
• Overpowered Roisin Murphy
• She's Madonna Pet Shop Boys featuring Robbie Williams
• Shine Booty Luv
• Something kinda oooh Girls Aloud
• Stop me Mark Ronson
• Yeah yeah Bodyrox feat Luciana

The Best British Song of the Year will be announced at the start of September. We're cheering on Mr. Ronson.

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19July

We've been researching the career of David Hatch, who died last month. By turn, he was head of BBC Light Entertainment, and Controller of Radios 2 and 4. In the last role, he introduced the Rollercoaster experiment, where Radio 4's morning schedule was abolished for twenty-six Thursdays during 1984. Rather than have fixed and demarcated programmes, Hatch's idea was to have a seamless three hours with Richard Baker fronting the programme. The programme was aimed at the casual listener, rather than someone who knew the schedule off by heart.

At the time of his appointment, there was a rumour that Radio 4 might become a pure news-and-current-affairs station. The governors tried their best to quash it, but the mutterings persisted. Appointing a light entertainment man such as Mr. Hatch was a symbol of their faith in a more mixed approach to the senior service. The concept of a rolling news programme continued to rumble around in the 1980s, but no proposals crystalised until after the 1991 conflict in the Gulf.

(More on David Hatch's ideas for Radio 4, and his role in BBC Radio's rolling news 705 words)

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19July

Mysterious Art was a five-piece gothic dance band, formed by Mike Staab in 1988. Their first single, Das Omen (The Omen) was the summer smash in West Germany during 1989, spending nine weeks as the country's best-seller. The song is simple: a pulsing dance beat with wailing female vocals on top. The video was more interesting, featuring monks trying to save a woman from a castle. It's an influence on the clip for I'd do anything for love (but I won't do that).

After the big hit, Mysterious Art had one more sizable release, Karma (Karma) went top ten in late 1989. We could see how little originality was available when the subtitle emerged - Omen II. The album, subtly entitled Omen - The Story, came out in early 1990, and sold fewer copies than expected. In fact, the album missed the top 50 entirely, and though the group played on Madonna's Blonde Ambition tour that summer, the breakup was inevitable.

Mike Staab continued to record, and in 1994 his group Magic Affair (see what he did there?) released Omen III. This was an Italiano-house number, spent four weeks at number 1 in Germany, and winkled its way into the UK top 20. It is not clear if Herr Staab was a fan of David Rappaport, Sylvester McCoy, or indeed if he ever saw an edition of Die Tischlerbandsäge with Adrian Kopfley und Janet Ellis.

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20July

Ah, yes. Two by-election results came in in the early hours of Friday morning. In Sedgefield, a seat vacated by the appointment of Mr. Blair as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, the candidates saving their deposit were:

P. Wilson              Lab    12,528  44.8  -14.1
G.M. Stone             L Dem   5,572  19.9  + 8.0
G.M. Robb              C       4,082  14.6  + 0.2
A. Spence              BNP     2,494   8.9
P. Gittins             Ind     1,885   6.7

We're not entirely sure what Mr. Gittins stood for, such has been the lax coverage of the election. The UIP and Green Party secured 1.9% and 1.2% respectively, four other candidates secured less than 1%. The transfers of note:

C - Lab: +3.54%
Lab - LD: -8.36%

In Ealing Southall, a seat vacated by the death of Mr. Khabra, the candidates saving their deposit were:

V.K. Sharma            Lab    15,188  41.5  - 7.3
N. Bakhai              L Dem  10,118  27.6  + 3.2
S.S. Lit               C       8,230  22.5  + 0.9

The Green Party candidate had 3.1%, the RESPECT candidate 1.6%, and amongst seven candidates failing to secure 1%, the Loonies beat the English Democrats. The transfers of note:

C - Lab: +1.99%
Lab - LD: -3.29%

Taking these two seats together, we find a swing away from Labour, with the Lib Dems taking roughly two votes to each one going to the Conservatives. If we were to run these figures through the Swingometer - and remember, this is just a bit of fun! - we get the following:

No clear result there. Turning now to the council by-elections, and here's the current state of the parties:

For the first time in over a year, we're not predicting a Conservative overall majority at all. But neither are we predicting any chance of a Labour government; the way the figures stack up, a Labour + Lib Dem coalition would not command an overall majority.

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20July

Ireland's national lottery failed to produce a jackpot winner last Wednesday, the ninth time in a row that no-one has matched all six numbers. The jackpot prize for Saturday's draw looks set to reach €10,000,000, the largest amount ever offered by the company, breaking the €9.5 million offered in 1996. The draw procedures were revised last November, and the jackpot draw is now 6-from-45. Though each line costs €1.50 to enter, players must enter at least two lines per transaction. Unlike the UK and European lotteries, there is no limit to the number of times a jackpot can roll over.

Mainstreamness for w/e 15 July

• Radio 1: 34.26%
• Radio 2: 19.43%
• 6 Music: 26.67%
• 1xtra: 9.71%
• Virgin 1215: 36.37%
• Virgin Xtreme: 39.81%

Het Grauniad reports how Facebook security is thinner than they like people to think.

The White Stripes bring a new meaning to an old song. St Johnny: One Note.

Advertising bureau G****e will graciously allow cookies to be deleted two years after people last visit their pisspoor search engine. This is hardly worth cheering, for it does not alter the company's policy to retain search data forever.

A politician has been suspended for his role in the Iraq war.

Give a dog a bad name. Young muslims would have to get used to hearing jihadist heroes described as savages, scum, and uncivilised losers, along with the reasons why. It would intellectually force them, far more than they are forced today, to choose between two visions of the world.

The readers of Het Grauniad discuss the burning literary question of our time: is there any literary merit in O'Wling's books And see this comment? Been there, done that.

John Inverdale on the problems affecting speedway. Here's the main problem: no television coverage.

In the ongoing battle between The Cable Corp. and KYTV, an interesting development. Placeholder channels, marking the locations of KYTV's channels until February, have now been deleted. It's now over 140 days since KYTV's three channels left cable services.

Replacing KYTV's various comedy channels are six-and-a-bit sports channels from Setanta. The package is general-sports channel Setanta 1 and its week-end extension Setanta 2, Racing UK, Scottish football channels Celtic and Rangers TV, Setanta Golf, and Liverpool TV (set to launch this autumn). Though it's included as part of the current Setanta package, and is still bundled on satellite, NASN will not be included in the deal.

We're rather worried about the BBC's Six O'Clock News, which recently reported on cage fighting as though it were a brand new invention, and not (say) part of the plot of a third-season episode of Friends.

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22July

We regret to report the death of Robert Buras, the guitarist and songwriter with Norwegian rock band Madrugada.

A deliberate snub to their fans here, Monrose hit the top in Germany, performing Hot summer. Di-rect come in at 2 in the Netherlands, performing Johnny. Helena Paparizou makes Sweden's top 20 with 3 is a magic number, and Stacey Ferguson takes the top in Ireland, where Arcade Fire and High School Musical have top 20 hits.

20 re Travis - Closer
19 15 Editors - Smokers outside the hospital doors
18 11 Reverend and the Makers
  - Heavyweight champion of the world
17 16 Christophe Willem - Double je
16 NE Mark Medlock - You can get it
15 12 Michael Bublé - Everything
14 13 Fray - How to save a life
13 14 Marquess - Vayamos campeneros
12 18 Gregory Lemarchal - De temps en temps
11 NE Timberland - The way oi are
10  7 Mutya Buena - Real girl
 9 NE Monrose - Hot summer
 8  9 Mika - Grace Kelly
 7 NE Stacey Ferguson - Big girls don't cry
 6  4 Nelly Furtado - Say it right
 5  6 Linkin Park - What I've done
 4  5 Enrique Iglesias - Do you know?
 3  3 Mika - Relax (take it easy)
 2  2 Åvril Lavignnesøn - When you're gone
 1  1 Rihanna - Umbrella

22July

Creeping into the bottom end of the top 75 are David Guetta, Goodbooks, Plain White Ts, and Rihanna. Much as we like the Goodbooks, only Rihanna's Shut up and drive is going to bother us over the coming weeks. Two songs just miss the 40: Garbage's Tell me where it hurts at 50, and Ali Love's Secret Sunday lover at 45. Fall Out Boy stall at 48 on full release of The take over the breaks over. Big climbs for Linkin Park, and both of Mika's previous hits.

Into the 40 with The Thrills, with Nothing changes around here. Honesty in packaging, there. Amerie moves into the top end with Control yourself at 38, one of the worst songs to enter this week, downloads only here. Sunfreaks come in at 37 with Counting down the days; it's not a cover of the Natalie Imbruglio standard, so must be rubbish. Down one at 35 go the Fray, a record we're thoroughly tired of now. It has been in the top 40 for 27 weeks: here's the list of records to make consecutive runs five-and-a-half months in the 40 since 1980.

• 37 weeks from 3/1/1984 - Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1 x 5 weeks)
• 23 w, 23/6/1991 - (Everything I do) I do it for you - Bryan Adams (1x16)
• 24 w, 15/5/1994 - Love is all around - Wet Wet Wet (1x15)
• 25 w, 6/11/1994 - Think twice - Céline Dion (1x7)
• 30 w, 1/3/1998 - How do I live - Leann Rimes (7x2)
• 23 w, 15/11/1998 - Heartbeat / Tragedy - Steps (1x1)
• 25 w, 31/7/2005 - Bad day - Daniel Powter (2x3)
• 23 w, 11/9/2005 - Don't you - Pussycat Dolls (1x3)
• 26 w, 18/6/2006 - Hips don't lie - Shakira (1x5)
• 26 w, 3/9/2006 - I don't feel like dancing - Scissor Sisters (1x4)
• 27+w, 22/1/2007 - How to save a life - The Fray (4x1)

A footnote to this list: Snow Patrol's Chasing cars was forcibly deleted in November 2006, and was excluded from the top 40 for six weeks when it sold enough copies to make the list. Had the record not been removed, it would have had 36 weeks in the top 40. The song charted in its first 30 weeks of eligibility.

R. Kelly (kiddyfiddler, toker) and Usher (shows people to their seats) enter at 32, for reasons that can never be adequately explained. And it's on downloads. Nelly Furtado's Say it right had a 21-week run on the chart earlier this year, never rising above number 10; the three-week encore performance isn't going to get it in the list of consecutive top 40 weeks. In at 20 come the Cast of High School Musical II, with What time is it? Time to start work on HSM III, the biggest youth-cultural franchise since Harry Potter. Biffy Clyro's Folding stars comes in at 18, their third top-20 hit of the year. Mika has the fastest climber, on downloads alone. Scottish singer-songwriter Amy MacDonald has the highest new entry at 12; her song has many familiar elements, but none that we can place to any particular influence.

Lily Allen's jazz cover of Oh my god is number 8, climbing 4 places on full release. The top 5: Enrique's back up two to 5, Stacey Ferguson drops two to 4, Timberyokel's up one to 3 on downloads alone, and Katherine Nash is back up one to 2. Which means that Rihanna remains at number one for the tenth (count 'em!) week in a row. This week's winning margin was less than 1000 singles, and just 30,000 were sold.

On the albums, cover your ears, for Paul Potts's One Chance is in at number 1, displacing the Enemy to 2, and Travelling Wilburys hold at 3. Mika (13-4) and Timberland (17-5) benefit from the July sales, as does Amy Whingebag (14-8) and Mark Ronson (38-12). Babs Streisand has been playing concerts, her hits collection rises 25-13. Beneath that, it's the falls that count - Cherry Ghost 7-20, Chemical Brothers 5-19, Interpol 2-21, and the Smashing Pumpkins 4-33. Whingebag's old album (69-43) and Oasis's least ancient one (68-46) also benefit from the sales.

 6  8 Hoosiers - Worried about Ray
 7  6 Åvril Lavignnesøn - When you're gone
 9  5 Arctic Monkeys - Flourescent adolescent
10  9 My Chemical Romance - Teenagers
12 NE Amy MacDonald - Mr. rock 'n' roll
14 33 Mika - Big girl (you are beautiful)
21 17 Jack Penate - Once and never happy hour again
22 20 Enemy - Had enough
29 23 Reverend and the Makers
  - Heavyweight champion of the world
33 36 Mutya Buena - Real girl
41 60 Mika - Grace Kelly
42 42 Holloways - Generator
47 43 Kelly Clarkson - Never again
50 NE Garbage - Tell me where it hurts
51 41 Editors - Smokers outside the hospital doors
56 61 Mika - Love to-day
58 52 Cherry Ghost - People help the people
59 57 Åvril Lavignnesøn - Girlfriend
61 63 Gossip - Standing in the way of control
62 51 Fray - Over my head
63 50 White Stripes - Icky thump
68 22 Bloc Party - Hunting for witches
71 59 Calvin Harris - Acceptable in the eighties
73 NE Goodbooks - Passchendaele

.. 53 Dykeenies - Clean up your eyes
.. 65 Cold War Kids - Hang me up to dry
.. 73 Scouting for Girls - It's not about you
.. 74 Lily Allen - Smile

22July

This week, we've been watching and hearing...

• How David Dimbleby Built Britain (BBC-1) By sitting with his feet up in someone else's house, pouring himself a generous djinnyantonik. A fab series.
• Tour de France (ITV4) He's going to finish, you know... he's given up. Bit like German TV, really.
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Twenty Twenty for BBC-1, BBC-2) Very good. Very good indeed.
• Adrenalin Rush (Vivid for C4) Fifty minutes of an endurance race around Scotland is a bit too much.
• Peter and Dan Snow's Twentieth Century Battlefields (BBC-2) The Falklands. Can't they at least give Peter his map and poker rake back?
• Feedback (Radio 4) Mark Thompson soothes the nerves over the BBC's competition cancellation, and there's criticism for Hut 33. And an interview with the bloke from the Promotion of Digital Radio that concentrates on the service's lack of availability, and doesn't once mention its piss-poor sound quality.

22July

Boris Johnson C, Henley-on-Thames has said that he will be ambling for nomination as the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London. If selected, he will be cycling against Kenneth Livingstone Lab, annoying the Hell In London.

In diplomatic tit-for-tat, the United Kingdom and Russia expelled four of each other's diplomats. The U.K. was annoyed that Russia refused to extradite the prime suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko last year; Russia was just annoyed.

Around 200 people were killed when an aeroplane crashed into a fuel depot while landing at Congonhas airport, Sao Paulo.

Prosecuting authorities in Britain determined that there were insufficient grounds to prosecute anyone over the cash-for-peerages case. Though membership of Lords', and other honours, were sold for donations to the Labour party, the CPS said that there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone. The main plank of their non-argument appeared to be that there wasn't enough evidence to charge ancien British prime minister Mister Tony Blair, and the main plank of the defence would be we were only following his orders.

The privatisation of London Underground was exposed as a folly, as Metronet collapsed under its crushing debts. The taxpayer will now pay an extra £5 milliard (€7.5 md) that would not be necessary had the tracks remained in public ownership.

The heaviest July rains in decades caused flooding across central England. The worst floods occurred in Worcestershire, south Warwickshire. North Oxfordshire. Bewdley and Evesham were inundated for the third time this summer, and Gloucester was left without drinking water after a pumping station was flooded. It emerged that the government had not spend £1 milliard (€1.5 md) pledged for flood defences, and had reduced the budget following a ruling over its mishandling of farm subsidies.

22July

More extreme rain fell on Friday, this time affecting the Severn and Cherwell valleys worst. Here in south Birmingham, reports show the following hourly rainfall rates:
11h 4.5mm
12h 5.5mm
13h 6.0mm
14h 11.5mm
15h 5.5mm
16h 4.5mm

There had been a sharp thunderstorm during Thursday evening, and another sharp burst - 3mm - in the hour from 23h. Total rainfall for the 27-hour period from 21h Thursday was 61.5mm. This was normal for the west midlands.

16 Mo sun, rain late    15/22, 1.0
17 Tu sun, thunder shwr 13/20,15.0
18 We sun               13/21
19 Th sun                9/22
20 Fr rain              14/14,57.0
21 Sa rain clearing     11/13,14.0
22 Su sunny spells       9/17, 0.5

Rainfall in July: 152.5mm; monthly average: 69mm

Degree cooling days: 43
2006: 222/360
2005: 138/238
2004: 69/198
2003: 152/328