14August

A Korean Air jet crashed while landing on Guam, killing 250. Floods affected Wales and Southern Ireland. The end of Grobbelgaate (©WSC 1994) as the jury cleared Bruce Grobbelaar, Hans Segers, and John Fashanu of rigging matches; the jury was unable to reach a verdict on charges of corruption against Grobbelaar. The South Crofty tin mine closed, with the loss of 275 jobs. The Princess of Wales visited Bosnia to promote her politics on land-mines; and was photographed with Harrods heir Dodi Fayed. Medallists at the World Athletic Championships in Athens included Denise Lewis, Colin Jackson, Steve Backley, and the men's relay sides. Australia retained the Ashes, beating England 3-1. Sri Lanka set a world record Test score, 952/6 against India. Dead this week: Jeanne Calment, world's oldest woman, 122.

No move at number 8 for Meredith Brooks's hit Bitch. Success had been a long time coming for her; less than a year before her fortieth birthday, and over a decade after releasing her first records, there was suddenly a hit single. She had to sign with Capitol Records, and toured heavily in support of Bitch. Two other singles were released from album Blurring the Edges, but to much less success. After this hit, Brooks forgot to promote anything this side of the pond, preferring to concentrate on the Lilith Fair tour of North America. A second album, Deconstruction, was released in 1999 to little fanfare, and third LP Bad Bad One emerged here in 2004, two years after its release elsewhere. Her most recent credit is producing Hilary Duff's first two albums. She's remembered as a one-hit wonder, and someone whose talents were lost in the shuffle.

(More: the MacLaurin report into cricket, Robyn, the Wets)

Down one to 3 came Gala, down one to 2 came Puff Daddy. New at number one was Will Smith. He was no stranger to the top of the charts - as half of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, he'd had a number one hit in 1993 with Boom! (shake the room). His new hit, Men in black, was taken from the film of the same name, and - after George Michael's Fastlove - was the second chart-topper in little over a year to be based around Patrice Rushen's Forget-me-nots, itself a top 3 hit in 1982. It was the beginning of a brief but productive pop career for Smith - by the end of 1998, he would have three more top three hits, and he's had a couple of smashes in the years since. None of them have been at all memorable, though, suggesting that his talents in the pop arena are located only in the fronting-a-good-hook department.

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15August

What was the warmest year on record? For eight years, the accepted answer has been 1998, but not any longer. NASA, the organisation that promulgated this theory, has quietly revised its data, and they now show that 1934 was the warmest year on record for the American continent landmass between arbitrary lines at about 49°N and about 30°N. That year was 1.25°C above the long-term average, 1998 a mere 1.23&dec;C. Indeed, the revised figures show just four of the ten warmest years since 1880 occurred since 1990, rather than five under the previous estimate.

The problem appears to be that NASA's algorithm for computing the average temperature was tweaked in the late 1990s, introducing an error factor biassed towards the positive. The error was not detected before because NASA has refused to publish its algorithm. This is a blatant violation of all scientific standards, and we deplore their secrecy.

The net result is that the warming epoch in the Central North American landmass since 1990 is not *yet* *significantly* greater than that from 1930-50. We're being cautious about this: it's an error in one part of a dataset, covering about 2% of the planet's surface. There is a clear need to pay closer attention to the data before drawing conclusions, and transparency is required throughout the process.

More research is needed to determine that the planet is warming, that this warming is due to human activity, and that it can be reversed. In the absence of data to the contrary, this website's instinct is to prepare for the worst.

More: Norcal blogs, an anthropogenic sceptic site; Real Climate, a more pro-anthropogenic site.

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15August

Those planning significant commitment ceremonies in the near future may wish to note the meetini. (And well done, Stained.)

From the file labelled Crikey, where's she been!, we're pleased to hear Valerie Sanderson on the World Service. We remember when she was the evening newsreader on The New Radio 5, back when it covered news sensibly throughout the day. Apparently, she's been hiding away on News 24, and had a son. Oh, and she's married to someone called John Humphrys, a man whose head is famously small.

We note that Radio 5 has buggered about with its theme music again. Almost every change has been for the worse. In 1990, the original laid-back guitar figure, be-dum-dum-daa-daa, duuum-dum-daa-daa-deeee. In 1994, angst rock conveying authority and a certain informality to mark it apart from Radio 4. Slightly changed in 1996, and losing something. In 1999, a five-minute bunch of drums with a bit of a tune about 40 seconds in. In 2004, the similarly good bing-bong-bing-bong-doo-doo tune, replaced recently by what we can only describe as an electronic fart. Or was that Colin Murray?

In his most recent column, Alan Watkins asks, Whatever happened, by the way, to the proposal [for parliament] to reassemble in early September, with a break for the party conference season? It seems to have disappeared without trace. Took place in 2003 and 2004; in the latter year, a lapse in security allowed protestors to take the floor of the Commons. Further building works were scheduled for September 2005, and by 2006 it's only people with a long memory, like Mr. Watkins and ourselves, that remembers such things ever happened.

National Express has won the East Coast rail route. The company has operated services in the midlands since 1997, and has made a reasonable fist of it. The Central Trains region was too large - that's why it's being split later this year - and CT has pulled back from many of its more foolish early ideas, such as running commuter services between Leicester and Shrewsbury. The ECML is a more linear route, running from London to Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Newcastle, and Edinburgh, with branches to Leeds, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Inverness. Much less of a chance to mess things up.

Sunderland manager Roy Keane has lashed out at weak-willed footballers who allow their significant others to dictate their clubs. Mr. Keane, whose Sunderland side topped Division I earlier this season, said that wives and boy- or girl-friends who wanted to shop in London stores should not be allowed to dictate their companion's clubs. Besides, Sunderland has everything one needs: there's the Metro Centre, the nightlife of Newcastle (clothing optional), and ducks to feed. Oh, and a football team that can actually win games, more than Tottenham Hotspur Nil ever does.

Light entertainment: Fearne Cotton reveals what happened when CBBC's Jake Humphrey got married and though the weather here has been two shades of rubbish, it's been lovely at Fort Amherst.

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16August

Who said that the Germans had no sense of humour? Not Frank Popp, who put together a studio ensemble in the dying years of the twentieth century. Their work was a cross between upbeat soul, kitsch pop, and organ-based spy music. The whole atmosphere was quite deliberately a throwback to the late 60s.

The group's first proper LP was Ride On, released in 2001, and most of the album was used in a television commercial somewhere in Europe. It's from this album that we draw our sample track, Hip teens (don't wear blue jeans) (m/l: Sam Leigh Brown, Philip Noha, Frank Popp Ensemble). The track was a top 20 hit in Germany during June 2003, and is as good an introduction to the group's wowfabgroovy sound as you're likely to find without using the word wowfabgroovy.

The Ensemble tried to crack the Anglophone market in 2005, but weren't black or talking jive, so stood no chance. Good music stands the test of time.

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16August

Zoe Williams on the police being twenty years behind fashion. Have you seen their uniforms? It's amazing that they don't still wear ulsters.

Konnie Huq's agent has apologised after the Blue Peter presenter appeared on the same stage as Ken Livingstone. We don't see a problem here, as Konnie would be a fine choice to be the next prime minister.

Mrs Clinton mentions God more often than the average European bishop.

From the file labelled Bad Maths:

Walking does more than driving to cause global warming, a leading environmentalist has calculated. The sums were done by Chris Goodall, campaigning author of How to Live a Low-Carbon Life, based on the greenhouse gases created by intensive beef production. Driving a typical UK car for 3 miles [4.8km] adds about 0.9 kg of CO₂ to the atmosphere, he said, a calculation based on the Government’s official fuel emission figures. If you walked instead, it would use about 180 calories. You’d need about 100g of beef to replace those calories, resulting in 3.6kg of emissions, or four times as much as driving.

Or you could eat approximately two apples from the tree grown in your own back yard, a process that actually removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Toys of our time, from the Indytab.

Look! It's the Proclaimers!

How to make lemon syrup, and from lemon syrup flows Proper Lemonade. In summary: put 200g of sugar into a saucepan. On top, put 250ml of water. Do not stir; merely mark an X to help the process start. Put the pan over a warm heat for about five minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved. Do not stir. Add grated lemon zest (that's the yellow bit on the outside). This is your lemon syrup.

To constitute the lemonade, add about 100ml of lemon juice to 500ml of water, and stir in lemon syrup to taste - the original recipe recommends about 150ml for a tart drink; we've found 100ml more to our taste. Lemon syrup can also be used in tea, iced coffee, and fruit cocktails. It lasts for some months in the fridge.

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17August

M'learned friend Mat GB has been discussing an event from The Memory Hole:

John Major, then Prime Minister, sued the New Statesman for printing an article asserting he wasn't having an affair with his caterer. The suit was spurious, and it was eventually dropped, but not until after the distributors and printers (because they can get sued to, as can a paperboy) settled out of court, and the Staggers indemnity insurance wasn't good enough.

Our memory doesn't quite tally with that summary, but we have slept a number of times since, and it would be useful to have the facts, rather than hazy recollections. So, off to the Newspaper Archive for the facts, and they're all sourced. Wikipedia skivers, bog off and do your own research, for we have inserted one deliberate untruth in this piece.

(More: The complete tale of Major, Latimer, and the New Statesman)

Further reading: Mr. Platt's side of the story, though it contains an egregious lapse in history in the very first sentence – Back to Basics did not begin until October 1993. He also re-prints the contentious article. Miss Latimer held her silence until February 2004, when she gave a two-part interview to the Camden New Journal.

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19August

Time for the quarterly RAJAR figures, this time covering the thirteen weeks to 30 June 2007. Of particular reference are the figures for the first quarter of 2007 and the equivalent last year.

It should be noted that RAJAR has introduced a slightly different method of collecting data, and we're treating quarter-on-quarter comparisons with a slightly larger pinch of salt than usual.

(More: All the tables)

No tremendous change in most of the the BBC nationals, only Radio 3's figures are particularly bad, the lowest recorded under any RAJAR methodology, down 6% on the last quarter. It should be noted that Classic FM suffered a similar drop in reach, suggesting a problem with the sample. The digital services continue to rise slowly, and Asian Network reverses most of its losses from the previous quarter.

Saga's new owners, Smooth, have kept the stations on an even keel in terms of figures, though programming is less adventurous and the stations less fun to hear. Heart WM continues to lose 100,000 or so listeners per quarter.

It's clear where GWR/Capital put their priorities, and it's not in retaining listeners. The flagship station Capital has dropped to fourth in London, and BRMB has lost nearly half-a-million listeners in three years. Mercia has its second pisspoor quarter in three, without a reversion to the mean betweentimes. Galaxy has profited, and the standstill performances of Wyvern, Beacon, and FOX are worth of note. But if GWR/Capital is bad, CN has managed to turn a golden horse into a lame mare. At the end of 2005, The Bear had 25% share, and Kix 20%. Combined, the stations are now managing less than 15%. It's a similar story for Centre, re-named Touch at the end of last year, and losing listeners hand-over-fist since. The Wolf loses ground for the second quarter running, but this is from a rival city station that doesn't report to RAJAR. The AM stations remain a waste of space, and we may as well re-advertise the licenses now to see if anyone is interested, then switch 'em off.

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19August

Patrick Fiori's 4 mots sur un piano takes the reins in France, and Azad's Prison break anthem in Germany, where Lemon Ice's cover of Girl you know it's true makes the top 30, and becomes the first step in The Great Milli Vanilli Revival of 2008. New leader in Sweden - well, an old leader in Sweden, Ola's Natalie returns to the top, as I'm gay does a McFly, slumping from 1 to 20. Oddities in Ireland, where Journey's Don't stop believing (1982) rubs shoulders with Elvis's Heartbreak hotel (1958), and a rather pointless cover of We don't have to take our clothes off (1986). This week's Finnish number 1 is Tytöt tykkää by Tea. It's there for a third week, and we're now officially Worried. Make that Very Worried, for Paul Oskar is back! Back!! BACK!!! The man whose leather trousers represented Iceland at Eurovision '97, and picked up the televotes of drunken Brits and absolutely no-one else, returns to his home country's top ten. His song is named after an appeal he certainly lacks: International.

20 19 Arctic Monkeys - Flourescent adolescent
19 re Gregory Lemarchal - De temps en temps
18 15 Christophe Willem - Double je
17 13 Mark Medlock - You can get it
16 17 Azad - Prison break anthem
15 12 Monrose - Hot summer
14 10 Amy MacDonald - Mr. Rock 'n' roll
13 14 Robyn - With every heartbeat
12  8 Mika - Grace Kelly
11 20 David Guetta - Love is gone
10 16 Plain White Ts - Hey there Delilah
 9 11 Linkin Park - What I've done
 8  5 Mika - Big girl (you are beautiful)
 7  9 Marquess - Vayamos campeneros
 6  7 Enrique Iglesias - Do you know?
 5  6 Stacey Ferguson - Big girls don't cry
 4  4 Timberyokel - The way oi are
 3  3 Mika - Relax (take it easy)
 2  2 Åvril Lavignnesøn - When you're gone
 1  1 Rihanna - Umbrella

19August

Beneath the 40: bad news for the heavily promoted Ross Copperman (Found you, 68) and Sophie Ellis-Bextor (Today the sun's on us, 64). Calvin Harris's third single is Merrymaking at my place, in at 67. Remember Eamon? The man who was rather rude in 2004 has finally deigned to release a follow-up: (How could you) bring him home lands at 61. Maroon 5 need to give us a Wake up call, their tedious song is in at 58, but beaten by the Freaks, whose The creeps enters at 55. The Super Furry's Show your hand is in at 46, and Linkin Park enter at 44 with Bleed it out. Some oldies: Kayne West's Gold digger re-enters at 59, originally a number 2 in October 2005, and Snore Patrol's Chasing cars makes 50 weeks in the top 75, and that's not counting the six weeks it was excluded under the bizarre rules in place at the time. And be very ware: John Lennin's Imagine props up the 75, following his release onto Whytoons.

Eight new entries into the top 40, beginning with Athlete's Hurricane at 39. It's perhaps a little more Snow Patrol than the group's hits from a few years ago, but doesn't do a tremendous amount for us on first listen. Good to see Ben's Brother making the big lists at 38 with Let me out, proper acoustic British talent. KT Tunstall is back! Back! BACK! at 34 with Hold on. For the benefit of Jay Kay and Or Joel, yes, the Hans Zimmer who wrote Going for gold has gone on to pen such nonsense as Spiderpig (this week's number 33.)

A list of people who really should have given up years ago begins with the Foo Fighters. Still able to put new records into the top 40, even though they've never had anything interesting to say; The pretender enters at 28. R. Kelly has clearly left his music career behind, after Same girl with Usher moves to a new peak of 26 now that physicals are out. Twenty-six New Pence has joined his limited talent with Justin Numberwang on Ayo technology, somehow in at 23. We didn't expect to like Mario, How do I breathe up 9 to 21, but it's the sort of smooth soul that we thought had gone out with Clinton.

In at 20 come the Pigeon Detectives, Take a bath, and this does sound like all their other works, right down to the pisspoor enunciation. Amy Whingebag continues to climb, now at 16. But Rihanna's newie drops three to 14, and goes back-to-back with her oldie at 13, and that's not happened since Clarence 'Frogman' Henry in 1961. Who? Exactly! Hard-Fi come in at 12 with Suburban knights, but we reckon Popjustice has got this lot nailed. The Elvis Presley Estate is having another raid on the copyrights of his old songs, by re-releasing some of his number 2 records. The first, Suspicious minds, enters at 11.

David Guetta climbs from 21 to 9 with Love is gone, and Gym Class Heroes have a woeful cover of Jermaine Stewart's first hit. Their song, Clothes off, is in at 8, the same peak as Jermaine's second hit, 1988's Say it again. Axwell storms from 27 to 6 with his washing machine going a bit wonky. Plain White Ts climb one more place to 5; Katherine Nash holds at 4, now two months at 2, 3, and 4. Timberyokel drops a place to 3, and after another titanic battle, Robyn drops to 2, leaving Kayne West's drivel at the top. Well done, everyone.

Elvis may have been restricted to 11 on the singles chart, but his umpteenth singles collection, entitled The king, bows at number 1 on the album list. Katherine Nash slips to 2, Newton Faulkner holds at 3, and the one-woman Celebdaq hand Amy Whingebag is back at 4. New entries for Robyn at 20 and the hits of Roy Orbison at 23; climbs for the Pigeon Detectives (34-11), Ben's Brother (24-14), and Gym Class Heroes (50-35).

 2  1 Robyn - With every heartbeat
10  8 Newton Faulkner - Dream catch me
12 NE Hard-Fi - Suburban knights
15  9 Hoosiers - Worried about Ray
18 13 Åvril Lavignnesøn - When you're gone
19 14 Mika - Big girl (you are beautiful)
21 30 Mario - How do I breathe
25 17 Amy MacDonald - Mr. rock 'n' roll
31 25 My Chemical Romance - Teenagers
32 26 Arctic Monkeys - Flourescent adolescent
34 NE KT Tunstall - Hold on
38 69 Ben's Brother - Let me out
41 19 Elliot Minor - Jessica
49 41 Jack Penate - Once and never happy hour again
57 55 Åvril Lavignnesøn - Girlfriend
60 46 Reverend and the Makers
  - Heavyweight champion of the world
63 53 Mika - Grace Kelly
72 40 Richard Hawley - Tonight the streets are ours
73 20 Darren Hayes
  - On the verge of something wonderful

.. 48 Gossip - Standing in the way of control
.. 50 Mutya Buena - Real girl
.. 63 Newton Faulkner - Teardrop
.. 64 Mika - Love to-day
.. 67 Enemy - Had enough
.. 73 Coral - Who's going to find me

19August

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

• The Adventure Game (BBC-1) For a review.
• Star Stories (Objective/C4) Taking the piss out of Simon Cowell. We like it already.
• Raven: The Secret Temple (CBBC) This is a goodie.
• The Book Quiz (Granada/The Fourth Programme) It took to the last programme in the series, but they got Brian Sewell.
• You Can't Fire Me I'm Famous (Endemol Scotland/BBC-1) Richard Bacon the subject, and a decent show. Could well lose ten minutes, though.
• Star Stories (Objective/C4) Britney Spears, but we don't get the Timberwank becoming like Jacko gag. Appreciate the Disney, though.
• AFL (Setanta) Got it. Just in time for the play-offs.

19August

The rail franchise for the East Coast line has been awarded to National Express. Incumbents GNER have returned the operating license following the collapse of parent company Sea Containers earlier in the year.

Obituaries this week included the former Cabinet ministers John Biffen and William Deedes.

Jack McConnell has resigned as the leader of the Labour party in Scotland. Mr. McConnell was defeated in elections last May, and had led Labour in Scotland since the resignation of Henry McLeish in 2001.

Six Italian men were shot dead on the streets of Duisburg in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Police suspected a link with organised crime in Italy.

A court in Russia acquitted the chairman of AllofMP3 from all charges of copyright infringement. His company used the lax Russian regulations to sell music online in MP3 format, without direct payment to the songwriters or performers. AllofMP3 has been put out of business by an illegal cartel of large players, but successor company MP3 Sparks operates an equally legal business along near-identical lines.

An earthquake in southern Peru left 300 dead. A hurricane struck Jamaica. A camp protesting against proposals to build a third runway at Heathrow was intimidated by the London police; peaceful marchers to the British Airports Authority headquarters were manhandled by the same officers in combat clothes.

19August

Another particularly wet spell: between 5am Tuesday and 6pm Wednesday, 38.5mm of rain fell, slightly more than half the average precipitation for August.

13 Mo sun to cloud      16/20
14 Tu rain am           14/20,12.5
15 We hvy showers, sun  15/18,26.0
16 Th sun, shower       10/18, 1.0
17 Fr cloud             10/18
18 Sa rain              13/16, 9.0
19 Su periods of rain   14/16, 5.0

Rainfall in August: 57mm; monthly average: 69mm

Degree cooling days: 64
2006: 308/360
2005: 178/238
2004: 171/198
2003: 267/328