(More: multiculturalism, Malandra Burrows, Feeder, Clock, David Arnold)

Highest new entry at 2 went to Sash!. Sascha Lappessen hailed from Germany, and began his working life as an electrical engineer, with a brief DJ spell on the side. His talent was obvious, and formed the collective Sash! with Thomas Lüdke and Ralf Kappmeier. They released a cover of Dr. Alban's It's my life in 1995, and had a huge hit across Europe with Encore Une Fois at the start of 1997; number 16 in Germany, number 7 in France, number 2 in the UK, and a week at the top of MTV's Eurochart. The song had a similar beat to Faithless's Insomnia, which had itself been a top 3 hit in the UK a few months before, and featured uncredited vocals from Sabine Ohmes.

The direct follow-up was Ecuador (France 12, Germany 7, UK 2; MTV 4) with the vocals of Rodriguez, with Stay the autumn release (France 23, Germany 12, UK 2; MTV 3). Like its predecessors, the song was credited to Lappessen, Kappmeier, and Thomas Alisson; Frankie McCoy was also credited on this song, and vocals were credited to La Trec. The group managed to begin their UK career with three number 2 singles, a feat never before achieved.

By now, the album It's My Life had been released, and for a dance-pop act, did tolerably well. The collective's second album was Life goes on, which came out late in summer 1998. First single from that had been La primavera, UK number 3 in spring 1998; second single Mysterious times was with Tina Cousins, and only their second English-language hit of the career, following a French, South American Spanish, and Italian entries. Move mania with Shannon put the group back in the top 10 late in 1998, but Colour the world barely made the top 20 over Easter 1999. Third album Trillennium (2000) opened with the number 2 hit Adelante; after one more release, With my own eyes, the group rather gave up on the UK.

Sash! sold 80,000. Elton John shifted 280,000 more copies of Something about the way you look tonight, now taking his total to almost 4 million. Five weeks looks like his limit, as there's a new Spice Girls single out next week.

| Permanent link

Dave the Eager Young Space Cadet says he wants to be compared with Herr Schwarzenegger. Really? A man who only came to power after participating in a disreputable constitutional coup of very dubious legality, exposing his territory to ridicule across the world? A man who groped Denise van Outen live on national television, and who settled out of court in another grope case? Mr. Eager Young Space Cadet, a little less eagerness would serve you well.

The wrongest person in the history of the world: Ayn Rand, the author of absolutely everything that is wrong in the world, if we're to believe the Indytab.

Close to that honour is Alisher Usmanov, the former jailbird who has been called corrupt on the floor of the European Parliament. Think about his children! Two of them on 30 August, but none on 14 October! What an unfortunate man!

Martin Belam on the very warm welcome extended at Gatport to visitors. More arguments for using the regional airports, then.

Albert Gore and the International Panel on Climate Change have won the Nobel Prize for Political Correctness. In the same week, a judge has determined that Mr Gore's propaganda film is littered with numerous scientific errors, and should not be shown without a balancing statement. Clearly, the judge has forgotten the first rule of film-making: when in doubt, make it up. See also: RDF Media.

The reaction in the Failed Colonies across the Atlantic has been utterly amazing, one of Oh, we must have Mr. Bore as our leader. Yet the people there seem to forget that they went so far as electing him to that office, then stood idly by as the judiciary proved to their own satisfaction that black is white, thus getting the entire country killed on the next zebra crossing by a bus driven by real democracy. See also: the land of opportunity dissected by Tim Harford.

Not content with endorsing the wholesale theft of works, it appears that Cory Doctrow has been stealing other people's works wholesale. He reprinted a complete short story by well-known author Ursula LeGuin, plonked his own Some Rights Reserved notice on the story when it's actually All Rights Reserved and not to him, and committed journalistic sins of misrepresentation. According to Mrs. LeGuin, Mr. Doctrow was slow to correct his offence, has offered no assistance to right the wrong he has caused, and has not apologised to anyone about anything. This is an excuse, and an excuse for an apology.

| Permanent link

Sir: Mr Justice Burton has ruled that Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth can only be shown in schools if balancing views are presented. It was said that the film was based on insufficient scientific evidence. What implications does this legal precedent have for faith schools? — Simon Molloy, London E8, the Indytab

The parlous state of Austrian football: so poor, that they're seeing a 1:0 defeat to the Faroe Islands as a good result.

Max Hastings on rulers who march to war.

These Arkansasites are crackers, and cannot be trusted to legislate for themselves.

Prohibition has failed. Legalise all drugs, says chief constable of North Wales. It's clear that prohibition has failed, and needs to be replaced by a policy that has some basis in evidence, and not in the prejudices of Middle England in general, and the political classes in particular.

Shami Chakrabarti answers readers' letters. Is there a case to try Bush and Blair for war crimes?

One from the Department of Utter Incomprehension: Het Grauniad is to release its digital archive, but only as a pay service. Rather than take this opportunity to release a complete scan to libraries and researchers, as the Universal Daily Register has done from 1785 to 1985, the Guardian Media Group has determined that it'll be a profit centre. Even more galling is the announcement that Ye Olde Grauniad will be available through Pro Quest, a library service that (to the best of our knowledge) is not available in the UK. What a wonderful commitment to the free flow of information. Comment is free, but history is not. To say we are very, very disappointed would be a gross understatement.

The loss of Ming Vase leaves the Lib Dems in trouble, obviously. Less obviously, this has to be good news for Dave the Eager Young Space Cadet, for his party of Spaceheads have many marginal seats against the Ell Dees, and must surely be favoured to win most of them. Chalk up another half-dozen seats to the Blues.

Incidentally, we hear that Mr. Vase was going to announce his resignation on The Sunday Edition, ITV's lunchtime politics programme that went out at (er) 9.25 last Sunday morning. However, the complete incompetence of the producers ensured that the live link-up between Andrea Catherwood in London and Mr. Vase in Edinburgh never happened, and the show was robbed of its first big scoop in almost a year on air.

We were unaware that Rent was undergoing a revival on the London stage. The Torygraph's Charles Spencer is deeply unhappy with the new production. We agree that it's a thin and somewhat over-rated production to begin with, and that London theatre was right to have it close after about nine months in 1999. To stage a minimalist version could never work, and nor could a staging with Denise van Outen.

And finally, some news that's 45 years old. Super Castro Goes Ballistic: Yanks Call It Atrocious.

| Permanent link

We were going to write a long and detailed discussion of what the BBC should do with its reduced funding, above and beyond the obvious (sell the DOG machine, fercryinoutloud). Then we noticed that the BBC Trust had approved the odious proposal to take advertising for international viewers to its websites.

Fecking sellouts.

The Trust was satisfied that approving the proposals would not conflict with its Charter duty to secure that the independence of the BBC was maintained. They bloody well would be. These pillocks are appointed by those odious incompetents at the DCMS, and paid ludicrous amounts of money to sit on their arses and sell the corporation down the river.

Our position is very simple. It is not possible to carry commercials and retain editorial independence, as Martin Belam argued almost a year ago. The Trunts cite CNN and the Economist as organisations that appear to do this, but forget that both are profit-driven enterprises. No comparison is offered with public service broadcasters, for the DCMS appointees know full well that they cannot make a similar claim. ABC, for instance, has recently sold advertising for its website, and been solidly criticised for it.

Some have argued that journalists would be aghast at any attempt to influence their work. This is true, but isn't the point. It's what people think is happening, and the undeniable fact that the many bad apples in the commercial sector have queered the pitch for the few organisations of honesty and probity. The BBC has no commercials: this is an obvious way of asserting its independence. Slap adverts all over the site, and the corporation has to work harder, and can never reap the same rewards.

The official BBC position is that not doing so would be to use license fee money for the benefit of international audiences. This is cowardly bullshit; the amount of cross-subsidy is minimal, and would be more than recouped when the BBC commands higher prices when selling its wares overseas.

Some have argued that this is the thin end of the wedge, a plot hatched by Rupert Murdoch, snivelling lacklustre lackeys in the Labour party such as Tessa Jowell, and augmented by Alistair Campbell's self-righteous desire for revenge. It is alleged that these people would love to see the BBC reduced to a vassel, occupying one or two places well down the EPG. We don't necessarily believe this line of thought, but we don't have enough evidence to disprove it.

The reprobates responsible for killing the BBC's independence are the BBC Trust:

• Chitra Bharucha
• Diane Coyle
• Dermot Gleeson
• Alison Hastings
• Patricia Hodgson
• Rotha Johnston
• Janet Lewis-Jones
• David Liddiment
• Sir Michael Lyons
• Mehmuda Mian Pritchard
• Jeremy Peat
• Richard Tait

These people are charged with keeping the BBC independent. How on earth can they square this with the very real loss of independence that has to come from taking commercials? We have documented, at great length, the decline of other services after they started taking advertisements. We have no guarantees that the BBC will do any better, only warm words by people who claim to represent us, but in whose appointment we have neither say nor confidence.

We must now consider very carefully whether we can continue to support the BBC financially. We hope that the dirty dozen above can sleep soundly in their beds to-night; while the price of their decision may be low, it is clear their values are far, far lower.

| Permanent link

Right. Well. We're in a Bad Mood to-night, if not a full-on Pout, so here's a very quick write-up. The new single by the Wombats, another part of the new wave of British indie, a bit upbeat and a bit intelligent and a bit silly. They're celebrating the tunes of Joy Division, a seminally morose Manchester band of almost thirty years ago. That we can't get in a good mood after listening to Let's dance to Joy Division shows just how annoyed we are with those fecking sellouts.

| Permanent link

The Yankee-doodle-dandies have been rather worried that a barrel of oil is costing 90 of their small pieces of green paper. For those of us in Europe, this is six pieces of red-brown paper, and three silver-and-gold coins. The nominal prices in pieces of green paper has never been higher, though when adjusted for inflation, the average price in 1980 required 95 sheets.

For those of us in Europe, the highest price after accounting for inflation was in 1981, when €95 was required. For much of the post-war era, the price had been around €40, falling to €30 in 1973. Prices returned to this low level in the late 1980s, and the lowest annual average was less than €14 in 1998. Prices have trebled in the years since, but the average for 2007 is still only €43.50, remarkably close to the average over the past 60 years.

Adjusted for inflation, and measured in a stable currency, the real price of oil is no higher than the post-war average. It only feels expensive because people got used to stupidly cheap oil between 1986 and 1999, and it only looks expensive because of the way oil is priced.

| Permanent link

Slightly against our better judgement, we're going to give yesterday's editorial in the Daily Murdoch the roasting it deserves, and some publicity that it patently does not.

(More: Dissecting every claim made in that piece, and exposing the self-interest of the Murdoch paper - 1300 words)

| Permanent link

21October

Ora Mate's Kamate takes the lead in France, just in time for the side to leave the World Cup. Die Ärzte are new at the top in Germany, performing Junge. Jimi Blue's I'm loving... comes in at 5, Dave Gahan's number 10, the Backstreet Boys and Shanadoo in the top 30. Christophe Willem's new at 4 performing Jacques a dit. A new leader on Czech radio, Big girls don't cry from Stacey Ferguson. Remember that? Snore Patrol's Shut your eyes takes the lead in Flanders, 1973 in Walloonia and Latvia.

20 14 Monrose - Strictly physical
19 NE Kent - Ingenting
18 16 Ich + Ich - Von sielbern stern
17 17 DJ Ötzi - Ein stern
16 15 Culcha Candela - Hamma
15 12 Mika - Big girl (you are beautiful)
14 NE Dave Gahan - Kingdom
13 20 Ora Mate - Kamate
12 19 Enrique Iglesias - Tired of being sorry
11  6 Robyn - With every heartbeat
10  8 K T Tunstall - Hold on
 9  9 Feist - 1, 2, 3, 4
 8 11 Stacey Ferguson - Big girls don't cry
 7  7 Sean Kingston - Beautiful girls
 6  5 24 New Pence - Ayo technology
 5 10 Scouting For Girls - She's so lovely
 4  3 Timberyokel - The way oi are
 3  4 Sugababes - About you now
 2  2 Plain White Ts - Hey there Delilah
 1  1 James Blunt - 1973

| Permanent link

21October

Shapeshifters' New day comes in at 72, and rocksters Avenged Sevenfold hit 67 with Almost easy. The Sex Pistols put Pretty vacant in at 65 - this song hadn't been promoted by the NME. Neither had Nickelback's tedious Rockstar (64). Michael Buble's Home re-enters at 61. Gwen Stiffeny's up 16 to 59, and Amy Whingebag is up 6 to 53. There's a new entry for Scrappy Spice, still wearing fishnets that are far too neat to be anything other than naff. The sultry Amy MacDonald puts Ell Eh in at 48, and that's entirely disappointing. Hidden in the lower reaches of the chart was the battle of My So-Called Life stars. Could Jordan Catalano's new band, 30 Seconds To Mars, outsell Take That's new single, starring (literally) Angela Chase? In the event, yes, but only by three places: The kill slips three to 43, while ver That's Rule the world comes in at 46 on downloads.

When was the last time there were no new entries in the bottom 10? Outside Christmas week, and the famed No New Or Re-Entries Christmas Chart of 1998, we reckon that we've got to go back to January 1982, and that only happened because of a change in the chart compilation methodology. Anyway, first new entry into the 40 is Rihanna's Hate that I love you, up from 57 to 29. She has two other tracks in the top 40, Umbrella at 36 and Shut up and drive at 25. Last to have three simultaneous top 40 hits was (almost inevitably) the Grate Elvish Re-Issue Campaign, which did the trick for five weeks, including six entries in the week of 13 February 2005. A Grate Oasis Re-Issue Campaign put four in during November 1996, and The Jam in 1983. The last act to manage it naturally was Adam and the Ants, in March 1981.

It's not much longer since Kenny Rogers was last in the top 40; Islands in the stream made number 7 at the start of 1984, in duet with Dolly Parton. Now his track The gambler has soared from 70 to 22 following its adoption by the England rugby world cup squad. Orson come in at 21 with Ain't no party; it's only 18 months since No tomorrow was the best-selling single. Bright idea and Happiness were less successful.

This week's Elvis Presley re-issue is Wear my ring around your neck; a number 3 hit in 1958, number 16 this week. The Killers put Tranquilise at 13, it charted last week at 49 on a few days' downloads. The Freemasons climb from 21 to 8, Mike from 16 to 7, and Timberyokel from 32 to 6.

Ida Corr drops from 2 to 5, a new peak for the Hoosiers, up a place to 4. A great result for Britney Spears's Gimme more. It's her biggest hit since My perogative three years ago, but then she's only had one hit since, 2005's Do something. Sad to say, this is nothing more than a vapid groove, the sort of nonsense Madonna's been churning out for the past decade, and entirely fitting the video's theme of sleaze and pole dancing. Amy Whingebag's cover of Valerie climbs a place to 2, allowing the Sugababes to celebrate a fourth week at the top of the chart. Hurrah!

Tedium on the albums chart, where The Stereophonics put Pull the pin in at number 1, displacing the Sugababes and Eric Claptout to 2 and 3. Mark Ronson climbs back into the top 10, and Jools Holland puts Best of Friends in at 9. REM's first ever live album - cunningly entitled Live - is in at 12, and Paul Anka reminds us of his hit as Classic Songs - My way enters at 13. Roisin Murphy has Overpowered in at 20, Alison Moyet's The Turn at 21, Jennifer Lopez has Brave at 24, Jimmy Eat World's third album Chase the Light makes 27, and the Hives's Black and White Album comes in at 29. Scrappy Spice's Best Damn Thing is back up 26 to 38, and beats The MacDonald Brothers's The World Outside (41) and Underworld's Oblivion With Bells (45). Matchbox Twenty's Exile on Mainstream is in at 53, and Richard Hawley's Lady's Bridge re-enters at 66.

 1  1 Sugababes - About you now
 4  5 Hoosiers - Goodbye Mr. A
 7 16 Mika - Happy ending
 8 21 Freemasons - Uninvited
12 10 Scouting for Girls - She's so lovely
13 49 Killers - Tranquilise
15 35 Wombats - Let's dance to Joy Division
19  9 Feist - 1234
32 22 Aly and AJ - Potential breakup song
37 36 Hoosiers - Worried about Ray
38 30 Robyn - With every heartbeat
41 38 Jack Penate - Second minute or hour
43 40 30 Seconds to Mars - The kill (rebirth)
48 NE Amy MacDonald - Ell eh
49 50 Newton Faulkner - Dream catch me
50 41 Hives - Tick tick boom
51 NE Åvril Lavignnesøn - Hot
54 59 Mika - Big girl (you are beautiful)
63 64 Åvril Lavignnesøn - When you're gone
65 re Sex Pistols - Pretty vacant
67 NE Avenged Sevenfold - Almost easy

.. 42 Sex Pistols - God save the queen
.. 44 Dave Gahan - Kingdom
.. 62 Enemy - You're not alone
.. 66 Babyshambles - Delivery
.. 71 Hard-Fi - Suburban knights

| Permanent link

21October

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

• The Culture Show (BBC-2) art from the air. There's almost a Coast-like series in there. Series page
• Classical Star (BBC-2), more Pop Idle than Star Ac. Series page, ominously titled Series 1.
• Old Harry's Game (Radio 4) Right about that Blair twat.
• Feedback (City Media for Radio 4) Mark Bygraves on what the proposed cuts mean for radio (mostly, Radio 3 trimming its sails); the environment correspondent discusses the time he gave Albert Gore a grilling, and got a very frosty reception; and an inquiry into why Desert Island Discs is allowing people to take radios and the like. Could it be because Alan Johnson is a cheat?
• The Late Edition (The Fourth Programme) Strictly Come Brigstocke, including a rant against what he perceived to be the claims of James Crick, rather than the sub-tabloid journalism of the Sunset Times' piece, and without reading what Mr. Crick actually said.

| Permanent link

21October

Mr Menzies Campbell announced that he would be stepping down as the leader of the Liberal Democrat party in Britain. Mr. Campbell was elected leader of the party in March 2006, but had failed to engage with the British public, or portray the party's policies. His deputy, Vincent Cable, will take over as acting leader until an election can be held.

Turkey's parliament authorised an invasion of Occupied Iraq, ostensibly against Kurdish forces. The prime minister said that passing the motion does not mean an invasion is imminent.

At least 130 people were killed when bombs exploded near the convoy of Benazir Bhutto. The ancien prime minister of Pakistan was returning from a self-imposed exile, and crowds were lining streets in Karachi.

| Permanent link

21October

A week of two distinct parts. The early part was murky, with drizzle, mist, and fog preserving very warm temperatures for mid-October. A cold front came down from the north-west during Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing a sharp spll of rain, and resulting in much clearer air. Though daytime temperatures dropped by only a few degrees, and were still close to the October average, night-time temperatures fell away; the first October ground frost since 1997.

15 Mo mist to sun       11/16
16 Tu mist, rain        11/16, 7.5
17 We rain o/n, sun      6/13,11.0
18 Th sun                1/13
19 Fr sunny spells       1/13
20 Sa sun               -1/13
21 Su sun                0/13

Rainfall in October: 34mm; monthly average: 69mm

Degree heating days: 18½
2006-7: 0/499
2005-6: 0/684
2004-5: 9½/556
2003-4: 16/754

| Permanent link