Texas finally got a break in late 1996, when Chris Evans used his television and radio shows to champion their comeback single Say what you want, getting it into the top 10 first week out, and eventually helping it to number 3. Halo and Black-eyed boy followed into the top 10 before Put your arms around me rounded out a magnificent year with a number 10 entry. By now, White on Blonde had sold almost 1.3 million copies, and would be the year's second-biggest seller. Texas appeared at the BPI awards in February 1998, and the recording of Say what you want with the Wu-Tang Clan became an unorthodox number 4 hit.

(More: Formula One funding, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Barbara Streisand, and the days when they did play Céline Dion on Radio 1)

All of this meant no change at number 2 for Natalie Imbruglia, and a third week at number 1 for Aqua. Natalie's sold 340,000 copies of Torn in two weeks, the Danes have shifted almost 880,000 units of Barbie girl in a month, and it's behind Elton, Puff, and within spitting distance of Will Smith for the best-seller of the year. Even Natalie's song is knocking on the door of the top 30 for 1997, with still six weeks to go.

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Well, that's an annoyance. Our video recorder has decided to give up the ghost: all the lights were on, wouldn't respond to any buttons, power cycle, dead as a doornail.

What do we want from a new machine?

• Play and record video cassettes. Obviously.
• Hard-drive recording for timeshifting would be useful, and could be no less reliable than The Cable Corp's seven-day catchup of some episodes of some shows, if the wind's in the right direction. Sometimes.
• A DTTV tuner might be overkill: the only direct things it offers that our cable sub doesn't are easier access to some BBC red button content, and the complete spewings of the Daily Hellitext. It would also enable us to watch one show and record another from DTTV. Overall, wouldn't knock DTTV if it were present, but neither is it a must-have.
• As annoying as it is to the spods at High Profit Technology 'R' Us, we do not wish to use the new-fangled, unproven, non-standard, and generally inferior Duff Video Disks for anything other than hanging in the garden and scaring birds. This, quite simply, would be a feature that would sit there, completely unused.

Panel, do you have any experience, tips, equipment you use, equipment you would advise us to steer clear of? The comment box is yours.

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One of the many items we've kept meaning to address is Greg Shahade's discussion of how to run a sports league. In particular, this four point plan:

1. Make every regular season game very important.
2. Give a big edge to the teams that perform well during the season, but make it possible for other teams to win.
3. Cultivate rivalries.
4. Appropriate number of teams should make the postseason.

We suggest that the 20/20 Cup in English cricket does at least three of these things well, and the First Class Trophy fails on at least one account.

(And let us explain why)

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The 1990s were not a good decade for the catholic church in Ireland. There would be sex scandals, there would be embezzelment scandals, there would be the close-to-the-knuckle ribbing of Father Ted. And there would be Patrick Kielty and Graham Norton.

First out of the block came the big hit from the Saw Doctors. Formed in a bar in Tuam, Galway, in 1987, the group was a Celtic-punk band, and you didn't get many of those to the punt. The group toured the UK and Ireland with the Waterboys in late 1988, picking up a certain fan base.

At home, success came quickly: second single I useta love her (Davey Carton / P Cunniffe / Leo Moran / P Stevens) took the number 1 single in July 1990, deposing the Irish world cup squad's song. The tune was all about finding a catholic mass attractive only because there was a pretty young girl in the building. It offended the established church no end, and state broadcaster RTÉ played the song as little as it could. The public loved it, of course, and the song remained the number one for nine weeks, eventually becoming Ireland's biggest selling single of all-time, ever.

This side of the Irish Sea, we heard next-to-nothing. 1992's album All the Way From Tuam had a couple of top-five singles in Ireland. Here, a few spot plays on Simon Mayo's breakfast show, and nowt more. Not until 1994's Small bit of love did the Saw Doctors even threaten to break the UK, and Ric Blaxill - now in charge of Top of the Pops - gave them every help he could. Two more EPs followed in 1996, both going into the top 20 here, and promoting Same Oul' Town into the album top 40, but the group failed to gain sufficient traction to become chart regulars.

The group has continued to record and release albums in the years since, and I useta love her returned to Ireland's top 10 after its use in RTÉ's People In Need Of Assistance appeal this year. And no, there's no similarity between RTÉ's appeal and the BBC's Children In Need Of Assistance. None whatsoever.

Ric Blaxill was the Head of 6 Music until having a sword thrust into him over some 0898gate nonsense; he never used his position to promote the Saw Doctors, and we reckon that is a far greater offence. It's not clear whether I Usedta Love Her remains Ireland's best-selling single: significant changes in the chart compilation took effect in 1992, and the best-sellers under this mechanism - first Riverdance, then Something about the way you look tonight - may or may not have outsold the Docs.

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Crooked Timber on whether the dollar-zone is richer or poorer than the eurozone, and comments that balloon off into the economics of book pricing. And, If even people who go to the wrong bathroom are among those first against the wall, will there be anyone left for the second wave?

Headsup ponders after the future of the newspaper. One paper blog says,

The mission each day is to give you stories, photos and information on Page One and throughout the newspaper that you can't get anywhere else but in The Plain Dealer.

That, apparently, is an excuse to excise mention of Pakistan from the front page, and replace it with an exclusive story about Bobby, the three-legged bunny from Scottsdale, who has been taking hopping lessons. And a puff piece for a company that makes cremation urns that are replicas of sports trophys. (Want your mortal remains to spend all eternity in a four-fifths replica UEFA Cup? Now's your chance!)

Look, if the paper needs to do this to sell copies, then so be it. Just be honest that you are not trying to be a one-stop shop for all the news in the world. Don't dress it up as a positive when it's a profit-driven cop out.

George Monbiot writes about speed cameras and how petrolheads like Jeremiah Clarkssøn don't bother with such niceties as statistical method or having their research published in a peer-reviewed journal. Mr. Monbiot's woollen column is, of course, a pale shadow of a four-parter by Chris Lightfoot† (1 2 3 4)

Hamish Macrae wonders if it's time for the global economic superpowers to rescue the dollar. Were that to happen, it would be a mark of the way economic power is shifting in the world. It is slowly and inexorably shifting away from the FARCE and that will, to many Merkins, come as a shock.

Miles Kington: The Taliban on the parish council.

Eurotrib investigates the rising price of grain. Lower harvests in Australia and North America, increased use of the harvest for fuel not food, slightly increased oil prices. Result: mass starvation. Solution: much less consumption of meat, and better use of the off-cuts.

Squeeze, a brief biography.

The countries that support murder. Capital punishment is always cruel and unnecessary, it doesn't deter crime and runs the risk of executing the innocent.

But finally, some good news. European Parliament racist group collapses under its own stupidity.

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Middlesbrough's contribution to world cuisine is parmo, a combination of pork and molden cheddar cheese. We asked our Teesside correspondent to comment: he stared at us blankly, then brushed past our feet en route to his office under the washing machine.

• Number of people killed on national railways property by terrorism since 1975: 2
• Number of people killed on national railways at level crossings: 15
• Number of people killed by clostridium difficile in England and Wales in 2005: 3800

In response to these facts, Mr. The Soup Dragon has determined that his government will spend lots and lots of money to Pretend To Be Doing Something about the non-threat of bombs on the railways. His party will do nothing about the far more potent threat posed by level crossings, and has failed to wash its hands when dealing with clostridium difficile.

Meanwhile, we see no reason for Mr. The Soup Dragon to extend the period that people may be detained without charge. Indeed, we believe that the existing 28-day limit may safely be halved without threatening security at all. Long detention without trial is an abrogation of human rights, and voids one of the values that distinguish liberal society from the authoritarian religious nuttery proposed by the jihadists. Labour has been playing politics with terrorism since 1997: remember the hand of history? Did Magna Carta die in vain?

Mr. The Soup Dragon personally prevented the foreign minister Mr. Milliband from suggesting that Europe could set standards for the rest of the world. A passage in Mr. Millipede's speech praising M. Popup's idea of greater European military integration came out of the Downing-street machine as an attack on the concept. It's no wonder that commentators suggest Mr. The Soup Dragon leads a risible cabinet of pygmies. Nosemonkey says that Mr. The Soup Dragon's approach to Europe is yet more of the same.

After Sekrit and its cousins 1ekrit, 2ekrit and , and its stroppy nephew dickie_b_uk, we're pleased to report Chill now has persistent tracklistings on the interwebs. It's one of the more sensible things to be done with Audioscrobbler, even if it lets us work out that the die-hard listener to Virgin 1215 has heard Chasing cars and She moves in her own way at least three times a day over the last year and a bit.

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18November

Sheryfa Luna is the new number 1 in France, Quelque part beat Johnny Hallyday's Always in a head-to-head battle of new releases. New number 1 in Germany, Alex C completes his climb to the top with Du hast den schoensten ars, with Nicole Scherzinger in at 5, Seal at 21, and Céline Dion at 29. Bet she got played on Das Top Vierzig Show mit Fërne und Regzi. Good god! Anouk's in at 4 in the Netherlands, where a remix of Toca's miracle is worrying the top 20. Enrique Iglesias is the new number one in Finland, only the third chart-topper since downloads joined the survey in October. The Sugababes hit the top of Estonia's airplay chart. The Spice Girls have the highest new entry in Sweden, at 3; Nanne and September round out the top 5, and Kylie Blankcanvas can only make number 12. Pall Oskar has another hit in Iceland, Betra lif makes the top 5.

20 16 Enrique Iglesias - Tired of being sorry
19 re Nelly Furtado - Do it
18 NE Nicole Scherzinger - Baby love
17 NE Céline Dion - Taking chances
16 13 Timberyokel - The way oi are
15 19 Avril Lavigne - When you're gone
14 15 Ketevan Melua - If you were a sailboat
13 NE Alicia Keys - No one
12  9 Hoosiers - Goodbye Mr A
11 11 Scouting For Girls - She's so lovely
10  7 Freemasons - Uninvited
 9 10 Rihanna - Don't stop the music
 8 18 K T Tunstall - Hold on
 7  8 Leona Lewis - Bleeding love
 6  6 Timberyokel - Apologise
 5  4 Britney Spears - Gimme more
 4  5 Mika - Happy ending
 3  3 Plain White Ts - Hey there Delilah
 2  2 James Blunt - 1973
 1  1 Sugababes - About you now

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18November

Four tracks from Leona Lewis's album between 61 and 74, and she comes within spitting distance of holding 1 and 75 in the same week - the feat's been done by Madonna, Oasis, George Michael, S Club 7, Council Estate Slappers, and James Blunt. Instead, Andrea Bocelli's Con te partiro is 75, Maroon 5 has 72. Darren Hayes has Me myself and (I) at 59. Soulja Boy is in at 53, and Duran Duran's Falling down can only make 52. Just missing the 40 are Linkin Park (46), Hard-Fi (45), and the Pigeon Detectives (I found out, 42, three lower than last year). Pendulum's Granite is up 5 to 43, but the odious naffness of Chasing cars is backup 11 to 49.

Well, here's something we've not seen too often before: Led Zeppelin has a hit single! They had one before, Whole lotta love in September 1997, and a re-entry at 64 this week, but the Zep's version of Stairway to heaven has never been a hit single. Until now. It's in at 37, and we'll cover the topic in greater detail on Thursday. In the meantime, something else we've not witnessed often enough: Fearne Cotton being reduced to a gibbering mush of happy.

New at 33 comes Lahayna - a group who, according to their blurb, is somewhere between Motown and the Libertines. We say: pleasant groove, probably something better in their arsenal. Can't say the same for Amy Whingebag - Back to black moves back up 31 places to 30, almost equalling its peak at 25 on 6 May. It's had 20 weeks on the chart, and only two other songs have had such long runs without rising above 25: Dorothy Squires' version of My way charted for 23 weeks, peaking at 25 in 1970; and Evelyn Champagne King's Shame had 23 weeks on chart in 1978, never rising above number 39. In the entire top 200, Oasis's number 31 hit Supersonic has charted for 126 weeks, but positions below 75 are not canon.

Ha ha ha at the Spice Girls, down three to 23 following a very lukewarm reaction to their new single Headlines. It's out on CD to-morrow. Nickelback climbs to 20, for no adequately explored reason. This week's Elvis re-issue is You don't have to say you love me, a number 9 hit in 1971, and massively inferior to Dusty Springfield's version. It's 16 this week. T2 come in at 14 with Heartbroken. Good to see David Craig outside the top 10.

Another one from the file of Things We Never Expected To Hear: not only a sitting MP performing on a top 10 single, but Runrig in the top 10! Loch Lomond is a Scottish standard, it's the one that goes You take the high road and so on. In the early 1990s, Runrig was Scotland's most popular band bar none; they had two top 5 albums and consistently put their singles into the top 30. In Scotland, each release went top five. The group's biggest hit was An ubhal as airde (The highest apple), number 18 in May 1995 after being used on a commercial, but their breakthrough hit was the Hearthammer ep, number 25 in summer 1991. The 12-inch single included a live recording of Loch Lomond from the group's concert at Balloch Castle that midsummer; the package included a booklet listing all the people there. That recording forms the basis of this song, which mixes in a football crowd singing the song. It was part of the national build-up for Scotland's attempt to qualify for Euro '08 yesterday, but the less about that, the better. Amongst the performers on the 1991 recording are Donnie Munro, defeated in elections for Westminster and Holyrood; and Peter Wishart, SNP member for Perth and North Perthshire.

Fourth top 10 hit for Bloc Party, Flux enters at 8, helped no doubt by a second CD of mixes given away with this week's edition of the New Musical Express. Alicia Keys hits a new peak at 6, Whingebag drops to 5, and Lykie Blankcanvas can only make number 4. Hint: it's shit. No move in the top 3: Timberyokel at 3, Take That a fourth week at 2, and Leona four at the top.

A busy week on the albums. Leona Lewis's Spirit sells 376,000, more copies than any debut album before, beating the Arctic Monkey's mark from last year. Spice Girls hits in at 2, Led Zep's latest compilation Mothership makes 4. Céline Dion's Taking chances enters at 5, and the Killers's Sawdust hits 7. Hits of Andrea Bocelli make 8, Take That re-enter at 9, and David Gray 11. Cliff's Love - the album is number 13. In at 16 is Soup - the cream of Beautiful South and Housemartins. Craig David's Trust me makes 18, John Barrowman's showtunes album Another side enters at 22, and this year's Rolling Stones compilation is 26. Seal's System makes 37, and there are compilations by Wet Wet Wet (41) and Garth Brooks (54). Big fallers include Whitney (3-12), McFly (4-17), Mika (10-27), Britney (13-36), and the Wombats (11-42).

 1  1 Leona Lewis - Burning love
 8 NE Bloc Party - Flux
 9 NE Runrig / Tartan Army - Loch Lomond
10  6 Sugababes - About you now
12 10 Freemasons - Uninvited
18 11 Hoosiers - Goodbye Mr. A
24 19 Mika - Happy ending
31 27 Scouting for Girls - She's so lovely
33 NE Lahayna - In the city
34 22 McFly - The heart never lies
37 NE Led Zeppelin - Stairway to heaven
45 NE Hard-Fi - Can't get along without you
46 NE Linkin Park - Shadow of the day
47 33 Åvril Lavignnesøn - Hot
50 30 Wombats - Let's dance to Joy Division
54 39 Hoosiers - Worried about Ray
56 40 Céline Dion - Taking chances
59 NE Darren Hayes - Me myself and (I)
60 47 Robyn - With every heartbeat
64 re Led Zeppelin - Whole lotta love
66 43 Boys II Men - End of the road
67 52 Newton Faulkner - Dream catch me
69 49 Killers - Tranquilise

.. 54 30 Seconds to Mars - The kill (rebirth)
.. 69 DJ Sammy - Heaven

The late news: Ben's Brother score a number 169 singles hit. Alfie Boe's album hits number 83, the hits of Sheryl Crow makes 122, LCD Soundsystem make 128, and the hits of Groove Armada scrambles to 151.

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18November

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

• More or Less (OU / Radio 4) The Happiness Patrol, in which Tim puts last week's research that religious people are more happy to the test, and goes on to discuss the difference between correlation and causation. This show
• Quarterlife (Bedford Falls / quarterlife.com) In which five creative twentysomethings try to make their way through life. It's My So-Called Life twelve years on; the narrator who is invisible in her own life, the unsubtle cuts to show what she's thinking about, the unrequited crush, the ever-so-slightly slutty friend. It's so MSCL that it's made by Herskovitz and Zwick, scored by Snuffy Walden, and directed by Brian Krakow's Brother. We'll have a proper review soon.
• I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (Radio 4) Greetings cards, pirates, and Rob Brydon singing. Best of the series so far, obviously.
• Listen Against (Radio 4) Jingles on Today! Radio 3 playing The Whigfield Symphony! When Radio 1 buggered up the news! This is a piece of genius, mangling pieces of real (or decently fake) BBC radio footage, and hosted by Alice Arnold. We never knew she had it in her.
• Feedback (City Broadcasting / Radio 4) Talking Radio 5 with its controller, who never addresses the shift away from news (witness the axing of the Euronews desk) to fluff and sport. Scottish voices on Radio 4, yet more grammar pedantry, and why the hell did Zane Lowe play a thirty-year-old album in full, silences and all?
• The Late Edition (The Fourth Programme) Anne Robinson. We're on the fast lane of the motorway, with a huge truck bearing down on us, and we're arguing over what colour it is. Will Smith's nomination for the next England manager, and Brigstocke takes something from Sr. del Monte.

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18November

The United Nations released the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change. The document urged action, now.

The crisis in Pakistan continued. Mrs. Bhutto was again placed under house arrest, and indicated that she would not enter into a power-sharing arrangement with the Musharraf regime. Opposition figurehead Imran Khan emerged from hiding only to arrested before he could address a gathering of students.

The Danish general election was won by the governing centre-right bloc. The Liberal Party secured 46 seats, down 6 on the last election in 2005. Their coalition partners, the Conservatives, were unchanged on 18, and the Danish People's Party has 25 seats (up 1). The centrist New Alliance Party entered parliament with 5 seats. For the main opposition bloc, the Social Democrats had 45 seats (down 2). The Socialists advanced to 23 seats (up 12), at the expense of the Social-Liberal Party's 9 (down 8). The far-left Red-Green Alliance, not part of the left-wing coalition, had 4 seats (down 2). The Liberal-Conservative-DPP alliance has an overall majority of one seat. Prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has invited the New Alliance to enter into talks, but it is believed that the NA will not coalesce with the far-right DPP.

At least 600 were killed when a cyclone struck the coast of Bangladesh.

Prep schools in England announced that they were considering whether the National Curriculum provided a reasonable basis for their work. Prep schools, a private education system attended by children up to 11, have no requirement to teach the government's curriculum.

A diplomatic row is brewing after a Polish man died when he was struck by a TASER weapon by police at Vancouver airport.

We also regret to report the death of Josef Stawinoga, the man who lived in the middle of Wolverhampton's ring road.

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18November

A mostly settled week, though a front passed on Tuesday, bringing a line of sharp showers. The resulting air was from a northern direction, bringing some sharp night frosts. A further front passed on Saturday night, swinging the wind round to the east, and introducing sleet and snow to many parts. Lovely.

12 Mo sun               -2/ 6
13 Tu heavy showers      3/ 9, 9.0
14 We sun                3/ 9
15 Th sun               -5/ 8
16 Fr sun               -5/ 7
17 Sa sun                0/10
18 Su sleet and rain     3/ 7,21.5

Rainfall in November: 40.5mm; monthly average: 84mm

Degree heating days: 80½
2006-7: 24/499
2005-6: 27½/684
2004-5: 48½/556
2003-4: 82/754

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