1. Hurrah for Annie, I hear that Gym from the lake shore is the latest to appreciate the top Norwegian popstrel. Was there anyone else?

2. I note that many people from the North American side of the watery divide are looking back quite ruefully on the old year; those from Europe seem rather more positive. I wonder if this is significant in any way?

3. Something that is significant - there was a discernable glow in the evening sky at 4.30 this evening, one that was clearly absent two weeks ago. The nights are shrinking, people!

4. The BBC has launched its open archive project, with about 70 classic newsclips. No great shakes, and I've not yet had a chance to review them. Personally, I'm waiting for them to put the Election 92 programme online, that should be a hoot!

5. Who killed the British sitcom? asked David Liddement in a 75-minute documentary last night. Who made this nonsense, asked this critic. The show contained some great clips, but the camerawork was desperately shoddy. Ultimately, the answer - "society changed" - is rather dull, and certainly didn't fit into the producers' pre-conceived ideas. Mr Liddement is falling into the wrong kind of nostalgia, the sort that uses television as a substitute for a completely different world.

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posted 03 Jan 2006, 21.11 +0000

Four points for the news-watch to-day.

1. I'm Charlie, I'm an alcoholic, and I'm doing a John Major Pre-empting an ITN report by barely half an hour, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy confirmed that he has been seeking medical treatment for a drinking problem for the past two years. He has been dry for the past two months.

In order to lance the boil of speculation surrounding his leadership, Mr Kennedy has announced that he will be seeking a leadership election as soon as practicable, which he expects to win. He will not resign as prime minister party leader at this point. Within two hours, the list of those who would not be running included Menzies Campbell, the foreign affaires spokey and obvious safe pair of hands; and home affairs critic Mark Oaten, darling of the younger set.

2. National Elf Service Behind the Lib Dems' sudden leadership flap is the striking success of David Cameron, who has made a swerve for the political centre ground. That tactic was visible yesterday, when Mr Cameron made a startling commitment to the NHS. Indeed, such was his commitment to a service that's free at the point of delivery and available to all, that Mr Cameron appeared more concerned about health than the Labour spokesminister, whoever that is at the moment. But some on the right have criticised Mr Cameron for not being radical enough, for not recognising that the central command health service is utterly inappropriate for a modern society.

Give the man a break. The first priority for the Conservatives is to re-gain the public's trust. The proposal to allow tax money to fund private operations at last year's elections brought about charges of queue-jumping, and not without foundation. From that low basis, the Tories must be seen as a party that will not break the health service; only then can they hope to reform it. A similar trek through the wilderness had to be taken by Labour's economic policy, and that journey didn't end until the 2001 election.

3. Sharon struck down Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has suffered a further, more serious stroke. His first incident, barely a month ago, raised doubts about his health, but this looks like it's ended his political career. Mr Sharon, deemed responsible for massacres in Lebanon in the early 80s, was elected as prime minister in 2001. He withdrew from the Gaza Strip last year, and broke away from the Likud party before precipitating a general election. Israel and Palestine are left in an even greater state of limbo, and nothing can be decided before March's poll is complete.

4. Merlyn Rees The death of Merlyn Rees, the last-but-two Labour Interior Minister under James Callaghan. Mr Rees entered the Commons in 1963 as the member for Leeds South, succeeding leader Hugh Gaitskill, and held the seat until his retirement in 1992. He'll perhaps be best remembered as the Minister for Northern Ireland from 1974-76, during which he ended the controversial policy of internment, and suffered from the collapse of the Sunningdale Agreement, an early attempt to restore home rule. His career as Interior Minister was less memorable, though he did stamp down on police corruption. He was an honest and hard-working man.

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posted 05 Jan 2006, 21.36 +0000

Sydney: Australia 359 & 288-2 beat South Africa 451-9d & 194-6d by eight wickets Rain on the fourth day, and a generous declaration from South Africa, allowed Australia to pull off an unlikely win.

Batting first, Kallis (111) and Prince (119) put on 219 for the fourth first-innings wicket, while Ponting (120) and Gilchrist (86) made the running for the home side. Nel took four wickets, the difference between the sides. With only twenty overs possible on the fourth day, Gibbs' 67 and Kallis' 50* helped South Africa ahead, but Smith declared as Kallis and Pollock were beginning to build up a head of steam. Australia completed their run-chase with 14.3 overs in hand, Ponting made 143*, Hayden 90.

Lib Dem Leadership

"It is not credible for a party leader to have the passive support of the wider membership without first ensuring that he has the confidence of the vast majority if not the whole of his parliamentary colleagues." So wrote Andrew George (LD, Trade) to Charles Kennedy (LD, leader (subject to re-election))

Others who have voiced their dis-satisfaction with Mr Kennedy's continued leadership include Andrew George (International Development), Vince Cable (Treasury), Norman Lamb (Trade), Chris Davies (MEP leader), Sandra Gidley (Romsey Redhead), Nick Harvey, Jenny Tonge, David Laws, Chris Huhne, Sarah Teather, Andrew George, Ed Davey, Norman Baker, John Thurso, and Michael Moore. The Lib Dem MP, and not anyone else of a similar name.

Simon Hughes, the popular London MP, has not declared his intentions. It feels like a case of when, not if, Mr Kennedy goes.

Incidentally, how come it's unacceptable for Mr Kennedy, a leading British politician, to hide an alcohol dependency, but perfectly acceptable when it's done by a leading figure in the colonies, failed candidate X.

Death in the family

Rachel Squire (Lab, Dunfermline and West Fife) has died, aged 51. Ms Squire has been suffering from cancer since shortly after her election in 1992. An old gel of top private school Godolphin and Latimer, she specialised in defence debates (more spending), and supported the Rosyth base in her constituency.

The Dunf&Wamp;F seat is safe Labour, only vulnerable during the most anti-Labour periods in history. It remained Labour by 2500 votes over the Conservatives in 1983, and there was not a significant Scottish Nationalist challenge during the 1970s. An upset here is not likely.

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posted 06 Jan 2006, 18.39 +0000

M'learned friend Mr Pokery ponders about twin towns between the UK and North America. There are surprisingly few such twinnings, so let us muse on others... I decline to accept the artificial boundary between Canada and the rebel colonies further south, so I shall treat all cities equally.

Birmingham is an obvious match with Chicago, not least because that's an official twin town, alongside Frankfurt, Lyon, Milan, and Joburg.

Manchester, I suggest, would resonate more with Toronto, cities that are powerful in their area but overshadowed by their neighbours. Though there's a strong case to match London with Toronto, as cities that dominate their nations, and pair Manchester with the media capital of Manhatten.

Liverpool gravitates towards Boston, thanks to their shared sea-faring links. As another commentator explains, St Francisville more naturally matches with Brighton, while the car-centric sprawl of Pueblo de los Angeles perhaps matches with one of the New Towns - the inspiration for Milton Keynes, perhaps?

Edinburgh, I suspect, would match well with Vancouver, very powerful in their regions. Glasgow would perhaps prefer to twin with Portland or Seattle. Taking on your description of student towns with history, perhaps York might consider Hartford as a pair, though Kitchener has a strong case.

New Orleans would, I fear, be best associated with Bristol, neither the sort of place I'd care to hang about in for long.

There is, perhaps, an equivalence between Wales and Quebec, making Montréal the new Cardiff, Quebec City the new Swansea, and Canaerfon twins with Terrebonne.

The UK's Cleveland area might match against the port towns along the St Lawrence, while the North American Cleveland makes a decent match for Wolverhampton. Coventry is a city built on the motor car, so bijects to Detroit, thus making Rugby the original Ypsilanti.

Plymouth has very strong historic ties with St John's, and Portsmouth with Halifax. Southampton might be a decent pairing for Windsor. Bath and Salt Lake City, Gloucester and (I think) Charlottetown. Phoenix and Tucson will biject to the sunny resorts, and old people's magnets, of Eastbourne and Torquay.

Leeds I've missed, and it needs to be an important city, so I fear it'll have to be Ottawa. Sorry, Leeds.

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posted 06 Jan 2006, 18.45 +0000

1. A Pournelle commentator reckons the Wall-street Journal is a Marxist organ.

2. What's happening to the M3, asks a Canadian who has clearly never been to Winchester. Actually, this is a serious economic point. New Federal bank chairmonkey Vernon Kaye will stop publishing the M3 money supply figure at the end of March, and this theorist fears that they're trying to hide an economy that's heading for the rocks.

3. India wants out of the Champions' Trophy. This year's will be the fifth running of the tournament, and it's never made any particular sense. Far better would be a 20/20 tournament - and a twelve-nation tourney could easily complete in two weeks.

4. Some boars have been released into the Devon countryside, and they've called on the local hunt to help track them down. I suppose that this is the best they'll get, after the Labour government refused a work visa for the man who could smell wild boar at fifteen pages, Obelix.

5. A long and thoughtful piece on the new musical scene. Or, why Myspace is useful, Audioscrobbler is perhaps better, and the BPI are a bunch of BPI.

6. Recess Monkey reports rumours that the Conservatives want to have Tim Henman-Hill running for Parliament at the next election. Seb Slow, Tim Henman-Hill, all they need now is the endorsement of Steve Redgrave and we may as well call them the Olympian Party.

7. Those of you who were listening to the final, garbled, seconds of the ephemeral Today programme to-day will have heard John Pienaar shout out the name of the person who went public with Charles Kennedy's drinking problem. It was Daisy McAndrew, formerly Mr Kennedy's press secretary, now a correspondent for ITN. We would surely have known this sooner, if only ITN had a continuous news channel of its own.

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posted 07 Jan 2006, 17.27 +0000

Much of Europe has been enjoying the new year holiday, though there is something interesting in France. Justine from their version of Star Academy has been working with our leading graduate, Lemar Obika, and their Time to grow (je n'ai plus des mots) is into the French top 20.

In the UK, no change in the top three - it's still Shayne ahead of Nizlopi and Madge. Brian Kennedy's tribute to George Best climbs to number 4, with further growth next week very possible. The ep entered at position 21 two weeks ago on sales in Ulster only, and made 11 last week. Highest new entry is a re-release - Munich brushed the top 20 for the Editors last year, and anchors the top ten this time out. There's a lot of re-shuffling lower down the 40, helped by dramatic falls for the Pogues (5-12) and the Annoying Thing (18-40). Aaron Smith and Naughty Boy have the other two new entries, but they'll be long forgotten by this time next year.

Albums, and the Strokes have a number one album, First Impressions of Earth came out in the quietest possible week, and soars straight to the top. The Kaisers and KT Tunstall both take advantage of the new year sales, and probable BPI nominations later this week. The Editors bounce up more than 20 places, and there are yet climbs for disappointingly slow starters from Will Young and David Gray.

 20 17 DHT - Listen to your heart
 19 14 Juanes - La camisa negra
 18 re Shakira - Don't bother
 17 12 Tina Arena - Aimer jusqu'a l'impossible
 16 10 Bert Bills - Tripping
 15 15 Arctic Monkeys - I bet you look good on the dancefloor
 14  8 Kaiser Chiefs - Modern way
 13 re Sugababes - Ugly
 12 18 Tatu - All about us
*11 NE James Blunt - Goodbye my lover
*10 NE Kelly Clarkson - Because of you
  9  6 Depeche Mode - Precious
  8  9 K T Tunstall - Suddenly I see
  7  5 Coldplay - Talk
* 6 11 Melanie C - First day of my life
* 5  7 Mattafix - Big city life
* 4  4 Black Eyed Peas - My humps
  3  3 James Blunt - Ubiquitous
* 2  2 Madonna - Hung up
* 1  1 Sugababes - Push the button

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posted 08 Jan 2006, 14.36 +0000

The always perspicacious Boyd Tonkin (that's the Indytab's literary editor, not the editor of a trashmag) wonders why literature allows cinema to steal its best ideas. "One-off rights deals, however generous, seldom help re-stock the storehouse of literature. They reward the work, not the wider culture that shaped it... Perhaps the quest for a successor sponsor to Whitbread should look further afield than the usual suited suspects in the City. To begin with, does anyone have a direct line to Steven Spielberg?"

This week was a Private Eye week, the most interesting point in a good newsy issue was that the Department of Transport has given up setting punctuality targets for the rail operators. It's a simple fact that raises tremendous questions about all sorts of government policy, very few of which will surprise regular readers here.

Some interesting changes on the radio front. In Scotland, Beat 106 re-branded itself Xfm Scotland from 8am Wednesday; the following morning, the relay of Xfm London had changed its name to Xfm UK. Here in Birmingham, we get both versions of Xfm on digital radio; how long this will last, I don't know, but I'm enjoying it while it does,

In other radio news, mad corporate rebranding is at work once more, as highly successful station The Bear 102 will change its name next Monday to Touch FM. Why? Er, because that's what the owners want it to be. What a load of bollocks. And BRMB will repeat their "Two strangers and a wedding" ratings stunt, after the extreme success when they tried it seven years ago.

Programme highlights of the week included The Greenspan Years, a fairly hagiographic portrayal of the colonial's leading banker. The Joy of Gibberish was more like it, Stephen Fry having fun with language that, quite deliberately, means nothing. Readings from The Adventures of Dougal were always going to be welcome. (All Radio 4).

I've been listening mostly to proper radio, but found time to explore Nelly Furtardo's 2003 Folklore album, now it's in the sales. A really good little album, she's a talented song-writer, and there's depth and space to the songs. Far more than on Spiritualised's Amazing Grace (also 2003), a bad one-note wonder.

Very impressed with coverage from the Spelling Bee (Challenge), but that's more Week territory than here. Gilmore Girls (Nickelodeon) was the one where Paris, like, does what she does, and I really can't forget a spoiler that someone so thoughtlessly posted for a season and a half down the line. Who Killed the Sitcom (C4) asked David Liddiment. "You did! You did!" said those of us who know he could have commissioned some more of them. Cold Turkey (C4) tried to wean Sophie Anderton and Tara Palmer-Tompkintwaddle off cigarettes, and reminded me of that oxymoron popularised by the Levellers: "There's only one way of life, and that's your own." Questions pour un Champion (TV5) was the annual junior special, and the standard of play was really high. Ryan had tipped us off beforehand, and the final was a particular delight; played to best-of-21, the winner came from 16:9 and 20:18 down, to win it in the three zone. Is there space on the schedules for a Going for Gold revival? There's certainly space for any number of The Day Today (BBC-2) clones; the second episode, the one with The Pool, backstreet dentists, and RokTV, could easily be applied to the current day, with only a couple of changes.

Highlight of the week was Submarine Rescue (BBC-1), a drama-doc of the plucky Brits rescuing Russian submariners from almost certain death at the bottom of the Pacific ocean. Interviews with all the key players and realistic reconstructions, and the show didn't drag on too long - an hour was the right length, not too rushed, not dragged out.

Next week... I've a copy of the new size, new shape, new look Observer ... More 4 is having an Iraq war post-mortem ... and there will be more.

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posted 08 Jan 2006, 14.37 +0000

The high pressure on the continent stayed far enough away to keep most of the UK under westerly winds, so it was mild until Thursday, then the colder weather returned under a dull blanket of cloud.

02 Mo mostly cloud         2/ 6,  0.0
03 Tu fog, cloud           5/ 9,  0.0
04 We cloud                5/ 7,  0.0
05 Th cloud                1/ 3,  0.0
06 Fr cloud, sleet flakes  1/ 3,  0.0
07 Sa sleet                1/ 4,  2.0
08 Su cloud                1/ 4,  0.0

Another 44 degree heating days this week, the winter's total goes to 326½. Last year's score: 246½/677½; the current figure was achieved on 26 Jan last year.

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posted 08 Jan 2006, 18.36 +0000

older writing... write to