School of \m/

To mark the end of the Month Of Rock, Het Graun took some classic rock tracks to an infants' school, and asked them the all-important question: Is this better than Busted? If you're listening to Radio 2, very probably. Though I seem to recall reading something very similar six years ago.

One Bling To Rule Them All

To the surprise of no-one, Ali C is the new BBCDG. Campbell, 61, resigned as Mister Tony Blair's press secretary last summer to spend more time telling journalists how to do their job.

A wide-eyed looner stands at the gates of oblivion...

Or, Easterblogg thinks about Las Vegas.

Around the world...

Garry Kasparov is leading a challenge to President Poutine of Russia. The former chess champion has set up Committee 2008, a liberal grouping that charges the Kremlin with making the rules to suit itself, and of slowly strangling democracy. "Today, Russia's effectively a police state," says Kasparov. "We believe that Poutine's threat to democracy is real."

The strategy Committee 2008 will use is, as yet, unclear. "We need to create some rules that the Kremlin will not be able to break" says Kasparov. Poutine remains super-popular, and he's expected to get 80% of the vote in March's presidential election. His party has complete control of the media, and has jailed many leading businessmen. more | Realvideo (about 11 minutes in, 6 minute report, expires 2000 GMT Monday)

...Also... Alain Juppe found guilty of fraud, barred from office: the former French PM will appeal ... German cannibal sentenced to 8.5 years on a manslaughter charge: the prosecution wanted life for murder, and will appeal ... George Bush, a drunkard and thief from Connecticut, says "I wanna know the fax" about chemical and biological weapons in Iraq: with that level of chutzpah, he'll appeal to no one.

My name ... is General Dyke

As if the resignation of the chair of governors wasn't enough, it's goodbye to Greg Dyke, the BBC's director general. The governors believed his position had become untenable, and less than an hour after the head man quit, the acting chair was "apologising unreservedly for our errors and to the individuals whose reputations were affected by them."

However... what were those errors? The factual inaccuracies in Gilligan's report? The false charges trumped up out of Ali Campbell's backside? The accurate reporting that people in the security services were unhappy with Number Ten's tampering with their evidence? We shall never know.

Elsewhere in the fallout department, the Indy reports how Hutton was silent on the distinction between whether the claim in the dossier related to battlefield or strategic weapons.

He was also strangely silent on the comment from the head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, that the 45-minute claim was given "undue prominence" in the dossier. There are few professions in the real world where it would be permissible to say, in effect, "we may have got it wrong but we did it in good faith". For Britain's senior intelligence assessors to fall back on this is extremely worrying.

Hutton pointed out that "sexed up" is a slang expression, "the meaning of which lacks clarity in the context of the dossier". But he said that the phrase was capable of two different meanings.

On the one hand it could mean that the dossier was "embellished with items of intelligence known or believed to be false or unreliable to make the case against Saddam Hussein stronger", he said. On the other, it could mean that while the intelligence was known to be reliable, "the dossier was drafted in such a way as to make the case against Saddam Hussein as strong as the intelligence contained in it permitted".

He went on to say that Mr Gilligan's earlier, 6.07am, broadcast appeared to fall into the first category. But he did not make the obvious point that the rest of the the Gilligan report fell into the second category. Evidence to the inquiry showed that Alastair Campbell, Downing Street's then director of communications and Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff, did indeed make the dossier "as strong as possible" within intelligence constraints. Nevertheless, they proved that Downing Street had won changes that went beyond mere presentation.

Lord Hutton rightly stated that the real reason for the 45 minute claim being absent from early drafts was that MI6 brought in the raw intelligence late, on 29 August. What he failed to point out was that that intelligence was not correctly represented to refer to battlefield weapons. The public was left with screaming headlines that raised the spectre of attack on Britain within minutes.

Lord Hutton mentioned only in passing the fact that Mr Campbell had sought to raise the temperature with the BBC. Yet it is clear from his Channel 4 News outburst that he had lost all proportion on the issue.

In one of his few surprises, Lord Hutton said that he had first believed that the Government had been engaged in some underhand strategy to "out" Dr Kelly to discredit the BBC. But he said he changed his mind as he heard the evidence from a string of government witnesses, who claimed they were only ever interested in the avoidance of a cover-up. This seems naive given Mr Campbell's diaries in which he wrote that he and Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, "wanted the source out" and that Dr Kelly's coming forward could "fuck Gilligan".

Similarly, Michael Howard, the Tory leader, made a valid point yesterday when he said that there was no need for a "covert" naming strategy because once a press release was issued the media would inevitably get the name.

Lord Hutton accepted the Government's case that its descriptions of Dr Kelly, in its press release and in the lobby briefing by Tom Kelly, a Downing Street spokesman, were to point up contradictions in the Gilligan claim. He seemed to back the extraordinary claim by the MoD's permanent secretary Sir Kevin Tebbit that these were not "clues". Yet James Blitz of the Financial Times told the inquiry that it was the lobby briefing that alerted him to the identity of the source.

The judge was right to criticise the MoD for its failure to gain Dr Kelly's permission to name him or keep him informed when it had done so. Yet he seemed to believe Mr Blair's claim that this was done "in good faith". It is clear that if they had sought permission, it would have been opposed.

But the most glaring omission from Lord Hutton was his failure to comment on Geoff Hoon's remarks to Peter Sissons of the BBC. Mr Hoon told him that the MoD had made every effort to protect the scientist's anonymity. Yet he personally had approved a strategy removing his anonymity.

I repeat my conclusions of yesterday. Blair has not been vindicated. He is an incompetent minister of the civil service. He must resign from that position, and that makes his position as Prime Minister untenable. MoD head Geoff Hoon must go, along with Kelly's department head.

The Hutton Whitewash

The long-awaited Hutton report into the death of Dr David Kelly came out today. It's a complete whitewash, clearing the government and blaming the BBC without any evidence whatsoever.

Hutton claims his terms of reference did not include weapons of mass destruction or the reliability of 45-minute claim. This is complete balderdash; Hutton's terms of reference were to investigate the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly's death. Those circumstances include the way September 2002's dossier was used as a springboard for the November resolution of the UNSC, which in turn led to February's second, rubbish, dossier, and hence to March's invasion. Everything centres on weapons of mass destruction, and the truth of the 45 minute claim is central to Gilligan's defence.

Hutton claims there was "no underhand strategy" at the Ministry of Defence to reveal Dr Kelly's name. The MoD's strategy was first to say that someone had come forward to confirm they had had contact with the BBC. This is an internal disciplinary matter, and the MoD owed a duty to Dr Kelly to keep proceedings completely confidential. In practice, the department promptly stated that it would confirm the name if it were offered, thus violating the employee-employer relationship. Given that it took Richard Norton-Taylor about one minute on Google to find the name from the clues offered, that's as good as naming the man.

Ali Campbell's diaries revealed that he and Geoff Hoon were keen to reveal the source to "fuck" Gilligan, as Campbell put it. Dr Kelly remained anonymous after Tony Blair expressed concern over the plan, but Sir Kevin Tebbit, the MoD's most senior civil servant, said the prime minister agreed with the strategy that led to the eventual "outing" of Dr Kelly - in order to put him before MPs' committees - and chaired the meeting that approved it. Mr Blair said it was necessary to confirm the name to journalists once the existence of the source became public to avoid a "great scrabble" and the wrong people being named. This may not have been an underhand strategy, but it's certainly a woeful failing for our public servants.

Hutton claims there was nothing dramatic in evidence that Blair chaired the meeting that agreed to confirm Kelly's name. Given that Blair was (and, at the time of writing is) the Minister for the Civil Service, he was duty bound to protect the interests of the civil servant as much as the interests of his government. At the very least, Blair must take culpability for a gross dereliction of duty, and resign that ministerial post.

Hutton claims that Gilligan was wrong to say the government knew its 45-minute claim was unfounded. As Gilligan has not produced any substantive evidence to support that claim, Hutton's point is correct.

Hutton claims that Downing Street's desire to have a strong dossier may have "subconsciously" influenced John Scarlett and the Joint Intelligence Committee to produce a strongly worded document. You don't say. The JIC was leaned on by Ali Campbell of Downing Street to strengthen the language used in that dossier, a dossier that provided one plank of the growing pressure from Downing Street to support the unlawful war in Iraq. Indeed, the JIC understood that "ownership" of the dossier lay with Number Ten, and an intelligence officer spoke of influence from "spin merchants of this administration" and they sought a "form of words which would strengthen certain political objectives." Brian Jones, a colleague, said certain parts were "over-egged", and that "No 10 through the chairman want the document to be as strong as possible".

Hutton claims the JIC's assessment was in line with available intelligence. This appears true, but Hutton ignores the gaping question of why that intelligence was simply incorrect.

Hutton claims the BBC editorial system was "defective". Hutton should - but does not - claim that the intelligence system was "defective". Is it right for a BBC correspondent to take to the air without having his script pored over by editors? Perhaps it was thirty years ago, but in the modern journalistic era, triple-checking of this nature may not be appropriate.

Hutton claims that Gilligan attacked the integrity of the government and the JIC in his Today broadcast. Hutton points out that Gilligan's report on the 45 minute claim did not distinguish between long-range battlefield and strategic weapons. Neither did the original document. Why is it a crime for a reporter to fail to draw a distinction when it is perfectly acceptable for the government to fail to make that distinction?

Furthermore, this conveniently ignores the way both Government and intelligence officials attributed the 45 minute claim's relatively late appearance to it not surfacing as a piece of raw intelligence until late August. Evidence from other BBC journalists contradicts this: Susan Watts, the Newsnight science editor, said Dr Kelly had mentioned Mr Campbell in connection with the 45-minute claim to her, and Gavin Hewitt said he had talked of "No 10 spin". It's clear that the dossier was made more presentable by Campbell's office - evidence shows Campbell made fourteen changes to the dossier - that many in the intelligence services were unhappy about it, and that Gilligan's story was substantially correct. Dr Kelly had a bee in his bonnet about Campbell's interventions, and could have led Gilligan to report something Kelly had not said by a process of nods and winks.

Hutton claims "I am satisfied he did not say the reason why it was not in the original document was that it came from one source and that the intelligence agencies did not believe it was necessarily true". There is no evidence to back up Hutton's long and complex statement. It was shown in evidence that the claim came from one source. It was shown in evidence that the intelligence agencies would not normally publish single-sourced claims. Why was this claim published, if not to mislead the public about President Sadaam's capabilities?

Hutton claims the tone of Ali Campbell's complaints to the BBC raised the "temperature" of the dispute. No, really?! This matter was entirely set in motion to appease Campbell's overinflated ego, as can be seen from his infamous outburst on Channel 4 News.

Worst of all, Hutton claims Dr Kelly was "not an easy man to help". One of his friends appeared on the radio this afternoon, and made the accurate point that Kelly's line manager was twenty years his junior and completely unapproachable, and that Richard Hatfield, the department head, just didn't want to know. That points as much to failings within personnel in the department as anything about Dr Kelly.

It's abundantly clear that Hutton has given the government the benefit of the doubt at every opportunity, and has criticised the BBC at every opportunity. It strikes me that Gavyn Davies is wrong to resign as chair of the BBC governors, the corporation deserves stronger leadership than that. In his valedictory statement, Davies points out that no one at the Beeb has set out to mislead. That's Ali Campbell's job.

The Hutton report must join the Denning report into the Profumo affair, the report into the Bloody Sunday massacre, and the Franks report into the Falklands war as prime examples of judicial timidity. Time and time again, the judges have shown themselves all too eager to curry favour with their political masters, and prepared to side with them in the face of all evidence to the contrary.

Blair has called for apologies from the BBC and the opposition, claiming that he has been "vindicated" by Hutton. Blair has not been vindicated, he has simply won the case before the judge. This report has shown he is an incompetent minister of the civil service. He must resign from that position, and if that makes his position as Prime Minister untenable, I shall not worry. Similarly, MoD head Geoff Hoon must go, Campbell and Davies have already gone, and Kelly's department head must consider his position carefully.

Today's Virus Du Jour

Network slowdowns? Floods of bogus messages? That's what you get for running a Macrohard system. Mydoom I appeared on computers in Asia this morning, with a message that seems to be a complete load of gobbledegook. "The message contains Unicode characters and has been sent as a binary attachment" which is, of course, a complete non sequitur. Not only does the infection send out more copies of itself, but it opens a backdoor for the usual sort of keystroke logger and expires in a couple of week's time. And, to add to suspicions that big business is behind this one, it spreads via Kazaa, a formerly popular P2P network.

The news

ITV has let slip the primary colours for its new-look news service, launching next Monday. Out goes the current mish-mash of red, blue and a bit of yellow, to be replaced by purples and blues and a giant four-screen video wall. Can't think where they got that colour scheme from.

Healthy, Well Fed World

Researchers in India have developed rice strains that grow in salt water. [Easterblogg] reports:

Three years ago, plant biologists at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, India, isolated from mangroves the genes that instruct these plants to grow in saline conditions. The Indian scientists have now crossed the salinity-resistance gene into rice, the most important staple crop for the world's poor. The immediate implication is that if global warming causes sea levels to rise, coastal wetlands may become saline; this rice, which grows in water three times as salty as seawater, may prevent what would otherwise be a catastrophic loss of developing-world rice production in coastal regions.

How did they cross salt resistance into rice? Using genetic engineering. Gene engineering may be a spooky idea for people, but for crop plants, all current projects aim toward higher yield, lower pesticide and fertilizer use, the ability to grow in less-than-prime soils--all things that improve the odds that the developing world will be able to feed itself until human population growth peaks sometime in this century.

A Swedish Thing

I'm A Lost Shopper, Get Me Out Of Here!

The missing airman

27 May '68: Sworn in. After 6 weeks of basic airman training, received a commission as a second lieutenant by means of a 'special appointment' by the commanding officer of his squadron, with the approval of a panel of three senior officers. (Normally required eight full semesters of college ROTC courses or eighteen months of military service or completion of Air Force officer training school. Texas National Guard historian said that he "never heard of that" except for flight surgeons.) Assigned to flight school. (Normally reserved to pilots graduating from ROTC training or Air Force officer training.) 'Fast tracked' into the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, a standby runway alert component of the 143rd Group. (Over those on the existing pilot applicant waiting list.) Trained to fly the missile-equipped supersonic F-102 Delta Dart jet interceptor fighter. Racked up approximately 300 hours of training flight time in the F-102....

Year 3. Jul '70: Earned his wings.... Jun '70-May '71. Credited with 46 days of flight duty.

Year 4. Jun '71-May '72. Credited with only 22 flight duty days. (14 days short of the minimum 36 days owed the Guard for that year). Apr '72: Flew for the last time in the cockpit of an F-102. (All the overseas and stateside military services began subjecting a small random sample in their ranks to substance abuse testing for alcohol and drugs.)

Year 5.... 24 May '72: Requested in writing a six-month transfer to an inactive postal Reserve unit in Alabama. (If temporarily transferred there, he would not have continued flying until he returned to Texas, because the Alabama unit had no airplanes.) 31 May '72: Transfer request denied by National Guard Bureau headquarters. (Should have returned to his base in Houston and continued with his flying duties. Instead, he remained in Alabama until late in the fall.) Either: took his mandatory annual flight physical for pilots and failed it for some as yet undisclosed reason, or he refused to present himself in the first place to an Air Force Flight Surgeon, who were readily available in almost every state. (Release of military service record would resolve issue.)

1 Aug '72: Suspended and grounded from flying duty on verbal order of the TX 147th Group's Commanding Officer for "his failure to accomplish annual medical examination."... Expensively trained pilots are not casually suspended. There is normally a Flight Inquiry Board. If one had been convened, its three senior officer members would have documented why such a severe action was justified in relation to the country's military objectives at the time.... There is no evidence now in the public domain that a Flight Inquiry Board was convened to deal with official reclassification to a non-flying, grounded status....

5 Sep '72: Ordered to start serving three months in an active but non-flying administrative Guard unit, the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery, Alabama, for four certain duty days in October and November.... Oct/Nov '72: No official notation in service record of ever showing up for this assigned duty in Montgomery, Alabama. General William Turnipseed and Lt. Col. Kenneth Lott, who commanded the Montgomery, Alabama, base at the time said never appeared. "To my knowledge, he never showed up," Turnipseed said.

Nov '72-Fall '73: Returned home to Houston Texas. Did not report in person for non-flying duty to his parent Texas 111th Squadron during this whole time.

Year 6. May '73: Ordered to attend nine certain duty days in person during Summer Camp at Ellington AFB between May 22 and June 7. Did not do so. 22 May '73-30 Jul '73: Credited with 35 "gratuitous" inactive Air Force Reserve points -- in other words, non-attendance inactive Reserve credit time. No one in the Texas Air Guard at the time has stepped forward to say they saw him in person on a single day between May 22 and July 30, 1973. 1 Oct '73: Prematurely discharged with honors from the Texas Air Guard... without a single... service day for his fifth and sixth years of service.... 26 May '74: Scheduled discharge. Nov '74: Final inactive Reserve discharge with honors. Moron.

Aah!

New on ITV: I'm A US Soldier - Get Me Out Of Here!

Anttan Haladec presents the great new game show where some anonymous people are stranded in the middle of nowhere, and have their every move shown live on national television.

You* can vote in the Bush Tucker Trials. How long do you want the people to stay in the middle of nowhere?
"As long as it takes" - call 09011 030301.
"Until we've privatised the entire economy" - call 09011 030601 and quote "Geneva Convention? What Geneva convention!"
"Until we've written a constitution" - call 09011 030602.
"Until our aid package runs out" - call 09011 030901.
"Until the UN bails us out" - call 09011 031201.
"Until the mythical caucuses" - call 09011 040101.
"Until we have to stage the biggest evacuation since Dunkirk" - call 09011 040401.
"So long as they're out before the election" - call 09011 040630 and quote "Sod the natives, I've an election to win here. That'll be a first."

*Voting open only to George W Bush Jr of Pennsylvania Ave, Off Sesame Street, Washington DC.

Yes, watch Anttan Haladec and the ten thousand wannabes on I'm A US Soldier - Get Me Out Of Here! Every day on IraqTV.

He could still be saved

According to their record corporation, the kind of excitement being generated by The Darkness wasn't supposed to happen. "We put it out in September as a soft release to combat imports, so that the Anglophiles could buy it. We didn't expect to shift more than ten, twenty thousand, especially seeing as how the band's a bit rubbish really."

Nasa scientists say they are "astonished" at the first pictures beamed back by the rover vehicle Opportunity. "We didn't expect to see a small man wearing green armour and a housebrush on his head at all, never mind spotting that he's clearly waving about an eludium Q-36 explosive space modulator," said the mission leader, Prof I Q Hi. "We'll have to send up our most eager young space cadet, and pair him with some foolish old fogey who thinks he has the right to own the planet. George, have you gotten through to I'm A US Soldier Get Me Out Of Here yet?"

Darling, you were wonderful

As ever, ITV spent almost nothing on its Luvvie awards last night. Any show hosted by Rhona Cameron is in trouble from the get-go; any show that features Trisity may as well give up. Could I do better? Stupid question.

The logic behind the Luvvies: laugh at celebs who take themselves a little bit too seriously. In that line...

Romance: Ulrikakakakakakaka Jonsson and Lance Gerrard-Wright. Lance was Mr Right on an ITV version of The Bachelor. Ullie was the show's host. Someone clearly hadn't read the rule book. You're supposed to date the contestants...

Vanity: Tania from Big Brother 4. Refused to get out of bed without some makeup.

Catfight: Pat and Rick on Star Academy 2, in a perfect lesson on how to ruin any credibility you may have had.

What Are They Wearing?: Jennifer Lopez, the walking fashion disaster.

Attention Seeker: Peter Brame, who may as well go in for Eurovision, at least he's more entertaining that James Fox. That said, watching paint dry is more entertaining that James Fox.

Nicked!: Martin Bashir, the reporter whose career improbably rose after swindling Michael Kiddyfiddler Jackson, then reached even more stellar heights after a character assassination of Ingram-Ingram-Whittock.

Most Pointless Celeb Reality Show Contestant: Gail Porter, whose experience on The Games was limited to a brief swim.

Loverat: Fred Durst. As if Birtney's Pears would go off and shack up with some greasy cock-rocker.

Oh, do get some clothes on: Clitring Aguilera. Don't look, it'll just encourage her.

Watching From Behind The Sofa: Mark Durden-Smith and Tara Palmer-Tompkinson's cringeworthy commentary on Junior Eurovision.

Weren't You Famous Once?: Ronan Bleating, does karaoke at a wedding. And is given money to shut up.

Ego Of The Year. Victoria Posh Spice Beckham Aadams. What does she do, exactly?

Inflation

In the beginning, there was the Football League. Then there was the Football League Division 1 and Division 2. Over time, along came Division 3, Division 3 South, Division North, and Division 4. Everybody knew their place, from Liverpool at the top of Division 1 to Rochdale at the foot of Division 4.

Then, in 1992, along came the money of KYTV and the sudden creation of the Premier League. This creation supplanted Division 1, so that suddenly Rochdale was playing in League Division 3 without any noticeable improvement in its football. Liverpool, meanwhile, became a team outside the Football League, and such is the club's commitment to tradition, it hasn't seriously tried to win this Premier League title since.

Now, the Football League has let slip plans to rename League Division 1 as "The Football League Championship", renumbering the lower divisions once again. So, without any improvement or deterioration in its game, Rochdale suddenly becomes a Division 2 club. The mind boggles.

Vote Bean (He's the nice one in the tweed jacket)

If Rowan Atkinson's comedy character is not standing in your election, then cast an eye at Talking Points Memo. Joshua Marshall is following the nomination process to succeed Al Gore as President of the US. He's a good 'un. Today, for instance, we've got the tale of how one man took down a negative Dean leaflet, an inquiry into the candidates' eating habits, and some useful points on what polls might mean:

Dean spin points to the fact that polls show that they have the highest number of supporters who say they’re sure they’re going to vote for their candidate.

But that sounds like a bright spin on a hard fact. Those are the sort of percentages you would have if you’d spent the last five days shedding all but your most ardent supporters. [...]

This may be providing an advantage for Kerry. He’s got the momentum and the frontrunner standing. But to a degree he’s not yet the big story. Or at least he’s sharing billing with Dean. And that’s keeping some of the traditional frontrunner scrutiny off him. There's only so much media oxygen to go around.

Also new to the Sidebar: ubersportingpundit, one Aussie's attempt to publish everything of interest in world sport. Everything? No! Where's the biathlon results? As everyone knows, biathletes are the planet's greatest sportsmen, combining stamina, speed, and skill in one eye-popping event.

Things are really hotting up on the women's tour. Natalia Guseva, a young Russian, entered the tour last week, won the sprint race on Wednesday, and that was just enough to get her into the top 30 and compete in today's mass start. The race was, perhaps, spoiled a little by gusty winds, but after all the shooting was done, Guseva trailed Linda Tjoerhom of Norway by a few seconds. Tjoerhom hadn't won for three years, and was #26 on the world cup standings. The race went down to the final moments, with the Norwegian winning by just two tenths of a second. In the 12.5km race, that represents about 85cm, the length of the ski that Tjoerhom stuck out better than Guseva. World Cup leader Liv Grete Poiree led early, but had a disastrous final shoot and finished fifth, behind Russians Anna Bogali and Olga Pyleva. Chinese sensation Liu Xianying came in 11th, far better than some of the leading players. Sandrine Bailly, 5th in the WC standings, came in 20th; Martina Glagow's 4th overall, 24th today. Katrin Apel, sixth in the WC, finished 26th today, missing 11 of her 20 targets.

Top Cellars!

With almost no records making their way out of the stores this week, a fair few surprises.

Start with the singles, where Michelle McManus holds the top seller for a third week, though she can't have shifted 50,000 copies. Kelis's Milkshake is still at 2, the Boogie Pimps' cover of Somebody to Love is up two to 3, while in its 11th week Outkast's Hey Ya reaches a new peak, climbing from 9 to 4. Since debuting in mid November, the choon has fallen from 6 to 22 before turning tail and hitting a new peak this week. It's also the most played record in the UK. Since 1996, only a handful of records each year have advanced past their debut positions, and Outkast's run will be mentioned in the same breath as Toploader's Dancing In The Moonlight (11-21-7 in late 2000-early 2001) and Lonestar's Amazed (23-36-21, spending 19 weeks between 21 and 40 and outselling half a dozen number one singles in 2000.)

Highest new entry honours go to the Scissor Sisters, two blokes who are unaccountably large on the club scene; they're in at 10, and that's probably the last we'll hear of them. Five years ago, the Offspring had the biggest seller with "Pretty Fly"; this week, Hit That debuts at 11. Great debut for Maroon 5, Harder To Breathe is in at 13; also for the Delays' Long Time Coming at 16. With the Zutons' Pressure Point, Ryan Adams' So Alive and Easyworld's Til The Day all making it into the top 40, it's actually a decent listen, so long as one can tune around the schlock.

Over on the albums listing, Katie Melua's Call Off The Search is the new #1. She deposes Willy Oung, who slips behind the Black Eyed Peas to #3. Evanescence and Outkast continue to round out the top 5, but all hell breaks loose beneath them. Kelis's Tasty climbs from 12 to 6, while Gary Jules' Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets enters at 7, and Joss Stone's The Soul Sessions continues to climb, landing this week up ten at 8. Amy Whinehouse's Frank finally cracks the top 20, moving up thirteen to 14, while the Offspring's Splinter advances from 36 to 22. Some big falls include Ali Griffin (6-17) and Hayley Westenra (15-25). Birtney's appearance on Blue Peter boosted her sales, In The Zone rebounds 33-28, Goldfrapp advances 39-33, and Sparky's fall is arrested at 30. Maroon 5 debuts at 35 with Songs About Jane, HIM's Love Metal comes back after nine months at 38, and Nelly Furtardo's Folklore slowly begins to sell, she's back after eight weeks off at 40. Maroon 5 and HIM should both be in the 6 Music chart; the Finn's absence can only be down to lying toeraggage at the Beeb.

older writing...