Vote!

Yes, we're veering towards that time of the political cycle when every serial handshaking, flesh-pressing potential member of the House of Parliament gravy train crawls out from the woodwork and smiles endlessly at anyone who may or may not be looking in order to win their support (and vote), and gain election to that most fabled of expenses accounts, the House of Commons.
I'm aware that essentially, most of them are cut from the same cloth, have pretty small differences in policy detail, and will happily promise you the earth which they can't deliver, but that doesn't mean you should just ignore them and hope they'll go away. As Paris here so eloquently puts it, you really should do your civic duty. The simple reason being, if you're not up to speed in some way with what's going on, you don't really have the right to complain about it any more. And the very best way to keep the MPs honest is to be able to call their bluff whenever you can.
Hopefully this time will be different. We can see after the leader debates that the format has given rise to the possibility of a real 3 party system, and however the 'old skool' Tory and Labour folks want to paint it, this is a good thing. Why? Because at the very least it is a change, and the one thing we have all come to realise in these harder times is that we simply can't continue as we have been. So change, in whatever form, is a necessity.
So get out, use your vote, have a say. Then you can feel justified indignation when whichever Muppets get in begin to make a mess of it all over again...

Have no fear, the biggest news stories will get just the coverage they deserve. Yes, the build-up has kept us all on the edge of our seats, there's been speculation, discussion amongst friends and relatives and expert opinion has been sought and dissected in heated debate across the land. The number of column inches devoted to the subject has been impressive, impressive enough to keep poor Cheryl and Ashley off the majority of the front pages (which must have really irked Ms Cole after trying so very hard to look fragile and vulnerable during her long, slow, 'let's keep it incognito' walk through the airport on her return home from LA, with only 48 of her closest friends, managers, agents and PR people for low-key company.) So, would Wayne Bridge shake John Terry's hand before the start of the Man City Vs Chelsea clash?
Just in case you thought you'd miss it, Sky Sports helpfully re-scheduled their ad break so they could squeeze in the comically and ironically named Fifa Fair Play Handshake (supposed to signify a stand against cheating...) and the biggest news story of the week could reach a bursting climax organically, rather than having to be replayed later. In super slow motion. Again and again.
In other incidental news, Chile is hit with a massive earthquake killing (currently) 122 people and triggering a Pacific Tsunami warning, the UK has lost it's 266th solider in a conflict no-one asked for, and RBS announces an overall loss of 3 billion pounds and awards 'top employees' 1.3 billion pounds in bonuses.

Climate Change - It's Not True!!

I'm almost certain that watching the Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament yesterday, I heard Conservative MP Ann Winterton declare that the current snow was proof that climate change was a myth. If it comes from the mouth of a sitting, elected MP, then surely we can take that as gospel truth and rest easy in our beds, turn up the heating, drain some more power from our coal-fired power stations and go for a drive in our 3 litre engined 4x4 SUV's. Break out the champagne corks! Everything's going to be OK! IT WAS A FALSE ALARM!!

(Ann Winterton, married to Nicholas Winterton MP, investigated and found to be misusing their MP expenses claim to pay for 'rent' on a flat they had bought outright. The flat had been transferred into a family trust to avoid inheritance tax. She also had the whip removed in 2004 for a 'joke' about Chinese cockle-pickers who had died in Morcambe Bay. And was also Shadow Rural Affairs Minister in 2001. Before being sacked for making a 'joke' about throwing Pakistanis off a train.)

It's So Easy

Should you have the misfortune to talk to anyone in the music industry at the moment, aside from the constant worry about where to locate the next paycheque and just what the 'new business model' is going to be (answers: 'in the post' and 'no-one, and I mean no-one, knows...'), there's much talk across the forums and generally about how empowered people have become by the opportunities the internet and technology have given them. You'll hear any commentator worth their salt trotting out the line 'anyone these days can make a record'. Which is certainly true. My band has just written, recorded, mixed and mastered a new album for the kind of money that back in the old days of Major Label domination would have got you maybe a day of studio time at Abbey Road. And whilst the general concensus amongst the people talking about it is that this ability is a good thing, you have to ask certain questions.

For instance, just because you have the tools to make a record doesn't mean you should. I initially got really excited at the Myspace explosion where the thought of bands being able to bypass the labels and communicate directly with an audience seemed like Nirvana. But after spending days trawling through page after page of bands playing everything from Rock, Metal and Funk through to Electronica, Jazz and Folk, my overriding impression was that 98% of the stuff I had listened to was actually tripe. The mighty John Peel initially coined the mantra to which I lived when he said that if he heard something he didn't like, the problem was him. If someone had gone to the lengths required to actually put a song on record, then clearly someone somewhere believed it had enough creative and artistic merit to be worth it, hence why JP didn't feel anything was 'bad' per se, just perhaps a matter of taste.

That noble standpoint has been superceded, though, by the new approach that says anyone can make a record. And the problem is, everyone does. The issue is not so much that these new records are being made, but the authors of the said works immediately seem to feel that the mere possesion of the resultant disc demands attention from an audience, real or imagined. And the sad fact is that the accessibility of new technology and home recording doesn't make up for a lack of talent. My previous statement that 98% of the stuff I initially heard on Myspace was rubbish reflects that. I was hearing stuff that just would never have been comitted to tape. Yet here it is, and whoever has spent 3 minutes concocting the piece will now expect and demand to be taken as a serious artist who will demand a serious level of respect. So 'Hooray' for open access technology and giving everyone the opportunity to be a part of the joy that is music. And 'Boo' for at the same time managing to conspire to make those same people a part of the problem. Go ahead, sit at your PC and loop endless beats and tracks. But please try not to expose the rest of us to it before it's reached anything like a refined level. There's only so much more bedroom music I can take...