God's Humble Thoughts on the Universe

The Official Rules of the University Challenge Challenge (Drinking version)

2011-03-07T20:39:00.002Z

1.1 The University Challenge Challenge (henceforth 'the game') is not endorsed by University Challenge, the BBC, ITV Studios, or any other affiliate of the show.

1.1.1 Probably.

1.2 The game is for two or more players, who must provide their own alcoholic beverage (henceforth known as 'the drink').

1.2.1 There is no upper limit to the amount of players.

1.2.2 There is no lower limit to the amount of players, but playing a drinking game on your own is sad, even for University Challenge viewers.

1.3 Players watch the first broadcast of University Challenge (BBC 2, 8pm Mondays) and attempt to be the first to provide the correct answer to the questions. If a player is successful, they must consume a shot of the drink, and cannot answer subsequent questions until their drink is consumed. They are then awarded a point.

1.3.1 Players are only allowed one attempt to provide an answer.

1.3.2 In the event that two or more players give the correct answer at the same time, they each get to have a shot and a point.

1.4 Total silence is paramount for the music round until an attempted answer is provided. Contravention of this rule is penalised by the player taking a shot and having a point deducted.

1.5 The winner is the player with the most points at the gong.

1.6 Twitter interaction is encouraged, using the hashtag #UniversityChallengeChallenge.

On the whole Top Gear-Mexico thing

2011-02-04T11:44:00.000Z

I watched the offending episode of Top Gear, where the usually entertaining Clarkson and May, and Hammond, offered their insights into a new Mexican car, and wondered allowed who would want a Mexican car? Fair question, Mexico doesn't exactly have a proud history of motor manufacturing - so who would shell out money in recessionary times for a Mexican car? I was expecting the follow up comments to be jocular car-related rants about the ineptitude of their cars handling, or something similar. Instead I was treated to five minutes of second hand stereotyping.second hand in that British people commenting on the work ethics of Mexicans is entirely derived from America, since Britain does not have a significant Mexican community on which to base such frivilous assertions.

Auntie has defended this by saying that stereotypes form part of British comedy, which is true, in that when the Top Gear team were making jokes at the expense of the French and Germans, it could be passed off as banter, mainly because these countries have long histories with each other, evidenced by Boris Becker's interview later in the show. But to simply adopt adopt a stereotype and ring every unfunny drop out of it, just for the sake of picking a fight (which it appeared was what they were doing) is just, ironically enough, lazy.

Top Gear has definitively jumped the shark (I would say when they started getting guests like Tom Cruise on it, although the Stig debacle probably didn't help) and this is probably another piece of timber for the coffin, but let's hope they can get back on track and make the show we love again. I refer you to the feature where they challenged the Australian Top Gear presenters - more of this kind of childishness please!

The Official Rules of Drinking Gran Turismo

2010-09-28T13:17:00.002+01:00

NB The following may be ported to most driving games.
The Official Rules of Drinking Gran Turismo

1.1 Players must select the same vehicle on any track, provided said track has grass banks or gravel traps.

1.2 Drinks must be able to be consumed through a straw to completion, while Gameplay is taking place. Sellotaption, or sticky-back-plasticisation, of several straws together must occur if necessary.

1.3 During Gameplay, players must drink continuously while they are applying brakes, or are veering off the designated track.

1.4 The game may not be paused for any reason. If a player's drink is depleted, he/she must restock while the game continues. He/she may not accelerate during this period.

1.5 The winner has to be presented with the winner's trophy, which is a shot (ideally in a miniature trophy), concocted by the losing player, of any combination of alcoholic beverages, and edible solids.

The Official Rules of Drinking Scrabble

2010-09-28T12:09:00.003+01:00

1.0 Scrabble is a trademark of Hasbro in the United States of America, and Mattel elsewhere. Neither company endorses or encourages the enjoyment of Scrabble as described herein.

1.1 Tiles are distributed to each player as per the rules.

1.2 For every five points a player scores, they must imbibe a finger or equivalent pre-determined unit of alcohol.

1.3 Bonus squares are to be encouraged and carry over to each turn and may be used more than once per game, contrary to the official rules of the game.

1.4 Players may, and should, conspire with each other to obtain the highest score possible in order to increase intoxication, and overall wordplay.

1.5 Disputed words that do not appear in standard dictionaries, but are in common use among players or their peers, or that appear in the Urban Dictionary, are to be encouraged, especially if they yield the highest amount of points in that turn.

James Yuill announces a new album

2010-03-13T10:53:00.004Z

London "folktronica" (i know - wanky genre names abound) artist James Yuill has just announced that he is releasing a new album in June. Movement in a Storm will be his third release through Moshi Moshi.

The Egodeity really likes this guy, and hopes he can bring his blend of computer experimentation, along with a ear for a acoustic melody to a wider audience this year.

Any more news will follow, but in the mean time, I posted an mp3 of a song (The White Crow) from his debut album here, to give you a taste of his stuff.

The Official Rules of Drinking Pro Evolution Soccer (or Drinking Pro Evo)

2010-02-16T20:24:00.003Z

(NB This is for the Playstation version of Pro Evolution Soccer. It should be easy enough to transfer to other versions)

1.1 Matches are decided over two legs, with away goals, and penalty shoot outs if necessary.

1.2 Both players pick a random team by holding the Square button while looking at each other and counting to three, letting go of Square at the same time ON three.

1.3 When two teams are selected, the strips must be selected to be as similar as possible (eg two predominantly white strips, if possible).

1.4 The lineups must be the default selections, and remain so over the two legs, with no substitutions, or tactical adjustments permitted.

2.1 During Gameplay, before the start of each half, at the final whistle, and any stoppage in play, a drink must be consumed. A player may not continue until his/her drink is consumed, and returned to it's resting surface.

2.2 The game cannot be paused for any reason. If a player pauses for any reason, they must immediately consume two fingers of drink (or any other pre-approved unit), while the game continues to be played by their opponent.

2.2.1 If a player's drink is depleted, he/she must restock while the game continues in their absence. Any opportunities to drink that an absent player missed must be honoured with two fingers of drink (or any other pre-approved unit).

2.3 Any time a player concedes a goal, they must consume two fingers of drink (or any other pre-approved unit).

3.1 The winner after two legs has to be presented with the winner's trophy, which is a shot (ideally in a miniature trophy), concocted by the losing player, of any combination of alcoholic beverages, and edible solids.

3.2 The victory must be captured in visual record for historical posterity.

4.1 The match is replayed with different teams, selected at random (holding L1 and Square and counting to three, cf rule 1.2), and continued ad nauseam ad infinitum.

2010-01-16T15:34:00.003Z

Quentin Letts is one of the better writers in the Mail, which, i know isn't actually saying much. His snide gossipy columns on the day-to-days inside the Palace of Westminster are some of the closest things I have encountered to intelligent right wing opinion. Today, he was writing a sketch about the Westminster village having some websites blocked, including a joke site that compared Tony and Cherie Blair to a horse's arse. However, the Mail Online sub editors obviously feared the wrath of their dictator boss, Paul Dacre, because the wrote the address of the website with spaces in it, so it wouldn't be picked up as a link. Heaven forfend that the Mail should be seen to be responsible for a traffic spike to http://www.filthyjokes.freeserve.co.uk/.

Homophobe Iris Robinson reveals she attempted suicide over her own infidelities

2010-01-06T19:53:00.002Z

Tonight Iris Robinson, wife of DUP leader Peter, admitted that she attempted suicide (H/T Centre Right, Conservative Home) at one stage last year after she had engaged in an extra-marital affair. This is the MP who famously declared that homosexuality was worse than child sexual abuse, and she of the expenses fiddling.

She had already declared her intention to stand down between Christmas and New Years - a notoriously slow time for regional news (ever notice how the rolling news channels focus heavily on international events in this period?), and now she buries this disclosure under the UDA's decommissioning announcement. She has certainly shown incredible cowardice in the public face of this episode of her political life - something you could hardly accuse her of previously. She's going now, but will hardly be missed.

Politics: Daily Express editor before the Media Committee

2009-04-28T12:39:00.004+01:00

Peter Hill was the witness at this morning's meeting of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, and he came armed with a positive entourage of suited and booted assistants, ready to hand him hand-written notes from the public gallery, should he need them (he didn't, but they thought he did). Stuttering his way through the interview, he was quizzed relentlessly on the Madeleine McCann story, but was adamant that his errors in that situation were committed across the industry, and if anyone was to blame, it was the inadequacy of the Portuguese police. He also repeated intimated that libel lawyers (in particularly from Carter-ruck, whom he mentioned by name) were fishing for cases.

He are some paraphrased quotes from his cross examination. Again, I make no assertions of their accuracy, but I do try to present them in as fair a manner as possible.

PH: I was surprised the McCanns only sued the Daily Express. There were headlines on this story across the globe, and the Portuguese police's case was a complete travesty and the media repeated the police's leaks. They had grounds to sue, but they could have sued anyone.

PH: We were not milking the story more than anyone else. The story was on the TV and in the newspapers every single day. I have personally apologised to the McCanns for the mistakes, and we insisted on printing that apology on the front page, which we didn't have to do.

There were 38 headlines that they complained about, but I could also point to over eighty headlines that were positive towards them. The story changed dramatically when they became the suspects. Portugal is a fully fledged member of the European Community, and a functioning democracy. How were we to know that their police were so incompetent.

The McCanns had a PR machine, which they built up brilliantly, and they were right to do so, to increase the chances of finding Madeleine.

We didn't publish the offending material maliciously, because as far as we knew at the time, the revelations were true. There was an insatiable clamour for information, centred on what happened to Madeleine. Everyone you would have spoken to at the time was asking what happened to Madeleine. We followed every lead, in a genuine effort to help find her, and had teams of reporters all over Europe and sent some to North Africa.

There was a new story every day, that why there were headlines every day, both sides were leaking stories. It was not the case that we needed a Maddie story, so we made one up.

He is asked about fact checking in the case.

That's a good question. When Kate and Gerry McCann were given aguido status, the Portuguese police were unable to comment officially, so they resorted to leaks to Portuguese papers. We did our best to check up on stories, but we could get no comment. When Kate and Gerry became suspects, their PR team stopped returning our calls.

Newspapers operate at high speed, sometimes it's not possible to check each story.

He is asked if he felt justified at the time for published the 38 stories that were complained about, in particular a story about a corpse hidden in a hire car.

These stories came from the Portuguese police, we had every reason to believe that it was true.

He is asked was this a unique case, or merely the tip of the iceberg of press behaviour.

This was a unique case in every sense of that word. The world has seen nothing like this since the Lindbergh baby in the 1930s, and the longevity of the story was a factor. There was the mystery of the disappearance, the fact that they courted publicity as much as they could. The media had a genuine wish to find Maddie. Then this perfectly respectable couple was accused of kidnapping their daughter by the police. It is nonsense to pretend that this is a common occurrence.

He is if the suspicion of the McCanns originated largely from the newspapers.

The suspicion of the McCanns was not from the newspapers, it was from the Portuguese police. We were reporting what the police were saying, and the alternative for the British press was not to report anything. This would not be an ideal situation when the rest of the world was reporting freely.

He is asked if sales were different when Maddie was on the front page

There was certainly an increase in circulation by many thousands, as would be the case with any story that was of such interest, and it was the same with the BBC. It is the job of the news to report on stories of interest to readers.

-well it is as long as it's the truth.

There was no reason to believe that we were not telling the truth. This was the only show around at the time, we were getting thousands of messages from people wanting to know more about the story - messages, not just hits on our website.

He is asked if he ever sought new stories from the police.

Of course not, I completely reject that we sought out stories, that is not the way people work.

He is asked why, if he felt justified, did he not fight the libel case

We in the UK don't have a libel law where it is a defence to say that you thought the story was true.

It is

Well, only in stories where it is in the public interest, which is a very narrowly defined field.

You don't believe that the McCann story was in the public interest?

No. It interested the public, but it was not in the public interest. This was a matter that involved a family, meaning it was not in the public interest. We have the most Draconian libel laws in the world and we have claimants from all over the world, and lawyers make it their business to alert people of potential libels, and to fight for people in the courts. We did libel the McCanns because under the law, we lied about them.

We were never sued by the McCanns, we were contacted by Carter-Ruck about a potential action. We thought it would be unthinkable in their situation to drag the McCann's through the courts, so we settled this matter as well as possible.

We have not revisited the McCann story much since the settlement, because nothing new has happened

He is asked how people can expect the press to behave if there were no libel laws, considering the way they behave now.

In the US, the First Amendment wouldn't allow these libel suits, because it entrenches a freedom of the press. In the UK, we don't have a free press, and a free press is vital for a democracy. In order to have a free press, it must be free to make mistakes.

He is asked what type of reporting restrictions are placed on aguidos

There are restrictions in Portuguese law, but these were largely ignored by the Portuguese press.

Do you know what the restrictions were?

I find that surprising considering the amount of times you reported their stories.

Well I don't know

I think that speaks for itself

He is asked if anyone was reprimanded for the story

Myself, because I was responsible.

But did you offer to resign, considering Piers Morgan, and others have done before.

Certainly not. If every editor offered to resign after a libel case, there would be no more editors.

Is that all this is, just a libel case?

If I have to resign, then every other editor has to resign, and the head of the BBC and the board of directors have to resign. I have never seen anyone in the Government resign. Did Jacqui Smith resign for the expenses scandal. Did Gordon Brown resign for destroying the economy? I apologised for my error, which is more than politicians ever do.

Yes, but they didn't accuse parents of killing their child, as you did, because you didn't have the professionalism to check your stories.

If I was breaking the law, then everyone was breaking the law

That's your defence?

Everyone was breaking the law, and we were making a genuine attempt to find Maddie. You are trying to present this as a one-sided thing - the story kept changing.

Why didn't the McCanns come to the PCC? If they had, I would have thought very carefully about stopping the stories.

'We'd think about it' doesn't bring much comfort for people accused of killing their daughter

We didn't say that, or try to make people believe that.

He is asked about a story that was almost single-handedly the Daily Express, as opposed to an industry-wide error - a conspiracy theory surrounding Princess Diana's death.

As far as I am concerned, the inquest was pretty much the end of the story. We had reason to believe that the official reports were not true. Our readers were interested in the story, and I don't print stories I believe to be untrue.

The Express was alone on the Diana story, almost to the point of obsession.

It's not a crime to have an obsession. We do try to sell newspapers, we don't go out of our way to print boring stories that would drive our readers away.

He is asked what he thinks of the Reynolds Defence, as compared to a statutory solution to the issue of libel.

Well, the main question is 'is the story in the public interest?' But who decides what is in the public interest? That could be a borderline issue - some things certainly are, for example MP's expenses, or people who set themselves up as arbiters of morals, judges, or public servants, but some things are borderline, for example, are the activities of sects always in the public interest? There is not always a difference between what interests the public, and what is in the public interest.

It would be difficult for a statute to establish a defence for journalists, since every case is different.

Should the subjects of stories get prior notification?

No, not always, because they would probably obtain an injunction, and the story would be lost, but we usually go to the other side to ask for comment. Injunctions can be granted for the flimsiest reasons, because the judges are not qualified - especially in 'Saturday Night Injunctions'.

Newspapers have enormous constraints nowadays, with libel laws, privacy laws, European laws, Contempt of Court laws - we are pretty much up to our ears in laws. We have a very shackled press in this country, and you should be looking to remove these shackles, not add more, as seems to be the tone of these meetings. Free press is vital to a democracy, more than anything else.

He is asked why, when Max Mosley was before the committee, the room was packed with journalists who wrote extensively on the issue, but when Paul Dacre, and himself are being interviewed, there is little press interest. Is there an unwritten code between papers to not write about each other?

No. I know that there are quite a few journalists that want to shots at myself and Mr Dacre, but it does not make good copy. I did see some reports in the odd media section.

Yes, in the odd media section

An editor has to ask is it interesting. Would the readers want to read about it?

When was the last time you wrote a story about a journalist?

I can't remember writing one.

Well I can't remember reading one

Those stories are never any interest to the general public - although I do think it is in the public interest.

Is there a truce between the proprietors of your paper and the Mail to not publish stories about each other or their families?

Proprietors are not interesting stories. I don't know what they would say to each other if they spoke, I don't even know if they do speak, so I don't think there is any truce.

He is asked is the PCC undermined by editor's presence on it.

If a matter concerns a particular editor, he is not allowed to take any part in those proceedings, he is not even allowed in the room. I think it is a false perception that the PCC is a bad system.

I don't see that the PCC is not feared by editors. It is good at amicably settling issues between the press and the public, and a lot of cases have been resolved amicably, which is surely better than a bitter legal battle? Also, there is an ombudsman who is very conscientious when carrying out his duties.

I'm sure you'd [the committee members] would be welcome to sit in on the PCC's meetings.

But the issue is that the story has been damaging, and the offended party may not want to bring the story back into the public domain.

Well we can't turn the clocks back to retract the story

The newspapers could behave better

What can we do to make the newspapers behave better?

He is asked if the PCC Code of Conduct should be included in his journalists' contract of employment.

We expect our journalists to follow the code fully, but I don't believe it is necessary to make it an issue of contract. All journalists know the code, and how to do their job within it.

We are becoming more careful about the reporting of children, and matters of privacy, as well as the reporting of suicides, and other things the code is helpful on, but that is not to say we don't make mistakes.

Lots of copy does not originate within our newsroom, it comes from outside sources, such as freelancers, and it can be very difficult to check these stories. It wouldn't be practical to check every story, we couldn't get the newspapers out.

What about possible amendments of the code to further child protection?

We are very careful at the Express in regard to child protection. I have rejected many photographs of celebrities, where the child was involved, or the child was obscured. This is mostly a photographic issue, rarely a matter of words. Me and my journalists are careful, and I think the code is pretty good.

He is asked whose decision it was that he leave the PCC

I didn't offer to resign, but I did consider it carefully, and discussed it with people whose opinion I trust, who said I should not resign. Their advice was that if every editor who made a mistake was to resign from the PCC, there would be no editors left on it, and I believe that there should be editors there to offer their knowledge of the newspaper industry and advice. All editors on the PCC carry out their duties as conscientiously as they could.

[He went on to discuss at length a dispute Express Newspapers had with the Newspaper Publishers Association, which I didn't fully grasp, but the upshot being that the dispute forced his newspaper group to stop being part of the PCC, I think]

He is asked about headlines that are misleading, especially on the front page.

This can happen, but at the Express, we try to qualify our headlines, but we have only a few letter in which to fit a headline in. Libel laws are concerned with misleading headlines, as they should be.

He is asked have journalistic standards fallen.

I don't accept this, and 'churnalism' is such a gimmicky word. The standards have increased, but so too have constraints. Journalists nowadays have more knowledge, and look into stories better than before.

He is asked how staff numbers have changed since he took over.

I think they are fairly similar, there may have been a small reduction, in line with the economic difficulties we are experiencing.

I have seen evidence of major reductions in staff numbers.

That is an industry-wide occurrence. Where did you get these figures?

I don't have the article to hand, but I believe I saw them in such publications as the UK Press Gazette.

The UK Press Gazette is not even there any more.

Would you have broken the Mosley story?

No, it would not have appealed to our readership.

Politics: Daily Mail editor, Paul Dacre before the Media Select Committee

2009-04-23T14:05:00.008+01:00

Paul Dacre, the editor of the Daily Mail, today sat before the Media Select Committee, flanked by his managing director, Robin Esser, whose only contributions were to stop Dacre digging himself into a hole. It certainly was a revealing meeting, with Dacre perched on the edge of his seat throughout, and he appeared to be slightly nervous in the proceedings. He constantly, and seemingly genuinely, defended the Press Complaints Commission, and repeatedly declared he would "die in a ditch" to defend the right of the News of the World and others to publish salacious details of people's private lives, so long as it was in the public interest, which he defined as what interests the public.

Below are some quotes and exchanges between Dacre, and the panel, although it must be stressed, that as with my last post, most of these will not be verbatim, but I make a genuine attempt to paraphrase the parties in context, and to maintain the spirit of what they said.

On a side note, I was stopped by no fewer than five officials (Westminster employees and police) on my way to the meeting, enquiring, with an air of suspicion, what my business was there. The fact that I was going to a committee meeting, as opposed to a tour, or observing the Commons seemed to be even more bizarre to them. There is a constant defence of a heavy police presence at a vicinity should make one 'feel safe,' but I didn't. I was getting increasingly paranoid that one of them was going to arrest me. I will add that as many officials offered help, and carried out their duties admirably. Still, I was carrying out my citizenry duty by observing the gears of democracy, and I was made to feel uneasy about the process.

Paul Dacre: I've been a journalist for over forty years, and I have never known chillier times for freedom of the press.

PD: There have been two well-intentioned pieces of legislation which, when combined, have proved to be lethal for the press. The legislation on Conditional Fee Agreements, and the Human Rights Act (HRA). Conditional Fee Arrangements (CFAs) allow lawyers to use unscrupulous methods, such as doubling their legal fees, and drawing out proceedings to keep raising these fees. In one case, the Mail on Sunday (MoS) was sued by Martin Jones MP, and lost the case. The damages payable to Mr Jones was approximately £5000, but the legal fees, plus the cost of the increase of insurance amounted to £520,000.

Every day we are not going as far into a story as we used to, and we settle earlier to avoid legal costs - legal costs that would be so high that they would bankrupt provincial newspapers.

The hourly rate for a lawyer in defamation cases is £650, when up-priced under the CFAs, it becomes £1300. Why does it cost four times as much to defend somebody's damaged reputation than it does to defend somebody from life imprisonment.

Paul Farrelly MP: Is the cherry-picking of cases by the lawyers turning CFAs from 'No Win, No Fee', to 'Always win, double fee'?

PD: Yes.

PD: The amount of letters we receive from libel lawyers would amount to deforestation, and from overseas clients that would have been unlikely to have read the stories. I would be astonished if it were not the case that Carter-Ruck and Schillings are actively touting for custom, and ambulance-chasing rich overseas clients.

Rosemary McKenna MP: Is it truly 'privacy law through the back door,' as you believe, or are the courts simply applying the HRA effectively?

PD: The Human Rights Act was well-intentioned, after all, who could deny human rights to anyone. But when it is combined with the CFAs, it is exploited by the rich. Before 1998 [when the HRA came into force], the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was never used against the press -even during the eighties, when the press behaviour was at its worse. The problem with the HRA is that it enables the judges to interpret the law from the European Court of Human Rights, which gives more weight to privacy than press freedom.

PD: The opinion within the press is why is it that one judge, Justice Eady presides over most privacy cases. He has a history of trying to impose privacy laws in the 80s, and has been known in speeches to make sneering attacks on tabloids and individual journalists. I personally feel that judges are arrogant and make amoral decisions. In one case, a man whose wife was seduced by a sports star, was not allowed to sell his story, because of the breach of privacy of the sports star's wife. The adulterer had his rights respected above the wronged man.

PD: For Max Mosley to present himself in front of this committee as a white knight is against civilised society, it is akin to the Yorkshire Ripper taking a stand against violence against women. If he had asked his wife, or neighbour, to dress him up in army uniform and smack him, it would not be an issue that would interest the papers, but he paid a mistress to provide him with women to smack. There is a direct line between that and the trafficked women in the 'massage parlours,' who are exploited and degraded - one legitimises the other. Mosley's status as head of Formula 1, a sport watched by millions of people around the world, presented a greater justification for the running of the story.

He is quick to point out that it was not his paper that broke the Mosley story when an MP suggests that it was. Later on in the session he is asked if the Mosley story was 'put in his lap' would he have run with it.

PD: We are a family newspaper, so no we wouldn't have broke the story.

PD: [privileged] judges don't understand what is in the public interest, what is the public interest should be decided by the public.

Dacre didn't actually use the word privileged, but his description of them, which I failed to note, certainly intimated that impression

PD: I am not aware of journalists at The Daily Mail paying for access to medical records. There was an incident some years back, where we used an agency to provide us with access to addresses and other details of individuals via the Electoral Register, a legal process. The agency was used by other news organisations, and there was no indication that they were accessing people's medical records. Following concerns raised by the Information Commissioner, we banned the use of the agency, and trained our staff accordingly, and the PCC changed the code. I can't think of more rigourous measures we could have taken in the circumstances.

PD: I would like to think that headlines in the Mail are not deliberately misleading compared to the body of the aticle. The PCC guidelines insist that the body of the article must be accurate.

Whittingdale MP quoted an example from Nick Davies' book, Flat Earth News, about a detail from Anne Frank's diary that was analysed with the headline, "Did Anne Frank's father betray her?". The body of the article made very little reference to this statement, and the only redress was a letter published a week later, on page 68.

PD: I regret that happened, mistakes happen within the pressures of running a daily newspaper.

He is asked why the paper campaigns against government intrusion into privacy, yet wants the power for the press to do so.

PD: The PCC code has strict boundaries of privacy regarding family life, health etc. I hope that these are only broached if it in the public interest to do so. If I get this wrong, you can take me to court.

At this point, Robin Esser quickly prompts him to say, "or don't buy the paper," which Dacre quickly repeats.

He is then asked about the unflattering appraisal of the Mail, again from Nick Davies' book, which calls it 'spiteful' and 'aggressive' among other things.

PD: Mr Davies is a very good journalist, and I have paid him well to write for me, but I think the criteria on which he measures our paper is flawed. He writes for the Gaurdian, and like most of their writers feels like they are the only people who can take the moral high ground. His book didn't take basic journalistic steps such as fact-check or offer a right of reply to the people he criticised. I don't believe we are a 'spiteful' newspaper, but we are aggressive, and are passionate about the interests of our readers.

He is asked if investigative journalism is suffering in journalism today.

PD: In provincial presses, yes, and also in some of the national titles that do not have sufficient resources. I refute that charge against the Mail however, we are famous, and infamous, for looking behind the press releases to uncover the spin. Spending on journalism today is a great as ever, despite the financial troubles of the industry.

He is asked about the supposed dichotomy of public interest versus what interests the public, particularly in regard to boiling stories down to individual accounts.

PD: There is a patronising element to this question. All stories are personal, and telling stories through people is an effective way to explain dry and complicated stories. Politicians and celebrities like to personalise their lives to reach out to the people to whom they are communicating. If you want issues, you can buy the Guardian, if you want titilliation and gossip, buy the Sun or the News of the World, and I'll die in a ditch to defend their right to print that, despite my misgivings, because they have broken some very important stories.

He is asked what went wrong with the McCann case.

PD: I want to point out that the McCann saga was not just confined to newspapers, BBC News and ITN had interviews on the doorsteps of neighbours.

The McCann case was a great news story, and the McCanns went out of their way to seek publicity, understandably so they could increase the chances that they would find their daughter. This created a vortex for some news papers to declare open season. It was compounded by the Portuguese and British police leaking against each other, and this was regrettably picked up by British newspapers. And yes, there was the issue of circulation. I can't remember a story that would positively increase sales the way a McCann headline on the front page would.

He is asked why in other walks of life, such as with social workers, or the police, collective failures are railed against by the press, and calls are made for inquiries, but not in the case of the press' behaviour towards the McCanns.

PD: I can't comment, because I don't believe it was a collective failure. Correct boundaries must be observed, and some newspapers did not observe those boundaries. I sure The Mail has transgressed since the McCann case, but I can't think of an example, and I hope it was not intentional.

He is asked why The Mail published the village where Elizabeth Fritzl was housed.

PD: I was not aware we did that. I'm sure other papers published it also.

You were the first, on March 11.

PD: I'll have to get back to on that. I was unaware of this.

Was this a moral thing to do?

PD: I can't answer that, because I don't what the agencies were doing at the time, or the German newspapers. You [Paul Farrelly MP, a former journalist] know how newspapers operate, I don't see everything that goes into the paper.

But surely you would see the main stories?

PD: I do, but I will get back to on this incident, and sent you a note.

We would appreciate that

He is asked if the presence of newspaper editors on the PCC undermines its authority.

PD: There are 10 lay members, compared to seven editors, so the majority is still independent, and the editors provide valuable insight into the working of newspapers. This is not akin to having a jury that includes members of the defendant's family [a charge levelled by Nick Davies in the previous meeting]. The PCC is a more robust system of self-regulation than exists in Parliament. It is unfair to suggest that newspapers don't take the PCC seriously, because it is a huge shame for an editor to be investigated by the PCC, and its perception has improved steadily since its inception. The journalistic landscape has changed dramatically since the 80s because of the PCC, and it 'blunts the ability of Red Tops to sell papers' [he attributed this quote to someone, but I didn't hear who]. It sickens me to hear the PCC is not independent, the code is organic and changes to reflect society, such as the tightening up of suicide reporting, for example. We want to get it right.

He is asked about the Mail's campaign against MMR.

All papers were concerned about this issue, and there was an expert who was raising concerns about the MMR jab, as well as distressed parents. The Mail primarily felt it was hypocritical of Tony Blair to not disclose whether his son Leo had had the jab, considering he was insisting other parents do it.

He is asked to what extent the Mail fact-checks.

We do not have a process of fact-checking that they have in American newspapers, most British papers don't. Our reporters are professionals, with expert training, and accuracy is extremely important to the process of journalism. I don't see what more we can do.

Politics: Media Select committee's meeting with Nick Davies

2009-04-22T12:20:00.005+01:00

Yesterday, I sat in on the Media Select Committee's meeting with Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News, and Roy Greenslade, a Guardian media commentator, having learned about it from Ben Goldacre's Twitterings (@bengoldacre). The meeting has been covered by a Guardian reporter here, but I thought I would put some of the more interesting quotes here.

Paul Dacre is going before the committee tomorrow, and barring unforeseen circumstances, I intend to be there, and should post the results here forthwith.

NB: Very few (if any) of these quotes will be verbatim what the people said, since I can't write in shorthand, but they do represent the general gist of what they were saying.

On libel laws:
Libel law in England and Wales is a means for one to seek redress if a statement has been published which seriously damages the reputation of the victim, without justification (ie it's not true). Obviously this relates to the press since they often print untruths (intentionally or otherwise), and people's reputations or businesses may be irreparably wrecked. However, increasingly, the libel laws in England have been increasingly been used (abused?) by powerful figures to prevent journalists publishing damaging material, which could be considered to be in the public interest, and the heavily punative damages awarded if the figure wins means that newspapers have been reluctant to run with stories for fear of falling foul of a libel writ.
The courts have tried to balance this dilemma over the years, with varying results. The current situation is that journalists can claim the "Reynold's Defence" - basically if they show that they acted responsibly and gave the offended party a right of a reply in a story that is in the public interest, they can be exempt from liability. It is named after the former Irish Prime Minister, Albert Reynolds, in his case against the Times (Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd and Others [1999] UKHL 45).
Mike Hall MP asked the specific question as to whether libel laws were still relevant, to which Nick Davies' view was an unequivocal no. His reasoning was that libel writs don't write wrongs as much as they could, and access to justice is still too expensive for the lay person (a term used frequently during the proceedings to describe a person who is not a member of the press, and would not be considered a 'public figure'). Roy Greenslade wasn't so entrenched, although he did say that the libel laws in England and Wales need serious reform.

Nick Davies: 'The Reynolds defence gives licence to print malicious falsehoods, as long as the article prints a denial by the other side.' Davies went to recount a story about how after he published his book, a journalist contacted him about a story they were running concerning the sexual conduct of his wife. The journalist was aware that the story was untrue, but were running with it anyway, with an inclusion of his denial. It was only after Davies made it clear he would go public with this behaviour that the journalist dropped the story. Davies has never been married.

Roy Greenslade: 'I am constantly under threat from publishers and editors of libel action. Journalists are the prime users of the law that they rail against.'

RG: 'Prior notification [to the other side] gives spin doctors the opportunity to sabotage the story, by giving a press conference softening the impact of the story, and denying the journalist their scoop.' The example given here was when ITN had uncovered evidence of the extent of Charles Kennedy's drinking issues. His PRs set up a press conference at around 4pm (two hours before ITN's main evening news broadcast) to change the story from 'I've got a drinking problem,' to 'I'm on top of a drinking problem'. Both Davies and Greenslade commented that prior notification can also be used to blackmail or bribe the subject of the report when the story needs more substance. For example, they can get an exclusive interview from the subject of the story, if they leave out more lurid elements of the story. Frank Bough's name was mentioned as an example of how this was done to the detriment of the subject.

RG: 'When the Guardian was investigating Tesco's overseas tax structures, they tried to do the responsible thing and give Tesco a right of reply. Tesco responded by suing the Guardian for malicious falsehood for getting the exact details of a complex case wrong.' This case was criticised as 'bullying' by the panel, especially since Private Eye was able to provide evidence that tax evasion was taking place, just not in the way the Guardian had alleged. Greenslade said that 'corporations should not be allowed to sue for libel.'

ND: 'The newspapers lawayers, who vet the stories, often play it safe, and advise not running stories - this is the real chilling effect [on free speech].' ... 'Even in a paper such as the Guardian, the lawyers will ask, 'does this person have money,' because if he does, he will sue.'

Conditional Fee Arrangements (CFAs) are a device in law to provide greater access to justice to those who can't afford it. They are commonly known as 'no win, no fee' agreements, whereby the lawyer will not accept payment if they don't win any compensation for the client. To offset this rick (beyond the practice of not taking on risky cases), is that they increase their legal fees, usually by about 100%, which is recoverable from the losing side.

RG: 'Anecdotally, CFAs have been used by rich clients to rachet up the legal fees for the newspapers,' Often, if legal fees increase too rapidly, one side will settle in order to cut their losses, this is often the result in libel cases in journalism.

On the PCC:
The Press Complaints Commission was widely condemned on all quarters, with Greenslade decided that it was useful to have editors on its panel, whereas Davies said there shouldn't be.

ND: 'Having editors on the PCC is akin to having a jury of twelve people, where five of them share commercial and common interests with the accused.'...'The PCC is not sufficiently independent enough to be functional, it is not on the side of readers, it has repeatedly shown its function to be the defence of bad journalistic practice.'

RG: 'The PCC is not proactive enough. The feeding frenzy of the McCanns, and Robert Murat was due to the fact that the PCC was not proactive enough.'

ND: 'The PCC is so weak, it damages the notion of self-regulation.' Davies did go on to say that under its new leadership, the PCC should be given another chance, if only to prevent constant court proceedings for press wrongdoing.

Other Miscellaneous quotes:

ND: 'Journalists told me that they knew that the story of their being bones hidden under a foster home in Jersey was not true, but ran with the crowd anyway, or else they would eventually be marginalised within their newsrooms.'

RG: 'If one paper runs with something, such as revealing where Elizabeth Fritzl was now residing, the others feel that they must catch, or get new details, creating a vicious cycle. The Independent used the defence that the information was already in the public domain, so they published it, rather than criticising the peper for revealing it in the first place.'
Committee member: 'The Austrians called the British press, "Satan's reporters."

RG: 'There is virtue in the probing style of UK journalism, but the fearlessness that drives it should not be turned into recklessness.'

ND: The university courses are more concerned with getting their graduate jobs, so they teach their students how to recreate press releases, as the papers want them to be. There are only about four or five good journalism courses in the UK.

ND: The Courts have a history of being hostile to good journalism. We are suspicious of them.

ND: Paul Dacre has lobbied Gordon Brown to not have prison sentences for breaches of the Data Protection Act, because he wants to plunder people's medical records. However, if he was in hospital with a heart condition, a message would go around Fleet Street to not report it.

RG: Competition should be a good thing, but the bad result of competition in the UK press has resulted in increasingly bad behaviour.

Modest Mouse at Royal Albert Hall - 23 May 2007

2009-03-30T00:48:00.003+01:00

The Egodeity had assumed he had mirrored this from his Last.fm site at the time, but it appears not, so here is a belated review of a Modest Mouse gig from the Albert Hall in 2007. (original post and comments here). All incidents with italicised square brackets are comments added in this post, with the full benefit of sober hindsight.

I didn't turn up to the venue until 20:30, so I missed the support act, who I had kind of wanted to see because I was trying to figure out why his name was so vaguely familiar. (I have subsequently discovered it was probably because he was the most notable figure in Tracey Emin's tent).

Any way, it did mean I was free to worm my way into a decent spot on the floor - right in front of Johnny Marr, as it turned out. And the band fashionably kept the crowd waiting for about fifteen minutes before storming with Paper Thin Walls as the opener.

A lot has been made of the sound quality -or lack thereof for a rock band to be playing in the RAH. I assumed the vocals were inaudible to me because of the fact I was right underneath Johnny Marr's ~~speakers~~ [monitors], but even when Isaac spoke between songs I could barely make out a word he said. Again, I assumed that's because he was too close to the mic, but surely someone of his experience doesn't make a schoolboy like that. The few things I did hear was him asking the guys at the top at the back (where, incidentally, a couple of my friends were sitting) if they could see/hear (?), and a rebuttal of the thought of playing Freebird (I take it that's becoming a running gag now). The crowd around me were shouting to have the vocals turned up, and they would have been within earshot of the band, and I think they did try to address it onstage, but there's only a limit with what you can do with amp levels.

The venue itself was pretty grandiose, but even as we were walking from the Tube station, we were thinking that alternative bands wouldn't exactly be queuing for a spot at that venue. There were posters for Simply Red's comeback. The sandwich bar had been converted into a criminally overpriced bar - £2.90 for a 285ml bottle of Carling, which was the cheapest drink by a long way. Then you weren't allowed to take them into any of the seating areas.

The first thing that struck me when I got to the floor was the fact that the security was barley visible (I actually didn't even know there was any until near the end). The crowd were really well-behaved as far as crowds go, with only one major incident during the encore. I couldn't see what happened, but Isaac stepped in [to confront the security], and he was still visibly angry when he was leaving the stage [slash being ushered backstage by the rest of the band]. My friends from the back said they thought he was trying to help a fan who was being manhandled by security.

Most of the set list was made up of We Were Dead..., and Good News... songs, but they did hold up the earlier stuff as well (just happened that it wasn't the songs I was hoping for, but they aren't my trained monkeys, so I'll live).

The band were so tight, especially the two drummers. At some points they were even sharing the same drumkit.
Johnny was made the star of the show by the photogs in front of the barrier. For about ten minutes at the start there was about five fixed solely on him, and none even on Isaac. Isaac went crazy during Doin the Cockroach, and started screaming into his guitar's pickup - which must have worked because I could hear him almost as well as with his mic [I subsequently learned that it was Tiny Cities Made of Ashes that inspired him to scream into his pickup].

The floor beneath me was trembling under the weight of synchronised jumping during Float On, and the crowd was in good spirits throughout. Before the band came on, the seated crowd managed to get a Mexican Wave going.

The band played a good hour and a half set, and you could see they up for the event, but the sound quality did ruin it for a lot of people (some even left early, according to their reviews. For me, it was the first time I had seen the Mouse, and was prejudiced to enjoy it no matter what and that served me well. Good Show.

Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse giving shit right back to a wanker in the crowd

2009-03-29T18:25:00.002+01:00

The Egodeity's favourite band is Modest Mouse (if one considers his Last.fm page, which is probably a decent indicator). He has been frotihng at the bit at the thought of new material, and signed up to follow their photographer, Pat Graham, on his blog (RSS link) and twitter, and he diligently pointed out this delightful video of Isaac Brock, the lead singer, chastising one of those loudmouth cunts who go to a concert expecting it to not fulfil their snobby standards (in fact, probably on some level, conscious or otherwise, willing it not to meet those standards) and feel the need to share their displeasure with everyone, including the band.

Brock completely ripped him shreds, pointing out that the song they had played before was "old stuff", and speculated that the song he played was older than the heckling spore. Great Stuff. New material is promised later this year, so one waits.

The Grauniad's 1000 songs You must Hear

2009-03-24T23:21:00.003Z

Every so often the Graun runs a week long list of 100 such and such things you must read/hear/choke on, with a conscience absence of the "before you die" suffix, presumably to absolve themselves from liability for condemning some poor hure to purgatory for not getting around to getting round to buying that obscure Icelandic band's fourth album that only came out on vinyl.

Anyhoo, last week, they did songs, and the accompanying website had a nifty Javascript thing that allowed you record your progress, so in a characteristic swathe of self-aggrandeur, the Egodeity presents the tracks he has heard, thus far:

1000 songs everyone must hear

Love: part one of 1000 songs everyone must hear

My selection of 55 from the Guardian.co.uk list of 139

The Shining (Badly Drawn Boy, 2000)
God Only Knows (The Beach Boys, 1966)
Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys, 1966)
Wouldn’t It Be Nice (The Beach Boys, 1966)
Eight Days a Week (The Beatles, 1964)
I Want to Hold Your Hand (The Beatles, 1963)
She Loves You (The Beatles, 1963)
Something (The Beatles, 1969)
With a Little Help from My Friends (The Beatles, 1967)
Song for Whoever (The Beautiful South, 1989)
How Deep is Your Love? (The Bee Gees, 1977)
Crazy in Love (Beyoncé, 2003)
Heroes (David Bowie, 1977)
Hounds of Love (Kate Bush, 1985)
The Man With the Child in His Eyes (Kate Bush, 1978)
I Walk the Line (Johnny Cash, 1956)
Yellow (Coldplay, 2000)
Friday I’m in Love (The Cure, 1992)
Pour Some Sugar on Me (Def Leppard, 1987)
Visions of Johanna (Bob Dylan, 1966)
One Day Like This (Elbow, 2008)
I Say A Little Prayer (Aretha Franklin, 1968)
The Power of Love (Frankie Goes to Hollywood, 1984)
Let’s Stay Together (Al Green, 1971)
Sweet Child O’ Mine (Guns N’ Roses, 1987)
Stand By Me (Ben E King, 1961)
You Really Got Me (The Kinks, 1964)
Can’t Get You Out of My Head (Kylie Minogue, 2001)
Madame George (Van Morrison, 1968)
You’ve Got a Friend (Randy Newman, 1995)
Oh, Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison, 1964)
I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton, 1974)
Can’t Help Falling in Love (Elvis Presley, 1961)
Love Me Tender (Elvis Presley, 1956)
Unchained Melody (The Righteous Brothers, 1965)
Umbrella (Rihanna, 2007)
Be My Baby (The Ronettes, 1963)
Valerie (Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse, 2007)
Will You Love Me Tomorrow? (The Shirelles, 1961)
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel, 1970)
Fly Me to the Moon (Frank Sinatra, 1966)
Love and Marriage (Frank Sinatra, 1955)
There is a Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths, 1986)
I Got You Babe (Sonny and Cher, 1965)
Wannabe (The Spice Girls, 1996)
She Bangs the Drums (The Stone Roses, 1989)
I Feel Love (Donna Summer, 1977)
Baby Love (The Supremes, 1964)
My Girl (The Temptations, 1964)
Gloria (Them, 1964)
Here Comes the Night (Them/Van Morrison, 1965)
River Deep, Mountain High (Ike and Tina Turner, 1966)
You Do Something to Me (Paul Weller, 1995)
Music to Watch Girls By (Andy Williams, 1967)
Lean on Me (Bill Withers, 1972)

1000 songs everyone must hear

Heartbreak: part two of 1000 songs everyone must hear

My selection of 46 from the Guardian.co.uk list of 145

The Winner Takes It All (Abba, 1980)
Never Ever (All Saints, 1997)
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles, 1965)
Heart of Glass (Blondie, 1978)
One Way Or Another (Blondie, 1979)
Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve) (Buzzcocks, 1978)
Since U Been Gone (Kelly Clarkson, 2004)
Should I Stay Or Should I Go (The Clash, 1982)
Crazy (Patsy Cline, 1961)
So Long, Marianne (Leonard Cohen, 1967)
The Scientist (Coldplay, 2002)
Disintegration (The Cure, 1989)
Layla (Derek and the Dominos, 1970)
Warwick Avenue (Duffy, 2008)
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (Bob Dylan, 1963)
Idiot Wind (Bob Dylan, 1975)
Just Like a Woman (Bob Dylan, 1966)
I Heard it Through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye, 1967)
I Want You Back (The Jackson 5, 1970)
Tainted Love (Gloria Jones, 1964)
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division, 1980)
Caught Out There (Kelis, 1999)
Mr Brightside (The Killers, 2003)
Lola (The Kinks, 1970)
Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis, 2007)
Nothing Compares 2 U (Sinead O’Connor, 1990)
Jolene (Dolly Parton, 1973)
Every Breath You Take (The Police, 1983)
Always on My Mind (Elvis Presley, 1972)
Suspicious Minds (Elvis Presley, 1969)
When Doves Cry (Prince, 1984)
Everybody Hurts (REM, 1992)
The One I Love (REM, 1987)
I Know It’s Over (The Smiths, 1986)
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (The Smiths, 1984)
Dry Your Eyes (The Streets, 2004)
Last Nite (The Strokes, 2001)
Back for Good (Take That, 1995)
No Scrubs (TLC, 1999)
With Or Without You (U2, 1987)
Walk on By (Dionne Warwick, 1964)
Gold Digger (Kanye West, 2005)
Substitute (The Who, 1966)
No Regrets (Robbie Williams, 1998)
You Know I’m No Good (Amy Winehouse, 2006)
A Man Needs a Maid (Neil Young, 1972)

1000 songs everyone must hear

People and places: part three of 1000 songs everyone must hear

My selection of 33 from the Guardian.co.uk list of 145

New York, New York (Ryan Adams, 2001)
A Certain Romance (Arctic Monkeys, 2006)
Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles, 1966)
Penny Lane (The Beatles, 1967)
She’s Leaving Home (The Beatles, 1967)
Strawberry Fields Forever (The Beatles, 1967)
Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry, 1958)
Life On Mars? (David Bowie, 1971)
Space Oddity (David Bowie, 1969)
Minnie the Moocher (Cab Calloway, 1931)
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash, 1955)
Georgia on My Mind (Ray Charles, 1960)
London Calling (The Clash, 1979)
Mack the Knife (Bobby Darin, 1959)
Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan, 1965)
Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland, 1939)
Me and Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin, 1971)
Waterloo Sunset (The Kinks, 1967)
Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1974)
California Dreamin’ (The Mamas and the Papas, 1965)
No Woman, No Cry (Bob Marley and the Wailers, 1974)
Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd, 1975)
Dirty Old Town (The Pogues, 1985)
Rainy Night in Soho (The Pogues, 1985)
Common People (Pulp, 1995)
Homeward Bound (Simon and Garfunkel, 1966)
Mrs Robinson (Simon and Garfunkel, 1968)
Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen, 1975)
Up the Junction (Squeeze, 1979)
Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf, 1968)
The Boys Are Back in Town (Thin Lizzy, 1976)
My Perfect Cousin (The Undertones, 1980)
Wild Wood (Paul Weller, 1993)

1000 songs everyone must hear

Sex: part four of 1000 songs everyone must hear

My selection of 43 from the Guardian.co.uk list of 131

You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC, 1980)
Love in an Elevator (Aerosmith, 1989)
Smile (Lily Allen, 2006)
When The Sun Goes Down (Arctic Monkeys, 2006)
Girls and Boys (Blur, 1994)
Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine (James Brown, 1970)
Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above (CSS, 2006)
Say My Name (Destiny’s Child, 1999)
Come On Eileen (Dexys Midnight Runners, 1982)
I Touch Myself (Divinyls, 1991)
I Want You (Bob Dylan, 1966)
Relax (Frankie Goes to Hollywood, 1983)
Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel, 1986)
Let’s Get It On (Marvin Gaye, 1973)
Sexual Healing (Marvin Gaye, 1982)
No Pussy Blues (Grinderman, 2007)
Bob’s Yer Uncle (Happy Mondays, 1990)
You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate, 1975)
Saving All My Love for You (Whitney Houston, 1985)
I Just Want to Make Love to You (Etta James, 1961)
Super Freak (Rick James, 1981)
Milkshake (Kelis, 2003)
Ignition (Remix) (R Kelly, 2003)
Khia (My Neck, My Back (Lick It), 2002)
Sex On Fire (Kings of Leon, 2008)
Lady Marmalade (Labelle, 1974)
Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin, 1969)
Tutti Frutti (Little Richard, 1955)
Justify My Love (Madonna, 1990)
Electric Feel (MGMT, 2008)
Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order, 1986)
Roxanne (The Police, 1978)
Little Red Corvette (Prince, 1983)
Kiss (Prince and the Revolution, 1986)
Honky Tonk Women (The Rolling Stones, 1969)
Reel Around the Fountain (The Smiths, 1984)
… Baby One More Time (Britney Spears, 1998)
I Wanna Be Your Dog (The Stooges, 1969)
Animal Nitrate (Suede, 1993)
Get It On (T Rex, 1971)
Wild Thing (The Troggs, 1966)
Desire (U2, 1988)
Venus in Furs (The Velvet Underground, 1967)

1000 songs everyone must hear

Politics and protest: part five of 1000 songs everyone must hear

My selection of 50 from the Guardian.co.uk list of 141

Another World (Antony and the Johnsons, 2008)
Windowsill (Arcade Fire, 2007)
I Am the Walrus (The Beatles, 1967)
Revolution (The Beatles, 1968)
War Pigs (Black Sabbath, 1971)
Cop Killer (Body Count, 1992)
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Eric Bogle, 1971)
Army Dreamers (Kate Bush, 1980)
Straight to Hell (The Clash, 1982)
White Riot (The Clash, 1977)
Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, 1970)
Thou Shalt Always Kill (Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, 2007)
Maggie’s Farm (Bob Dylan, 1965)
The Times They Are a-Changin’ (Bob Dylan, 1964)
Role Model (Eminem, 1999)
Two Tribes (Frankie Goes To Hollywood, 1984)
Respect (Aretha Franklin, 1967)
I Fought the Law (Bobby Fuller Four, 1965)
What’s Going On? (Marvin Gaye, 1971)
The Message (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, 1982)
American Idiot (Green Day, 2004)
The Star-Spangled Banner (Jimi Hendrix, 1969)
The Eton Rifles (The Jam, 1979)
Going Underground (The Jam, 1980)
Material Girl (Madonna, 1985)
Redemption Song (Bob Marley, 1980)
Kick Out the Jams (MC5, 1968)
Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell, 1970)
Police and Thieves (Junior Murvin, 1976)
Fuck tha Police (NWA, 1988)
Monkey Gone to Heaven (Pixies, 1989)
Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six (The Pogues, 1988)
In the Ghetto (Elvis Presley, 1969)
Come Together (Primal Scream, 1990)
Sign o’ the Times (Prince, 1987)
Bring the Noise (Public Enemy, 1987)
Fight the Power (Public Enemy, 1989)
Killing in the Name (Rage Against the Machine, 1992)
Anarchy in the UK (Sex Pistols, 1976)
God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols, 1977)
Ghost Town (The Specials, 1981)
Born in the USA (Bruce Springsteen, 1984)
War (Edwin Starr, 1970)
Suspect Device (Stiff Little Fingers, 1978)
Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2, 1983)
We Are the World (USA for Africa, 1985)
Get Up, Stand Up (The Wailers, 1973)
My Generation (The Who, 1965)
Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young, 1989)
Southern Man (Neil Young, 1970)

1000 songs everyone must hear

Life and death: 1000 songs everyone must hear

My selection of 35 from the Guardian.co.uk list of 131

Fluorescent Adolescent (Arctic Monkeys, 2007)
What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong, 1968)
Yesterday (The Beatles, 1965)
Paranoid (Black Sabbath, 1970)
(Don't Fear) The Reaper (Blue Öyster Cult, 1976)
This Is a Low (Blur, 1994)
School’s Out (Alice Cooper, 1972)
Killing an Arab (The Cure, 1978)
Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode, 1989)
Sunshine Superman (Donovan, 1966)
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan, 1973)
Regulate (Warren G and Nate Dogg, 1994)
Hey Joe (The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1966)
Someone Great (LCD Soundsystem, 2007)
Baggy Trousers (Madness, 1980)
La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh) (Manic Street Preachers, 1993)
Safe from Harm (Massive Attack, 1991)
Fade to Black (Metallica, 1984)
Lithium (Nirvana, 1991)
Mo Money Mo Problems (The Notorious BIG, 1997)
Live Forever (Oasis, 1994)
Ms Jackson (OutKast, 2000)
9 to 5 (Dolly Parton, 1980)
Another Brick in the Wall, Part II (Pink Floyd, 1979)
Message in a Bottle (The Police, 1979)
Glory Box (Portishead, 1994)
Sour Times (Portishead, 1994)
Paranoid Android (Radiohead, 1997)
(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding, 1968)
Paint it Black (The Rolling Stones, 1966)
Feeling Good (Nina Simone, 1965)
It Was a Very Good Year (Frank Sinatra, 1965)
Psycho Killer (Talking Heads, 1977)
One (U2, 1992)
Old Man (Neil Young, 1972)

1000 songs everyone must hear

Party songs: part seven of 1000 songs everyone must hear

My selection of 58 from the Guardian.co.uk list of 162

Dancing Queen (Abba, 1976)
Back in Black (AC/DC, 1980)
Because I Got High (Afroman, 2001)
Windowlicker (Aphex Twin, 1999)
I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor (Arctic Monkeys, 2005)
Re-Rewind (The Artful Dodger featuring Craig David, 1999)
9pm (Till I Come) (ATB, 1999)
Love Shack (The B-52’s, 1989)
(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party) (Beastie Boys, 1987)
Night Fever (Bee Gees, 1978)
Let’s Dance (David Bowie, 1983)
Shake Your Tailfeather (Ray Charles, 1980)
Le Freak (Chic, 1978)
Brimful of Asha (Cornershop, 1997)
Da Funk (Daft Punk, 1995)
Groove Is in the Heart (Deee-Lite, 1990)
Just Can’t Get Enough (Depeche Mode, 1981)
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (Ian Dury and the Blockheads, 1978)
Biology (Girls Aloud, 2005)
Dare (Gorillaz, 2005)
Over and Over (Hot Chip, 2006)
Jump Around (House of Pain, 1992)
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (Indeep, 1982)
Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough (Michael Jackson, 1979)
Off the Wall (Michael Jackson, 1979)
I Love Rock’n’Roll (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, 1982)
Transmission (Joy Division, 1979)
Louie Louie (The Kingsmen, 1963)
Golden Skans (Klaxons, 2007)
My Sharona (The Knack, 1979)
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper, 1983)
Can’t Stand Me Now (The Libertines, 2004)
Beautiful Stranger (Madonna, 1999)
Holiday (Madonna, 1983)
Kids (MGMT, 2008)
Paper Planes (DFA remix) (MIA, 2008)
Hot in Herre (Nelly, 2002)
True Faith (New Order, 1987)
Cigarettes and Alcohol (Oasis, 1994)
Hey Ya! (OutKast, 2003)
Streams of Whiskey (The Pogues, 1984)
Loaded (Primal Scream, 1991)
1999 (Prince, 1983)
Out of Space (The Prodigy, 1992)
Feel Good Hit of the Summer (Queens of the Stone Age, 2000)
House of Jealous Lovers (The Rapture, 2002)
All Night Long (All Night) (Lionel Richie, 1983)
Witness (1 Hope) (Roots Manuva, 2001)
Nite Klub (The Specials, 1979)
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) (Sylvester, 1978)
How Soon Is Now? (The Smiths, 1985)
Young Hearts Run Free (Candi Staton, 1976)
Wipe Out (The Surfaris, 1962)
Rapper’s Delight (The Sugarhill Gang, 1979)
Shout (Tears for Fears, 1984)
A Punk (Vampire Weekend, 2008)
My Generation (The Who, 1965)
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher (Jackie Wilson, 1967)

Bobby McGee's promote Channel 4

2009-02-11T16:00:00.003Z

The Bobby McGee's are another perrenial favourite of the Egodeity, and he rejoices at any indication that they are getting more exposure. Today is one such day. You know Channel 4, the channel who once was the bain of middle England because of the risque nature of its output, but has sinced mellowed so that it is now considered mainstream, yet still tries to convince people that its edgy and and uses racists on Big Brother to try to prove it? Well, they have produced a trailer for their film channel, Film4, and guess whose music provides the background?

Now it is up to you, the legions of Egodeists to pester Radio 1 and other such outlets of popular music with emails and texts asking, "what's that song in the new Film 4 ad?" You are free to ask other questions related to this subject, such as, "What film is Steve Martin in?" "Why does Steve Martic still insist on pursuing a career?" "Is there any form of appropriate retribution for Cheaper by the Dozen, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, or The Pink Panther? Public hanging seems to tame."

iTunes 8: the tunes are the lowest priority

2009-02-04T17:23:00.000Z

I recently downloaded iTunes 8, when it was released, in fact, and it's becoming increasingly clear that the music is the lowest priority for iTunes nowadays. In the last few major releases (from about version 6 onwards), iTunes has merely been a vehicle for the software improvements in the iPod and iPhone, to the point where playing music is being sacrificed.
Now my Apple iBook G4 isn't exactly top of the line - it was the most basic model when I bought it in Autumn 2005 - but iTunes 8 is crippling it. Simply scrolling through my (admittedly large - 9000+ and counting) selection of songs causes iTunes to freeze for up to 40 seconds at a time. I tried to counteract this by downloading an older version of iTunes, that doesn't have all the useless add-ons that I won't need, since I don't have an iPhone (and have no particular intention of getting one), but this was scuppered by the fact that I can't find one on the internet that will actually install onto my machine.
This can easily be fixed by Apple - all they have to do is release an iTunes Lite, that simply plays songs and syncs iPods - as was the intention of the software when it was created. I like iTunes, but the increasing excess baggage the updates are loaded with is wearing my patience thin. I may have to switch allegiences to another media player, but frankly, I don't want to - I just want my iTunes to function.

Iggy Pop sells insurance - the final insult to music and its fans

2009-02-02T14:31:00.006Z

Music lovers have often had to suffer the cuntishness of Adland hijacking their favourite artists, in order to plug their crap, often without the artists' consent - where was Jimi Hendrix when Audi decided he would endorse their latest mid-life crisis mobile? Or Nick Drake when Volkswagon used his Pink Moon to flog their new line of City-boy smug-mobiles?

Then there was Muse having to sue Nescafe to stop them using Feeling Good in one of their ads, only for Nescafe to hire a sound-a-like to finish the job.

Of course, all the above examples (and countless more) are usually down to record company pricks (the same ones that are determined to stop music fans enjoying music) seeing an opportunity for quick financial gain, as well as easy exposure for the track to the masses, and thus licensing the soul of a song to an advertising wonk.

Now though, a new trend has emerged - rock stars appearing in the ads. Usually this cardinal sin is committed by prats to whom the music is a distant last on the priority list of groupies, drugs, alcohol, general vice, money, egotistical posturing, music - Ozzy can't believe it's not butter, Alice Cooper likes high-end golf clubs, and Madonna and Missy Elliot plug that Gap (pun was accidental, but I'm keeping it).
But when punk icons start selling out, you know the world is doomed to capitalist mundanity. John Lydon (aka, Daily Mail-bothering Johnny Rotten of the day) poses as an upper class twit for Country Life, and now the man who invented punk as far back as the 60s, whose band was responsible for some of the dirtiest guitar riffs known to man, is selling car insurance... Car insurance... car insurance. And not a particular brand that is particularly known for being industrious towards their customers either, it's one of those scummy exploitative ones that advertise on daytime TV. The Egodeity is not going to link to a video of the ad, or even mention the name of the company, because they surely have enough publicity amid the blogosphere for the ad, he's simply registering his disgust, and building up supplies for the forthcoming apocalypse. Although it does remind the egodeist of a line from the Dark Knight. "You either die a hero (Hendrix, Cobain, Drake, Morrison, Joplin), or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Google mail offering SMS Text Messaging

2008-12-11T01:37:00.001Z

Official Gmail Blog: SMS Text Messaging for chat

The Egodeity has laboured long and hard to get his casual computer using accomplices to defer to his enlightened technological advances. 'Switch to Apple', 'use Firefox', 'everybody uses Facebook now', and for a long time 'get a Gmail account'. Sometimes financial issues would halt his conversions, other times it would be fear of the unknown. Most often it was just laziness, with most people just content with struggling with what they've got.

Now though, Gmail is offering a truly spectular update - one that is surely newsworthy (in the youth-orientated radio stations' "...and finally" sort of way) - free SMS from within webmail. At GBP0.10 per text message the best offer in Britain, and more and more people getting web-based phones, this update gives the consumer a nice little pin to prick at the cell phone companies with, given their unchallenged oligopical extortion over the last decade or so.

Unfortunately, Google retains it's almost self-defeating Amero-centricity, and is only rolling the service out in the United States. They have a few little in-jokes, such as all texts eminate from the l33tish 406 area code (Goo if you look at it right), but once a number is assigned to a particular address, it is assigned permanently and indivually to that address, so it can be saved as a phone number on a friend's phone. Particularly nifty. However, it does raise the spectre that they will run out of numbers to assign very quickly.

Anyway, the egodeity looks forward to this rolling out to these shores, and will plug it like a fiend until he converts SOMEone to the magesty that is Google's web-based mail service.

Of Montreal - Koko. 16 October, 2008

2008-10-19T12:58:00.002+01:00

First off, I want to express my disgust at the venue itself, Koko. The building itself is beautiful, and maintains an intimacy that some venues lose, but the running of it was incredibly frustrating.
A tin of beer was £3.60, and was still warm and flat, and barely filled half the disposable pint tumbler it was served in.

Now to the music. The remaining support band, Eugene McGuinness (the other band pulled out because the singer had pneumonia), were sub-Kooks indie, and didn't really compliment the originality of the headliners. In fact they were boring. In between the band's sets, the in house DJ was more interested in showing off how eclectic his record collection was than trying to embrace the mood of the audience.

So it was with great relief that of Montreal took to the stage, carrying on Alice Cooper's philosophy that the performer must entertain the audience. A motley collection of be-costumed dancers paraded the stage throughout the show, involving tigers fighting birds, Kevin Barnes being stripped and doused in red paint, as if being prepared for a human sacrifice by bald, silver-headed cultists.

The set involved two half hour segments of uninterrupted music, with not even intervals to check the setlist, although most of the songs were from the as-yet-unreleased Skeletal Lamping, and thus were unfamiliar to most of the crowd (myself included). The crowd was fully into the gig though, as evidenced by the mosh-lite pits forming during Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse.

Very little dialogue was entered into by the band, but when it was, the guitarist tongue-in-cheek admitted to wanking off to the image of own sister. It's these little moments that made the gig so unique (for me anyway).

The encore was a triumph as well, finishing off with a surprise inclusion (although I personally was in on the secret, having read this) of Smells Like Teen Spirit. That went down a storm and rounded off one of the best gigs I have ever been to. I'm just pissed off I forgot to bring my camera.

Death Cab for Cutie, Brixton Academy, July 17, 2008 - review

2008-07-19T11:12:00.002+01:00

Death Cab for Cutie, originally uploaded by macca7174.

This is the first time I've really been disappointed by a gig I was looking forward, but it was not fault of the band, or the sound guys, or the bouncers, or any of the usual let-downers - it was the despicably static crowd that attended the event. No doubt, I later attributed, down to the fact that I felt like one of the older people there - by a good six to eight years. I'm 22.

The band were actually brilliant, with a newly de-specled Ben Gibbard sporting a new Jack White-a-like haircut, and jumping around manically, frantically trying to inject some energy into the crowd - to little avail.

The set-list couldn't be faulted either, with them playing songs from throughout their career, and I was expecting when the newer ones kicked in, the crowd might consider moving a little, so I could sneak a few rows forward toward the front. Dream on, James.

The only song that elicited a response from the crowd that suggested they weren't all mannequins, or the Children of the Damned, was, understandably, I Will Follow You Into The Dark. While Ben played the song faultlessly, the crowd sang along in full flow, and it actually felt more like I was in a public gathering enjoying Death Cab's music, not a wake.

The band did express an appreciation for the crowd, but I feel it was more out of manners, than a genuine expression of gratitude. Or maybe they were appreciative of a crowd that did take the effort to listen intently - in which case, my jumping and singing was completely out of place, and unwelcome. Or all their gigs are like this, which I would find soul destroying as a band member.

Yndi Halda and Olufur Arnulds at the Barbican - review

2008-06-21T14:35:00.006+01:00

So now Yndi have played what is unquestionably the biggest gig of their career so far - which is surely about to kick into gear given that all five members are now able to commit themselves to being in the same place at the same time for most of the foreseeable future. Even though their were the support act, they showed an ambition that suggests that that is not a role they will be reveling in for long.

Of the new song, it was a departure of sorts, but not one that could be immediately mistaken for anyone but Yndi, and James has now upped his instrumental repotoire to include the piano. The song was not titled, and was only one of two songs not lifted from their debut album, Enjoy Eternal Bliss, which may be considered a disappointment, given that James has stated on record that they are looking to expand their music from that era, which was written when they were "children".

However, the songs that we are all familiar with were all there, and it may have been a bit of a tightrope walk to proceed without them. Dash and Blast was the opener, and was the surprise of the night, with a chorus of vocalists taking to the stage (clumsily if one was being particularly harsh), to chant the closing coda's da-da "barks" (as the band has facetiously referred to them).

There was a full on light show choreographed with the music, illustrating the aforementioned ambition, and James (standing at my side of the stage) was on full form, jumping around, posing like a true hair metal guitar hero of the eighties, albeit with more musical integrity.

Olufar Arnalds was the headliner, and to be honest, was disappointing. His piano playing accompanied by the string quartet was intriguing and produced some undeniably beautiful music, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he was a one trick pony. Only the coda of one song branched out to include a considerably distinctive section during his whole set. If he can expand his sound more, it would be more palatable sitting through one hour plus of it.

Update (July 18, 2008): The band have since informed me that The new song (which is in the video) is entitled This Very Flight, and what had previously been entitled Pinch of Lynch, is now La Lumiere Lit.

Bobby McGee's and Dufus to share a stage!!

2008-06-20T13:02:00.004+01:00

In what is the best news of the day so far (in a day that will later include a trip to the Barbican to see Yndi), it has transpired that the Egodeist favourites, Dufus and The Bobby McGee's are to play on the same bill.

Hosted by Human Error on Monday 30th June, the event is taking place in The George Tavern, Whitechapel (373 Commercial Road, E1 0LA to avoid confusion with all the other George Taverns in London). Other acts on the lineup include Baron Bum Blood and Old Bamboo.

Also, even in these crunchy credit times, the ticket price, at £4, is unlikely to stir the cockles of many investment bankers (at least for now).

Buy tickets from wegottickets.com

Check back tomorrow for a review (and possibly pics) of the Yndi Halda gig

Meet Me in St. Louis R.I.P.

2008-06-03T14:21:00.006+01:00

While doing my Foundation year at Surrey Institute of Art and Design (now known as the University College for the Creative Arts), one of my classmates was Ollie from the highly thought of post hardcore band, Meet Me in St. Louis. Their debut album, Variations on Swing was lauded across the board, as this poster illustrates:

However, their success was short-lived, and they announced their split last month. In a sort of parting tribute, I have uploaded two of their singles from their first E.P., And With the Right Kind of Eyes, You Can Almost See the High Water Mark, That Place Where the Wave Finally Broke and Rolled Back (named for the famous quote from the Hunter S Thompson book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). Marvel, and get a glimpse at how greta they could have become.

Meet Me in St Louis - I am Champagne and You Are Shit.mp3
Meet Me in St Louis - The Kid Who Got His Ear Slapped By the Druggist.mp3

Buy Meet Me... from their Myspace.

James Yuill - White Crow mp3

2008-05-20T15:04:00.005+01:00

I caught James Yuill at a record label showcase about two or three years ago, in Whitechapel, on the lineup with Catherine Anne Davies. At the time he was mixing his acoustic set with Aphex Twin-like samples from a laptop he had by his side, so when I purchased his cd, I was slightly miffed by the fact that this sampling innovation was the exception (on the hidden track), while the rest of the songs were him and his guitar for the most part.
However, the album (The Vanilla Disc) was actually great, and has been eating up my iPod space for ages. I sporadically checked back to see what he was up to in the intervening period, but not much was materialising (it didn't occur to me to join the mailing list - d'uh), so when I randomly checked back today, I was greeted with a whole newly designed web site, along with the news that he released a new album - in January 2007. According to his site, he was even invited along for a BBC Radio 1 session, and had a slot at the 1 Big Weekend (video and pics from BBC website).
Well, as the blogs have noted, now he has got a new single out, No Surprise (link to Rough Trade online Shop), released as a vinyl (no good to me, I need to settle into a house long enough to justify the purchase of a turntable...), and limited to 500 copies - although it's unclear how many are left.

The mp3 I am providing is from his first album, and its a gorgeous song, White Crow, more typical of his early works than the new folktronica direction he has taken since. Listen out for more of him in the near future, and I intend to keep on top of news of him in coming weeks, so watch this space.

MP3: James Yuill - White Crow.mp3
Buy James from his website shop

New Bobby McGee's song

2008-05-10T16:00:00.003+01:00

The upcoming Indietracks Festival in Derby is setting up to announce it's headliners on May 11, but until then, their blog has been interviewing their other acts, including perennial Egodeity favourites, The Bobby McGee's. I've actually been a bit slow off the mark with this one, since the interview was conducted in March, but it was the first one they had done. and I've been busy.

Among the revelations from the discussion with Jimmy, is that he was a former cage fighter (!), and El has designed clothes for Heather Mills(-McCartney).

The site also has an mp3 from the band, called Not whole, 1/2 of something. Among the notable aspects of the song - about being "sick of being single" - is that the percussion is provided by Lego, and instead of El singing, it is Jimmy's 10-year-old ukulele student providing co-vocals, as well as uke duties. The pupil (named as a Louis) is unlikely to be performing the song live, and it doesn't take much to envisage El's childlike singing taking his place.

Buy Bobby's at Cherryade Music
Buy Indietracks tickets from their Official Website