Radio 1 slumps to lowest audiences in its history
No great surprise here. Radio One is virtually unlistenable these days. I suppose it doesn't help that they insist on playing a limited range of chart fodder on their daytime shows but the killer is that the D.J.'s are characterless and talk non-stop rubbish.
Maybe it's just that I'm getting old - I realise that the days of Steve Wright, Simon Bates and DLT were hardly golden years.

It was 37 years ago today that England won the World Cup Final at Wembley.[BBC] It was also the day I attended my first wedding. The Groom was American and I suppose not too interested in "soccer". It is the first football match I have any memory of. I just remember a load of men standing around a television at the reception. There must have been great celebrations but I guess I thought that was part of the whole Wedding deal. I had no real idea of the significance of the result or that it may never happen again. Happy Anniversary Helen and Clark!

Tony Martin to appear on Celebrity Big Brother 3 (probably)
I have a certain amount of sympathy for murdering farmer, Tony Martin. If I was constantly getting targeted by burgling scum and not receiving any assistance from the police, I too may be tempted into taking the law into my own hands and blowing a few of them away.
I tend to feel that if someone is carrying out an illegal act such as burglary then they forfeit the right to legal protection themselves. No one asked them to break into someone else's property and steal swag. On the other hand I guess if you were allowed to use 'any' force instead of 'reasonable' force to protect your property, there wouldn't be anything to stop me shooting dead one of my enemies, dragging his body into my garden and claiming he was on my land, attempting to kidnap Mrs del Fuego.

The dead, bungling burglar's accomplice, Brendan Fearon is apparently threatening to sue Farmer Martin for damages after receiving his dose of lead. He is claiming that his sex life has been ruined and 'loss of earnings'. This is a burglar, a convicted heroin dealer, a 'career criminal' - so I guess his loss was our gain.

I think the law is correct as it is, it's more a question of how the law is upheld and what sentences the Judges hand out. Two and a half years served for killing someone doesn't seem very much, then again if Tony Martin had been drunk-driving his car and run over and killed the burglars he probably would have got a six month driving ban and a suspended sentence.

Meanwhile, The Daily Mirror is paying Martin a 'six figure fee' for his side of the story. This is a man convicted of manslaughter. We would have never heard of him without this tragedy, so he's profiting from his crime. He has supposedly paid his 'debt to society' if not his lawyers. Should The Mirror be paying him?

It's tough seeing every side of the argument isn't it. Poor old Fred Barras probably never had a hope of having a fulfilling life did he? I blame the parents - Fred's, Tony's PC Plods, the Judge's, the Jury's, Tony Blair's and their parents, and their parent's parents...

Do you agree or am I talking more rubbish? - let me know, add a comment.

The Price of Fame
It's been a terrible week for celebrity marriages. First Liza Minnelli and David Gest split after less than a year's wedding bliss and now Kim (Ex-Hear'say) Marsh and Jack (Ex-Eastenders) Ryder
have issued a joint statement informing their adoring fans that they are embarking on a 'trial separation'. I have never quite figured out what these trials involve and how is success
or failure judged? What is the outcome of a successful trial separation? - does it mean you can make it on your own or does it mean you can't live apart?
Anyway, best of luck guys I never saw it coming, honest.

Do you agree or am I talking rubbish? - let me know, add a comment.

Record Companies are Killing Music (not kazaa)

Years ago when I bought vinyl L.P.s, there would often be a large label on the inner sleeve stating, "Home Taping is Killing Music". This is the same rubbish they're spouting now about downloaded, pirated MP3s. Home taping wasn't killing music, it was promoting it. We were doing the hard work for the Record companies. When my brother taped Elvis Costello's first album, "My Aim is True" for me in 1977 I didn't realise that I would go on to buy every album he's made since, even though he hasn't recorded a decent one since 1986 (Blood and Chocolate). We all made compilation tapes for our friends. The aim was to convert them to one of your favourite bands and demonstrate your superior taste and knowledge.
Of course quite often someone with very poor taste would try to persuade you that Soft Machine or Barclay James Harvest would be a valuable addition to your collection. They would fail of course because the music was rubbish.

L.P.'s are now C.D.'s, Cassettes are MP3s and Soft Machine are Muse. (Barclay James Harvest are probably still Barclay James Harvest). I've lost count of the number of people I have made into fans of Grandaddy, the Dandy Warhols and Evan Dando by copying them MP3s.
This isn't because I have great taste (though obviously I have) it's because these artists have recently made fantastic records. All Record Companies know that music
is only part of the deal - I want the packaging - the pictures, the lyrics the bonus live video, so I buy the CD. I want to own it in the same way that I want to own a copy of "Catcher in the Rye" even though I've already read it. I want it there on the shelf
to gaze at adoringly and once again demonstrate my good (if boringly conventional) taste to visitors who browse my shelves.

HMV know about selling records, that's why when you buy a CD from there, they give you a free compilation CD of artists you may not have heard of.
After hearing The Thrills on one of these compilations recently I bought their excellent album, "So Much For the City". Cheers HMV. Lots of music magazines do this too.

Record companies seem to want us to buy stuff unheard, they want us to buy Victoria Beckham's new album because we like the single, even though they know we're going to hate the album because it's all filler. Musicians moaning about losing out on royalties take note - if you make good music, people will want to buy it - as long as they get a chance to hear it in the first place.

Do you agree or am I talking rubbish?
Heard anything good lately? - let me know, add a comment.

mmn. Veron's head's a bit small in that photo below isn't it? sorry Seba nothing personal.
Chelsea have won a cup already cool!, [ BBC ]

It's been a strange summer for Chelsea fans. We started the summer signing Sunderland's reserve goalie Jurgen Macho on a free transfer. This is someone who struggled to get into the worst team ever to play in the Premier League. Yesterday we offered Real Madrid, the biggest team in the world, £71 million for their top striker Raul (plus £8m a year wages). Our new Russian owner Ramon Abramovich has turned Chelsea and the entire football world on it's head splashing around huge amounts of cash at a time when it was thought the days of big money transfers and huge wages was dead. All around clubs were in financial trouble after years of overspending. While fans of other clubs may be jealous, Chelsea have spread their money around generously spending £17m at Blackburn, £7m at Southampton and £6m at West Ham enabling them to invest too. So far Chelsea have chosen their purchases wisely, Damian Duff, Wayne Bridges, Glen Johnson and Geremi are all excellent players who will surely take the team on to another level. I just really hope we get over this mad infatuation with Manchester United reject, Juan Sebastian Veron, who may be classy, but who has failed to make his mark in the Premier League - why would he do so now at Chelsea. I hope too that we retain Manager Claudio Raneri who has proved his worth.

"There are more stars in the universe than all the grains of sand on every beach and in every desert on Earth. [ bbc news ] Australian astronomers estimate there are 70 thousand million million million stars twinkling down on us, but most are too far away to be seen".
Makes you feel like an ant doesn't it? a very small, runt of the litter baby ant. Puts it all in perspective though - or as David St Hubbins would say, "too much, too much fucking perspective!"

I can believe that some maniac might want to try cannibalism, [ Daily Record ] but I can't believe that people volunteered to be the victim.
The eventual winning candidate joined the cannibal for a meal of his own penis (cooked with garlic, salt and pepper in a frying pan) before being stabbed to death.

5-a-side football tonight - only 6 people turned up. 3-a-side. Like an old pro approaching the end of his career I try to treat each game as if it could be my last. At 40, unfit and over-weight, it nearly was my last tonight. I looked in the mirror when I got home an hour later and I still looked like a tourist who had spent too long in the sun. It can't be healthy to be that red. Still what the heck, I'm still bloody great!

I've been on FriendsReunited for a year and a half and no one has attempted to contact me. I have emailed several 'old friends' and no one has replied.
I reached the conclusion that probably I just wasn't a very nice person when I was at school. Then one person did contact me but after I replied to her, she never contacted me again. So I guess I'm still not very likable. Is it just me or does everyone have this experience? I think it's probably just me.

Here's a picture of angelo's friend, Joshua, enjoying himself at some musical festival last weekend. He certainly knows how to have a good time and was sorry to get back to his desk as temporary (acting) deputy assistant clerical officer at woodside district council on monday.

Hi, sorry I'm late, I was considering a better offer.