‘Got your number!’ yell the drunken oafs in the bar, harassing some hapless woman who has dropped a glass; ‘Got your number!’ shout the kids in the park to anyone who passes; ‘Got your number!’ cry yet more childre[…]

Call me old-fashioned, but stand-up rows on prime-time Saturday night TV strike me as unedifying and unprofessional. Which is probably why ITV is coming out so solidly on top in the Pop Idol vs. Fame Academy stakes: it’s got less to lose, less […]

(until 27 September.)
Sorry to say, but the Fruitmarket’s festival exhibition leaves me cold this year. I’m sure I’ll end up popping back in, so I’ll get a chance to think again, but today the work of the four female photograp[…]

The Spiegelgarden, Edinburgh
Your temporary festival beer-fountain is always a risky prospect. Some of the attics, basements and back bedrooms converted into licensed premises during August in Edinburgh can amount to little more than a couple of cans[…]

AMY STUDT – Misfit
What Pete misses in his comments below, correct though he is about the quality of Studt’s songwriting, is the best enunciation of the word ‘arse’ in the charts at the moment. There’s no lame ‘ass[…]

Good Charlotte – “Girls and Boys” / Big Brovaz – “Favourite Things”
You wait ages for top pop tunes slamming materialism and referencing that old song which goes ‘these are a few of my favourite things’[…]

The Most Ultra-Romantic-est Songs in the World… EVER! I’m guessing no-one reading this is likely to celebrate Valentine’s day by buying their Signif. Other (or anyone they happen to want to get jiggy with) a double CD compilation of[…]

Vindicated! I honestly never in my life thought I’d come across anyone else who liked ‘Calling America’ by ELO, which I heard once on the radio driving somewhere in a car when I was like, 12 or something. Years later, it was still i[…]

This article was the author’s working notes for his since published book “Adorno: A guide for the perplexed”, available from Waterstones, reputable booksellers, and Amazon

Introduction, by Alex Thomson
In many ways Adorno exemplif[…]

This is funny. Blame Popjustice who are back in blog format, which seems to suit them. All their advent calendar jokes are also funny.[…]