She's 21 years old and from Salford.

I heard her for the first time tonight on Simon Mayo. Raul Malo (lead singer of The Mavericks) was a guest on the show and they played this song after Mayo wrapped the interview with him. Apparently Malo was so struck by her voice he stopped in his tracks, sat back down in his chair and listened to it all the way through.

I don't blame him. It's terrific.

Spare a thought for Michael O’Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair.

Arriving in a hotel in Dublin, he went to the bar and asked for a pint of draught Guinness. The barman nodded and said, "That will be €1 please, Mr. O’Leary."

Somewhat taken aback, O'Leary replied, "That's very cheap," and handed over his money.

"Well, we try to stay ahead of the competition", said the barman, "and we are serving free pints every Wednesday evening from 6pm until 8pm. We have the cheapest beer in Ireland. "

"That is remarkable value" Michael comments.

"I see you don't seem to have a glass, so you'll probably need one of ours. That will be €3 please."

O'Leary scowled, but paid up. He took his drink and walked towards a seat.

"Ah, you want to sit down?" said the barman. "That'll be an extra €2. You could have pre-booked the seat, and it would have only cost you €1. I think you may to be too big for the seat sir, can I ask you to sit in this frame please?"

Michael attempts to sit down but the frame is too small and when he can't squeeze in he complains "nobody would fit in that little frame."

"I'm afraid if you can't fit in the frame, you'll have to pay an extra surcharge of €4 for your seat sir."

O'Leary swore to himself, but paid up.

"I see that you have brought your laptop with you," added the barman, "and since that wasn't pre-booked either, that will be another €3."

O'Leary was so annoyed that he walked back to the bar, slammed his drink on the counter, and yelled, "This is ridiculous, I want to speak to the manager."

"Ah, I see you want to use the counter," says the barman, "that will be €2 please."

O'Leary's face was red with rage!

"Do you know who I am?"

"Of course I do Mr. O'Leary."

"I've had enough, What sort of hotel is this? I come in for a quiet drink and you treat me like this. I insist on speaking to a manager!"

"Here is his email address, or if you wish, you can contact him between 9.00 and 9.10 every Monday or Tuesday morning at this phone number. Calls are free, until they are answered, then there is a talking charge of only 10 cents per second."

"I will never use this bar again"

"OK sir, but remember, we are the only hotel in Ireland selling pints for €1".

The resurrection of Take That over the past few years has been interesting, if only for the fact that a Boy Band has been permitted by the record-buying public to go away, grow up and return as actual men, albeit to a rose-tinted perception from many fans that some of Peter Pan's immortality has conveniently airbrushed stray grey hairs and "laughter lines". On some level their return offers hope to all men that revisiting the promise of youth need not be the vicissitudes of a mid-life crisis.

The transience of Boy Bands always seemed to be part of their appeal, their role to provide a soundtrack for a couple of years (at most) to a key stage in a (predominantly) teenager's life and then be cast aside as part of the Corinthian mantra "to put away childish things". Did Lee, Jimmy and Spike from 911 watch Toy Story 3 and empathise more keenly than I with the plight of those sad and neglected toys?

I've never knowlingly bought a record by a Boy Band, unless you include The Beatles as an example of one. However, there are songs that have stayed with me down the years and to a large degree have helped certain memories burn brighter than others, usually those of old girlfriends, spectacular 'crash and burn' chat-up attempts and significant societal events such as the failure of the England football team to live up to the nation's unwavering irrational belief in their sporting competence.

This morning The Wanted's Glad You Came has been played loudly and repeatedly by my eldest daughter. Like her I can't stop singing it and I don't want to. It's not only stirred up great memories from my youth but, damn it, it makes me feel good and there's something liberating about a 44 year old father being introduced to a new song by his 8 year old daughter. To these ears there's very little in the way of pop music around in the charts and at least with a song like Glad You Came it provides a way in to music in my own collection that might interest her on another day, something to tide her over when The Wanted lose their appeal: I'm betting on October 2012 as the month of their eviction notice.

And let's be honest there could be at least 10 years of this endless cycle and recycle of gurning, gyrating pretty boys with too much hair and teeth.

911- Bodyshakin'

My old man is a big Genesis fan. He came to them when Collins had taken over lead vocals but he's enjoyed a lot of the live stuff that has come out in various formats in recent years from the Gabriel era.

I see that tribute band The Musical Box (who are effectively acknowledged by Genesis and Gabriel as the "official" curators of the live Genesis sound) are touring the UK in March and will be performing The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in its entirety and will be using film and props from the original Genesis tour.

I'm thinking about getting tickets for my dad for the Manchester Apollo gig on 15th March and wondered if any of the Massive had ever seen them live. He'll want me to go with him but that's OK 'cos I like this album and I'm intrigued at how the band will set about recreating the 'old' sounds from a record made over 38 years ago.

So, are The Musical Box any good?

Last week I posted a clip of a track by Gotye called Somebody That I Used To Know which I rather enjoyed discovering on the radio.

Lo and behold here's a cover version involving 4 guys, 1 girl and 1 guitar:

The act is called Walk Off The Earth.

I heard this on t'radio last night driving home. It has been playing in my head all day. I must be so old-fashioned daddio, when I hear music on the radio it sticks in my mind much more than if I see it in a video first. I particularly like the way the girl comes into the song in its second half and changes the song's dimensions and lyrical meaning.

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

...if he hasn't pooed in them?

Ma Bisto has just been asked this question by our 4 year old.

Ma Bisto and I watched This Is England '88 last night in its entirety. It wasn't until the final credits rolled to Ken Boothe's version of Everything I Own that we realised how significant the lives of Smell, Milky, Combo, Shaun, Lol and Woody had become since Shane Meadow's 2006 film. I can't think of any programme in recent years that has affected me so deeply and yet wholly rewarded my emotional investment in its characters and their stories. Scene after scene played out last night of astonishing acting, directing and emotional revelation.

Despite the almost suffocating heartbreak unfolding on screen such was the consummate skill of all involved I never once felt like there was anything excessive or manipulative in how Shane Meadows presented the hardship and toil that was tearing at the hearts and minds of Lol and Woody. And within their tragedy and grief there always remained a palpable and truthful seed of hope, of redemption and of something approaching a kind of happiness.

I'm wary that people may not have seen the programme so I don't want to give anything away except to say that Ma Bisto and I will never listen to this piece of music the same way ever again.

Fionn Regan - Dogwood Blossom

Two businessmen in Manchester were sitting down for a break in their
soon-to-be-opened new shop... As yet, the shop wasn't ready, with only
a few shelves set up.

One said to the other, "I bet any minute now some pensioner is going
to walk by, put his face to the window, and ask what we're selling."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when, sure enough, a curious
old man walked to the window, had a peek, and in a soft voice asked,
"What are you selling here?"

One of the men replied sarcastically, "We're selling arse-holes."

Without skipping a beat, the old timer said,"Must be doing well...
Only two left."

Nick Clegg avoids Parliament in case his presence was a "distraction" but doesn't avoid a Sky News interview in case his lack of presence was forgotten.

If anyone finds Nick's backbone can they please return it to the Lost Principles desk.

Thanks

Load of rubbish isn't it? Maybe not. I think it's very hit and miss but, as with Extras and Gervais' film work, there are some wonderful moments of great comedy. The stand-out for me has been Tim Key's turn as a regional TV reporter attempting to interview Warwick Davies at a sci-fi convention.

The familiar Gervais tropes are there - looking to camera, the verbal sparring - but it's a welcome surprise to see a character so well developed that isn't a hyper-real version of a celebrity, a ploy that can still work (Liam Neeson was excellently dull) but has lost its potential to drive the situation or plot of the comedy.

This whole sequence with Tim Key, when I first viewed it, lifted the whole episode and to me showed that Gervais and Merchant have been hanging their gags off of the wrong concept. A series about a bitter regional TV reporter one step away from a nervous breakdown who cannot land a scoop for love nor money would have made for a far better comedy series than an ego-boosting "My Mini-Me" series.

I am not a natural folkie
I shave and listen to Etienne de Crecy
But I do often hanker
For a woman who shouts "w*nker!"
Whilst wearing a jauntily-angled beret

The caption that accompanies the picture of the 3 year old Roy Wood in the latest edition of Word is a thing of brilliance. It's hard to beat an unexpected laugh-out-loud moment punctuating the dull routine of a work-day morning.

Roy in the 1967 photo of The Move is the spit of Eddie Izzard.

My eldest daughter is 8 very soon. She's having a party at our house. Ever the organiser (Hello Kitty theme colour coordinated, invitations hand drawn and individually personalised; food selected for the buffet; gauche parents instructed in party etiquette) she has created a playlist on her MP3 player for the disco chez Bisto. She adds the tracks to the MP3 player herself from the iTunes library on my laptop.

An hour ago she came home from school and asked me to sequence her playlist so there's "no gaps or boring bits" and write it to a CD.

Here's the list:

Billy's Bag - Billy Preston
Double Dipper - The Fleshtones
Guilt - The Long Blondes
Mayhem - Imelda May
Good Thing - Fine Young Cannibals
Price Tag - Jessie J
Skinny Jeans - Eliza Doolittle
Tightrope - Janelle Monae
Shuffle A Dream - Little Dragon
Don't Stop Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
Big Fun - Inner City
Glad You Came - The Wanted
Jenny Take A Ride - Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels
Fell In Love With A Girl - The White Stripes
He's Not A Boy - The Like
Lucky Number - Lene Lovich
Where Did Our Love Go? - The Supremes
I Decided - Solange
Pumped Up Kids - Foster The People
The Model - Kraftwerk
Feel So Close - Calvin Harris
On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez
Poker Face - Lady GaGa
Rocket - Goldfrapp
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick - Ian Dury
Upside Down - Diana Ross

Not sure I'll get it all on one CD but I like her eclectic choice, the out and out foot-tappers solely designed for cutting a rug and the great, hitherto unknown, pairing of Ian Dury and Diana Ross at the close.

She recently requested the compilation Now 79! for her Walkman. I told her I bought Now 1! when it came out. She gave me a funny look and wondered aloud if I might actually be older than her grandparents.

Knock...er