Might the Tories herald a renaissance in popular music? Whatever you think of the 80's, it was much more fecund than recent years. The seemingly unavoidable economic misery heading our way might inspire some unemployed teenager to conclude that the X factor is not the summit of creativity and seek another way to express themselves.

Folks, what do we feel about Mandelesons new copyright bill going through the Lords at the moment (more details here http://www.openrightsgroup.org/). Its far more wide ranging than simply cutting off the Internet for file sharing. Its likely to make services such as Spotify and Last.fm disappear from our shores due to the punitive measure they could face for getting it wrong on just one track. We could be heading for a UK which is similar to the US where a girl was thrown in jail for accidentally catching the cinema screen on her video camera (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23779848-twilight-fan-arre...).

Maybe. But do music makers, and creative types in general, have it all wrong? Do they really have a right to make a living out of what they do? Shouldn't they get a real job to support their hobby like the rest of us do? Great if they can wangle it to earn enough money to live from doing what they love, but is it a right?

Given that an axiom of Word magazine music reviews is to avoid giving music star reviews, is it hypocritical to advertise the free copy of 'The Fireman' given to new Word subscribers with the stars awarded by other music publications? Just asking?

I hate to bring up the topic of squirrels again, but we have another journalist who shares Andrew Collins' views on the matter:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/21/wildlife-evolution

You lefty, journalist squirrel lovers are all the same!

... I feel the need to vent. Should Liverpool FC be offering Steven 'Bruiser' Gerrard 'all the support he needs' for being drunk and getting in a fight, or maybe suggesting that such behaviour is a bad thing? Maybe we should be offering the chap who lobbed a bottle into a crowded pub and murdered a young woman 'all the support he needs'. For all we know, he's good at football too?

And relax....

Is it just me, but does 'Yello' by Coldplay and 'Mull of Kintyre' by Wings have some similarities? You decide:

What do we want to bet that this leads to a few extra sales for 'The Scorpians'?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/dec/08/wikipedia-censorship

Here's an interesting theory about Bruce's visit behind the Iron Curtain in 1988.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080716/tpl-uk-germany-springsteen-4b8df7...

Is it plausible? Are there any other instances of musicians insinuating themselves in political change (Bono and Geldof excluded as I would class them as politicians rather than musicians now)?

Am I right in saying that the (vast) majority of people blogging on this site are men? The site does have the feeling of conversations in a barber's shop. Am I wrong?