Sorry if this is a silly questions guys, but just wondered what exactly happens at a mingle? Is it like going into a busy pub where you don't know anyone?

Sorry about this, and its nothing to do with the cover... but is this the worst edition of The Word so far? I used to really look forward to receiving it and spend the best part of a week working my way through it (facetime, foreword, best and worst, 99% true, inbox, The Last Word etc.), there used to be so many relevant and interesting parts to it. However, this month I got through it in a couple of hours, not even being interested in a fair proportion of the contents. For the first time I got the feeling that it had been a struggle for the contributors to fill the magazine and that many of the articles were there to pad it out. Particularly felt the drink/album article was pointless - last month there was something similarly daft with the what if characters from our favourite shows, popped up in others? Anyone could produce this sort of stuff - where has the quality gone. Although enjoyed the Crass article.

Also, I had to check twice that I wasn't reading the Daily Sport when going through the Sinead O'Connor bit - and she is in my top 10 artists of all time!!

I get much more enjoyment from just reading these blog pages (and they are free)....

Next month I'm afraid for the first time it will be a flick through before deciding whether to buy.

Apologies for starting the weekend on a downer - come on guys you can work it out.

Sometimes there's nothing wrong with a bit of mainstream.

Little bit disappointed with the latest series of Junior Apprentice, a show I used to love.

Three weeks in, and the fired contestants consist of the very small black kid, last week the 'thick' brummie (i.e. everyone who speaks with a broad brummie accent and ever gets to appear on TV is by their very nature thick - I say this as someone with a broad brummie accent, so in TV world I must also be 'thick')and then today the working class girl who never stood a chance against the two home counties, expensively dressed, supremely confident and self absorbed (as only those from a privately educated background can be)pair, who she unfortunately brought back in to the Boardroom - never stood a chance.

As someone who came from the wrong side of the tracks,I would have thought that Lord Sugar would have given non-typical BBC types more of a go, but no they are first off, and we will be left with the aforementioned generally dislikeable types.

No doubt the young scouse Robbie Fowler lookalike is not long for this programme....

Has there ever been a good covers album?

The majority of covers albums are often given away as freebies with a number of other magazines (so I hope I am okay raising this) and if anything the bar has just been raised with one such periodical giving away an album, of covers of the classic U2 - Achtung baby album. While many such albums feature B and C list, or up and coming band, this very definetly features a whole range of A list bands. However, its still not very good - why!!

Whenever I listen to any covers, they basically seem to be a slowed down version (any band, any track that is being covered) and the bits that made the original special are stripped out, so that it loses whatever it is that it had in the first place. I know bands/artists try to put their own interpretation onto a track they are covering, and a direct copy of the original would be pointless - but are there any covers (even a track if not a full album) that surpasses the original?

All this one has done is remind me of how good the original is, I have dug out my copy (which hasn't seen the light of day for 10+ years) and tomorrow I know what will be playing in my car! and the covers album has been filed away after barely a listen...