If they'd committed equal sins then I'm sure they would.

Sounds very interesting, I'll have to check them out. I've been listening to the new Animal Collective non-stop since around January, it's such a brilliant album. Also I was very surprised to find the The Horrors new one (Primary Colours) is actually very good. Last time I heard of them they were a gimmicky band seemingly famous because the singer was with Peaches Geldof. Primary Colours is quite dark though, it has Joy Division feel to it. It's biggest flaw is that it's not original at all, but it's still a good album if you like that sort of music.

You haven't left your laptop unguarded in the bar or something have you? That's quite a good idea.

Ironically they've been awful in the league since then and surrendered their hold on the 4th Champion's League spot, in fact they'll probably finish 6th behind Everton now. Spurs also threw their chance away, although they have been more justified in doing so as they've surged up the league and away from the relegation spots. Whether they could have done that and played in the UEFA is another matter. I do find the apathy surrounding the UEFA Cup very strange. Even ITV, who you would assume to be desperate to promote any top level football they can screen, demote UEFA games to ITV4.

I get the feeling neither of them will be that bothered about the decision. Not that I want Scotland to do well at all, but they deserve a lot better than those two.

Nice to see the whinging mummy's boy has grown up.

Just stumbled on this piece of news completely by accident: Faith No More are to perform again. Where on earth did that come from?! I'm going to have to go to whatever festival they end up at.

Phil, you got the completely wrong end of the stick on that one. Bucky isn't suggesting for a moment those things be banned, simply pointing out how ridiculous the law is on ecstasy - which it is.

It's a good album but I much prefer Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes and the Young Liars EP, probably because Staring At The Sun appears on both and I absolutely love that song.

You've managed to write a whole paragraph there without actually saying a single noteworthy thing, it's merely cynical tittle-tattle.

I have to pull you up about these Paul...some things like that are buzzwords that can be plastered on packaging at will (traditional, local, fresh etc), but you can't just stick things like 'Organic' and 'Fairtrade' on there. If something claims to be organic then it has to meet certain standards, it's unfair to say it 'actually means nothing', and the same goes for Fairtrade. In fact, Fairtrade more-so because it's a far more worthy cause than organic.

Finally got round to eating here (PD one) last week and was pretty good. I had a spicy pumpkin soup for starter which was absolutely delicious, but the mains (we split a Caprese pizza and spinach & ricotta cannelloni) were a little disappointing, although the cheesy garlic bread side was excellent. The atmosphere was good though, busy but not-to-busy, and the service was very good. Can't say it did enough to guarantee I'll go there again, but I certainly wouldn't rule it out. Having just returned from the local chippy though, I can honestly say that sometimes even restaurants can't compare to a big plate of chips and mushy peas.

I'm amazed to see Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah is the Christmas number two...obviously not happy that the X-Factor's version has beaten it to number one, but still...it's rare for such a great song to get anywhere near the charts, especially at Christmas when it's generally filled with novelty crap. It inspired me to listen to the album 'Grace' again, I haven't heard it for years and kind of forgot how good it was...especially this song.

It's a shame he didn't leave Carlisle for as seriously big fee then. We're still going to have made a lot less than £1 million from him, and I think his value is going to be quite a bit more than that now he's proved he's good enough for the Championship.

Joe Garner has just scored a beautiful 30 yard chip for Nottingham Forest apparently. He seems to be coping well in the Championship after struggling with injuries early on, that's 4 goals now. Along with not signing Pongolle or Valencia when he had the chance, letting Garner go so early looks like one of Hughes' poorer decisions. At the very least it looks like we could have loaned him to Championship clubs and built his value up, we let him go for peanuts.

Waggy's had that point explained to him a few times today. I'd love to think this is all a wind-up, but I think that's giving him too much credit.

Everyone bar the lead guitarist I think, he left in 2005 and I think he's in other bands now.

I think I might go and see Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster over Christmas, they've got a new album out next year after reforming. I hope it's as good as their first album, I love that one.

Hah, sorry. I did say 'it's a good list', and that was begrudgingly said at that because I find it difficult to say anything positive about NME. Anyway, I'll stop now in case I dig myself any deeper.

TGM - Can I just apologise for being very blunt in my first post, I was skim reading and thought it was an NME chosen list. The scary thing is you didn't even mention NME, so I have no idea what happened in my head. I might have a crack at doing this tomorrow, I think Blonde Redhead would probably come in at number 1.

I nearly went to the Go! Team (no. 9) but didn't in the end. Seen a lot of the bands there but not at those actual gigs. It's a good list but seems to fall apart at the end with bands like The Killers and The Zutons thrown in. I'm going to see Animal Collective in January and I know for a fact that gig will far surpass anything those two have done, whether or not it makes any lists is another matter though.

Err...yes, you're right. I got confused with Arnside. Shows how much attention I pay on that journey.

I'll give you a wave when I'm on the train that passes through there...best I can do I'm afraid. Out of interest, why did you choose Ambelside uni? Just seems like you'll miss out on a lot of things (clubs, gigs, events) that you'd associate with being a student.

Went to the Al Nawaz in Manchester's Curry Mile yesterday and it was excellent. The decor is interesting, not least the big fish tank in the floor by the entrance, it's a strange feeling walking over that. It only came to £54 for 6 of us, although that didn't include drinks as we took our own in. Can't fault it really, the service, food and price were all great. Think I'll be trying Nando's for the first time later on. Really looking forward to the refillable Coca-Cola as I've got a stinking hangover.

No-one in the world can touch Ronaldo, expect maybe Messi. All 3 are completely different players though. Rooney will never be a 30 goal a season man like Torres, but then again Torres couldn't link play and go through the all the work that Rooney does in 90 minutes. Your infamous English anti-bias aside neekoy, you have to admit that an on-form Rooney is as good as anyone in the world bar Ronaldo and Messi. His form this season has been scintillating.