Of the 2 I’ve heard – Kamasi and The Decemberists – I’d have to agree that they were good but somehow missed overall greatness. However, I enjoyed The Decemberists live and that enhanced my enjoyment of the album. […]

Saw him in Glasgow last night – still buzzing. He was fantastic – though as it was just short of 3 hours I’m feeling short-changed compared to Liverpool (still, that was a home gig, so fair play).

Apart from a […]

I have others by them but I’m firmly of the view that. Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits is all you need.

The SNP are the current doublethink champions. Doing their best to create a sense of grievance about the problems that would be caused by leaving the economic and political union that is the EU. Problems that […]

It must be dreadful for fans of the song, as it leaves them only 48 other Cleveland radio stations to listen to. It’s just like the USSR!

I mean, really – a commercial radio station has decided not to play a […]

Seth Abramson’s twitter feed is essential reading just now (@sethabramson). Many of the things he has been arguing for months have come to pass. He has a new book out called Proof of Collusion, the title of which […]

Until recently, I had Willie Williams as a ringtone. I also had the horn riff from Rudi, A Message to You for new texts. Can’t work out how to do it on my iPhone though, so have just stuck with the presets.

Colin, at the risk of winding you up more, does your figure include pension contributions? Presumably the MLAs continue to accrue value in their pension scheme: http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/your-mlas/members-pension-scheme/.

No Decemberists or HMHB?

I’d like to venture an unpopular opinion here: Theresa May is doing a good job.

She has an impossible task and has conducted herself with a resilience and grace missing in many of her critics. So kudos to her […]

Five, of which the Gwenno album is the best. Or maybe the Young Fathers.

Gone to the great bullpen in the sky.

I am reminded that this album marks Jethro Tull’s “presence” at Woodstock.

My paternal grandfather was billeted in Nivelles, Belgium 100 years ago today. Like many here, I find today more moving as I get older.

One thing I recently learned was that in the interval between the […]

Also looking forward to Stormwatch, though I’d say that Broadsword and the Beast was the last of the greats.

This Was isn’t likely to be played often by me, either, however I will get it in part because of the […]

“No MLAs were hurt in the making of this video – we simply couldn’t find any” Arf!

Excellent effort, Colin – really hope it’s a Christmas number 1.

Yay! Glad you enjoyed it. By ‘sing-along’ I actually meant the bits where the audience ia actually invited to sing a response. Which I appreciate is not what I said…

Fun fact: I own the embra.org domain, which I keep meaning to do something creative with. I had in mind some sort of Edinburgh gig, theatre, eating out reviews type thing but haven’t really got beyond that vague […]

Aw come on, at least join in the screams when you get eaten by the whale (oops – spoiler!)

Is this a digital-only release, Colin?