Brett-Butler

Hayloft entering the top 100! Of all the indie songs from 2010 I stanned, it's not the one I thought would ever gain mainstream attention 10 years later. Obviously ACR means that even if it climbs further it won't make the charts (I doubt their label would ask for a manual reset), but nice to see it happen.

Starting to hear from people from Northern Ireland that packages they ordered are being cancelled due to issues with shipping. It* begins**. *Irish reunification **starts

Roaming charges are back as a result of this deal. As those of you with a long memory may recall, it was this worry that ended up clinching my "Remain" vote back in 2016.

"The UK will leave the Erasmus scheme". And the 1st sentence of Labour's 2024 manifesto sprung into existence that day.

It's a Christmas Miracle!

Great news for COVID-hipsters looking to catch a more niche strain of the plague.

I did not.

She of course was very vocal about Dominic Cummings' transgressions, and made her own advisor resign over hers, so not a good look at all. One rule for the elites, one rule for the plebs and all that jazz. Cue the whattabouterry.

Good to know that I'm 10 years ahead of the trend - that song featured in my Top Songs of 2010!

Mr K is more than welcome to write a song outlining his distaste at our current Prime Minister, and if people want to buy said song they are more than welcome to do so. My own opinions on the subject is that people should record songs on any topic, as long as they do not contain active calls to physical harm, or gloify Nazis or other comparative ideologies. However, said maker of songs shouldn't have the right to get ratty when anyone offers criticism of said song. As to whether it should be played on Radio 1, I think the clean edit should be played, but pre-empted with a disclaimer that the song reflects the opinion of the writer of the song and does not represent the views of the BBC, which is the approach I think Radio 1 should take with songs that touch on an overtly political nature. They did this with "Illegal Attacks" by Ian Brown, although they've taken a more cautious line since then, only playing snippets at the very most. And in terms of the ideological one-week chart campaigns in general, I can't say I'm a fan of them. There were some I thought were a decent idea, like "Killing In The Name" (although that wasn't per se political), but I've grown somewhat weary of them, be they the Rangers/Celtic ones, the pro-Brexit, anti-Brexit ones, and all the other ones. If people want to do that, they're more than welcome, but I don't think it's anything I could care about.

Update - it's now in Newtownabbey, so it'll be here for Christmas. Relieved does not begin to cover it.

Well my Christmas present for my girlfriend might be stuck on the wrong side of the Eurotunnel, and even if it made it through on time I don’t know if they’ll be able to ship goods from England to here before Christmas, so if I’m single by Boxing Day I’m going to invoice Tory HQ.

Without being hyperbolic, I'm starting to think the only thing stopping widespread civil war from breaking out is that it is jolly chilly outside.

It’s still being discussed. There’s talk of a staggered start into January, but if they’re closing more or less everything else I can’t see how they can justify keeping the schools open. Will likely have more guidance on this today.

Sorry for your loss Rooney. Northern Ireland going into full lockdown after Christmas. All non- essential shops to close from Christmas Eve for 6 weeks, no visiting any other households at all (even within your bubble), and for the first week there's a curfew at 8pm. I know some people are going to struggle with this.

There’s now an Online calculator to tell when people in the UK are likely to get their vaccine. According to this, I’m not likely to get mine until June-September! Hopefully that’s the calculator being very pessimistic!

Ah grand. I thought it was 2019 it was being used on TikTok, but that just goes to show how long this year has felt.

Was pretty sure that WAP would be the #1 song (I'm presuming that WAP stands for "We Ate Protein", and is an ode to maintaining a decent amount in your diet to ensure the rebuilding of muscle). Surprised to see 80s one-hit-wonder "Break My Stride" also making the top 10, I don't think that anything notable happened with that song this year to warrant people looking up the lyrics (unless there was something TikTok related that I forgot).

I've been reading about China's enslavement of millions of Muslim minority Uighurs in "re-education camps" in Xinjiang for a few years now, and have been surprised how rarely this shocking story has pierced the mainstream consciousness. Thankfully this week the BBC have highlighted this horrific story on its homepage, where they are forced to pick cotton, which ends up in the supply chain of clothes that make their way to our shores. Here's a few horrifying extracts from the story - Read the whole story, (as well as this chilling New York Times story from last year), and be amazed that slavery & internment on this scale can happen in 2020.

I believe that if you’ve released a top 40 single or album in the nomination period you are eligible.

Hospital capacity is at 98% in Northern Ireland. The same story also says that there have been outbreaks in 113(!) care homes (including the one my girlfriend's gran is in). The sooner they can get the vaccine roll-out to care homes the better, I'm presuming that we'll be back in lockdown shortly after Christmas, if not sooner.

I can't see Corbyn setting up a new party - if it wasn't for the fact he had the Labour brand behind him, he would never have been an MP for as long as he has, so a new party would lead to a downward spiral for he chances at remaining an MP. See the election results of former MP Dave Nellist, who after being expelled from Labour went from winning close to half the votes in his constituency to going down to a few thousand since aligning himself with TUSC. Or more recently, the expelled Labour MP & Corbyn ally Chris Williamson, who went from nearly 24,000 votes in 2017 to just 600 votes in 2019 whilst running as an independent. At the very most, I expect a new Corbyn-led pressure group within Labour to be launched, although I can see why Corbyn might be tempted to join his former allies Williamson & Nellist by hopping ship to join TUSC.

The Oxford vaccine is safe. Unlike the Pfeizer vaccine I think only 1 dose is required, and 100 million doses have been ordered by the UK, so if it gets regulatory permission it would really help to speed up the roll out here.

I think that would defeat the purpose of a blind trial if you knew.

I spent the first episode trying to get my head around the quite complex rules and complex. By this week's episode - I've got into the swing of it, and it's great. McIntyre's a good host, the range of celebrities is decent, and fun moments, like when the celebrities constantly get their own "specialist" categories wrong, or when by a stroke of luck the celebrity it lands on happens to have knowledge of another category (like when a question relating to a ballet move which is in French ends up going to the French-Canadian Katherine Ryan). It also has the most addictive theme tune for a gameshow in years - to the point that I do find myself blurting out "The Wheel!" at random times during the week. I have a feeling it'll be a one-season wonder, given that it's a 2020 replacement for McIntyre's usual Saturday show that can be done using social distancing.