Iz様 🌟

As always: Discussing current actually happening policy announcements >>> reliving the past. 20% cut on business rates for hospitality from next April announced this morning as Burnham's quickfire turns to helping out pubs and restaurants. The places people want to see in their communities, so far paid for by taxing those we don't want, e.g. vape shops, more. Excellent strategy.

It's like these people weren't consciously aware of anything for the last decade given they resort to such old trite lines.

Bus cap definitely being reduced to £2 got reported on today, starting from January excellent news. As I've said on it before, you need to encourage the use of public transport because it drives economic activity in other areas and eases the car burden on commercial centres. also Ed Miliband has one of the most impressive careers of any parliamentarian currently sitting in the house and has numerous great moments far more important than his election loss, I've not been banging on about him doing a stellar job at energy for the last 2 years for nothing - and the right-wing rags' seething hatred of him only confirms how right I am. they're also briefing about how Miatta Fahnbulleh called for net zero target to be accelerated, as if that's a bad thing.

3 songs that I had almost completely forgotten about, 'R.I.P' I remember slightly more than the others because it's... okay, and Rita Ora has had more success in the intervening years though its Tinie feature is pointless and it is a bit flat as a pop song. 'This Is Love' and 'Young' I had completely memory-holed though and even now remembering them I have to agree that they're inoffensive but completely bland, not really many more stronger feelings than that, though I sort of remember hating 'Young' at the time just for being a bad example of a female pop song, not a hatred that has survived the years due to its falling into complete irrelevance. There's ... okay breakdowns very typical of the era on both but no reason to seek these out over the more accomplished and interesting examples of those styles. I think I prefer N-Dubz and Dappy to Tulisa's output honestly, at least they had an... identity with their songs. Had forgotten Tulisa had a real round of promotion for a year as well, those Spotify streams are telling.

Very pleased that both Rayner and Haigh are back in, both of their previous departures from cabinet felt like they were media laser-focusing against powerful left-wing figures in the party, can't double jeopardy them now. Miatta hopefully is a decent replacement for Ed at energy, we'll see. Good in that Burnham's first round of policies, VAT from energy bills and possibly also business rates, as well as a floated returning the bus cap to £2 seem designed to be small quick wins that give people positive first impressions of his admin, something the Starmer administration spectacularly failed at.

Miliband in as Foreign Sec, Mahmood stays at Home. We'll take that.

That definitely smells like either Miliband or Mahmood would have made a lot of people angry so he went for the compromise. I don't know much about him beyond his brief stint as defence secretary but perhaps indicative of Burnham wanting to keep himself and himself alone as the main government personality.

Burnham now in. Big policies he's talked up so far include ending rough sleeping, raising the personal allowance and otherwise tackling the cost of living. Sounds like he wants to make a big impact and have a clear dividing line from the past, a little bit 'just do good things and don't do bad things so far' but so far so okay. Great Cabinet changes so far, Reeves, Reed, Lammy, Kyle, Kendall all out is excellent, Labour Right smarmy talk-downers for the most part. One I was quite sad to see was James Timpson gone from prison ministers, the first announced this morning, though perhaps there's significant enough overhaul to that part of government that he'd now prefer to be on the outside.

Thank God, well done Spain, the overall best team of the tournament and clearly the better side here - even if it was hardly the best match, most of the poor quality came from the Argentines

Argentina are just such a disgrace to football the way this team play - at least Spain’s low scoring strategy has some clear skill to it and is fine if not the most exciting to watch.

Always rated Rooney as a tastemaker

This is such a rage-inducing American way to try and make this game sound epic - particularly the traditional American commitment to subtlety. Praying they don’t get it in 2038

oh Payphone wasn’t quite what I was thinking of to defend and I won’t really but against all better judgement I kinda like it. Of course on an intellectual music critic level it’s utterly awful and Maroon 5 never made a good song after Songs About Jane. It sounds kinda good during a music session though - more than Moves Like Jagger anyway

Not surprised it beats the record set by Haltemprice and Howden given the similar circumstances and higher profile potential politician scalp. 3 from the MRLP as well! anyway it's pretty easy to predict despite that, Farage gets 65%, Binface gets 25%, Laurence Fox gets enough weirdos who think Farage isn't extreme enough to get 2-5% and everyone else gets under 200 votes, most of them under 100. Can't see him realistically being toppled. Farage will still look stupid on stage.

Completely agree, an awful version of 'Impossible', I think this one annoys me more than some others just because of his voice. I also was completely baffled by his occasional success over the following years, sadly I can still recall how 'Say You Won't Let Go' goes despite being on my way of tuning out of the charts at that point.

Saw this going around too and also learned from discussion on it that 1974 doesn't technically count because the team were West German and Helmut Schön, the coach, from his place of birth and national team affiliation in his playing career, he was East German. Also the only tournament where East Germany appeared as it happens. Very fun stat of course but surely to be broken (properly) soon as more and more teams have foreign managers in the 21st century than they did for at least the first 50 years of the WC's existence.

Very glad to see 'Turn Up The Music' out swiftly, for a long time that was my least favourite song to sit atop the charts and may still be down in the depths. Obviously part of that is because of how much of a despicable person he is and yes it does affect the quality of the (very poor) song, but I completely agree with you also if you just take it as a face value song, it's an already very tired sound that did not need to be released, much less have a domestic abuser be the face of it. As with 'Wherever You Are', the Military Wives are a decent choir and do make 'Sing' kinda nice, but it's a lot less memorable as a song and I don't feel there's any connection between it and the event it was supposedly commemorating, just a very identity-free choir-y song, and like with you, I can't recall it being around much if at all at the time. Hopefully this will get good soon for you! Though I suspect I may be outrageously defending a few of the ones that appear in the next 10 x

Well that's a fucking mistake if it is Mahmood. Not only is she one of the worst members of the Labour Party as things currently stand, it's taking her away from a lightning rod position in Home Sec where she was managing a difficult position fairly well. Miliband should be the man of the moment given, you know, heatwaves and the vital importance of getting us to energy independence, if he goes to the back benches after this I'm out of this.

It is more that Argentina have this reputation of being FIFA's favourite team, with enough questionable calls throughout the tournament to question whether they should be here (however much influence FIFA has on the matches, that they are so corrupt means that their favoured teams/money spinners w/ Messi should ideally be dumped out as early as possible), along with this consistent record of coming back to win matches after going behind to teams without as much success recently that makes you want their luck to run out. Also a clearly dislikeable team given their actions on the pitch and this new Falklands banner thing - I don't expect a punishment for it but there should be one.

the only thing I want now is for Argentina to lose and lose decisively

Interesting first half I think both sides don’t have the confidence yet, second half likely more free flowing after managers have had their go

Slight faves at the bookies I’ve seen, England home bias will cover that I’m nervous

Looking forward to this, great set of opening posts and context for your experience with these songs/2012 in general. I don't even mind seeing 'Candy', quite an unexpected one, out first. Robbie in solo is a prospect that's only very rarely appealed to me and that one got old quite quickly, I don't know if I'd have put it last, I can think of a certain horror I think I'd have put at the bottom, but it would have been quite low down. He's like the centre of the soft-pop-rock vortex and when he did something below par, it inevitably gets played to death on radio and there's certainly a few songs from certain points in my life that I'd do the same to. (I don't harbour the same hate for that Taylor song but I absolutely see its potential in that regard) This was the year I started uni, plus memories around the Olympics and finishing school so lots of these songs I will have heard in clubs at their peak. Do tend to think of 2012 as one of the better years in music around this time as the decade started to shape its identity.

persephonia out is just wrong excuse me what

Not sure I understand that 🥲 This was one of those entries that I said to myself I don't mind how I do because it's absolutely the song I want to enter, but last in the semi challenges that a bit :/ can a girl not have fun with her punk noise anymore :/