John_Squire

I'd like both 80s #1s and 90s #2s. And 00s #2s. Go for a #2s rate next.

Best British Soap Eastenders Coronation Street Doctors Hollyoaks Best Actress Lindsey Coulson(Eastenders) Jessie Wallace (Eastenders) Jane Danson(CS) Katherine Kelly(CS) Best Actor Shane Ritchie (Eastenders) Chris Gascoyne (CS) Steve McFadden (Eastenders) Simon Gregson (CS) Sexiest Male Marc Elliot (Eastenders) Rob Norbury (Hollyoaks) Nicolas Woodman (Doctors) Scott Maslen (Eastenders) Sexiest Female Michelle Keegan (CS) Alison King (CS) Rita Simons (Eastenders) Jennifer Metcalfe(Hollyoaks) Villain Of The Year Charlie Brooks (Eastenders) Don Gilet (Eastenders) Kate Ford (CS) Paula Lane (CS) Best Newcomer Zoe Lucker (Eastenders) Ricky Norwood(Eastenders) Patti Clare (Coranation Street) Emmet J Scanlan(Hollyoaks) Best Exit Vicky Binns (Coranation Street) Lacey Turner(Eastenders) Barbara Windsor(Eastenders) Jamie Lomas Escaping Death (Hollyoaks) Best Comedy Performance Malcom Hebden(Coronation Street) Patti Clare (Coronation Street) Tameka Empson(Eastenders) Ricky Norwood (Eastenders) Most Spectacular Scene Coronation Street Tram Crash Eastenders Queen Vic Fire Emmerdale Train Collision Hollyoaks III Gnosh Fire Best Storyline Kev & Molly's Relationship Coronation Street) Baby Swap (Eastenders) Who Killed Archie(Eastenders) Danny Millar's Gay Relationship (Emmerdale)

Never been the same since the days of Izzie and Lorna...even the Neil Morrissey and early Eva Pope series were very good...definitely still worth a watch but not compulsive viewing anymore (like Shameless, unfortunately, although IMO recent Shameless>recent WR)

Shinedown - Second Chance Alex Cartana - Hey Papi

Whoa at Japan! Not much more than a third of the population of the US and yet enarly as much revenue!

Does that mean they're doing every week of 1976/77 or a different year each week? They'd have 43 different years to choose from so I hope they do that.

Surprised how low Beats International is! Either I was the only voter or it got a LOT of minuses.

Shayne and Westlife (to go! I thought I voted for both on the double elimination but I guess only one counted?)

15 1997 Olive "You're Not Alone" 12 1990 Beats International 'Dub Be Good To Me' 10 1993 Ace of Base 'All That She Wants' 08 1991 The KLF feat. The Children of the Revolution '3AM Eternal' 06 1999 Blondie "Maria" 05 1994 Baby D 'Let Me Be Your Fantasy' 04 1997 No Doubt "Don't Speak" 03 1996 Babylon Zoo "Spaceman" 02 1998 All Saints 'Never Ever' 01 1992 Tasmin Archer 'Sleeping Satellite' ---- -2 1991 Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives" Couldn't decide who to give points to out of Sinead O'Connor and the Verve so left them both out :( If there is any surprise bonus point, give it to: 1991 Enigma 'Sadeness Part 1'

Where's PJ Harvey 'Let England Shake' on the albums?

I think all the reasons above (and probably many more) have contributed to her success...but I'm still really, really surprised how consistently well she's doing. If you look at other flavour of the month, young(ish) female singers who write their own material - Dido, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, say - Adele isn't necessarily more popular but she's selling far more consistently. Dido and Amy Winehouse sold 2-3m copies of an album, of course, but they were either far more spread out or (Life For Rent) with a huge opening sales week. Adele hasn't actually sold THAT much - it's just the time of year and the fact that she's basically doing it off talent/hype rather than reality TV that make it more amazing. I think another factor in her popularity is her ordinariness. She hasn't exactly had any massive news stories like Amy Winehouse or Lily Allen - she seems to me to be a relatively down-to-earth person who has a very good voice. She doesn't come across as stroppy or petulant most of the time (apart from some reports). I think people can identify with her more than some singers because of this, and can relate to her music too. Plus - she's obviously not a size 6 fake Barbie - she's a (ugh horrible cliche time) 'real woman' - a bigger girl who's pretty and talented, and presumably inspirational too? Plus, her songs have the potential to be liked by a wide variety of people, from grandmas to ten-year-olds - the voice/the music & influences/the subjects of her songs. They are often quite simple lyrically/inoffensive musically, which isn't usually a bad thing (although it could be why people find her bland).

15 1992 Jimmy Nail 'Ain't No Doubt' 12 1993 The Bluebells 'Young at Heart' 10 1990 Maria McKee 'Show Me Heaven' 08 1996 Babylon Zoo "Spaceman" 06 1993 Gabrielle 'Dreams' 05 1996 Fugees "Killing Me Softly" 04 1998 Cher 'Believe' 03 1992 Charles and Eddie 'Would I Lie To You?' 02 1999 Fatboy Slim "Praise You" 01 1998 Cornershop 'Brimful Of Asha' -2 1991 Queen 'Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives'

Mary Byrne won't sell over 100k so she will probably be #2 or #3 and then drop like a stone. Ronan Keating could well increase in sales in Mother's Day week and go to #2, but he won't sell more than Adele as she'll get the MD boost as well - for both albums :o Based on how well the singles have done - I expect Britney to chart around #5, selling 35-40k. I don't mind '21' staying at number one for ages (well, not half the year hopefully!) - I hope SLY doesn't, though. I can see why people like it but I'm very, very bored of it now. There are far superior songs on the album. Assuming SLY is #1 this week (its 5th week), will it be likely to get a 6th or 7th week? EDIT: Radiohead should sell over 50k, which would usually be enough for #1 - but not this time! Maybe #4.

Gutted that Wamdue Project isn't doing that well. It's one of my favourite dance #1s (and it probably would have got 12 or 15 in most other years).

08 If You Had My Love ?? No Me Ames (with Marc Anthony) 07 Waiting For Tonight 06 Feelin' So Good (featuring Big Pun and Fat Joe) ?? Let's Get Loud 07 Love Don't Cost a Thing 07 Play 09 Ain't It Funny 05 I'm Real ?? I'm Real (Murder Remix) (featuring Ja Rule) 06 Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix) (featuring Ja Rule and Caddillac Tah) 08 I'm Gonna Be Alright (Track Masters Remix) (featuring Nas) 06 Alive 07 Jenny from the Block (featuring Styles P and Jadakiss) 08 All I Have (featuring LL Cool J) 06 I'm Glad 07 Baby I Love U! 06 Get Right 03 Hold You Down (featuring Fat Joe) ?? Qué Hiciste ?? Me Haces Falta ?? Por Arriesgarnos (with Marc Anthony) ?? Do It Well ?? Hold It, Don't Drop It ?? Louboutins 07 On The Floor (featuring Pitbull)

Akon. There's a few I want gone though.

Amarillo? Really? As a song it's very good! Is it the novelty aspect that puts people off? Voted Westlife BTW - one of their worst covers.

So they didn't borrow more than was prudent? They didn't make any financial mistakes at all?

You've missed the point there somewhat...

Yes, exactly - it doesn't have to be fiction, classics or what literature snobs would say is acceptable. Any books are good. Plenty of people don't read fiction but reading about history, war, cars, sport, current affairs, politics, biographies, whatever - it's all reading and all of that contributes towards part of your overall intelligence. And I'm not saying everyone who reads voraciously is a genius. But reading for pleasure is an enjoyable hobby that expands your knowledge about many things, no question.

They had more hits later in 2005 (and I think one in 2006?), but that's still quite a big gap.

A lot of the best songs didn't get to number 1, but there are lots of absolute gems here anyway. 15 Blondie ‘Maria’ 12 B*Witched ‘Blame It On The Weatherman’ :wub: 10 Fatboy Slim ‘Praise You’ 08 Lenny Kravitz ‘Fly Away’ 06 The Wamdue Project ‘King Of My Castle’ 05 Britney Spears ‘Baby One More Time’ 04 ATB ‘9PM (Till I Come)’ 03 Five ‘Keep On Movin’ 02 The Vengaboys ‘Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!’ 01 Christina Aguilera ‘Genie In A Bottle’ Still her best. -1 Westlife ‘I Have A Dream/Seasons In The Sun’ Awful, awful, awful

I think some of the cuts are disgusting. But. What would people prefer? Higher taxes? Some people would accept that but say the government made no cuts and put 5p (or even 2p) on the basic rate of income tax - there would be absolute uproar. If you live beyond your means you can get into trouble. Labour lived beyond their means and the country has gotten into trouble. Yes, you could keep borrowing, keep spending - but given the world we live in, that would cause no end of problems on a world scale. The current government should be doing a lot (not all, though) of things differently. But Labour caused most of the problems in the first place. How anyone can not see that is bizarre.

They have both had crap periods and good periods. What really, really, really pisses me off is the idea that many people seem to have, that (generally) things done by Labour are good because they are left-wing and therefore nice and kind and generous and caring and fluffy, and things done by the Conservatives are bad because they are right-wing and hateful and bigoted and evil and every single one is a big bad milk-snatching land-owning virgin-sacrificing devil-spawn. To me, the Tory Party of 100 years ago was an over-privileged, unfair thing (call it bad) and the Labour Party was a source of help for the poor and badly-treated workers (so effectively good). That was then. It sure isn't the case now. Blair could easily have been a Tory. Gordon Brown might be committed to Labour but he's hardly worked ten-hour shifts in hard manual jobs like many Labour voters have/had (correct me if I'm wrong) - he's had things relatively soft and enjoyed a university education in the 1970s - how many Labour supporters had that then? Thatcher wasn't a typical, rich family-background Tory - she was lower middle-class and worked her way up (and the 'Milk Snatcher' tag - well, that policy had already been decided before she took on the portfolio). Ted Heath went to a grammar school and also worked his way up. Michael Foot was a left-winger who probably never knew a day's hardship in his life. Look at the parties now. For a start, what difference is there between Cameron and Miliband (and indeed Clegg?). Precious little, apart from presumably different family background ideologies, and maybe a few thousand quid in the family coffers (I doubt Miliband's family is as rich as Cameron's family, but let's face it, they were/are hardly paupers). No, David Cameron hasn't spent time living in a crappy council house with no money or prospects - well neither has Ed nor David Miliband! Tory and Labour politicians alike are often privately-educated, privileged, rich, hypocritical, and have no idea what life is like for millions of the people under their rule. That always has been and always will be. The ideal would be a mix of right- and left-wing ideologies - but when's that gonna happen?

Regardless of what you think of him/his party, it's absolutely true that kids should be encouraged to read. I know plenty of people who haven't read fifty (or even twenty) books in their life, let alone in a year - and that includes adults with university educations (if you only count reading for pleasure). Reading is so important - for a start it helps with spelling and grammar, which are often poorly taught in school (I know from personal experience), and both of which many many people are, quite frankly, crap at (there/their/they're being one irritating example amongst many). I think it's a lot to do with culture though. For a lot of there isn't a great desire to read books. Reading used to be seen as a way to improve yourself and your mind, for all classes - for example, poor, working-class miners would usually have a library in their miners' institutes. Of course literacy and class don't necessarily go hand in hand - there are plenty of thick rich people and intelligent poor people, etc, etc, and there have always been people hostile to reading and learning, as there are now. It seems to me though that there is a lot of hostility towards reading books for pleasure, far more so than there is for learning/education. I don't know. It would just be nice to see more kids - and indeed more adults - reading more books.