Nosey

It's perfectly enjoyable in a safe, fun kind of way. I wish they'd beefed up her vocals a bit, even if it was simply by double-layering them. No shame in that, but I get the impression they recorded this at the last minute, so it may not have had the same care and attention given to it as it perhaps deserved. It seems as if the album was put together more thoughtfully, thankfully. :D

The thing with Britney is that she has a habit of finding (perhaps not personally), amazing songs and amazing producers. I read that Cathy Dennis has been writing for her again, and she's got Xenomania lined up. It could be very good. I'd love to see Whitney get herself together and have a successul and healthy career, but I'm not sure if I'll want to buy her music.

Does anyone have any links to any decent reviews of this? I'm intrigued by it. I wasn't so fond of Busted, but his solo material has been pretty strong, even if he isn't the strongest of vocalists. One thing I don't get, is what exactly the record company are doing to capitalise on his time on I'm A Celeb? Have there been any features in the press that are linking into it? Shouldn't someone have told him that if the album was coming out one week after the show started he should try being a bit more visible in that first week?

I'm really excited about Avril coming back. Long over due if you ask me. I have to say I prefer Kelly, but I don't see why we can't have both.

I think she'd be thrilled with a number 3 single. Is Christina planning on doing any proper promotion while she's on tour here? She might think it's below her, but an appearance on GMTV and/or This Morning could push things in the right direction.

I don't know if they are downloading it because it's the CIN song, but she performed it on CIN to a large audience and thanked everyone who had already downloaded it, which would encourage more downloads.

Stunning. :cheer:

Let's hope her surge in downloads continues throughout next week.

I hope it's the Beatles, but I wouldn't write of Westlife. They've done a hell of a lot of promotion, including taking over X Factor last night.

I bet Kelly is thanking her lucky stars this wasn't released in the UK, because her career would have ended before it had begun. If any X Factor contestant is given this to release, even Leona, they will be slaughtered for it. I agree about it being bad for Leona if the general public assume she's going to win. Time and time again we've seen that people do not vote for those who they assume to be safe.

Try not to take it too personally Val. There are a few people who get a bit prickly when it comes to how well Gareth did in the international charts in comparison, and they try to compensate by demeaning its value. It must be extra galling for them if Shayne is also beginning to create a fan-base for himself in countries that didn't watch X Factor, although it has to be said that South Africa gets X Factor as it got Pop Idol, so maybe that is not the best country for that kind of comparison. I'm sure they'll change their tune if the situation changes. They recently changed their minds about pop stars who branch out into the theatre! But back to Shayne. The rumoured Christmas single simply didn't happen. Was it ever likely to happen, or was this just something to keep the papers interested? If Shayne was ever thinking of releasing the songs he was supposed to be releasing, then the reports of him recording something more contemporary must have been made up. It's so hard to tell if any of it is true when he has Louis Walsh as his manager.

The iTunes chart is looking good. :cheer: for Take That, and much better for All Saints.

I'm not too keen on the cover, but love the title track. I don't get the point of the bonus tracks. How do you know where the album proper finishes and the bonus tracks start on a CD? Does everyone get the bonus tracks or are they supposed to be limited edition?

It's not just Shayne and Gareth who have gone to Asia. Most major international artists try to get big in Asia, although not everyone manages it. The same goes for Europe, although I don't think Shayne has done much in Europe so far. The UK is just one music market. It's an important one, but it makes up only a fraction of world sales. Was Shayne "doing a Will" by going to South Africa for those roadshows they did together?

Favourite: Robbie, George Michael and Mutya Worst: Westlife

I'd heard a lot of bad things about this single, but the first time I paid proper attention was half an hour ago, watching last night's Jonathon Ross. It was abysmal, and I loved her first solo album. I heard her say in an interview that she had to release a second solo album because she came up with so much great material for the first one. BIG mistake.

All Saints and Rocky Steady.

I thought she was an ok singer when she did X Factor, or decent enough compared with some, but they didn't put much effort into making her sound good on this. The song is OK, and she seems like a nice enough person, but it's all a bit predictable.

Woolies seem to be getting worse. All Saints will definitely beat Sugababes. I'm sure Girls Aloud will stick around in the top 10 albums too.

I'm just repeating what they were saying on BBC News earlier. You should have watched BBC News channel. They had a lengthy discussion about it, but obviously the trial that has reached a verdict and passed the death sentence is bound to be the lead story if you only catch the bulletins. I'd like it to be over quickly, simply so the Iraqi people can move on, but as much as I love a good conspiracy theory, I don't think the West can rush through the appeal. The people who are experts in Iraqui law seem to think it could take a year and a half for the appeal to be complete. If no appeal had been lodged then the sentence would have required to have been carried out within 30 days. As I said before, I want him to have to sit through all his trials. I don't know which West you are talking about, but this particular Westerner hopes all the details come out in a fair trial. I hope all the dodgy arms dealers get shamed, but none of that diminishes what Saddam did long before Bush or Blair came into power. I've no idea, but it seemed to be considered important to let the new Iraqi state deal with it. Do you know? My personal opnion is that crimes against humanity should be tried in an international court, but at the end of the day, the important thing is that a vicious dictator and his hench-men face some kind of reasonable legal system, and the people of Iraq get to rebuild their country.

Yes, and for all their complaints that developing countries like China are emitting more and more carbon year on year, per head of population, Americans emit six times as much CO2 as the Chinese. The Bush administration is only just beginning to admit that climate change is happening and might just be linked to human activities. :unsure:

Actually, Saddam has been charged with the murder of approximately 180,000 Kurds in the gassings, and that trial has been running concurrently with this one. There's another trial ongoing too, relating to another set of murders of his own people. This one reached a verdict before the others, and if he was to be hanged quickly, the other trials would be terminated, which I'm against. I'm against the death penalty anyway, although I wouldn't lose much sleep over Saddam, however, it is essential that there are full, public trials for these other matters. On BBC News today they said the appeal could last up to one and a half years, so unless he dies of natural causes first, these other trials will probably happen. One of his legal team said he might die first, which was a bit odd, but probably just some kind of headline grabbing tactic. I don't approve of the actions of Bush and Blair over the war, but there is no way they even approach Saddam's level of wrong-doing. As well as the mass genocide, he would routinely get staff that disagreed with him taken out and shot and he's proud of this fact.

No, I'm not forgetting about the poor. I just have a different opinion of who the poor are. I don't consider a person who can currently afford a weekend away thanks to cheap flights on Easy Jet as poor, and the whole point is that the planet we all live on cannot afford to have everyone taking all these flights. If you think not being able to go to Malaga for your Summer holidays is poverty, just be glad you aren't living in any of the South Sea islands that will no longer exist when sea levels rise. What about the famines caused by crop failures? If you can't imagine that, just think how much your home insurance will increase when hurricanes become normal in the UK? The US Government spent in excess of 80bn pounds simply to contribute to the physical repairs following Hurricane Katrina. That's £10 for every single person on the planet right now. Never mind what was paid up by insurance companies, or the loss of life, or social or emotional costs to people who lost their homes. Then there were the financial losses to people who had businesses and the price of petrol in the UK went up as a direct result too. The Stern report says that each and every one of us will be paying a hell of a lot more to cope with the natural disasters that will become more and more frequent in the years to come. If we are willing to invest now in cleaner technologies, or sacrifice the right to fly at the drop of a hat, we'll save money in the longer term. The whole report can be summarised with my granny's favourite saying "a stitch in time saves nine".

If done properly, they could work. At the minute, aviation fuel is not taxes, which is ridiculous. Taxing that will not tax the poor. No poor person needs a winter break to Malaga. The overall use of oil is still increasing, because at a global level, we are still oil-centric and place too much value on the car. However, after Hirricane Katrina (a very expensive consequence of climate change) when oil prices increased, a lot of Americans did reconsider the type of vehicle they drive. The reason Americans continued to drive great big, inefficient cars compared with in Europe is because petrol was so cheap for them. There needs to be a way to ensure the poor are not left incapable of getting about or heating their homes, but as climate change will affect the poor far more than the rich, if anyone is seriously concerned with helping the poor, they'll support greater action. The money from taxing fuel needs to go into considerable, long-term investment into the railways and other public transport mechanisms. It needs to go into investment into renewable energy development. There also needs to be a shift in thinking, so that people no longer see gas guzzling 4 x 4s as a status symbol and while the Daily Mail is getting all defiant about charging people to park outside their own home, they overlooked the detail about smaller engined and more environmentally friendly car owners getting a discount!

He thinks he should be shot by a firing squad, but it seems you only get that if you were in the military, and he failed his military exams. He appointed himself as Field Marshal General, which doesn't count! He's a horrible, horrible man and the world would be a better place without him, but there are so many other problems in Iraq now who knows whether it would make any difference?