First things first, I just want to say congratulations to Rage Against The Machine for getting their top spot. Regardless of anything else, it’s probably quite a nice feeling for them and I for one revelled in the moment having a good dance round my room as th4e single was played on Radio 1. Also, well done to Jon and Tracy Morter - it couldn’t have happened without you. Perhaps most importantly, thumbs up to all the people that donated to the charities involved. A significant amount of money was raised and that’s certainly something that Joe McElderry, or more importantly, Simon Cowell and the X-Factor empire can’t say!

My reasons for posting this, though, are not just to congratulate the various people involved but also to point out one particular flaw in the nay sayer’s arguments against this campaign…

It means entirely nothing that RATM and Joe/Cowell are on the same record label. Simon Cowell’s label is a subset of SonyBMG as is Epic, the label to which RATM are signed, as such there isn’t any direct crossover and even if there were there’s nothing to suggest Simon Cowell makes any money from Epic’s sales. The only way that could happen would be if he was also in charge of that division of the label or if he were a share holder. Whether he’s the latter or not is irrelevant as the share price of such a large corporation has very little to do with the sales of one single. As for the former, well I’m certainly not aware of him having any direct involvement in Epic.

Think about it like this, if you’re head of the software division of Microsoft (Simon Cowell) and the hardware division (Epic) makes a load of money, you don’t see any direct benefit.

Also, to all the people saying it’s just as sheepish to have followed this campaign, you also seem to be missing the point. Just because a large number of people followed a suggestion, it doesn’t mean we’re all highly suggestable halfwits. If the suggestion had been to put Rick Astley at number one I’d have told them to go stick it. It was my decision to buy the single and I’m very happy that I did. Of course, I’d rather they picked something even more extreme and less cliched - ‘they swear a lot, that’ll be funny’ - but I’m, willing to forgive that becuase people needed a song they were familiar with and could latch onto for this campaign to work. Suggesting You Suffer by Napalm Death would have been more extreme - a 2 second grindcore songwould certainly have got people thinking - but somehow I don’t think it would’ve worked.

So there we go. All I need now is to get hold of a ticket for that free gig next year…

So it seems the Tories have been at the top of a landslide victory in the local elections with buffoons like Boris Johnson even looking likely to win the London Mayorship. Well, all I can say is well done England. Well done for not seeing the wood for the trees. For being fooled by the slimey weazly charm of David Cameron rather than the slightly bumbling figure of Gordon Brown. Believe it or not, personality has nothing to do with how to run a country but once again the general populace has fallen for it.

I really do despair.

Let me ask you one simple question. What have the Tories said they will do better than Labour? Magically lower taxes without any talk of consequences to national services. Somehow miraculously solve the situation in the middle east and Afghanistan? Solve the impending financial downturn?

For instance, Boris’s policy list for making London a better place currently runs as:

• More police on the streets.
• Action on gun crime
• Safer public transport
• Protection for our green spaces
• Freedom pass guaranteed and extended
• Tax Payer value and honesty at City Hall

So, the top three are essentially targets labour has been trying to reach for a number of years. What makes Boris think he can do this any better?

Protection for our green spaces? How vague is that.

Freedom Pass guarantees and extensions - Ok, I’ll give him that one. +1

Tax Payer Value and Honesty - Come off it, he’s a politician just like the rest. In fact, probably worse than the rest. Just recall the number of controversies that have surrounded him already in his political career.

Look, we all know that Gordon Brown messed up with the 10p tax debacle but that’s no reason to start switching allegiances to possibly the most obsequious political leader our country’s seen since, well Tony Blair. Let’s just give the dullard a chance before we make even more rash decisions.