When I was thinking Stray Thoughts, it was a very good year…

1. I have won four tickets to see The Charlatans in Birmingham on May 14, and am unlikely to be able to use them. If you can use them, let me know, and they’re yours – quickly, though, as I can always eBay them…
2. Speaking of music and freebies, there’s a wonderfully perverse CD of cover versions free with the latest issue of Q magazine, which I commend to you. I particularly like the Nick Cave version of ‘Disco 2000’ and the Travis cover of ‘…Baby One More Time’. I kid you not.
3. There are moves afoot, I gather, to standardise the timing and sound of the muezzin (or call to prayer) in Cairo. I can understand the desire to make it sound the same (because some are definitely more melodious better than others), but I have to say that I positively like the sound – it’s a wonderful reminder when I’m on holiday that I really am far away from the usual routine.
4. Very amusing week in politics - as I hope is very clear by now, I’m not party political, but I do think it was funny to see the PM supporting various ministers in recent times, then retracting that support when the party got a serious kicking at the local elections, and kicking the same ministers out or stripping them of their power. Fair weather friend indeed, and it all has the feel of 1993 to me, when the government seemed to be staggering from one embarrassment or crisis to the next…