Here’s The City, the first single from his new album Lupercalia, which is out today. And it’s AMAZING.

Buy the album now from Amazon on CD or MP3 download.

Where was I? Oh yes, the album and such. I was about to click to buy the CD, when I spied that Amazon were selling the MP3 download for just £3.99, saving me seven or eight quid over the physical copy. How could I say no to an offer like that? Quite easily, in fact.

You see, I actually quite like CDs. You would think that I — being a child of the microcomputer revolution — would embrace the future like [NAME REDACTED] embraces Big Brother contestants. But there’s something about CDs that is lost in MP3 format, which means I’ll be sticking to CDs for now, thanks.

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of the early objections to digital music no longer apply. MP3 downloads are now ridiculously cheap — often significantly cheaper than CD. They are also, for the most part, free of that annoying Digital Rights Management which requires you to continually prove to your computer that you are legally entitled to play the music you’ve already paid for.

Of course there are many advantages to MP3 downloads. The music is instantly available as soon as you’ve handed over your credit card details. You can keep your entire music collection in something the size of a matchbox and take it with you wherever you want – I have an iPod, and my first action when I get a new CD is to rip it into iTunes. For new and struggling musicians, the lower distribution costs of MP3 can offer big cost savings over the traditional methods of music distribution.

But there’s just something about actually holding a shiny, tangible CD that the MP3 experience can’t replicate. As an example, let’s compare what people who bought Patrick Wolf’s The Magic Position on CD got compared to MP3 downloaders:-

For those who took the trouble to get a CD, a pretty inlay sheet with lovely artwork and sleeve notes. For MP3 downloaders? A folder full of icons in Windows Explorer. Yes, you see the CD cover art in iTunes or Windows Media Player, but it’s NOT THE SAME.

I’m fully aware that I’m sounding like an old man complaining about how things were much better in “the good old days”. For the record, here are some other obsolete technologies which I wish were still current: Ceefax, BSB squarials, Acorn computers, Class 101 DMUs.

* This is of course not true, I just wanted an attention-grabbing opening paragraph.

There are two lazy received opinions about Eurovision which get aired endlessly around this time of year. One is that it is a dated, cheesy waste of money which is irrelevant to modern life and should be scrapped forthwith. You could say the same thing about the Royal Family, and look how popular they are at the moment.

The other complaint is that the contest is ruined by political voting, where countries vote for their nearest neighbours, especially in recent years as a horde of Eastern European countries have rushed to join in the fun. One person expressing these opinions is James Ball in the Guardian who writes, “an examination of Eurovision voting data has confirmed a persistent voting gripe – the eastern European voting bloc indeed exists, and is now all but unbeatable.”

Ball cites some statistics to back up his theory, but even as I read his article my mind was full of doubt. I did some extensive research of my own and have concluded that, even if Eastern European countries do vote for each other, it doesn’t make that much difference. To prove my point, here are the Eurovision winners since 2000, which is around the time that His Royal Highness Lord Sir Terry Wogan started complaining about the “Eastern block voting”:-

• 2010 – Germany (not Eastern Europe – bits of it were, but not any more)
• 2009 – Norway (not Eastern Europe)
• 2008 – Russia (Eastern Europe – and quite a bit of Asia too)
• 2007 – Serbia (Eastern Europe)
• 2006 – Finland (not Eastern Europe)
• 2005 – Greece (not Eastern Europe)
• 2004 – Ukraine (Eastern Europe)
• 2003 – Turkey (not Eastern Europe)
• 2002 – Latvia (Eastern Europe)
• 2001 – Estonia (Eastern Europe – also, yay!)
• 2000 – Denmark (not Eastern Europe)

To summarise, in the last decade, 5 out of 10 winners have been from Eastern Europe. But that figure (50%) is roughly what you’d expect, considering the number of Eastern European countries who now enter the contest.

In conclusion, the “Eastern block vote” is a canard, invented to “explain” why the UK has done so poorly in recent years. The real reason is much simpler: we enter bad songs. When we scored 0 points in 2003, it wasn’t because the Ukraine always votes for Russia, it was because Jemini sang out of tune. When Cyndi Scooch came second-to-last in 2007, it was because their song (actual lyric: “Would you like something to suck on for landing?”) was an embarrassment.

On the rare occasions recently when we make the effort, we do quite well (qv Jade Ewen) and sometimes even win! (qv Katrina and the Waves).

Anyway, good luck to Blue. Your song has an actual tune, which is a step up from some of our recent attempts. I hope you do well — and Anthony, please remember that cashpoints are for withdrawals, not deposits.

Well done to me as well, for getting through a Eurovision 2011 post without mentioning Jedward… oh.

OK, I sound like a 15-year-old girl. The moral of the story is… Do what makes you happy, as long as it’s legal — and maybe sometimes, even if it isn’t!

Aware that I was getting strange looks from my fellow passengers, I tried to stifle my laughter. My attempts only resulted in a coughing fit, which earned me even more strange looks.

Adam and Joe must be two of the most entertaining people on the radio. I really wish they’d hurry up and return to their 6 Music show.

In London, the Police proved once again what a wonderful organisation they are. In Rome, a swimmer suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction.

Gents — ever wondered what it would be like to wake up with a vagina? YouTube was on hand to envisage that scenario.

My sister graduated from uni, proving that they’ll give degrees out to ANYONE these days (only kidding, sis!). I also wasted a whole day playing Atari 2600 games, and I still have the Pitfall II music stuck in my head.

August saw the first Adventures in Public Transport post for quite a while, as yours truly hunted for a lost Saveaway ticket in the rain. I had a much better transport experience a few days later, as I cruised to Salford on a Mersey Ferry. The peace was shattered – literally – on my evening commute when my train was bricked.

I celebrated the Internet’s ability to create new friendships as I met up with the Mersey Tart for the first time — a meeting surely up there with Livingstone and Stanley’s encounter on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

The Echo cemented its local credentials by relocating scores of jobs to Oldham. PowerPoint celebrated 25 years of making already tedious office meetings absolutely unbearable. Channel 4 axed Big Brother, meaning I can now watch television during the summer without feeling the urge to kill.

September saw me considering Macs again. I still haven’t decided whether to switch to a Mac or not — never let it be said that I’m impulsive. Then I decided to go on strict diet, a process which went quite well over the following months, until Christmas intervened and ruined it. The London tube map was redrawn to remove the River Thames; I thought this was a huge improvement, but TfL did not consider my views during their consultation process and swiftly moved to put it back. I also bemoaned that society seems reluctant to pay for anything these days, although I felt some sympathy for that view as my Railcard expired and I resigned myself to paying full fare on the trains.

October saw the Tories proving they’re crazy. BBC4 dramatised the rise and fall of Sinclair and Acorn in Micro Men. A-Ha split up, shocking people who didn’t realise they were still together. Royal Mail workers went on strike, thankfully AFTER I got all my parcels. That woman wrote that article in that paper about that singer, and that man from that party went on that programme.

I finally joined the iPod owners club with a purchase of a new 5th gen Nano. Sun and Cloud made a welcome (it says here) reappearance.

In November there were fireworks-a-plenty when the Government sacked its drugs adviser for… advising on drugs. Morrissey walked off stage at the Echo Arena after being hit by a bottle, Rupert Murdoch launched all-out wars against Gordon Brown and Google.

National Rail launched Stations Made Easy, allowing people to explore the nation’s railway stations without leaving their comfy seat. Anyone using that site to look at Liverpool Central could understand why it is one of the top ten worst stations in the UK. One station that definitely wasn’t on the worst list was Workington North, a temporary halt which opened to serve the flood-hit town after less than a week of planning.

December contained the story of the year for me. Never mind Jacko dying or bombers with explosives in their underpants, the toy mouse that sings “paedophile”, as featured on the Today Programme(!), was a highlight.

Christmas came and went, and I explained why people complaining about “political correctness” are missing the point. The BBC proved its worth by having 9 out of the top 10 programmes on Christmas Day.

Otherwise it was a quiet month. I checked out the Take That musical, Never Forget, lamented the fact that The X Factor had a stranglehold on the Christmas number one spot (except when it didn’t) and mocked an LFC player’s sincerely held religious beliefs.

Thanks to my regular readers (all four of you!) and Happy New Year.

Rock band Rage Against The Machine has won the most competitive battle in years for the Christmas number one.

The band’s single, Killing In The Name, sold 500,000 downloads beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s The Climb by 50,000 copies to clinch the top spot.

Their success followed a Facebook campaign designed to prevent another X Factor number one.

Clearly the problem of illegal downloads is overblown: all you have to do is start a Facebook campaign and people will happily pay to download a song.

Not that I particularly liked The Climb, but no-one should pretend that Rage Against The Machine’s victory is any less manufactured than the X Factor winners of the past few years. Also, couldn’t they have picked a good song to go up against Simon Cowell? Especially as it’s ultimately Sony who own both songs, so the evil corporate people get the money anyway! WELL DONE EVERYONE.

I have mixed feelings about this. I do think that the people who create music and support that industry are entitled to be paid for their work (and when 7digital is charging as little as 50p for DRM-free MP3 downloads, is paying that tiny amount really too much to ask? Even for Michael Bublé?)

On the other hand, my civil liberty instincts are telling me this is a bad thing, as I’m far from confident that those accused of illegal file sharing will be allowed to access the due process of law and defend their accusations (there are, of course, many legitimate P2P networks out there).

Also, cutting internet connections totally is a draconian step. Most internet users need their connection to function in life and could not manage without it. In the near future, access to the net could be considered as essential as running water or electricity. Throttle their connections, block the ports, but don’t cut them off entirely.

There should be a tribute band called Mm-Hm.