It Takes A Strong Heart To Love

78 likes and 0 dislikes for this one on YouTube at the time of typing.

Sunday Lovely Sunday

You Know What I Mean

Mildly Interesting Pop Fact: The Vernons Girls were formed at the Vernons football pools company in Liverpool in the 1950s. Not to be confused with the Reynolds Girls, who were dreamed up at PWL headquarters in the late 1980s and had a misguided and somewhat callow dislike of Fleetwood Mac.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Heard this on the radio in a taxi the other week. Listening out for the announcement of who it was by, at the end of the record, I thought the DJ (Tony Blackburn, if memory serves) said Tangerine Dream. Almost. That Windy Miller had hidden depths, eh?

(Not sure I ever realised Saint Etienne's version was a cover, to be honest. Would find it hard to choose between the two now, but.)

Our Years in the Wilderness

The new Hi-Life Companion album, Our Years in the Wilderness, has been a long time coming - four years! Not that we've been counting - much! - but I've been listening to it all week and can confirm that it is officially ace and completely worth the wait. (Actually, thinking about it, maybe Four Years in the Wilderness would've been a better title. Haw haw.)

I've played the second track, Meet Me At The Pier, pretty much nonstop but that's not online anywhere yet so here's the video for the also great album opener, Brockweir House. Some extremely high quality footage here - although if you're scared of spiders, look away for a few seconds at the 2:30 mark!

Our Years in the Wilderness will be released on June 16th and available to buy from all the usual places, and more besides. More info here.

Leaves That Are Green

...or the song that Billy Bragg filched the opening line of A New England from.

Mars Bars

Never mind yer Teenage Kicks; this is the best Undertones song (chocolate) bar none.

Everybody Loves Me But You

This one manages to pull off the unusual trick of being both self-pitying and a bit conceited at the same time. It may also be preceded by an annoying advert - but such is modern life, I suppose. Good song but, and well worth wading through the ad for.

Juliana Hatfield - Everybody Loves Me

Monday Morning

Fab new single from Kathryn Williams - and such a sweet promo video I even managed to put my low embarrassment threshold on the back burner while watching it.

Not Bowie

"Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be David Bowie ten years before David Bowie was David Bowie."

Alan's Cuddly Toy

This may well be my favourite opening credit sequence of any film ever. (The actual credits have been excised here but that's not important!)

The Ogden Couple

Coronation Street, November 14th 1977. Stan and Hilda win a second honeymoon in a competition. Much hilarity ensues.

The Brady Bunch Hour

Extraordinary. You've not lived till you've seen Greg's Pinball Wizard.

Sarah Millican: the spacehopper years

Santo, Sam & Ed's Total Football

We don't make humorous football TV programmes along the lines of Baddiel & Skinner's Fantasy Football League in England any more, but thankfully they do in Australia. Santo, Sam & Ed's Total Football is the perfect antidote if you're fed up with football being taken so damned seriously all the time; and what makes it even better for those of us not living in Oz, is the fact that new episodes are uploaded to YouTube weekly. Here's last night's, featuring a guest appearance from Alessandro Del Piero no less. Get watching!

Seeing red

Emmanuel Frimpong looking thrilled with his transfer to Barnsley. pic.twitter.com/tPe1J9Hp8X

— John L (@2MuchApplePie) January 31, 2014

^ Further to that; Frimpong's just been sent off 31 minutes into his Barnsley debut. Clearly life in the Championship is a massive comedown when you've been used to the glamour of Arsenal's reserves.