I started writing this piece a couple of weeks ago, but then, like so many things, Margaret Thatcher threw a spanner in the works, even in death.

I was meaning to argue the problems - and sometimes hypocrisy - in the popular call for more 'conviction politicians', but then she...

Onanists beware! The Icelandic government is trying to push through legislation that will make porn illegal - and in doing so, I imagine, create an awful dilemma for that great bastion of morality, the Daily Mail (the Mary Whitehouse in it disapproving of the porn, but it's strident anti-nanny state...

UK Sport caused uproar in many quarters recently with its unforgiving approach to Olympic funding, which saw four sports have all their Rio 2016 funding cut, leading many to claim the organisation completely threw away the much-trumpeted 'Olympic legacy'.

I don't want to discuss the merits or deficiencies...

30. Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal
Following closely in the footsteps of Mumford & Sons (and their checkered-shirted, straw-in-mouthed imitators), came this Icelandic collective, banjoing and harmonising their way into charts and hearts. The whole scene has grown old quickly for some (including me...

20. Calvin Harris - 18 Months
OK, so it's hardly going to win any prizes for originality or depth, but Mr Harris has an almost unparalleled consistency for creating - as they say (or at least said) in the trade - bangers, and a seemingly endless contacts book, put...

10. Cold Specks - I Predict a Graceful Expulsion
Al Spx actually hails from suburban Toronto - but you would never guess it from her sublime, yearning voice, right out of the heart Midwest in the civil rights-era America. In the hands of most others, the songs here could...

Next Thursday (November 29), Lord Justice Leveson will release his report press ethics in British ethics, which commentators are heralding as a step change in the industry. But this largely misses the point; the change is well underway.

The London Evening Standard reported this week, obviously with...