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Wonky as fuck. It sounded like my MacBook was tilted at an angle as I streamed it. Beyond all the dizziness, there’s not a lot going on. Meat ‘n’ two veg indie songs played on out of tune guitars with reverb. JAMC did it far better.

⭐ ⭐

The Beatles released Let It Be only eight years before The Scream came out. It sounds like a musical lifetime has shifted in that period when you listen to the Banshees debut compared to The Beatles. The music of 2026 is very similar to that of 2018. Sure, the Banshees weren’t alone responsible for this transformation, but The Scream does show what is possible when you refuse to play alongside the established rules. It’s still accessible, with the rhythm and SHOCK tunes! Hong Kong Garden is a little, erm, awkward these days. Still a great debut.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

All your favourite bands hate fascism

Uncle Bill doing what he does best: write, record, release.

Moshpit simulation

via @memespring

26 things all cyclists should learn: Get to know the basics to make your riding simpler, cheaper and more enjoyable

Chapeau!

As the title suggests, Madcap is a BONKERS album. It most certainly wouldn’t have been released in 2026, with the fragile mental health of the artist exposed for all to hear. But I rather like the raw, emotional feel when compared to the shitty generic content that clutters up streaming services these days. Genius in the madness, etc.

Another day, another meh Weird Wiv walk. That’s unfair. The meh was in the weather, and not the sights around CO7. It was one of those Tupperware days where you appear to be living under a giant grey plastic roof. The solar light on my shed failed to flicker into action this morning. I’m still pounding the pavements, whilst semi-crocked. My calf is probably about ready for a return to running. But I’m rather enjoying these power walks right now.

“Enter the Governments Non-Dreamer in Residence, Steve Reed…”

The Co-op Council’s Poster Boy is no friend of #localgov. Especially in Lambeth.

I honestly didn’t give a shit about this game after the disaster away in Braga on Thursday. My usual pre-match preparations of endless Forest podcast listening, and tuning into BBC Radio Nottingham ahead of KO, were AWOL. I had no nerves, no expectations. If the team can’t be bothered, then neither can I.

The team news landed - I think. I didn’t even give it a shifty until 15 minutes before KO. No surprises to see that it was the exact same starting eleven that battled so well for the point at home to Arsenal. It’s no secret that Forest have a core of eleven or twelve players that are trusted, whilst the rest can be written off as a summer transfer window that went very wrong.

With no Luiz even on the bench, it looks like the Bearded One has played his last game in the Garibaldi. I would hesitate to say GOOD. But we haven’t exactly seen the superstar Luiz that was billed back in those optimistic days of September. Any Forest player that gets the City Ground light show as part of the signing announcement tends to flop.

Sir Colin of West Bridgford played out the highlights of the 3-1 reverse fixture under Nuno at the start of the season. The world was a very different place back then. Forest were on course for another generation defining season, whilst the Brentford PE teacher Coach was odds for the Sack Race.

I stuck with the BBC commentary and muted the telly. Sir Colin and Perchy were in stitches when the Only Fools and Horses theme was played out over the Gtech speakers. The last time I checked, the TW8 postcode ain’t in Peckham, Bruv.

Forest started superbly. SHIT THE BED. The control and then volley from Jesus was spectacular. If this has been scored by a Cartel 6 club then it would be a shoe in for Goal of the Season. Who needs new strikers, anyway?

This team is infuriating to watch. From the ‘what the fucking hell was that’ in Braga, and then fantasy football away in bloody Brentford only three days later. Is it Morato time yet?

The second half was always going to be ugly. We had to play Nuno Ball, minus the spring of the attack. Elanga would have run riot through a static Brentford back line.

DEFEND! DEFEND!

DEFEND! DEFEND! DEFEND!

And then my own highlight of the season to date dropped.

OH TAIWO. Give that man a ten year contract. This was the Taiwo of old, bullying the defence and using his muscle to bulldoze his way through to the goal. The final shot was half decent as well.

We all know that the old Taiwo won’t come back, but this could add another £5m to his price tag during the last week of the window. If it’s a sign off for Forest, then what a way to say farewell.

The two goal cushion made for a comfortable final ten minutes or so. It was good to silence Brentford and their crappy Hey Jude celebrations come full time. I’ll take Brentford over Braga, any day.

Long live local journalism

Peter Shilton’s ‘hand of god’ shirt to be sold this year

Harry Hodge should buy it.

Councils lack resources to successfully deliver LTNs amid “culture wars”, study finds

The more I cycle, the militant I become. Chapeau!

“These are special days; occasions we have longed for, but I have this horrible feeling we are going to let them slip away without much of a fight if we aren’t careful. I think it’s why many ended up so dismayed and even angry, because these days on the continent aren’t something we are entitled to expect again anytime soon. Once this adventure is over, we don’t know when we will return.”

What the fucking hell was that, etc.

And so there’s a new Cafe Bleu SIX CD boxset out. Gosh. Outstanding though TSC debut is, I’m not sure that anyone needs six CD’s of Cafe Bleu. Sure, one CD is an early TSC live recording; another is made up of BBC sessions. Actually, I might just fork out…

It has the official Weller endorsement as well. 2026 seems like a good time to reflect on 1984, living under Cold War uncertainty and retreating to music to help get you through it all. Not a lot has changed.

Universal has been drip feeding some of the rarities from the Cafe Bleu deluxe over the past few weeks. It’s been more hit than miss, tbh. This was a pleasant surprise though, a Long Version of Paris Match. It’s very much in demo form, but still captures that essential Cafe Bleu cappuccino vibe.

There’s also been a mix up in the pressing of the vinyl and CD’s. It’s one for the obsessives, but The Whole Point from the album is actually now The Whole Point II, which was originally a b-side from 1985.

That Weller golden run from late ‘83 through to around late ‘85 produced so much richness and variety. You go from late Jam sounds that could still be heard on Speak Like a Child, all the way through to tipping his toe in the water of Transatlantic soul with some of the Our Fave Shop extras.

Much like now tbh, with his prolific run of albums every other summer. Quite a legacy he’s building up.

Kevin Holland’s Pig in Shit book. This was a weird one. I heard a snippet of a news story this week about a Copper called Kevin Holland. Blimey, surely not the Hobby Bobby of SE17 from around two decades ago? I thought he had retired and moved on? It turns out that the name Kevin Holland isn’t unique amongst the Met.

But anyway, it got me thinking about Hobby Bobby. He was a well known - and hugely popular - face around Champion Hill a quarter of a Century ago. We’re talking the days when you could have a conversation with a member of the Rabble whilst you were sitting up in the stand on the other side of the ground.

PC Kev use to stage various events around the Hamlet involving young school kids. It was the very early days of club and community engagement, before it even became a thing.

A Pig in Shit is his memoir of policing the Aylesbury. It was around this exact same time that I was first introduced to the Aylesbury and its many characters through work. In the twenty or so years that I spent working around Walworth, I always felt safer there than I did in the West End.

I’ve had a brief flick through the book. It looks like a real page turner with some interesting local stories. I’m not sure about the dodgy geezer on the front cover though who came to SE17 for one his first photoshoots.