Absolutely RExed

Gosh, where to begin? Hmmm....

Naff Patriotic Song is World Favourite: I'm Not Happy, says Heinrich

Thanks to Frank O'Connor for forwarding the following article to me. With a bit of luck these polls will start to trickle off now.

Elation once again as Wolfe Tones top BBC world song poll

FORGET the Beatles, forget Elvis, the rousing singalong ballad, 'A Nation Once Again' by the Wolfe Tones, has been voted the world's favourite song in a BBC poll.

A World Service poll of 150,000 listeners placed the Irish group's recording narrowly ahead of a popular patriotic Hindi song in the top spot.

But the success has not been without controversy. In the run up to the close of polling an e-mail was circulated urging Irish people to vote for the band and "mess it up" for the BBC.

However, yesterday a BBC spokesman said there was no question of the campaign denying the group its place at the top.

"Every single song in the top 10 had some sort of campaign behind it," said a spokesman.

The only basis on which a song was banned was if it breached BBC guidelines in respect of sexual content or violence.

The BBC received a flood of e-mails from around the world naming the old Irish ballad which has become a Republican anthem as their favourite song.

The Wolfe Tones won narrowly over Indian patriotic song 'Vande Mataram', based on a Hindi poem and which was first featured in a 1950s film.

Only two songs which could be regarded as Western hits, 'Believe' by Cher (1998) and Queen's 1975 hit 'Bohemian Rhapsody', featured at number eight and 10 respectively. Cliff Richard's 'We don't Talk Any More' was number 11.

A surprised Brian Warfield, leader of the Wolfe Tones, described the competition as "a bit of fun". He said although the group's website had urged people to vote for the song, the band had not been part of any campaign to "mess it up" for the BBC.

Commenting on the poll he said: "I was surprised by the whole thing but it was something which caught on. I suppose a lot of people must have voted for us but we have a lot of fans around the world."

The competition attracted 150,000 votes from 153 countries for 7,000 songs and revealed a diversity of musical tastes.

The winning songs will be aired tomorrow at 1.05pm.

Songs from India and Pakistan had a strong showing. The BBC said although all the top 10 were the subject of on-line campaigns attempts at multiple voting or "spamming" were discounted.

A Nation Once Again was written by 19th century poet and patriot Thomas Davis, the Young Ireland leader and editor of 'The Nation' newspaper.

It includes the refrain: "And Ireland, long a province, be a nation once again."

Some artists suffered because they had so many songs nominated it split their vote. Iranian artist Googoosh had 40 different songs while Bob Marley had 29.

World's Top Ten: 1, A Nation Once Again - Wolfe Tones (Ireland); 2, Vande Mataram - Various Artists (India); 3, Dil Dil Pakistan - Vital Signs (Pakistan); 4, Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu - Ilayaraja (India); 5, Poovum Nadakkuthu Pinchum Nadakkuthu - Thirumalia Chandran (India); 6, Ana wa Laila - Kazem El Saher (Iraq); 7, Reetu Haruma Timi - Arun Thapa (Nepal); 8, Believe - Cher (US); 9, Chaiyya Chaiyya - A R Rahman (India); 10, Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen.

I'm glad to see that Frank has evidently changed his mind and updated wcfan.com.

Drunken Thesaurus: No end in sight

Thanks are also due to Holly for giving me the 136th drunk term: 'pickled to the tonsils'. Will this ever stop?

Drinking in a Toilet: How Low Can You Go?

Yesterday was tiring but fun. I spent the bulk of the day working on my cards and marking essays, joining Holly in town as it was approaching five. We went to Wagamama in the Printworks for something to eat; I had a rather impressive soup, which demonstrated that not only am I wholly inept at manipulating chopsticks, but also that I have yet to fully master the ancient art of the spoon. After dinner we strolled round to the Royal Exchange theatre where we had a drink and went in to see the show, an adaptation of David Almond's recent novel Secret Heart. The play was quite uneven, with the second half being far better than the first, and truth be told I had difficulty in understanding it. It was quite spectacular - especially with its trapeze artists - and I did enjoy it a lot, but that says nothing about its quality. I've seen so few plays that I tend to enjoy any play I go to. Even Rosencratz and Guidenstern are Dead was enjoyable, although for the wrong reasons. After the play Hol and I went to a rather cool little pub called 'The Temple' in what used to be an underground public toilet. I liked it a lot; I reminded me of all the things I had liked years ago in such rather dinghy Dublin spots as Bruxelles and the International. The Temple has many of their best features, and few of their worse ones. Against that, it must be noted that its toilets were not the finest lavatorial facilities I have ever encountered. This was somewhat ironic, considering the pub's prehistory. After some drinkage there - Erdinger Schneeweisse for me, vodka and tonic for Hol - we moved on to a bar called '46' to wait for Stuart, who I had previously met for only a brief moment when I first went into the Exchange earlier in the day. Having been entertained by his site for some time now I was really looking forward to meeting him, and he didn't disappoint, being just as funny in real life as on the (virtual) page. Drinking was a little more exotic there, me returning to gin and tonic with Holly and Stuart sticking with vodka and tonic until Hol decided to get three 'flatliners' for us. Flatliners are frightening little shooters, consisting of tequila, sambouca, and tabasco sauce. To say they have a kick is putting it mildly. Try them some time. Eventually we shifted out of there and wound up out in Stuart's place in Bolton, where I also spent the better part of today. Giggles galore. Thanks are due to Heinrich and Morag respectively for telling me the stories of the Sitian Pelican and the Worst Tattoo in the World, which I related to great amusement. Hol still seems traumatised by the Tattoo story, while it was brilliant watching Stuart descend into uncontrollable giggling after I referred to the sad fate of the Sitian Pelican as a mere preamble to the tale of the Tattoo.

Postgraduate Exhaustion: I'm getting old, says Greg

I was fairly well rubbered last night, as you can probably guess, and hence rather frail today. 'Beer is the path to the Dark Side,' as Yoda might say. 'Beer leads to drunkenness, drunkenness leads to hangovers, hangovers lead to suffering.' When Hol and I got back here, we really just lolled about. I was capable of no more. I tried with no success to get the video to work so we could watch Eddie Izzard's new video, Circle, and having failed in that I settled for making tea and toast and vegging, before walking Hol to the bus stop and waiting there with her until the 46 bus arrived to take her to her mate Doron's house in Hulme - she'll be heading back to Cambridge tomorrow.

Empty Halls Make Least Noise

I didn't mind not being back in Halls for our last brunch today. Aside from it being alarmingly unhealthy, and Lord knows, we get enough dangerous food already here, I didn't really relish the prospect of such a lonely meal. Shaw's leaving last week was bad enough, but the double whammy of Marlisa and Jenny going within about an hour of each other around lunchtime yesterday was particularly dispiriting. The place is virtually empty, a Mancunian ghost town. Of the people I hang around with here, only Eddie remains. He's not going home for Christmas until Monday, but will only be back for a couple of days in January before heading off to York, and the Real World.

He ought to be appearing here again shortly, having been having dinner in a friend's house earlier. Tea will doubtless be required. I should probably stick the kettle on.