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Think it's a momentum/cost thing, really. Takes a while for a city to build up a rep as an arena place. The arena are looking to make as much money as they can in the short term, so they'll charge £60 odd quid for One Direction tickets rather that'll sell shítloads than pull loads of credible acts in. Arctic Monkeys have played here though, and I have to say that this year's SoundCity line-up is loads better than the scions of Stock/Aitken/Waterman that usually roll up here to hysterical screaming. Although having said that, Sonia is reported to be a "lovely girl".

It does make me laugh that 2,000 years after Jesus supposedly cleansed the temple, money lenders are the only things most people believe in.

Only really in getting bands to come here in the first place. We've got an arena now too, so I wonder what the issue is. I'm probably part of the problem, going down the M62 to see bands. That said, Sound City 2015 has The Flaming Lips, Fúcked Up, the Vaccines and Belle and Sebastian all playing. I think I might be in the market for a wristband.

Regular moment of "agree with trousers" time. Putting candidates in half the seats seems fine. To do that, a party has to have spent £175K on deposits alone. That's before any funds are dished out on campaigning or make-up/cosmetic surgery/prosthetics to make these f**kers look normal on TV.

Just had my first listen of Sleater-Kinney's new album, their first in ten years. Normally, when a band takes a huge hiatus like this, you expect Rolling Stones levels of returns:- "Yes, yes, that's nice - not a classic - now play your fúcking old stuff." Not so with Sleater-Kinney. They left the industry on an arguable peak ten years ago, bored of recording, bored/frustrated with each other, but leaving us with The Woods, what everyone thought would be their swansong. Still need a few listens to bed No Cities To Love into my bonce, but so far - seems both fresh and very much like them. Not quite as produced as The Woods (if you want an order-to-disorder album, that really is it). I'm going to see them in Wánkchester on the 24th. Yes, it hurts that I have to go there to see bands.

The Daily Mash is bang on http://bit.ly/1zgwF8Q Sorry for shortened link. Original had a swear in it.

There is currently a mini-protest going around social networks in Liverpool. Apparently, one lady posted a picture of herself breastfeeding, someone takes offense and Facebook contact her saying "Hallo, your picture with the nips is under review. Can you remove please?". She kicks off on Facebook. Now sixty more scouse women have posted pictures of themselves breastfeeding. It's a hydra!

I love the fact that people still refer to Miliband the Younger as "Red Ed". This is the man that got his nod from the Unions for the leadership, then refused to march with them as the Tories decided to start dismembering the NHS, just so the wet f**king lettuce can appear as tough as Dave on spending and the economy. "Revolutionary biscuits of victory! Rise up out of your box! You have nothing to lose but your wafers! Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum" That reference will be lost on many, I'm sure - but "Red Ed" will be up that sh!t like the Aurora up the Neva. What a Communist! I salute you Comrade Ed, and look forward to the glorious revolution (of the political merry go round).

I very much enjoyed my Apple tablet when I had it, and it still has the best App Store by a distance. However, I got to the point where most of the Apps I really used were on Android, or were coming to Android. Hearthstone was the last one to fall. The missus will never be torn from her iPad love.

Nice, although a broader examination of EU policy might have seen the pub landlord start a ruck with some Russian mushes.

Didn't think it was, skip. Just makes me laugh that it takes a hard-left coalition to deliver someone who actually knows wtf they are talking about in economics. I'm looking forward to seeing what he reckons once fully immersed in power.

I did not, but thanks for pointing that out. I'm not sure how this man with "relevant experience" of being an economist at a runaway economic success story is going to reconcile himself with government

Here's the key difference between:- a) lending from the Bear to buy anal beads b) lending from the Bank to buy anal beads. Were you and I to come to such an arrangement, you would probably take the £20 quid out of your pocket and give it to me for my impending anal beads purchase. You would be £20 worse off, and if I failed to pay the bead bond back, you'd always be £20 worse off. If, however, I decided to lend £20 from the bank for anal beads, they'd have the power to simply magic that moolah into existence. It wouldn't come from a pocket, and if I failed to pay it back, they'd only be down their imaginary losses, if the government decided not to pay them back out of the tax take. If I pay it back, they get to say "hey, it was there all along. Did you enjoy your anal beads?". Some question the rather arbitrary nature of who gets to create money and for what purpose, especially when people are going to food banks and putting their kids into state care, and it isn't just that impoverished group that earns between half a mil to a mil a year.

Such a trip is not necessary, Bear. Seek out the "Money as debt" video, which explains how money is created. I posted it here awhile ago.

It's not even double chickenfeed, is it? When you're swallowing his wife's bullshít next time, please check that he has had a warm meal recently. Living on something like 20x the average salary (with no pension!) can't be easy

Ah, we're almost there. So you accept that central bankers are able to create money from nothing and lend at a rate of interest? That's good. You argue that the Governor of the Bank of England "ain't rich" because of some self-justifying waffle his missus span when she was trying to justify their obscene living allowance in central London (£600K - £845K p.a. doesn't cut it, apparently). That's cute, especially since he seems to have had a glittering career in various financial institutions prior to taking up this "low-paid" job in London. You were talking clarity of thought?

I'm sorry, Tim. I was proceeding from the logical assumption that if you got to create money from nothing, then lend it out at a rate of interest, then you'd probably be in the right place to get vastly wealthy. As for lacking detail, the point could be chucked back your way. You claimed that the Governor of the Bank of England is not rich based on a couple of conversations with his wife, who claimed that they were unable to afford the 11K a month rent the UK taxpayer pays for his pad. How many other "not rich" people do you know with an 11K p.m. rent bill?

Oh dear. I seem to (once again) stumbled into a brilliant trap of your (and my own) making. You've got me. I don't have the personal assets (or indeed, the names) of those central bankers that get to issue pretend money for free and then charge it at a rate of interest. Is it not a lucrative game, then? How much cash does your pal Mark Carney have?

Aw sweet, but I'm actually a graduate with top honours. Mickey Mouse Uni though, so bear that in mind.

Let me stop you right there, sir. Greece had its democracy suspended and austerity imposed by troika when central bankers looked like they wouldn't get their money back. Italy had a temporary technocratic government installed to do the same thing. The job of both those governments was to take things from the people to satisfy the demands of the central bankers. It didn't work. Greece owes more than it ever did, and has paid more as a nation than it ever should have. As for pretend money, all money is created out of debt, or more accurately, promises to pay. Greece didn't take money from anyone else when borrowing. That money was just invented when Greece promised to pay it back. Weaving these points into a coherent whole, basic needs were denied to an entire country in a failed bid to get it to pay back money that never really existed, just to validate broken financial and political systems. Is that enslavement? I'd argue so. Any situation imposed by a third party in which someone has no choice to comply can be described as such, especially if the usual measures for resolution have been suspended. The Greek people had no choice on whether they accepted the foreign-imposed austerity. They do now, and thank f**k for that. Hopefully, they'll be the first to comprehensively decry this corrupt financial system you so slavishly protect.

Tech college, please.

Quiet, muchtooginge, otherwise people'll think you're stalking again.

Q: Why do Germans walk about like they own the place on European holidays? A: Because they fúcking do I'm here all week.