TV times...

Christmas television is not what is was in our younger day, quality content diluted across so many channels and platforms.

So here's an alternate viewing schedule for you, comprising videos I've squirelled away in my YouTube Watch Later list but never really found a reason to post about individually. Start this straight after Christmas lunch and this little lot should see you through to bedtime. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals...

1. Alice Roberts | Morals Without Religion: the Unholy Mrs Knight and the Hypocritical Humanist - in case you've had too much religion this week (43:53)
2. FT Drama starring Stephen Fry | Is AI going to change who we really are? - short thought-provoker, feels very now (13:43)
3. BBC Archive | Big Jim's Boozy Bike Trip to Braemar - a reminder why Nationwide was better than The One Show (7:05)
4. The Jam | Danish TV Concert Special - nicely remastered TV special from 1982 (38:00)
5. CBS Mornings: R.E.M. on songwriting, breaking up and their lifelong friendship - proper Christmas feelgood (41:20)
6. BBC | "Call My Bluff" S11 E5 (1977) featuring Gabrielle Drake, Tom Baker, Miriam Stoppard, Alan Coren - tea-time telly with (70s sigh) Nick's sister Gabrielle... (29:56)
7. Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones | The Homemade Xmas Video - my concession to the fact that it's Christmas, after all (32:54)
8. The Royal Institution | The harsh reality of ultra processed food - with Chris Van Tulleken - something to digest as you, er, digest... (57:53)
9. Documentary | He's Starsky, I'm Hutch - be honest, you're already hearing the theme tune in your head (44:40)
10. DUST | Limbo - nothing says Christmas like a short film of Black Mirror-esque dystopia (24:22)
11. Fearne Cotton's Happy Place | Minnie Driver On How The Meaning Of Life Can Fluctuate - I could watch Minnie all day (54:54)
12. The Diary Of A CEO | Jimmy Carr: The Easiest Way To Live A Happier Life - love him or loathe him, he has some interesting things to say in this long-form interview (1:40:28)
13. Graham Norton | Robin Williams - unrivalled late-night chat show fare (37:42)
14. Television Archive | If I Ruled The World - late-night panel show comedy from 1999, if you still don't want to go to bed... (29:23)

The gospel according to Pete and Dud

"Me and the lads were abiding in the fields..."

Happy Christmas to all those that do.

When The Thames Froze

Not a history lesson about London frost fairs but a 2011 Christmas song from Smith & Burrows, about whom I know very little. This starts sad, with some lyrics that are unfortunately still relevant, but manages to cheer itself up slightly by the end. Hopefully this Christmas will do the same.

Monday long song: This Is Hardcore (Tiny Desk Concert version)

You've probably seen this already, being the culturally savvy beasts that you are, but here's Pulp doing a stripped-back, minimal but still epic This Is Hardcore for the acclaimed, long-running series of Tiny Desk concerts. Interesting to watch the physicality of Jarvis's performance in such a constrained space too.

Because it's nearly Christmas and I spoil you, leave this running for the rest of the concert, and you'll get similarly stripped versions of Something Changed, from Different Class, A Sunset from this year's comeback More and Acrylic Afternoons from His'n'Hers.

Sunday shorts: Picture Framed

I haven't written about Swagger for at least a couple of months, and that won't do, so let's return to The Blue Aeroplanes' finest moment once more, and pick out Picture Framed for a beautiful Sunday short.

Will I turn my coat to the rain?

If I could write one song as good as this, I'd be happy. Hang on to the end for an Inspirals outro.

Blue Friday: Four Friends

Four Friends was written, produced and conducted by Ennio Morricone for the soundtrack to Brian De Palma's The Untouchables. Long-term readers will probably know that I love everything about that film. You may also recall that, of the four friends this piece is named for, only two make it out of the story alive.

It's a beautiful, beautiful, achingly sad piece.

Catch me

You might have seen the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, and, if you have, you probably know it is based on the true story of teen conman Frank Abagnale. Well, here is the real Frank being interviewed by US chat show royalty Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, all the way back in 1978. This is classic time-capsule TV gold. And yes, I am clearing out my YouTube Watch Later list.

Eeek!

Noodle Doodle mouses! Happy birthday TMOC!

Monday long song - Your Day (GLOK remix)

This is Your Day by Manchester revivalists Pastel. It's quite good but the eagle-eyed or chronometrically aware will notice that it is not a long song, Monday or otherwise, falling some way short of the unofficial MLS threshold of six minutes. It's alright though, isn't it? I'm quite partial to a band that wears its influences on its collective sleeve.

Yes, yes, yes, but this is a Monday long song post, isn't it? So let's get to a remix of the above by Andy Bell in full electronic alter ego GLOK mode. It's a very different animal and, truth be told, possibly more memorable than the source material? In the right setting, with the right speakers, I think this could sound immense. What do you think?

Quite fitting that the label, Spirit of Spike Island, have used footage from Kill Bill for this video, as the song in this form has a filmic quality, I reckon, and feels taylor-made for a soundtrack.

Anyway, if you could only take one version to a desert island, which would you choose and why?

That Was The Year That Was: 2025

Incredibly, this is the fifteenth time I've recapped a year like this (for completists, here are the others). Fifteen times, blimey ... God alone knows what we are both still doing here...

But since we are hanging around, still, I'll crack on with this nonsense, whilst you gaze in wonderment at just how staid, parochial and predictable I am.

It'll keep us both busy, if nothing else. Having said that, I've written noticeably less than in years gone by, so I won't keep you for long - we can all be thankful for that.

Best album

Well, there have been a couple of stand-outs for me this year: the unexpected joy of More by Pulp, and Antidepressants by Suede, who continue to surprise us all with the excellence of their third age.

Also noteworthy are Bowerbirds and Blue Things by Jetstream Pony and Find El Dorado by Paul Weller, the latter proving what a great reinterpreter he has always been.

Best song

Many of the songs I've heard for the first time this year are old, just new to me. But of 2025 releases, I've been impressed by Masquerade by Cardinals, Bonnet of Pins by Matt Berninger and Disintegrate by Suede. Oh, and a late dive for the tape was made by The Light Won't Shine Forever by Aussie band Floodlights. The nod, though, goes to Apple Green UFO by Andy Bell, which makes me feel about 30 years younger than I am. Who could ask for more? Here's the full length version to luxuriate in...

Best gig

As good as the usual suspects (The Smyths, From The Jam, The Wedding Present) have all been, and as good a night out as Roger Daltrey (morphing into Warwick Davis) was, the nod here, unsurprisingly, goes to the Gene reunion show at the Hammersmith Apollo in October. Literally everything I could ever want from a gig.

Best book

Like the song category, this has been tricky because most of what I've read for the first time this year has been old: Cider with Roadies by Stuart Maconie was very enjoyable, but was published in 2005. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, though an astonishing work of memoir, is even older (1999). But of course I can always rely on Stephen King - Never Flinch was not only published this year but also dependably enjoyable, even if not his best work.

Best film

The year was bookended by stand-outs: Dylan-goes-electric biopic A Complete Unknown at one end and Edgar Wright's ever-so-slightly-disappointing take on vintage King (as Bachman) The Running Man at the other. In between, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey deserves a special mention, for really making me think, whilst Brad's F1 and Tom's Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning both delivered predictable thrills without reinventing cinema. I must also mention Nina Conti's brilliant surreal simian road movie, Sunlight. Oh, and as a dad, it was lovely to share movie nostalgia with Amusements Minor with the live-action remake of How To Train Your Dragon.

Best theatre

I haven't seen much on stage this year. Does an NT Live cinema screening of Dr Strangelove count? Steve Coogan was excellent in four roles. Also noteworthy was the 30th anniversary on-stage gathering, for performance and anecdotes, of The Fast Show ensemble, minus the late Caroline Aherne. Aren't end-of-year round-ups brilliant?! Oh, and I finally got to see the Jon Ronson: Psychopath Night stage show. Entertaining and thought-provoking stuff.

Best television

I feel like I must have forgotten something, because this reads like a really slow year for TV. Finally got Wednesday 2 on Netflix, which was good but inevitably not as good as the first series, despite a liberal sprinkling of Joanna Lumley. Like the rest of the nation, Amusements Towers got into Celebrity Traitors, despite never having watched a single moment of the regular, non-celebrity version. Apologies if there's a theme developing, but Celebrity Race Across The World also hits the spot in our house. And as I write this, we're half way through Stranger Things 5, so far living up to the almost impossible levels of expectation.

Best sport

I enjoyed Liverpool FC winning the Premier League, even if it felt anticlimatic. Just as well, because they've blown up a bit this season. Other notables included Iga Świątek at Wimbledon and Georgia Hunter Bell at the World Athletics Championships (both awesome), and the Lionesses at the UEFA Women's Euros.

Person of the year

Well, it's not a person but a thing: the NHS. Fourteen years of Tory underinvestment have left it on its knees and, as a result, it's pretty far from perfect these days. Yet still it goes on, against the odds, delivering care and services to our sick and injured. It's easy to point out when things go wrong in the NHS, and to be frustrated by bureaucracy and poor communication... but it gets so much right, still, even in the most trying of circumstances. We'll miss it when it's gone, you know.

Tool of the year

Trump again, obviously. Not content with sending troops into US cities for paper-thin, politically motivated reasons, claiming to end wars that have not ended, failing to touch the sides of what's going on in Ukraine, bulldozing bits of the White House to make way for a huge/vulgar ballroom (compensating much?), not sending anyone of any status or significance to COP 30, doing anything to divert attention from the Epstein files, pardoning people he doesn't even know, expressing interest in somehow running for a third term, presiding over the longest shutdown in US political history, finally promising to release those Epstein files and then not, and so much more besides... he's ended the year by going after the BBC and giving himself a sports day peace prize medal at the World Cup draw. That's a sequence of words I never conceived would be necessary or even feasible to write. What a desperate, sad, insecure, delusional little man he is ... and/or a colossal orange prick.

I hope that was worth it but know, deep down, that it wasn't. Reader: how was 2025 for you?

New to NA: Floodlights

I came to this song via a recommendation from The Robster that was delivered as an end-of-year pick at the excellent No Badger Required. And they say blogging is dead.

Anyway, I haven't been able to stop playing The Light Won't Shine Forever since. It's how I think Fontaines DC would sound if they came from Melbourne instead of Dublin; that sounds intriguing, doesn't it? And it builds... it builds and builds.

The whole album from whence this comes, Underneath, is good, but this is the absolute standout for me.

The light won't shine forever
But it is now

Monday long song: There Goes The Fear

There are some songs that feel, well, if not quasi-religious, then certainly spiritual, to me at least. This is one such. It came on in the car at the weekend, an unexpected gem poking out through the grime of an otherwise mostly unremarkable indie compilation CD kept in the glovebox for emergency sonic variety - you know the sort of thing, The Best Ever Indie Anthems IV, available on the shelves of charity shops everywhere for 50p or less.

Anyway... I don't know if it was because I was with Amusements Minor and feeling sentimental because time is passing too quickly, or because I'd been thinking about my parents, or whether I'm just in a low place generally ... whatever the reason, we listened to this driving home and I felt myself starting to well up.

I've loved this musically since day one, when it was released as a single all the way back in (gulp) 2002. I especially love the extended musical outro, and how it ties itself up in a neat musical bow at the end: buh duh-duh, ba-dum dum. But on Sunday, it was the lyric that forced some mote or other into my eye, specifically the line about life passing you by. Because that's how it feels, often, I fear.

You turn around and life's passed you by
You look to ones you love to ask them why?
You look to those you love to justify
You turned around and life's passed you by
Passed you by, again

Here's the full-length album version, for a Monday long song. No single edits here.

Here we go again

No musical advent calendars this year - too much work, too little reward. But there's always this, from Aidan Moffat: the perfect metaphor of Plastic Mistletoe. Bah, humbug, et cetera...