Michael MacLennan

Thanks. I'd love to have been at the gig tonight, but in the Highlands I have to be for Sunday's Loch Ness marathon. Oh, the joy...

Hey there, I have had the pleasure of recording The Herald's first-ever podcast, an interview with Teenage Fanclub ahead of their sold-out show at the Barrowlands tonight. As some of you probably know, they're playing 1991's Bandwagonesque in its entirely, which was voted Spin magazine's album of the year in 1991, ahead of Nirvana's Nevermind, REM's Out of Time and My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. I caught up with Brendan O'Hare and Norman Blake from the band at Mono to talk about the upcoming show, their memories of the recording and the reaction afterwards. The interview also includes their recollections of a recent near-death experience caused by a flying twiglet, and dressing up in dodgy Elvis costumes for a BBC session back in the day... The podcast And the associated article Anyway, the more people than download this the better, as it will show those in charge at The Herald that there's an appetite for more coverage of Scottish music in the paper and on the website. (Obviously my concerns are completely altruistic...) So I hope a few of you are able to have a listen and tell any fans of the band about it, and if you want to give some feedback (the e-mail address is michael.maclennan@theherald.co.uk) it would be very much appreciated, in case I get the chance to do more of the same in the future. Thanks!

Ban him for wanting to ban people!

Nobody's accused Russell Brand of rape, if anyone had read the actual story, instead of looking at a deliberately misleading Daily Star headline and then jumping to conclusions... whoever started this thread is an idiot, though I can't for the life of me even be bothered to go back and find out his/her name. PS I like Russell Brand too, he was very funny at his fringe show.

What silly questions to ask, you're obviously just trying to start a 'controversial' debate by wilfully misinterpreting what he said. It doesn't really add anything to the thread, just a way of having a go at an easy target.

God knows, I'll probably be working Sept 1, but a preview may be in order...

Not in a civil action, no.

No' date=' that's not the case for defamation, though that is what they said about the article. The problem is that, even if 'substantially' true, those parts that aren't true - if they lower him in the eyes of the public - would be defamatory. It doesn't appear that way; it appears that some parts can't be relied upon, but to believe that 18 independent witnesses would perjure themselves in court... well, I wouldn't be surprised if the appeal reverses the verdict (or at least substantially reduces the damages). I don't think it would have been the same result if it wasn't in front of a jury, though I think the News of the World were very unwise to advance the argument in court that what they said was 'substantially true'; not least because it already implies that they're not telling the truth about some parts.

No way they'll get convicted though, the fact that 18 people are saying the same sort of thing will be enough to have reasonable doubt. I'll be interested to see the reasoning behind the verdict; whether the jury thought that all 18 people who testified against him are liars, or (as I'd find more likely) that they found aspects of the story exaggerated, and therefore defamatory, but not that the main details of the story were untrue.

Feast your eyes on this...

There's already a promo picture of Topher Grace as Venom which looks absolutely amazing, so I've been won over by that (will try and get picture). As for Heath Ledger, he's a damned fine actor, so I'm sure Nolan knows what he's doing. And much as I would approve of Crispin Glover, every time he appeared on screen I'd probably think of him sniffing Drew Barrymore's hair in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and looking all 'scary', which has ruined my perception of him forever.

The three that spring to mind: The Knife - Silent Shout Tool - 10,000 days The Presets - Beams

I wouldn't blame Cowie, don't think he did such a bad job in retrospective compared to the prime suspect... Andi Peters. Even the name gives me nightmares.

I know, you might have thought the binge-drinking and hardcore pizza-eating would have finished me off by now, but no! Never!

For those who remember me from my good old days in Aberdeen (when I was either known as Uncle Mikey, Subsisty or that gimp in the rubbish band no-one cares about), then come join me in the Granite City as I return for the first time in AGES and probably last time EVER while I destroy my liver over the course of a single evening. If you don't know my number, send me a PM. Not sure where we'll be going, someone mentioned the Basement (sp?), I'm so out of touch that all the images in my head are in black and white. I'll probably go to Moshulu later on for nostalgia's sake, so if you don't see me before I'll probably be there at some point in the morning, crying uncontrollably and vomiting over all my former friends, all while trying to sing La Vida Loca. Can you afford NOT to miss this?

But thanks, calling me a paedophile really shows how wrong I was.

Despite how 'stupid' everyone thinks this 14-year-old is (and for Christ's sake, she is still a child), anyone insinuating that a girl making a few bad choices means getting sexually assaulted is 'her own fault' is a fucking cretin. And everyone else immediately making assumptions about a case they know little to nothing about, congratulations: you're also acting like morons. I'd say that assumption makes an ass out of u and me. But in this case, it's just you.