RICHEY: OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF...: So it's seven years to the day that Richey "disappeared", puzzling the sharpest minds of Avon & Somerset Police - "His car was parked by a famous suicide spot. He was badly depressed. He had an obsession with artists who killed themselves. He was a self-abuser. No money has been withdrawn from any of his accounts since. And there has been no sign of him since. Nope, can't imagine what's happened there." Of course, it's a tragedy of enormous proportions - personally, for his family and friends; artistically for anyone who's watched the Manics become bloated pillows forced over the faces of all that their youthful selves stood for. Of course, some people grow up, grow old, slower, more willing to compromise, and while behaviour that looks essential when you can still taste your teen years on your breath can start to become stale when you're halfway to getting subsidised bus journeys, it's a pity the Manics didn't take a cue from New Order and at least repackage themselves when they watered the contents down. It's not just a day to remember seven years without a bright, inspired young man; it's a day to feel sad that even Somerset and Avon could discover the bloated corpse of Manicdom.
BBC News retrospective on Richey, who could have officially died today -There's a really, really cute picture of him here...
of course, Manics fans have got far more important things to worry about - faking their own deaths, to even consider Richey. It's also interesting to
note that the front page of the official manics.co.uk on the seventh anniversary is choosing to headline Nicky Wire's contribution to a book about football rather than a memorial note. Wasn't football one of those things that the manics was in opposition to?

PICTURES OF SHINY NEW CARS SELL RECORDS: Chumbawamba agree to allow GM to use one of their tracks in a TV campaign, and give their share of the booty to anti-GM campaigns. See, they only let them use the track so they could sell some albums, and, of course, if they give the cash to a small campaigning group, it's karma-neutral, right?
Wrong. Because the Pontiac spot will be riddled through the American media for ages, while the $70,000 the Chumbs have given will fund - what? a small ad in the back of the new internationalist, a couple of banners for a protest outside Ellesmere Port, and maybe a small website. That'll balance it out.
Besides, when did selling records suddenly become so motivated to flog CDs? Back during the Band Aid era, they released the splentically titled Pictures of starving babies sell records. Perhaps true, but at least Bob didn't sign a deal to let Do They Know Its Christmas promote the very drought he was campaigning against. It all smacks of how lazy and indeed arrogant the band have come - as with the Brits a few years back, when they hoped a pisspoor dousing of John Prescott would stop people noticing they'd been paid hard cash to dance like buffons for his entertainment just ten minutes earlier.
Chumbwamba will sing for food - Next planning a 'have your cake, eat your cake' campaign for Mr. Kipling