Somewhere else in China

Okay, with Suede already having announced plans there, and now Morcheeba off there too, perhaps it's time to stop reporting 'western acts touring China' like its that unusual - certainly, there seem to be better gigs in Peking these days than you get in Cheltenham; surely time to leave the phrase "following in the footsteps of Wham" out of any articles.

The Morcheeba jaunt is being sponsored by The British Council, as part of the organisation's largest ever investment in taking British artists overseas. A lot of their efforts are going to be concentrated on countries that Bush has on his little list, so, for example, A Winters Tale is going to be peformed by Dundonians in Tehran.

While we're happy at the thought of Blank Verse, Not Bombs, we're a little worried that since one of the biggest problems caused in "The Clash of Civilisations (a trademark of the News International Organisation)" is the perception of Western Cultural Imperialism, maybe sending over more Western Culture isn't the most constructive approach.