Gordon in the morning: Fighting for America

There's nothing that Gordon Smart likes more than a chart battle. He sees them where nobody else does.

BRITISH music is littered with spectacular chart scraps.

Two of the best kicked off in the last couple of decades with Take That going toe-to-toe with East 17, then Blur battled with Oasis.

Now The Wanted and One Direction are starting to square up — the boybands are locked in a fight to crack the US first, and the war of words is hotting up.

"Cracking the States first" isn't really a chart battle. And it's not even a battle, anyway - One Direction have had a single which trickled in to the US charts at 28; The Wanted have gone platinum in the US and gone top five. Pretending there's still some sort of race to be first is a bit like wondering who'll be the first to get to the South Pole.

Blimey, though: Cameron, One Direction and The Wanted all turning up in America at the same time. America must think we hate them.