Martin Gore wants someone to non-violently shoot Simon Cowell

In these post-McAlpine days, does that headline count as an incitement to non-violent violence? Who can be sure?

Gore wants Cowell shot to remove his woeful influence on music:

"I'm not advocating violence but I think somebody should shoot Simon Cowell.

"His influence in the music industry over the last God knows how many years it's been now... it's just like, so many people think that that's what music is.

"What happened to bands getting together? They are very few and far between now and the ones that do probably can't afford to get into a studio and make a record."

I'm not quite sure how you'd go about shooting someone non-violently - presumably you'd need to get a masseur to relaxing shoot him? Not that you should.

Don't shoot Simon Cowell. Just don't.

Besides, it's like chopping down a tree that's got ash dieback; the infection is already blowing through the country on every wind. It's too late to do any good.

Not that shooting Simon Cowell would be good, anyway.

Gore & Clarke back together again

Thirty years after Vince Clarke quit Depeche Mode, he's working again with Martin Gore:

Gore explained that Clarke emailed him about the idea "out of the blue". He said: "Out of the blue I got an email from Vince just saying, 'I'm interested in making a techno album. Are you interested in collaborating?'

First fruits are an EP, Spock, next week; there'll be a full album in 2013. Then something else round the middle of the century.