Still ill: Morrissey collapses on stage

Well, that's what a cold evening in Swindon can do to a man: Morrissey has been taken to hospital after swooning away on stage:

A spokesman for the Great Western Ambulance Service said: "A 50-year-old man who was reported to be reported to be suffering from respiratory problems and was unconscious. We sent a paramedic in a doubled-crewed ambulance. When they arrived they found a conscious patient who was not feeling well at all."

A spokesman for the Great Western hospital said: "Morrissey is being reviewed by the medical staff and his condition is stable."

It's not known what's wrong with him, which means it's probably related to his unidentified illness from earlier in the year.

Twittergem: The_4th_Floor

Radio One's 4th Floor tweets the announcement that this year's One Big Weekend will be in Swindon:

And we can confirm that N-Dubz will be there - although we'll be announcing another HUGE act soon! #bigweekend

Which seems to mean: N-Dubz are going to be there. But don't worry, there's going to be an announcement about someone better.

X Factor loses it

Not only is Dannii's single struggling, but further evidence that the X Factor brand isn't a guarantee of gold: Tonight's X Factor now and then live extravaganza has been axed after only 165 tickets were sold for a 3,000 seat venue.

The inaptly named Futureproof, Ben Mills and somebody called Andy Abraham had apparently been going to show up, although had they done so, they'd have been outnumbering the audience.

Wonderfully, the promoter is placing the blame on this year's contest:

Alan Ruck-Nightingale, the event promoter, said: "It's a huge shame and I can't quite grasp why sales haven't gone well.
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"There's been no lack of marketing, in the Advertiser and on radio and a 30,000 leaflet drop to houses.

"I don't think this year's X Factor competition has had such good competitors, so maybe that's been part of it."

Yes, that'd be it. "Shall we go and see this bloke off the telly from a couple of years ago, love?" "Ooh, no, because this year's contestants are a bit rubbish..."

As James P pointed out when he alerted us to this story, the people of Swindon will pay for their inaction:

They'll be kicking themselves though, the people of Swindon; After cancelling this concert, the organisers have also scrapped plans for a follow-up gig with even bigger names. But alas thanks to audience apathy, Swindon will no longer be treated to the double-header pop-monster that would have been Shayne Ward and Chico.

Gennaro Castaldo watch: Bully

Of all the places you'd expect Gennaro Castaldo to crop up, who would have put money on him tailing a piece in the Swindon Advertiser, reacting to a group of schoolchildren's campaign to have a video game banned?

The kids are unhappy that Canis Canem Edit was available in their local HMV. They all wrote to the manager, and got no response, so instead they hopped on a train to ask their MP about it up in Westminster.

Gennaro, mind you, says we shouldn't be alarmed by the game:

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said the game was meant to empathise with the victims of bullying in showing them fighting back.

He also said that the company had never banned a game in order to maintain its customers' free choice, but that controversial games such as Canis Canem Edit are not usually promoted in store, meaning customers would have to search for them.

Ah! So it seems to be an official line at HMV then that the correct response to violence is more violence - presumably it's only a matter of time before Nipper is replaced by one of those jaws-on-legs dogs that perform the role of accounts overdue for drug dealers.

We're also entranced by this idea that HMV doesn't ban things because it wishes to maintain the customer's right to choose. Where's the hardcore porn section in our local store, then?

More to the point, isn't the same HMV which banned The Rolling Stones back catalogue from its Canadian branches because it was having a hissy fit at the Stones doing a deal with a rival store?

And how touching is the "well, customers have to look for it, so that's alright, then" defence - perhaps something drug dealers could look into: "Nah, I'm not a pusher, but if the kids find the heroin filed under 'H' in the 'Drugs for sale' cabinet, what can I do?"

Nutini 'always talks like he's drunk'

We'd have thought that Paolo Nutini's management might have come up with a better explanation for his Swindon nightmare - he appeared to be so drunk fans walked out during his set on Sunday - than "he always talks like that", which has now locked him into having to slur his words every time he speaks in public for the forseeable future. Still, here's the official line:

Nutini's manager, Brendan Moon, said his client was just mumbling as he sang, and that the set was subject to several technical problems that made him difficult to hear.

He said last night: "Him being drunk is absolute nonsense.

"Anybody who has seen Paolo before knows it's just the way he speaks.

"He has never claimed to be an orator and he is not a brilliant public speaker, but he doesn't pretend to be."

Mr Moon said Nutini, whose debut album These Streets is now multi-platinum, had enjoyed "a couple" of beers as he listened to Sunday's [Celtic] match.

Mr Moon added: "Paolo probably had a couple of beers.

"There were also a few technical problems during the gig, but at the end everybody went mad - they loved him."

We're still amused by the idea of Swindon Oasis Centre being considered a natural venue on a "world tour", to be honest.