Today I will be dining on squashed tomatoes and stew.
Followed by a dessert of bread and butter in the gutter.
Yum.
Here are some songs.
On the day I was born, Harry Nilsson was at Number One. Not with this song, sadly...
Thursday, 19 March 2026
Wednesday, 18 March 2026
Modern Life Is Rubbish #5: Chief Brody On The Beach
Ben sent me the above cartoon from The Grauniad shortly after last week's post about the AI Armageddon. It says a lot about the dangers of online rabbit holes and the propensity in human nature to allow ourselves to be willingly sucked down them.
I've been reading a lot more books lately. When Sam was younger and I was still working in The Bad Place, my reading-for-pleasure had significantly reduced, to the point where I was only managing a page or two a night (if that) and averaging under ten books completed in a year. I've got a much healthier reading regime going at the moment, at least two a month, more if they're shorter. I've taken to listing my latest reads on Goodreads... but then I find myself needing to add a review... and well, it's a slippery slope, isn't it?
You may recall that last week's anti-AI rant was spurred by a training session at work... one in which I felt rather like Chief Brody on the beach in Jaws, telling people to get out of the water on July 4th, while everyone told me it was fine and I should come in for a swim. Afterwards, we were given the task of going away and experimenting with AI to see how it could help us at work. That evening, I also received the traditional training feedback survey. So I asked AI to "write a response to this question: "What did you find most useful?" based on a presentation about the use of AI in education". As a result, I was able to submit the following reply...
What I found most useful was the clear explanation of how AI can genuinely enhance learning rather than replace it. The presentation highlighted practical examples—like personalised learning pathways, instant feedback tools, and automated administrative tasks—that showed how AI can save time for educators while giving students more tailored support.
I also found it especially valuable to see real classroom applications rather than just theoretical ideas. Understanding how AI can help differentiate instruction, identify learning gaps early, and support students with varying needs made the potential impact much more concrete.
Overall, the session made the benefits of AI in education feel both accessible and realistic, and it gave me a clearer picture of how these tools can be responsibly and effectively integrated into everyday teaching.
I admitted that the response was AI-generated, and hoped I'd made my point. There's a huge Great White Shark out there and I'd rather not be floating around on a lilo, thank you very much.
Khayem also replied to last week's post about the threat of Artificial Intelligence changing our lives forever.
...the rate that it’s sweeping through my workplace as a default tool is scary. I can see the attraction: regularly working overtime (unpaid) with an impossibly long to do list, AI prepping a document or report for you in seconds gives you back an hour or so to stress about the other stuff you haven’t done.I’ve not gone done that route, but I also know that some tasks do take longer than they should because I’m tired/over loaded. However, I like my brain and I want to keep exercising it.Having just done a round of recruitment for a fairly senior position, it was depressing at the shortlisting stage to see how many personal statements were clearly AI generated.
I admire your fortitude in standing up for the Resistance, K. The recruitment thing is telling though - I've also heard that AI is regularly being used to sift through and shortlist applications in many jobs, so even if you do go to the effort of sculpting your own CV, chances are it might be rejected by the machine for not sounding enough like a machine. According to a recent feature on BBC News...
...AI screening looks for certain keywords in an applicant's CV. As a result, the bigger picture, which might reveal whether the applicant is actually a good fit is lost.
Surely if you want to give somebody a job, you want to meet them and talk to them first? In my current role, I know for a fact that when I reached the interview stage, I was up against people with far better qualifications on paper... but in the interview itself, I was able to come out on top. Now though (according to that same article on the Beeb), some companies are even using AI for telephone and online interviews... with only a select few making it through to sitting in front of an actual human being.
We might not be able to blame employers for this though, since a tough job market and artificial assistance have increased the number of applications many jobs receive, tenfold.
There are bots that can apply to 1,000 jobs on your behalf while you sleep, tailoring your CV for each of them. This means that the fewer jobs that are on the market are getting more applicants than ever, not just because there are more candidates, but because these candidates are applying to more roles than ever.
This just creates a really dire state where the only way that recruiters and companies can possibly sift through these is by using AI to filter them, so a lot of people are just getting automatically rejected or ghosted from roles. That is less to do with their actual skills, because no human has seen their CV.
Where does this all end? I figured I might ask our AI Overlords...
How can I stop AI rejecting my job application?
It can feel like you’re shouting into a void when an algorithm is the one "reading" your life’s work. In 2026, AI screening has moved beyond simple word matching; it now looks for context, depth, and human authenticity. If you feel like you're being "rejected by the bot," it's likely due to one of three things: formatting that confuses the scanner, a lack of specific "signal" words, or—ironically—sounding too much like an AI yourself.
So will AI start rejecting AI-written applications in favour of ones written by actual human beings? Maybe... if you use the correct "signal" words. Whatever they might be.
Ironically, this tallies with something another teacher told me last week about the latest bout of AI-written essays being handed in to schools across the country. After getting the AI to do their homework for them, the smarter students then add one further level of modification...
Rewrite that - and make it sound less like AI.
God help us all.
Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Namesakes #180: The Bluebells
If I've timed this post right, then the bluebells will be coming into bloom as you read this... so here are some appropriate bands to listen to.
THE BLUE BELLES #1
We start today in 1953 with a foolish female vocal quintet on Atlantic...
THE BLUEBELLS #2
Top notch brass-infused rock 'n' roll from Canada in 1957...
THE BLUEBELLS #3
From the very early 60s, here are some Bluebells supporting Harry Simeone's Orchestra, from the soundtrack of the movie Snow White & The Three Stooges. Golden Age of Hollywood, folks! These Bluebells also recorded a kids album with famous Bond villain, Hugo Montenegro.
THE BLUE BELLS #4
1961 laidback surf instrumental - with added watery sfx which distract from the music, if you ask me - produced by Kim Fowley, who by all accounts was as mad as a box of frogs on a lorry.
THE BLUEBELLS #5
Beginning life in 1962 as The Ordettes, before changing their name to The Bluebelles, and eventually to Patti LaBelle And The Bluebells, this Philly girl group debuted with a US Top 20 hit but never managed to climb so high again. Cyndi Birdsong left to replace Florence Ballard in The Supremes and eventually the remaining Bluebells morphed into LaBelle, hitting the top spot with Lady Marmalade in 1974. Patti LaBelle went on to even greater success as a solo artist in the 80s.
THE BLUE BELLES #6
From Manchester... Georgia... some time in the 60s... comes some Country Blue Belles featuring one Prissy Sue. You can read more about her below...
As you'll see, "Sue has everything to qualify her for a place along with the other top artist". Answers on a postcard as to who "the other top artist" might be. Sheena Easton?
Not being able to find the A-side, Bingo Fool, made me very sad. We'll have to make do with the B-side...
THE BLUE BELLES #7
Top notch Nashville country tune from 1970, with the Blue Belles supplying backing vocals to Mr. Lance Hill.
THE BLUEBELLS #8
A reggae take on the controversial Cancel Culture Club hit Girls by Moments & Whatnauts... produced in the UK by Eddy Grant in 1975. Whatnauts to love?
THE BLUEBELLS #9
More reggae, from 1976, though this comes straight from Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark Studios at his home in Jamaica.
THE BLUEBELLS #10
Ah, yes, the Glaswegian Bluebells, the ones everyone knows. Originally forming in 1981, they enjoyed a smattering of chart success before splitting up in 1986. Then in 1993, the Bluebells version of Young At Heart (a song co-written by Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama - and originally featured on their album Deep Sky Diving) was used in a VW commercial and re-issued, getting all the way to the top of the charts. Since then, the band have reformed sporadically for tours, and even produced a new album in 2023. We'll go with the obvious tune, I guess...
LES BLUE BELLES #11
Atrocious Eurodisco bobbins from the 90s - they appear to have been inexplicably active for most of that decade, in which time they slaughtered various classic tunes including Sugar Baby Love, SOS and ELO's Shine A Little Love. This must surely be their absolute nadir though...
THE BLUE BELLES #12
These guys came from San Francisco in 2011, and the song below featured in the soundtrack to a Reece Witherspoon movie. I'm guessing Mr. Lonesome just plays guitar and leaves the singing to the ladies.
THE BLUE BELLES #13
Bluegrass Blue Belles from Seattle in 2016, with their version of the old Jackson C. Frank song...
BLUEBELLE #14
BLUBELL #15
And finally, a smoky jazz Blubell from Brazil who's been doing her thing since 2006... but here she is in 2022.
Which are the Bluebells of the Ball... and which ones just leave you blue?
Monday, 16 March 2026
The Enigma of CD87: Part 2
Ah, the euphoria that greeted the first three tracks on this
CD… “great opening”, “cracking triumvirate”, “[setting] the bar high for the
rest of the CD”, said the gathered cognoscenti.
But anyone who knows anything about my dubiously higgledy
piggledy taste in music will know that such glory cannot last. To thine own
self be true, Rol.
Track 4: Van Halen - Why Can't This Be Love?
I have a particular fondness for American rock of the 80s
because I grew up without anyone cool to tell me differently. The only muso I
knew as a teenager tried his best to get me into The Smiths (who I rejected at
the time because their singer was “a miserable bastard”) and New Order, of whom
much has been written previously. But he also liked Queen, so I’m sure some of
you would have had him tarred and feathered if he’d been in your
class.
I never really hung out with any discerning Peel or NME
acolytes, so there was nobody to tell me that it wasn’t dope, drip or rizz to
adore the work of Billy Joel, Hall & Oates or even the hair metal crew. It
was only when I joined the blogosphere that I truly became aware of the
tribalistic prejudices that damned me forever after. But as we all know, first
loves never die when it comes to pop music, the songs of our youth never grow
old… which brings us to Van Halen.
The Man In The Street (UK version) will doubtless only be
able to name one Van Halen song – the MTV juggernaut that Roddy Frame
triumphantly turned into a suicide ballad. The band may as well be a one hit wonder
in Britain – unlike the US, where they were semi-regular visitors to the Top 40
between 1978 and 1995. Yet Why Can't This Be Love? is their second biggest
hit, and it was a Top Ten smash on both sides of the Atlantic. It also marked a big change
for the band – David Lee Roth had gone off to become a solo star and do more
cocaine, only to be replaced by Sammy Hagar, originally from 70s band Montrose,
and also a successful solo artist in the early 80s. I think you have to be a
true rock aficionado to spot the difference. People in the know seem to class
Sammy as the better singer, but Diamond Dave is often considered the better
front man. There’s an argument that the difference is immaterial because neither
gets their name on the tin – this was always Eddie Van Halen’s band anyway.
Eddie died of cancer in 2020 and everyone agreed there could be no Van Halen without him. Although there have since been some disturbing rumours that his brother Alex, the band’s long-term drummer, has considered using AI “to duplicate the style of” Eddie’s guitar work… and also looked into the possibility of hiring Robert Plant as vocalist future Van Halen records. Don’t do it, Alex!
Track 5: Madness - Michael Caine
I won’t bore you again with the story about how I never
liked Madness in Junior School because all the tough kids used to go around
singing Baggy Trousers like it was a badge of honour… but at some point I must
have decided the band were all right, and maybe it was this song that tipped me
over.
Michael Caine is very different from the chirpy,
knees up singalongs that had kept Madness firmly fixed in the Top Ten for
almost five years when this was released in early ’84… and ironically, it marked
their departure from that section of the charts until well into the 90s. It
doesn’t even have Suggs on vocals – it was written and performed by top trumpet
dude Chas Smash, and it tackles the thorny subject of IRA informants, using
Michael Caine’s vocal samples as a subtle reminder of spy films like The
Ipcress File. Caine initially refused to blow the bloody doors off on this
track, until his daughter talked him into taking part. Makes me wonder how
different the song would have sounded without his contributions.
Apparently Neil Tennant gave the single a good review in
Smash Hits while Tony Parsons wrote in the NME, “They never sounded less like
Madness and they never sounded so good.” Maybe that’s why this proved to be the
song that thawed my Madness iceberg? Or maybe my arrival in High School had
distanced me enough from the Junior School tough guys to listen without
prejudice.
For many years, I thought Michael Caine also made frequent
vocal contributions to another big hit of the 80s… but I later learned that
those samples were James Fox instead. I’m sure you can guess the song.
Track 6: Love Unlimited - Walkin' In The Rain
Barry White’s first hit record, from the glorious year of
1972, when all was right with the world. Barry wrote and produced this, and
appears towards the end... with the very definition of a phoned-in performance.
Walkin' In The Rain has all the right ingredients to make it a classic soul song - Supremesy chorus, a slowed down talky bit like the Shangri Las, moody sfx, the hint of sex, and flourishes of orchestral glory. Plus added Barry White... what's not to love?
Track 7: The Lightning Seeds - Ready Or Not
What a great singles band The Lightning Seeds were, eh? I sang their praises last year after seeing Ian Broudie & co. play at
the local village hall. Following on from that, I tried listening to
a couple of their old albums again… and I have to be honest, it seemed to these
aging ears that there was a good bit of filler on them. But the singles….? Wow. They were the tipper-most, topper-most.
Oh, you make me feel alright
It's like the tipper-most, topper-most high
Oh it's you you you
Crack up your face and give us a smile
Cos tonight i just wanna be wild
Sunday, 15 March 2026
Snapshots #439: Religious People In Songs
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to listen to some songs about men and women of the cloth...
15. The only trains James Brown would ever take.
14. Hello - this is...
13. Black, Hammer, Simon.
Blacksmith, Hammersmith, Simon Smith...
12. High in Antioxidants.
Black Grape - Reverend Black Grape
11. They get around, rather aimlessly.
The Drifters - Like Sister And Brother
Sisters being nuns, brothers being monks. Of course.
10. All-important band for Mr. Spock.
Essential Logic - Shabby Abbott
9. Don't confuse him with a thick Jew.
"A thick Jew" was an anagram for one of Donald Trump's least favourite pop stars...
Jack White - Archbishop Harold Holmes
8. Paper, Black, Shoe.
Paper Lace, Black Lace, Shoelace.
7. Able footballers and keen fans of Thelonious Monk.
Named after a Thelonious Monk album... and an amazing football shot.
The Brilliant Corners - The Pope, the Monkey and the Queen
What a great tune. Not the best Pope song I know, but this guy gets far too much exposure round thes parts...
6. Witch hunter who found wonder in the invisible world.
Check your history books.
Cotton Mather - The Words Of Shaman Roger
5. U.N. medics.
The World Health Organisation...
There are days when I'm certain that is The Who's finest hour.
4. Yoof speak.
Modern Talking - Brother Louie
I was a little upset to discover I didn't own that track... I thought I had pretty much everything that ever made the Top 20 in the early 80s. Then I listened to it again and figured it was no great loss.
3. Todd gets in between Tim Booth and Morrissey.
James - Todd - Smith.
Also known as...
2. Walk this way!
1. Deputy finds girls in muddle.
"Deputy finds girls" was an anagram for a very young Mary O'Brien...
Dusty Springfield - Son Of A Preacher Man
Please leave something in the collection plate on your way out of the church.
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