Guardian notes

A few thoughts inspired by things in the Guardian this week.

1. My uncle looks like Mark E. Smith of The Fall.

2. Glastonbury hasn't sold out this year, possibly because the headline act is Jay-Z, a hip-hop artist. Cue lots of moaning from the likes of Noel Gallagher about how Glastonbury should be for guitar bands and blah blah blah. Complete nonsense. Glastonbury has a long tradition of showcasing all kinds of music from free jazz to Shirley Bassey. However, Jay-Z isn't a particular imaginative choice. As Zoe Williams wrote in the Guardian:

"There is nothing counter-cultural about Jay-Z: he embodies mainstream culture; he owns most of it."

Sadly, this does seem in keeping with the increasing commercialisation of the event, particularly since Mean Fiddler took over, built their giant fence around the place and required potential festival-goers to pre-register online for tickets. Next thing you know, they'll be opening a Starbucks.

But commerce and credibility can go hand in hand at Glastonbury. Radiohead have never been a charity. Paul McCartney is signed to the aforementioned Starbucks. Jay-Z used to have that credibility, but over the years he's just become little more than a brand, the granddaddy of bling. He's the wrong choice for Glastonbury. It's a missed opportunity because there is one hip-hop artist who could bring in the crowds and the money, yet do so with impeccable musical credentials. His name? Kanye West.

3. You know you're getting old when you start reaching the age of goverment ministers. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm only four years off the new spanish defence minister, the alluring Carme Chacon. Interesting to see that over half of the Spanish cabinet is now female.

4. Yesterday we learned that 112 building firms have been systematically colluding for years to rig bidding on public sector contracts worth hundreds of millions. It's indicative of the state of governance in this country that this has been allowed to go on without anyone noticing. Could you imagine this kind of thing getting past a company like Tesco?

5. Message to Rupert Grint - Lindsay Lohan is a perfectly fine actress. You, on the other hand...

6. Nice to see Polly Toynbee making a cock-up in her Guardian column today...

"Now Angela Smith has resigned as parliamentary private secretary to Yvette Cooper..."

Whoops! Angela Smith didn't actually resign. Poor Polly must have thought it was such a bang-on certainty that she assumed it was going to happen, and you know what happens when you assume, you make an ass out of.... oh, never mind. The line has miraculously disappeared from the online version anyway!