At dinner at a pleasant French restaurant last night, we discovered that we all had, by some coincidence, watched Tony Blackburn’s 1970s video selections on TMF (free-to-air digital music channel) at the weekend.

This led to the curious suggestion that 70s popsters Baccara – of Yes Sir, I Can Boogie fame – might actually be the Cheeky Girls back in time. (Or mad, or in a coma.)

Thanks to YouTube, you can decide for yourself:

A couple of month’s ago I mentioned the Number 10 petitions, and in particular recommended a petition calling for individuals to have the right to copy material they own for their own personal use, for example by ripping CDs to MP3 format so you can listen on an iPod.

The Government has now responded, and it appears to be good news:

The findings of this review [into intellectual property] have now been published and recommend the introduction of a private copying exception for the purposes of format shifting. This would allow individuals to copy music which they have legally bought on compact disc onto an MP3 player without infringing copyright.

In the background of the wedding reception scene in 2006’s Doctor Who Christmas special The Runaway Bride, you might have heard Neil Hannon (off of the Divine Comedy) singing a rather good little song. It’s called Love Don’t Roam and was written for the episode.

It’s available on the Who soundtrack album and really should have been released as a single, but hasn’t been. In the olden days, that would have precluded it from entering the charts, but now that downloads can make the Top 40, a concerted effort will get it the exposure it deserves.

So, if you’ve not heard it, go and pay your 79p on iTunes (or your preferred legal download provider), and bask in it’s catchiness; if you have heard it, you’ll already want to download it as I’ve done. (Hat-tip.)

One of the disappointing things about the United Kingdom’s entries in the Eurovision Song Contest – apart from, well, their quality – has been the reluctance of mainstream artists to put themselves forward; or perhaps of the BBC to ask them. Given the kitsch and potentially career-ending nature of the competition, it’s not surprising if acts aren’t tempted to risk their careers on it, but even so it’s odd that we don’t see them trying. Every now and again, though, someone shows an interest, and this time it’s Morrissey:

The former Smiths singer said he was “horrified” by the United Kingdom’s latest poor result in the competition. Rapper Daz Sampson could only manage a paltry 19th out of 24 countries in the most recent contest, which took place in Athens in May.

As a result of said trauma, Morrissey has been left troubled, with one issue in particular on his mind: “There is one question that I keep on asking: ‘why didn’t they ask me?’ That question keeps going round my head.”

A Song for Europe (or whatever it’s called now) with Morrissey vs Franz Ferdinand vs The Divine Comedy, say, would certainly be more entertaining than in recent years, assuming they made it past the Radio 2 listeners who choose the finalists. And that Coldplay aren’t involved.