Apart from the opening titles to The Office there is no need to do this, ever. Mark Simonson calls it a “scourge”, a “virus through the typographic landscape” and “a shameless impostor”. He’s right. Even the name makes it seem cheap.

The BBC’s obituary of Mike Gibbins, who died in his sleep on 4 October at the age of 56.

Figures from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) indicate that 6% of all UK record sales in the first half of 2005 were digital.

I can’t believe that Mike Gibbins of Badfinger/The Iveys suddenly passed away yesterday.

The distribution rights to the Apple Venus albums have reverted to XTC, so they will be reissued as a set as Andy and Colin originally intended (along with the two demo collections Homespun and Homegrown, but not the instrumental discs). The description of the Apple Box from the announcement is luxurious:

“The box is stunningly simple, pure white, matte laminated with a peacock feather varnished on the box lid. A white matte slipcase completes the look. Inside, each CD is packaged in its own cardboard wallet with new artwork and a 64-page book contains the lyrics to all the songs for the very first time with new liner notes by Andy and Colin.”

When ordered directly from the Idea Records site the Apple Box is autographed by Andy and Colin and comes with a content card containing a PIN number enabling the purchaser to download two new XTC tracks, “Spiral” and “Say It”, and a “?Stupidly Happy” ringtone, all for £13.61 (£15.99 including VAT).