OK, I've stopped. My new game involves cutting and pasting posts into Word and using the word count facility to see how long they are. Today, Gay Dirty Den wins a clear mandate with 1480 words, saving the need for complex transferral of second preferences. Pinefox comes a respectable second with 1217. However, pinefox's count is being examined closely by the returning officer after allegations that 178 words were ineligible, being supplied by a French structuralist prankster. They were both very good, though, don't you think? But 1480 words! I used to take weeks to write essays that long at university. I'm not quite sure what ian's thesis is, but it reads very nicely. I do have to take issue with his assertion that anyone who tries to change the world for the better ends up doing more harm than good, though. Like my mum used to unilaterally clear up rubbish around where we used to live in Peckham. Mind you, I suppose some hardline lefty could say that she was absolving the council from its responsibilities and making the situation worse in the long term. But what about Martin Luther King or William Wilberforce or Nelson Mandela, or... someone else not involved in black emancipation? Robin remarked that..

Nick continues his crusade against tweeness. True, twee's not a flattering word, and I'm not all that keen on giving myself a label, but I'm quite fond of the, um, ambient of the band and I don't think it should be denyed. Maybe there's another word to describe it.

I don't know. 'Parochial' is the only thing that comes to mind. Not terribly flattering either, though. 'Wistful'? Bollocks to it. Sometimes I think language would be enriched if adjectives were banned. I have discovered blogs (crap name, derived from 'web logs'). They're like www.ntk.net but less geeky. Start with www.riothero.com or www.netcomuk.co.uk/~tewing/blueline.html Ooh, Lucy's posted her exp-er-iences: Was Isobel's biker jacket made out of little foxes? I might have known Beanz would be the one behind the fiendish 12" extension scandal. DJ snob. I thought that 12"s were designed for the the visually impaired, like large-print books.

- The general consensus in the band seems to be that The Model is the best song on the album, although Don't Leave The Light... and Too Much Love were also mentioned as good'uns

Hang on. Miller's right - the album doesn't come out for another month. How can they have heard it? Can someone explain?

At this point, his argument was sort of ruined by a person of this parish, who will remain nameless, who got a tiny bit carried away and shouted out "BUT YOU'RE THE BEST BAND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD EVER!" or something.

MCARTHUR!! COME HERE! Nick xx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+