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The wait is over for the guinea pig year in the new schools admissions system. Rachel Pegg looked over the results.

When it came, admissions D-day probably wasn’t nearly as bad as some predicted. The so-called ‘lottery’ scheme made national headlines when it was first devised by the former Labour-run Brighton and Hove City Council.

Richard Cairns

In an attempt to make the system fairer, the council decided that after children with special needs, in care or with a sibling connection to a school were dealt with, the remaining places at over-subscribed schools would be distributed randomly by computer. Critics accused the council of playing with children’s futures for the sake of a social experiment.

The council replied that for too long affluent parents had cheated the system by buying homes within the ‘golden halo’ catchment areas of popular schools, while others had insisted their children went to top-rated schools even if they lived on the other side of the city.

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Pushing our way into a tightly packed Komedia, it’s easy to see that Brighton based Fink has no trouble pulling in a crowd.

His first album ‘Biscuits for breakfast’ earnt him a huge international following and saw Fink touring all over the UK supporting Zero 7. This was quickly followed by gigs at The Green Man, The Big Chill and an unusual one at Bestival in which, unfortunately, drummer Tim Thornton and bassist Guy Whittaker were not able to make it so Fink pushed on regardless, playing percussion and bass on his acoustic guitar. I’m still searching for a copy of that show.
The new album ‘Distance and Time’ is a cracking follow up to ‘Biscuits for Breakfast’. From the beautifully subtle ballad ‘If Only’ to the rhythmic throb of ‘This is the Thing’, the whole journey is sewn together with gravely, brooding, heartfelt lyrics and an incredibly full sound for a 3 piece band.

With a well chosen mix of tracks from the first and current albums, the evening at Komedia was rounded of to huge applause with a cheeky cover of the old Kraftwerk hit ‘The model’.
It’s a real privelage to go to a gig and hear a band who sound as good if not better than they do in the studio and i would recommend that you check Fink out at your earliest convenience.

Well that’s what i ‘fink’ anyway!

Brighton is home to many things un-British, alien to our history and culture you might say. But what Brighton actually is, is a place for the future, where the styles, sounds and ways of living co-exist in an incredibly diverse melting pot of creative talent.

One day, everywhere will be a little more like Brighton. And so, it’s no surprise to find the UK’s best alt-country/bluegrass band plying their wares here, and tonight’s gig saw them launch their excellent second album, Samurai. Better produced than their rough n’ ready debut, Samurai is full of gorgeous, melancholy songs of love and loss, delivered by Irish lead singer Gareth McGahan, in his inimitable parched style. Prominently featuring violinist Mike Simmonds, and riding the wave of a bobbing, double-bass driven groove, the MFC stay well clear of country cliches, and deliver a masterclass in economy, style and songcraft.

Katie finds the flaccidity of the fashionista world a little hard to stomach

They say never meet your heroes, and luckily I don’t get to.

Despite spending a vast amount of my time chatting up celebs, I rarely run into one I actually give a damn about.

If there is the odd brilliant writer, famous columnist, nymphomaniac comedian or crack smoking jazz singer I wouldn’t mind meeting, then you can be sure as hell I won’t.

The sad truth is my market is more Peaches Geldof than Leonard Cohen. And this week is no exception.

It’s Fashion Week in London and I’m on the beat: strutting around the trendy catwalks of the capital schmoozing supermodels and draining Bellinis with skeletal airheads.

I wish that stereotypes about models weren’t true. But for every pretty face I meet that has something interesting to say are another ten queuing up to get their face in the paper, with nothing to contribute.

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