The Best of 2009 Part 2....

Sporting Moments
England regain The Ashes
Jenson Button claims the Formula 1 World Championship
Cristiano Ronaldo signs to Real Madrid for £80m
England qualify for the football World Cup 2010
Tom Watson at the golfing Open Championship

Heroes
Tom Watson
Terry Wogan
Frank Skinner
Stuart Broad
Kim Clijsters

Villains
Nick Griffin
Peter Kay
Jan Moir
Thierry Henry
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Personal events
Birth of my first child George
Moctoberfest
Gaz's Stag Do in Berlin
Playing for Barely Athletic 5-a-side football
Recording the Two Wise Men Podcasts

The Best of 2009....

Albums
Journal For Plague Lovers - Manic Street Preachers
Primary Colours - The Horrors
West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum - Kasabian
The Resistance - Muse
La Roux - La Roux

Films
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
In the Loop
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince
The Damned United

TV
Red Riding (C4)
Micro Men (BBC4)
The Secret Life of The Berlin Wall (BBC4)
James May's Toy Stories (BBC2)
Psychoville (BBC2)

Significant Moments
Nick Griffin appears on BBC's Question Time.
Rage Against The Machine reach Christmas No. 1.
Twitter comes of age/the Iranian election protests.
MP's expenses claims are revealed.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen fails to result in 'legal enforcement'.

Raging against the Machine isn't just for Christmas....it's for life

There's been more than enough coverage in the press, including a number of very good articles below, but there's something, I think, being completely missed about Rage Against The Machine getting to Christmas No.1

Charlie Brooker's Guardian Column
Luke Lewis' NME Blog
Dave Lister's Independent Column

Firstly, RATM getting to Christmas No. 1 is many things but it is NOT a victory for music. A victory for music would mean an artist writing and releasing a new song so capturing the imagination of the general public that it reached the top spot on its own merit and not by weight of on an 'organised' campaign. Thus would the X-Factor gravy train be truly undermined proving that authentically great and original music, whatever the genre, is still more desirable to the public.

Secondly (and this may seem a little too earnest but...), RATM getting to Christmas number 1 is NOT a victory for the spirit of Christmas. The lyrical themes of 'Killing in the Name' hardly echo my, admittedly athiest, values of Christmas. Raging against anything just doesn't seem right in the supposed 'season of goodwill', even if 'The Machine' does take the form of Sony BMG.

There are however, two things for which RATM getting to Christmas No. 1 SHOULD be celebrated. It is a victory for the power of the Internet. The ease with which people can communicate and connect (if that doesn't sound too much like a BT advert) really does foster a true spirit of community. This campaign is evidence of how that spirit can be harnessed to effect.

Which of course leads to my second point. RATM getting to Christmas No. 1 is a victory for people power. Whatever you might think, it's undeniabally impressive that the campaign actually succeeded. I was proved wrong, having never believed it would happen. Perhaps I will be a little less cynical in the future.

Yet that's not all! If people power can be channelled through the Internet to topple Simon Cowell, what else might we achieve if we put our minds to it? This could be just the beginning. Think of the possiblities....