Alex Cann's Weekly Blog

Since the pandemic, there seem to have been a few incidents of bad behaviour at live events. I'm left wondering if audiences have forgotten how to behave, or perhaps they do remember the rules, and simply don't care. That's entirely possible.

Whilst it's quite tempting to write something about an extraordinary week in local politics, and ask how many people have deleting WhatsApp messages this week, instead I thought I'd play it safe and do a telly review.

How do you feel when your phone rings? To be honest, it's quite rare I get any calls on my mobile nowadays, which is probably just as well, since I have a cheap Motorola and the shrill sounds of 'Hello Moto' would probably not be embraced with open arms by cinemagoers, which is where I can often be located if I'm not in a radio studio.

It was tempting to write something this week about the digital darts being fired from the keyboard of the world's richest man, and how it might be better if we just switched social media off for a bit, but for the sake of my blood pressure, I thought I'd share the first part of a musical Top 10 with you.

Back in March, celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley -Whittingstall clashed with the health secretary at the time, Victoria Atkins, over what he claimed was the government's failure to tackle the obesity crisis. Measures such as limits on special offers and banning junk food adverts before 9pm were kicked into the long grass until at least October 2025. Separately, reports have suggested that the pandemic made obesity rates significantly worse among children, as unhealthy eating habits and a lack of exercise became the norm.

A gentle reminder that British Summer Time ends at 2am on Sunday 27th October, and the clocks 'fall back'. There's a survey for everything, and in 2019, a YouGov poll found that 59% of Brits would prefer to remain permanently in BST.

I was shocked to read a report recently into the scale of shoplifting at Co-op stores. Despite the chain returning pre-tax profits of £58 million for the first half of the year,  they were hit with huge costs from theft and fraud amounting to almost £40 million, amid a shoplifting epidemic.

Back in the day, I used to love watching Top Of The Pops on a Thursday night. It was one of the telly highlights of the week, at a time when there were only three channels, no social media, and Dial-A-Disc was still a thing (ask your parents if this doesn't ring a bell).

The UK has a rich history when it comes to condiments. A lot add unami taste to our dishes (a Japanese word meaning 'savoury deliciousness'), and a survey carried out recently by Fentimans found brown sauce ranks second in a list of the UK's top 10 favourite bold flavours.

I wrote about stress recently, and feel quite zen this week, apart from the fact I'm writing this column right up against the deadline.I don't know where the weeks are going, and Christmas is now less than 100 days away, whilst the nights are drawing in faster than I can eat a bag of Haribo Tangfastics.

Things move rapidly in the world of music, and it's increasingly difficult for artists to make a living in the streaming age, due to the incredibly miniscule amounts they are paid. Realistically, the most an artist can earn from a Spotify stream is $0.003, which doesn't add up to a living wage.

Stress can have all sorts of effects on us, seen and unseen. A new study by HR software provider Ciphr out this week revealed that most people feel stressed at least once a month (86%), with almost a quarter telling pollsters they are stressed on more days than they are not

In August 2009, Oasis played their final gigs together before a long hiatus, which ended with a tour announcement thi week. Tickets are going on sale this weekend, and it feels like Taylor Swift mania for the over-40s Or Christmas Day if you're Dave Sweetmore.

I'm a bit of a chart geek, and luckily I can channel some of this energy into deciding which songs we play on Tameside Radio each week. It's been a Sabrina Carpenter dominated summer so far, with added Charli XCX and Taylor Swift. Bands are largely nowhere to be seen, with Billie Eilish and Myles Smith also performing well in the upper echelons of the hit parade.

On Jack and Cam's show this week on Tameside Radio, we are talking wedding first dance songs. I was a mobile DJ for the best part of 20 years, and it's definitely brought back some mixed memories. I have to say it might look like the easiest job in the world to spin a few records at a wedding (or press play on a laptop, these days), but it really isn't!

When was the last time you ventured down your local high street? Admittedly, the timing of a new report by the Federation of Small Businesses is unfortunate, given the ugly scenes which have played out in towns and cities dotted around the UK.

A recent documentary on Sky made for chilling viewing, as it sought to explain the timeline that gave Andrew Tate a platform. "Doom Scroll: Andrew Tate and the Dark Side of the Internet" took us through the history of social media's exponential rise, and how the law simply hasn't kept up with it.

I remember it well. The first queue for an ice cream van since lockdown, in a park in Yeadon, snaking around the corner and seeming to go on forever! Mind you, it was fantastic to be allowed to buy a '99' again after the restrictions had been lifted. Sometimes, it's the little things in life.

Kindness is something we like to talk about, but how many of us actually practice it? I've seen a few signs that have made me smile on my travels in the last week. One was in a pub last weekend, which proclaimed the venue has a "positive vibes only" policy and moaners are barred.

As you may have gathered by now, I like to spend a lot of time in a dark room watching films. Some pretty worrying news emerged last week that Cineworld is reviewing its portfolio of cinemas, and some reports suggested they could be looking to close up to a quarter of them in a bid to cut costs.

Sunday evenings can be a strange time of the week. As the weekend fades away all too quickly, and Monday morning looms into focus, many of us can start to experience something that's been named the 'Sunday scaries'. I have the results of a 2022 study carried out by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities

As the weather continues to pleasantly surprise, thoughts turn to spending more time in the garden. Aside from irksome wasps and overcooked barbeques, there's one thing that's potentially even more likely to ruin your al fresco experience ........ neighbours. I would love one day to live somewhere completely isolated from other people.

In two weeks' time, we'll be going to the polls, and I was going to write a column this week about apathy, but I couldn't be bothered. Instead, I thought we'd go on a journey back to 1999 and take a look at the biggest ten songs in the UK singles chart. It was a time of the Matrix, the Sixth Sense, fears about the millennium bug.

In an increasingly busy world, it's easy to forget to take time to look after our mental health. Rushing from one thing to the next, it's often difficult to live in the moment and appreciate the little things in life. With more ways to connect with each other than ever, I still feel it was easier to arrange to meet up with friends back in the days when it involved a simple phone call.

This week, I watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix, and I would highly recommend that you give it a whirl. As one of the quotes at the beginning says: "Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse" (Sophocles), and if you're anything like me, you'll be left questioning how much information you've given away to social media platforms over the years.

Not a lot makes the headlines from Belgium, but this week, a collection of cassette tapes was unearthed in the city of Ostend containing unreleased Marvin Gaye songs. The BBC reports it has potentially been there for over 40 years, and there are thought to be 66 demo songs with a legal tussle is set to begin over what happens next to the songs.