A first listen of The Last Shadow Puppets Everything You've Come To Expect

Everything You've Come To Expect is a bold choice of title. Over the last eight years The Last Shadow Puppets' superb The Age of the Understatement has become one of my favourite albums. It was a short, sweet burst of something very different and left me tantalised by the prospect of more. So, after all this time, could it really deliver everything I'd come to expect?

We plumped for the vinyl (yep, we're cool) and gave it a burst. Within seconds, Aviation feels like the return of an old friend, encapsulating that sound of the first album. It's hard to define the mix of the vocals, lyrics, top class arrangements and distinctly retro sound that make up The Last Shadow Puppets' appeal. It's like the sort of music your dad might have made you listen to but slicker and, well, better. Will that do?

From there we veer off towards the Arctic Monkeys end of the band's spectrum, tapping into the slower more mellow sound that Alex Turner's vehicle has displayed in recent years. While, as an Arctic Monkeys fan, I enjoyed Miracle Aligner and Dracula Teeth the band's best bits come when songs neither Monkeys nor Miles Kane. In The Element Of Surprise and Bad Habits - a decent single - we're back there.

On the second side (it's a vinyl thing kids...) little stood out on first listen. The orchestral 60s arrangements of the first album were less in evidence and only Pattern really grabbed me by the ears and said 'listen again'. This is, of course, a little harsh on first listen and I'm sure there'll be rich rewards from popping the needle on again. The first album certainly rewards the listener on repeated sittings.

So, first thoughts? Not as good as the first album but that was unlikely. A fresh, new collection of work from a talented group that stands out from the crowd? Certainly.

While it wasn't everything I'd come to expect, only time will tell just how much it fulfils my hopes...

The Night Manager was great...but I don't want any more

I'll miss The Night Manager this Sunday night. The Beeb's super-expensive adaptation of John Le Carre's novel was sheer class. Well, apart from the silly title sequence that is (in a subtle drama, why was there a need to shout 'this is about spies guys' in that way?).

The action built slowly but surely to a crescendo last week, bringing in a rich array of characters along for the ride. While Tom Hiddleston (and his backside) and Olivia Colman (and her pregnant bump) seemed to earn the most plaudits - and tiresome column inches on James Bond - the real star of the show for me was Hugh Laurie.

His suave, smarmy and, ultimately, sinister Richard Roper commanded attention every time he was on the screen. So much so that I almost felt sorry that he didn't get away with it. Only almost though...and the justice meted out was devilishly satisfying.

Praise too is due for Tom Hollander, the colourful 'Corky' who still always makes me think of his superb - and incredibly brief - turn as The F***er in The Thick Of It. Elizabeth Debicki's troubled Jed also added to the magnificent melting pot.

Well acted, superbly shot, smartly adapted, great locations. It's perhaps easy to see why some are calling for a second series. They're wrong though.

The Night Manager two? BBC rumoured to be considering sequel https://t.co/Jp9HUrufk2

— The Guardian (@guardian) March 27, 2016

There's no second book for starters. You might well argue that this is different enough from Le Carre's 1993 book to render that insignificant but the meat of the original text underpinned this adaptation and gave it the rich characterisation and depth of storytelling that made it all so enjoyable. The big names might have risen to the challenge but they're only as good as the lines they deliver and this could easily have descended into a vanity parade of stars. A sequel could well do just that.

Then there's the closure of the ending. Of course you could write around that but where would you go? Pine wouldn't go back into Roper's crew and neither would Jed. Would the follow up focus on another scheme from Roper without Pine or another undercover sting from Pine without Roper? Either would remove a key component.

As Digital Spy points out, the only follow up that would really work out would be a spin-off involving Burr's agency. But going after who?

The success of the show shouldn't lead to a sequel. It should, instead, give the BBC and others the confidence to commission more good drama, more brave book adaptations and use the talents of top actors. The old sayings of 'leave them wanting more' and 'go out on a high' should apply to The Night Manager.

April Fools' Day...the old joke that's worn thin

In December I turned a bit 'grumpy old man' and listed off ten things that were almost as overrated and underwhelming as New Year's Eve. I ought to apologise. Not for being miserable, but for forgetting to put April Fools' Day on the list.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a spoof or a well-thought out prank, and it's fair to say that some people use this day to perform these, but let's face it, the vast majority are tame, lame or just plain garbage.

At my first newspaper April Fools' Day was approached with severe caution. Some years before I joined the paper had decided to prank the readers by announcing a new congestion charge was coming to the town. To make matters worse, the phone number given out for queries took people through to the newsdesk. Safe to say it didn't end well, with days and weeks of ear bending hammering home the extent to which the 'joke' backfired. You try telling and angry person 'sorry, we were just having you on' and see how ready they are to laugh it off.

For that reason, future attempts were pretty timid - including one year in which a whole sponsored pullout was produced with the advertiser in on the overly-laboured joke.

The thing is, while not every paper will have had its 'congestion charge moment', most are hamstrung by fear of putting their foot wrong. Put yourself in the reporter/editor's shoes: you've got to write something funny and sort-of believable but also that won't offend people either by making them the butt of the joke or leaving them annoyed when they realise it's not real. That last point is harder than ever in a world where people love nothing more than to be offended.

As a result you end up with 'safe jokes' that all have to contain some sort of anagram of April Fool to make it bleedingly obvious. (my last attempt still exists here) Some contain nice puns or cheeky ideas but the reader is in on the joke from the start rendering it all largely pointless.

Today even Google managed to balls up an April Fools' Day prank. Brands that produce their own content are realising the same problem that newspapers faced in that being believable isn't always a good thing.

Essentially the best way to do a spoof or a prank properly is to pull it on any day but April 1. That alone should make people realise that Fools' Day is a naff waste of time.

An ode to Joe Root and a sensational cricket match

I don't like the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. It's all a little too 'backslappy' for my liking and is a largely pointless parade. Last year's did highlight, however, the way in which cricket needs to guard against falling from the public eye. In a year when the test team won the Ashes against all the odds, Stuart Broad took 8-15 in one of the greatest spells of test match bowling of all time and Joe Root vied for the crown of number one test batsman in the world, there was little or no attention for cricketThat in a summer without an Olympics or football tournament for competition too.

It's a separate post/debate to talk about how to address the exposure and recognition of cricket but one of the ways really ought to be to highlight its success stories, such as that in the World T20 in India today against South Africa.

(Yes, that's England playing in a world cup that most people probably don't know about.)

Not only did England chase down an eye-watering 230 runs to overcome South Africa - a side that had beaten them twice on home soil recently - but the nation's best player came to the fore for a starring role.

In other sports we build up star players - Rooney, for example - and then knock them down when they fail to deliver on the high hopes we've pinned upon them. While Joe Root certainly has a big reputation within the game, there seems to be very little recognition of his talent among the wider public.

Today's performance saw a genuinely world class English sportsman deliver a world class performance at a world cup. That alone is worth shouting about.

Root was far from alone - Jason Roy in particular deserves praise - but he was, and so often is, the focal point of the sensational innings. He smashed the balls to all parts with a brilliant collection of conventional cricket strokes and innovative shots, plundering 83 runs off 44 balls.

For one of his six sixes he played an outrageous 'reverse scoop' over third man that is the most jaw dropping thing I've seen an England player do since Kevin Pietersen reverse slogged Murali for six. I had to watch Root's shot three or four more times just to comprehend what I'd just seen.

Unbelievable England, amazing @root66 #getinthere pic.twitter.com/Ha2g9GmHgL

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) March 18, 2016

While we shouldn't put too much pressure on his shoulders, it's about time cricket fans extolled the virtues of Root. He's got a cheeky personality that helps to endear him beyond his mere talent. But, make no mistake, Root is a genuine star who is easily among the best three/four British sportsmen around. At just 25 he's already amassed 3,400 tests runs and nine hundreds as well as 2,500 ODI runs and eight hundreds.

I don't care if Root wins Sports Personality of the Year in 2016 but I do hope that he gets the recognition he deserves for performances such as this. Talented performers such as him are rare, we're lucky to be able to say we're seeing him and shouldn't take him for granted.

So, on a day in which England have pulled off the second biggest run chase in T20 International history, let's give some praise for the England cricket team and Joe Root, the world class matchwinner.

When did Four Four Two get so good?

My book reading quest has been held up a little in February - although I'm well into my next tome - but that's largely thanks to having my head turned by a couple of magazines. Still Four Four Two magazine has proved a particularly high quality diversion and well worth a few words of praise.

In the dim and distant past I used to read Four Four Two magazine semi-regularly. It was the natural graduation from Match magazine (and occasionally Shoot) in my childhood.  Fairly or not I felt I'd drifted apart from what it had to offer. I say 'fairly or not' because there was probably a part of me that lost interest in top flight football as a grumpy supporter of a club - Nottingham Forest - that has long since plied its trade away from the Premier League.

In recent months my eye has been drawn back to it, however. I've leafed through a colleague's copy and had a joint go at some of the quiz questions and, this month, actually picked up an issue for a proper read. 

A mere flick through was enough to prompt pleasant surprise. Hitesh Ratna and the team have delivered a cracking read of great variety and quality - a magazine that, to me, seemed to have really stepped it up since my last purchase several years ago.

First things first: that cover. To put Pep Guardiola on the front just before he was announced as joining Manchester City was a stroke of luck, true, but the luck was earned. Why? Well the material is skilfully handled in such a way that it didn't matter if Pep's decision was revealed after the print deadline. Indeed it wouldn't have mattered where he said he was going to. The article could easily have been about the potential destinations for the football's most in-demand manager - which would have disastrously dated the moment it hit the shelves - but instead focuses on his character and managerial style.

Having just read Pep Confidential I probably didn't learn as much as I would have done in the piece itself but this was a smart, well laid out analysis of the Premier League's newest arrival and made for a worthy 'splash'.

There certainly seems a much more international focus to the magazine now, with Pep joined by an article behind the scenes at Thomas Tuchel's impressive Dortmund set up - probably the highlight of the magazine - and the MLS draft. The varied fare also includes the National League, a piece on football hard men and - in a welcome continuation of a tradition - a one on one with Eidur Gudjohnsen.

The beauty is in the balance of insight and entertainment, treading the line between mainstream coverage offered by the tabloids and major websites and the 'hipster' publications such as the Blizzard that cater for more cerebral matters. It's a balance that suits me fine and feels much more in touch with my tastes than ever before.

Hats off too for the excellent use of photos and images, making for a package that looks and reads like a class act.

It's heartening to see print publications like this continuing to thrive. It appears as though niche and special interest products are much better suited to surviving the tough competition offered by digital. If Four Four Two can deliver this level of quality I'd certainly return for more...

The EU debate: Just get on with it

The Prime Minister's renegotiation of the UK's terms of membership in the EU is a waste of time. I say that not as an assessment of the 'deal', such as it is, but more because the reaction to it this week shows that, when it comes to this issue, people on both sides have stopped listening.

No matter what continental rabbit David Cameron pulled from his beret, the anti-mob were licking their lips at the chance to denounce it. Donald Tusk could have emerged from the talks with 'Britain is best' tattooed on his face humming God Save The Queen and agreeing to rename the EU as 'Britain's not-so-good neighbour' and the angriest of the doubters would have written it off.

Not that those at the head of the pro lobby have behaved much better. Many can't allow themselves to be aligned with the Prime Minister, their sworn enemy on other matters. They have to denounce the deal, lambast the PM, revel in his failure and then, ultimately, support his stance. Politics eh?

To be fair, maybe we're all right to be cynical. The PM is a slippery PR man who has achieved very little on this or practically anything else. Some people have stopped listening because they know not to believe a carefully choreographed word that spills from his mouth. He said, on the one hand, that he'd opt in to the EU on the terms he'd secured in the talks, but also stated that the detail was still to be decided, hinted that he wanted to earn more concessions and said he'd still rule nothing out. Lackey David Lidington then tried and failed to make sense of it all on Newsnight. It makes you dizzy trying to keep up with such a vacuous position.

This goes back to the problem above though. We all know that Cameron wants to campaign to stay in. We also know, pretty much, where most senior figures truly wish to sit in the EU debate. Yet, for some bizarre reason we're dancing around the houses pretending to wait for the detail of the deal.

One constant and clichéd point made in almost any edition of BBC's Question Tine is 'we need a proper debate on the EU'. The same is said on immigration. The problem is that this is said almost every week and almost always IN a debate on the two topics.

Yet the reason why it feels like we aren't getting a 'full and proper' debate is because it ends up getting lost amid a load of faffing about on if we should have a referendum, when we should have it and what the terms of the largely immaterial negotiation should be.

We all know the question - in or out. We all know that the supporters on both sides and for both campaigns have decided their positions, let's just get on with the crux of the matter.

PS - what exactly was the Mail on about this week? The splash on Thursday evoked a pre Second World War debate yet its article admitted the two times weren't comparable. It also admitted that by 'England' it meant the UK. Clear as mud. Given the Mail's position as an anti-EU paper surely the whole comment piece was really a job advert for the leader of the out campaign? It said it wanted a debate - that again - but really wants a champion for its cause. Settle back, there's surely plenty more of this overblown coverage coming ahead of the referendum this year. I don't know about you but I can't wait...

Thursday's Daily Mail front page:
Who WILL speak for England?#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #euref pic.twitter.com/BaBim27N85

— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) February 3, 2016

What I learned from...Pep Confidential

I have the same resolution for every New Year: I want to read more. It's an ambition that comes from the ever-expanding pile of interesting books I have around the house and frustration at the fact that I fail to dedicate the time to them.

Studying for a history degree is a fantastic thing to do but it does somewhat throw you out of kilt when it comes to reading for pleasure. By the end you're more used to getting through reams of journal articles and leafing through the back end of the yellowing pages of lesser-opened library books than

It's a long while since I stuck on the daft gown and picked up my degree now though so that really is a poor excuse and, in an attempt to encourage me to engage in a greater level of reading, I've decided to share what I've learned from each of the books I finish in 2016 - with an aim to manage one a month if possible.

So, starting off 2016 is Pep Confidential by Marti Perarnau, a book I've kindly being leant and been shamefully slow to get on with.

This, on face value, is the story of Pep Guardiola's first season in charge of Bayern Munich in 2013/14.

I say 'on face value' because the book is about more than that in truth. It's a portrayal of the most sought-after manager in world football and a fascinating insight into the thinking of a man seemingly bound for English football in 2016.

For non football fans, it's a study in leadership styles and adapting from the working practices of one culture to another, as Pep arrives in Germany following a long association with Barcelona and takes on a side that won three major trophies in the previous year.

It's perhaps this latter point that is most interesting as the book unfolds. Most outsiders would think it was a tough task to follow Jupp Heynckes after he won the treble and Guardiola constantly pushes himself to challenge and adapt his team to play in new ways and formations to test their ability. That they do this and wrap up the title in record time is remarkable.

Guardiola comes across as hard working to the point of being obsessive, constantly studying opponents and dreaming up new ways for his side to dominate possession and win. His observations - told through Perarnau - are fascinating and sometimes surprising. He doesn't, for example, like the label of 'tiki-taka' that many used to describe his style at Barca, regularly describing it as 'sh*t'.

It's clear that wingers Robben and Ribery, for example, are a lot more susceptible to embracing the new playing style than many outsiders may think. Philipp Lahm, meanwhile, comes across as every bit as brilliant as you might expect.

It's strange really that you find yourself feeling quite sad as the book races towards its conclusion, knowing full well that Guardiola's Champions League campaign ends in ignominy with a thumping defeat at the hands of eventual winners Real Madrid. Still, in a way this game merely serves to strengthen Guardiola's resolve. He allowed himself to get sucked into going against his principles in that game and vowed never to do so again. It spurs him on to polish off the campaign with a cup final win against rivals Dortmund in which Guardiola is at his tactical best, shuffling an injury depleted squad in mesmerising ways to outfox Jurgen Klopp and take home the trophy.

What does the book tell us about the way Pep would manage in England? Mainly that he won't be afraid to change and innovate and that he won't try to turn his new side into a carbon copy of his old Barcelona team. Journalists and opposition managers alike will be left scratching their heads trying to figure out what he's up to next - with full backs, midfielders and defenders all redefined in formations that can change several times within a game. It could be fascinating for geeks like me.

Turning back to the book, it's also worth pointing out the role Perarnau plays here. Given unprecedented access into the work of a modern football manager he doesn't disappoint, His journalistic skills shine out with short sharp, page turning chapters and in the way he lets the events talk for themselves, never making the story about him. Having had to wait until the end of his year-long project to share his observations, the temptation must've been there to blow his own trumpet a little but that never occurs. He's our eyes and ears in the Guardiola camp and he does a superb job of it.

Tactics, management techniques and the inner workings of top level football clubs are all explored here. If any of those interest you, you won't be let down by searching out a copy of Pep Confidential.