Winner – Tom Stoppard – One of the most thrilling musical-theatrical experiences of the year has been the great Czech-English Playwright’s comedy about moral ethics inspired by Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, Darkside. Commissioned by the BBC to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Floyd classics release last August and just released as an album, the radio play is his best work of the 21st century. Even if it doesn’t tell us what is the good is, it does tell us the secret of life (clue? listen to your Mommy).
Loser- Ian Watkins – One thing is really hard to understand about people: many are defective. Given his druthers, Jeffrey Dahmers would have preferred not to have a sexual appetite for picking up rough trade and having them for supper if for no other reason the logistics are a pain. And I am pretty sure that Watkins would rather not be attracted to babies and children. It isn’t worth the hassle. But his brain is defective. Perhaps somebody should really study the psychology behind his actions (I have yet to hear a good explanation for finding babies sexual) even if only for the knowledge it could bring. We actually learn more about the human condition from the defective parts. Oh and if people are 62 mutations a way from being wheat than we are very similar to our defective parts. We can learn a lot. Oh, one more thing: HMV have banned Lost Prophets music from sales begging an answer to the question, what did the other members of the band do to have their livelihood taken away from them? Does HMV think we believe HMV support paedophilia and therefore need to make a grandstanding meaningless gesture to prove they don’t?