"Don't call me bloke, guy."
"Don't call me guy, man."
"Don't call me man, bloke." etc,
(a la Terence and Philip).

One of my favourite bands since they started. I first heard them on John Peel, "A Friend With A Big Mouth". Peel said of Coughlan "I could listen to that man sing the phone book". His lyrics were astonishing, better than most "poets". Looking forward to this!

Still regretting not sending them as Lionel Shriver's Kevin to be honest.

All of this is true, but at the same time, doesn't it suggest that, given we care about this state of affairs, we should seek out new content and enthuse about it when we find it? This might be an older tussle than we are acknowledging, eg in the 80s I used to prefer John Peel to Steve Wright, etc.

Kierkegaard once said something like "take away the alarmed conscience, and you may as well turn the churches into dance halls". Which always reminds me of Tess of the d'Urbervilles - "The mill still worked on, food being a perennial necessity; the abbey had perished, creeds being transient."

What's a perfect album that came out when you were 16?

I am completely addicted to The Trip at the moment, having come to it late. Just doing Greece now. It's a really unusual and remarkable thing.