Classical music and conservative talk shows aren’t as popular as they seem (particularly juicy: classical music fans “don’t tune into classical radio nearly as much as they claim”). Similarly for “smooth jazz”: “Clear Channel jettisoned such programming from eight of its stations after dismal ratings”.

The Bad

If Kenny G is dead, Celine Dion is thriving. As are “oldies” and country. Which leads to…

The Ugly

Men make up 34.7% of soft rock listeners and 40.1% of light rock (“adult contemporary”).

Aid agencies have strongly criticised the international community for failing to help bring an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

Speaking to his congregation on Sunday, Father Jones said: “My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift.

“I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

“I would ask that they do not steal from small, family businesses, but from national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.

“When people are released from prison, or find themselves suddenly without work or family support, then to leave them for weeks and weeks with inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly.

“We create a situation which leaves some people little option but crime.”

The billboard is intended to challenge the stereotypes of the Christmas conception story, but it has been described as offensive to Christians

Brilliant and ballsy ad!

Hospital cleaners are worth more to society than bankers, a study suggests.

The research, carried out by think tank the New Economics Foundation, says hospital cleaners create £10 of value for every £1 they are paid.

It claims bankers are a drain on the country because of the damage they caused to the global economy.

They reportedly destroy £7 of value for every £1 they earn.

[…]

Eilis Lawlor, spokeswoman for the New Economics Foundation, said: “Pay levels often don’t reflect the true value that is being created. As a society, we need a pay structure which rewards those jobs that create most societal benefit rather than those that generate profits at the expense of society and the environment”.

Anyone who grew up outside the USA already knows that chocolate in the US is a strange beast in comparison to other parts. Now we know why. To summarise what makes the US version the wonder that it is: less cocoa solids, more sugar, more additives/substitutes. Oh, and also cheaper.

UK food labels are set to distinguish between goods from Palestinians in the occupied territories and produce from Israeli settlements.

[…]

Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian general Delegate to the UK, said: “We welcome this. We have been calling for this for two years, since we began lobbying major British supermarkets when we discovered that they were routinely selling products marked ‘produce of the West Bank’ which were in fact the produce of illegal settlements.