One prophet's been recognised in his own kingdom

This very entertaining interview with Robert Forster, formerly of The Go-Betweens, reveals that a major bridge in Australia has been named after the band, which is cool as well as a good pun.

The Go-Betweens are fixed stars in my musical universe. Other bands come and go in my estimation, but there's always a Go-Betweens song (or a solo one by MacLennan or Forster) to suit the occasion.





And finally, Forster's 'Let Your Light In, Babe' is just so joyful.

Banned books special

It's the American Library Association's banned books week, as Intelliwench reminds me - more an American thing, as the European countries tend not to ban books much any more (though Ireland in particular had a strong track record in closing its citizens' eyes). It's easier to ban books in the US because it's a very democratic country - there are elected citizens on school boards, in the dog-catcher's office, on the town, county and state boards of education, plus the myriad of legislatures, and stupid people are often the ones who stand and vote…

Britain prefers to allow dictators and businessmen in other countries to sue in British courts over books not even sold in Britain - the US has even passed a law to stop this libel tourism.

But I digress. How many of the banned books have you read, and which ones astonish you most? Philip Pullman's back in the top ten after the film of The Golden Compass (which should be banned on artistic grounds), Anything which presents homosexuals positively attracts the book-burners, as does Harry Potter. Amongst the classics, The Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men and Huckleberry Finn attract the ire of banners for 'language' offences or political content.

This is the 100 most frequently challenged classics: I've read 62 of them and have read other works by virtually all of them. Some are stunning choices - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, lots of E. M. Forster, Hemingway, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling and Willa Cather! Most of them clearly annoy people on the right, though there are a few, such as Gone With the Wind which have attracted the opprobrium of the dimmer bulbs on the left.

Early Friday conundrum: what would you ban? Dan Brown, Jeffrey Archer, How Green Was My Valley - all on quality grounds. Oh, and that chick-lit author who's standing for the Conservative Party - Louise Bagshawe.

Incompetent ignoramuses

The Guardian's Film and Music section has a weekly feature: Songs about… . This week, it's actors. I didn't contribute because I assumed that good liberal readers of a certain age would definitely pick the right one. But no. The Go-Betweens' 'Lee Remick' isn't there. It's a wonderful, eyes-wide-open ingenue piece of Australian pop-rock, featuring my favourite line of bathos ever:

'She comes from Ireland, she's very beautiful.

I come from Brisbane, and I'm quite plain'.

It just works - the scansion and the meanings work together to encapsulate that feeling of not quite making it. When Robert Forster married a German heiress from a brewing family, he quipped 'I'm living every Australian's dream. I'm marrying into beer'.

Madness also wrote about an actor: 'My Name is Michael Caine'. It's not their best, but I like it.