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Is anyone actually interested in the Leveson Inquiry?

At this stage, I’m pretty certain the only people actually concerned with the minutiae of this tiresome parade are the journos themselves – and then only because they’re tasked by unimaginative editors with cataloguing every moment Hugh Grant scratched his backside for their morning editions.

If I have to see another worthy celeb appear outside the Royal Courts of Justice to tell us “journalists are bad mmm kay” then I may just form a one-man militia to reclaim the moral high ground and force those beloved personalities back into the pages of Heat. Kind of like Fathers for Justice but with shorthand notepads and a greater sense of self-awareness.

Now, I’m not condoning phone hacking (although I do take exception to the term as ‘hacking’ tends to indicate a degree of skill) and I’m certainly not saying all’s well on Fleet Street.

For too long, our nation’s newspapers have gone unchecked, free to publish stories of questionable accuracy with utter impunity.

But what will the Leveson Inquiry actually achieve? A few convenient scapegoats will be sacrificed but nobody with any true power will be brought to task.

Ultimately, you get the feeling that it’s a chance for a few politicians to either boost their careers or enjoy a fleeting moment in the sun – at the expense of the taxpayer of course.

It’s the Parliamentary version of Big Brother, where a series of inconsequential figures preen, pose and pontificate under the constant glare of the camera lens, aware this may be their only chance to grasp Warhol’s fabled 15 minutes.

The money could be spent better in actually affecting some kind of change. Obviously media self-regulation is flawed and greater Government intervention would open up a whole new can of worms, so why not direct funds to establishing an independent regulatory body?

Too often, the PCC appears toothless when dealing with disputed stories and victims find the cost of legal action restrictive when faced by the might of huge media conglomerates. An independent watchdog could provide a happy medium to ensure inaccurate or malicious journalism does not go unchecked.

I’m not for one minute suggesting we curb freedom of expression but self-regulation is clearly not working. The argument that bad journalism will be punished by a loss of credibility seems to have lost much of its gravitas in a world where celebrity scandal is splashed across the front of countless newspapers and magazines.

Even as an ex-journalist myself, I admit it’s time for a new broom.

Spotify is a modern marvel.

Whatever music you want, whenever you want it. Well, unless you fancy listening to some Beatles or Oasis, which is pretty much the same thing anyway, or some De La Soul – strangely enough.

The absence of everyone’s favourite daisy age rap group from everyone’s favourite music streaming software is a particular annoyance when you grew up wearing Adidas shell toes and baggy jeans.

Anyway, thanks to Spotify and my own varied taste, each day becomes a directionless trek through the world of music.

From Thelonius Monk to The La’s, Leonard Cohen to Run-DMC, no stone is left unturned.

But as varied as my tastes are, the music all has one thing in common – it’s good. Or at least that’s what I thought.

I have always made a concerted effort to avoid bubblegum pop, shoe-gazing rock or lazy R&B – all manner of downright dirge – yet apparently I’m not really allowed to classify any of this as ‘bad’.

Maybe I’ve been blinded by my own snobbery but, playing devil’s advocate, one of my colleagues argued there was actually no such thing as good or bad music, that it was all, in fact, a matter of opinion.

I tried to define good music as being made with a genuine love and appreciation for the artform but even that falls down when you consider plenty of utter garbage has been created in earnest. Just listen to some of the more recent stuff from seminal 80/90s rap group Public Enemy for an example of that.

Age is generally making me grumpier but this is one area where I may just have to mellow.

So, feel free to listen to whatever you want – just as long as you don’t do it within my earshot.

Today’s Spotify playlist:

Outkast – The Love Below

Aloe Blacc – Good Things

Sam Cooke – The Two Sides of Sam Cooke

Thelonius Monk – Monk’s Business Vol 1

Tribe Called Quest – People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

Janis Joplin – Pearl

The xx – The xx

The Animals – Animal Tracks

Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty

Happy Mondays – Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches