I have been running Linux Mint for 8 weeks now and I’ve been delighted with it. My desktop PC is fast and responsive and I am hugely impressed by the sheer amount and quality of software available for Linux. Printing, scanning, wireless networking, audio, DVD writing and all my USB devices just work. I don’t have a virus scanner consuming memory and chewing clock cycles. I am no longer considering a memory upgrade as Linux works fine with my paltry 512MB. ...

The first (and probably the last) in a very occasional series. ‘Channel 5. Thursday night’. Arsenal fans taunting Liverpool on their unwanted appearance in the Europa Cup.

After buying most of my Christmas presents from them, Amazon kindly gave me a £2 voucher to spend in the MP3 download store. As the festive season of hosting friends and family approaches, I decided on a ’easy listening’, ‘middle of the road’ purchase suitable for all the family to act as a quiet backdrop while we gather to play charades around the fire. ‘Killing Joke’ by ‘Killing Joke’ was one of the first vinyl records I ever bought and, as always, I was introduced to the band by the wonderful John Peel. I was intrigued by the cover art which I still think is brilliant. ...

‘Dear Father - It is 6 weeks since my last confession. Since then I have…’ Installed Thunderbird 3 which handles all my work email. This upgrade went smoothly enough although there were some minor glitches with server authentication and message filters. Thunderbird 3 adds tabs, UI enhancements, IMAP synchronisation, much needed improvements to the address book in addition to faster searching. Upgraded my desktop PC to Linux Mint 8. Again, this went smoothly enough, mainly because I did a full blown install while carefully preserving my user data. Until Linux upgrades are ‘rolling’ and as easy as applying a Windows Service Pack, Linux will never succeed in the mainstream. ...

I’m not a big fan of American soccer. Neither am I a great fan of women’s football wherever it is played. Elizabeth Lambert has just changed that state of affairs. The rumour mill back home claims that Alex Ferguson is planning an audacious £34 million bid in January to replace Vidic.