I had intended to knock something up about the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize before I went on holiday, and therefore also before this year’s winner was announced.

You only have my word for it, therefore, that Speech Debelle was my tip for the prize. In fact, I think I have now correctly guessed the Mercury Prize winner for the past four years. Sadly, I’ve never even set foot inside a bookmaker’s, so my Nostradamusesque capabilities in this matter have sadly not led to a bulging wallet.

It’s a strange old beast, the Mercury. When Antony & The Johnsons won the prize in 2005 for the modern masterpiece I Am A Bird Now, the eponymous lead singer Antony Hegarty claimed that the award was “kind of like a crazy contest between an orange and a spaceship and a potted plant and a spoon – which one do you like better?” I suspect it this nonsensical eclecticism which determines that I should always be quite so interested in the result. Continue reading →