As the BBC recreates the pairing of Bailey and The Shrimp, Mike Higgins recalls meetings that defined the decade

Does all modern music sound the same to you? Do you hanker for the days when rock stars knew how to be rock stars? Does the sight of teenagers with their trousers at half-mast make your spleen explode? Have you – though you swore it would never happen – finally morphed into your parents? If so, perhaps it's time to embrace the inexorable slide towards an old age of liquidised ready-meals and Antiques Roadshow.

At times, Example's third album gives the impression that this hip-hop malarkey is just too easy for him, spraying out lines that other MCs would give their tongue for.

The CIA has explored many unconventional methods of sabotage, as Jon Ronson explored in The Men Who Stare At Goats. But reflecting on recent events, the mystery is why the agency neglects the one guaranteed method of destroying its enemies. All it need do is hire Mr Tony Blair to befriend them. Look at global villains of the age, and there he is, caught on camera winking, embracing and a-schmoozing. Mubarak, at whose Sharm el-Sheikh palace the Blairs enjoyed all those hols; Gadaffi, Mr Tony's partner in that manly hug; Berlusconi, on whose yacht he reposed when Casa Mubarak was taken ... and now Rupert Murdoch, for whom he vainly tried to fix a satellite deal with the Italian Stallion; and Rebekah Brooks, at whom we saw him waving coquettishly on a state visit to Wapping in footage replayed last week. If Cherie is a creature from Greek myth (half woman, half supermarket trolley), her soulmate is a supernatural hybrid spanning the ages. Mr T is the lovechild of Zelig and the Angel of Death. God knows who's next, but right now you wouldn't want to be Sir Cliff Richard.

Cold Mirrors collects the short stories of acclaimed author CJ Lines for the first time. From the beauty regime of a Victorian drag queen to the dangers of conducting ritual magic on Twitter, these tales traverse the centuries and take a dark, slanted look at hidden realities that lurk beneath the surface of the mundane. Alternately horrifying, heartbreaking and hilarious, Cold Mirrors is an extraordinary collection of stories that will haunt you long after the final page is turned.

Some talk of Andy Murray and some of Brown, G; of Scott and Boadicea, and such great names as these. For of all the world's great losers, there's none that can compare with the British, is there?

Mark Borkowski is a brilliant self-publicist.

Chrissie Abbott is a freelance illustrator - as well as designing artwork for electro-pop star Little Boots, her images have enlivened the pages of The New York Times and Wallpaper magazine, been used in ad campaigns for Virgin, Orange and MTV, and adorned T-shirts for Urban Outfitters, Vans and Jaguar Shoes.

The Shadows bassist Jet Harris has died aged 71.

Very few of the first British pop stars had a sultry, moody image: like Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard, they were eager to please. In Cliff Richard's band, the Shadows, though, there was a skilled and cantankerous bass player, Jet Harris. His presence gave them a rough edge and Harris continued with this persona, which was the real thing, once he was sacked from the group and had become a solo star.

It has been one of those moments when, as if we have suddenly been spooked by the chilly uncertainties of today and tomorrow, there has been a general scurrying back to the warmth and safety of yesterday. The newspapers have earnestly discussed weddings, public schools, frocks and class. Broadcasters of the old-codger school have bemoaned how fings ain't wot they used to be. A couple of veteran British pin-ups have been back in the headlines.

Tito Burns was an accordionist and bandleader who found success in the 1940s and then became a noted agent, manager and impresario with Cliff Richard, the Searchers, the Zombies, Victor Borge and Sacha Distel among his clients. His attitude was to "take it while you can as it might not be there tomorrow" and his wheeling and dealing was filmed in 1965 by DA Pennebaker for the Bob Dylan documentary Don't Look Back. He was satirised as "Tito Bums" by the Goodies.