Luke Pritchard of The Kooks has a flair for rubbing people up the wrong way. But, he tells Gillian Orr, people have got him wrong

Musicians today crowded into a small London studio to record a silent Christmas charity single they hope will reach the top spot.

With Arsenal facing the champions tomorrow, Aaron Ramsey – one of Britain's fastest-rising talents – tells Sam Wallace about growing up with the world at his feet

Musician, producer, philanthropist and now... economist? Apparently so. Dave Stewart, the multi-faceted guitarist from Eurythmics is to pen a business book.

It took Ray Davies three years to recover after he was shot in 2004. The lost time has increased his determination to ensure his work endures, he tells James McNair

Paul Smith's erudite vocab (you don't get words such as "circumnavigation" with the Kooks) is a minor joy itself, but his way with a subtly perceptive couplet ("She's dressed up/It's her duty to the town") is far more precious.

Seventeen years after co-founding The Big Issue, John Bird's appearance as he sits in the afternoon sunshine of a garden near Cambridge could give the impression that he left a personal history of family violence, poverty and working with the homeless behind long ago. Until he speaks that is. As soon as he opens his mouth, fiery no-nonsense passion erupts, his deceptive middle-class exterior evaporates, and his hand begins punctuating his words on the picnic table. "It's a nightmare working with the homeless. Period. We built a social business on the most unreliable workforce on the face of God's earth."

Morris dancers of Vauxhall exhale now – your local MP is fighting for you. Kate Hoey has never been the most conventional of Labour MPs, what with her pro-hunting credentials and now a City Hall job alongside Boris Johnson. Still, her latest move is a curious one even by those standards.

These days you don't need a commission from a television company to broadcast gigs. You just need a camcorder, a musician, perhaps a crowd for atmosphere and a computer to upload the material on to a website. And if you're lucky, the television companies might then make the approach to air a show.

Kookin' on gas? Just konked out, more like

'I'm very bad at ballet. Not that I've ever done it'

It may come as no surprise that The Kooks' singer and rhythm guitarist Luke Pritchard is another Brit School alumnus, like indie pop band The Feeling and this year's Brit winners Kate Nash and Adele. Unlike them, however, you wouldn't find him thanking the Croydon school at an awards ceremony. After only a brief spell there he enrolled at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, where he met drummer Paul Garred and guitarist Hugh Harris, with whom he formed The Kooks in 2003.

The Cribs have refreshingly honest views on the music business and the cult of celebrity