Farewell to Girls Aloud, who have decided to go their separate ways. The split, although devastating to some, will likely have been met by many with the same reaction that greeted the news that Westlife had split, ie.: “I didn’t know they were still together.”

Advertising has crept into everyday life so subtly that we now forget to be outraged - this is a case of corporate identity replacing female identity

Blur have announced their first Irish gig in four years.

It looks like “dsrific LCDAppr” but computer says “no”. Ticketmaster is to dump the jumble of hard-to-read nonsense words it requires customers to enter in order to prove that they are human.

Outlook Talking of regulators and monopolies, with the weekend fast approaching many people will be finalising plans to take in a show, or a concert, or maybe a theatre production.

The unpopular £2.50 Ticketmaster charge for printing your own concert tickets could become a thing of the past, as a major new rival promises to revolutionise the online buying experience and sweep away hidden charges.

A senior London 2012 figure has admitted that serious problems in the distribution of tickets ahead of the football matches at Newcastle's St James' Park yesterday were "appalling" and "unacceptable".

Missing Glastonbury this year? Not to worry: the Scottish festival that usually welcomes an exodus of Glasto survivors takes up the slack as its bill ranges from big tunes to big beats via all points in between.

The producers of this irresistible show, a freely adapted version of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, don't subscribe to the precept of deferred gratification. Once the deliciously orchestrated overture is over, Matthew White's production unleashes a knock-'em-dead account of "Puttin' on the Ritz".

Games organisers keen for website to remain stable as final batch of seats go up for grabs

London 2012 will relaunch their Olympic ticket re-sale site this afternoon but the public will not be able to buy the newly available tickets until April.

Thousands of us haven't got tickets – but training camps around the UK mean you don't have to miss all the action

Outlook: So Warner Music, the only one of the four major record label companies to be based in the US, has had EMI snatched from under its nose by French-owned rival Universal Music. Warner has coveted EMI for so long, the outcome of the auction looks almost like a tragedy, but it may yet have the last laugh.