Low

It's time to run to the hills: David Bowie's new record, in case you've been out of circulation this week, was premiered on Radio 4's Today programme. One can only imagine Brian Redhead's response to such an editorial product placement taking place on his watch in the programme's heyday. And, in the years following Redhead's appointment, Bowie released three back to back records which were seriously newsworthy: Station to Station, Low and Heroes. Back then even Radio 1 didn't play them; with the exception of Peel. And maybe on a Saturday afternoon when, for a couple of hours, the station nicked Radio 2's VHF signal.

Kooks goes back to 1971, when, I think, the venerable John Timpson would have been at the helm of the good ship Today. It goes out to the Number One Son who's under the cosh somewhat at the moment; preparing for a Masters presentation with a surgical deadline hanging over you is not something I'd wish on anyone. 'If the homework gets you down we can throw it on the fire and take the car down town.'