Guardian article part 4: Renewed optimism or false hope?

After a quiet fortnight or so on the jobs front, these last few days have been positively brimming with opportunities. And for some reason, it feels like a last chance saloon situation. If I don't get anywhere with this batch, I'll have to start seriously reconsidering my future, both immediate and long-term.

I've applied for a whole host of jobs, nine in the last week, including a sports reporter job at the Barnsley Chronicle, a similar role at the Dorset News, and an intriguing writing proposition for a law firm called AM Recruitment in Manchester. The job description online was vague, but what little detail it did give sounded like something I could do. And I found it through Fish 4 Jobs rather than one of the normal jobs feeds I use that will have hundreds if not thousands of out-of-work hacks or hacks-to-be picking through them daily.

The sports reporter jobs are not specifically for trainees, reducing my chances of getting them further, but I got news that I passed my Sports Journalism NCTJ exam back in May with flying colours, something I am hoping will go some way to cancelling out my lack of experience.

On top of that trio, this morning I fired off four more e-mail applications for reporter jobs – none of them for trainees. They're all based in the south – at the Newquay Voice, the Western Gazette, the Colchester Gazette and the Kent Messenger Group - and I have no idea if I could afford to move down there if I was offered it. But I feel like I have to try.

I also threw my name forward to work on the culture section for the Sunday Times breakaway website venture. Rupert Murdoch is insistent that he will be able to charge for online content sooner rather than later and all the signs point to this Sunday Times website launch as being the testing ground for the UK market. It would be fascinating to work on something so revolutionary to the industry.

Again, exact details for the role were sketchy, as I assume nobody is yet sure how things will pan out, but I've been reviewing music for the last five years or so and it's something I'm comfortable doing.

Other applications I've sent away are for a feature writer at a media agency called Medavia – I'd previously shunned all mention of agency work, although I can't put my finger on what it is that doesn't appeal to me – and a writer role at Liverpool public relations company Active PR.

Before this productive spurt I spent two or three days working on my CV and getting it exactly right, to the extent where my eyes feel like they're about to bleed in protest if I even think about opening the document again. I've also been spending more time on my covering letters, taking advice from obviously this site but also from a number of websites including Jobsite UK , Page Personnel and HomeBizTools although I am constantly wary of taking too much advice from faceless internet sites.

Those of you with sharp eyes will notice that the range of jobs I'm applying for is wider than before. This is partly because I felt I wasn't giving myself enough chances, and partly because I decided that local newspapers were not the be all and end all, and that there are other ways in to full-time journalism that I'm neglecting.

So now I'm back playing the waiting game, treading water with the free freelance work I'm doing, hoping for at least an acknowledgement of my applications to come through.

This article can be viewed and commented on online at http://careers.guardian.co.uk/jambothejourno-seeks-work-part-4.

Dead Weather coming to UK this Autumn

Busy bee Jack White will tour the UK this October with the Dead Weather.

In case you can’t keep up, the Dead Weather are the garage-rock four piece fronted by Kills singer lady Alison Mosshart (we think she was trying to make bandmate Jamie Hince jealous in return for his romance with Kate Moss, but that might be just us).

The band are promoting their debut album Horehound – which we thought was great – rush-released back in July, and will play Academy-sized venues throughout our fair isle. Tickets are on sale this Friday morning (14 August).

Those dates in full:

OCTOBER

19 Manchester, Academy
21 Newcastle, 02 Academy
22 Edinburgh, Picture House
23 Leeds, 02 Academy
25 Bristol 02 Academy
26 Birmingham, 02 Academy
29 London, 02 Brixton Academy

This was written for The Music Magazine.

The Maccabees to hit the road

It’s announcing-tours time! Next up – the Maccabees. The London indie-poppers will tour from the end of September, starting in Bristol and ending in Leeds, with the band’s first Brixton Academy show in the middle somewhere.

The group’s second record Wall of Arms was a gigantic surprise, and probably marks them as this year’s most improved band. It was a deliciously dark album, the yang to the yin that was their unbearably happy and twee debut.

We liked it a lot and recommend you go see them live. We certainly will be.

Those tour dates in full, then:

SEPTEMBER

30 Bristol, Academy

OCTOBER

1 Birmingham, Academy
2 Norwich, UEA
3 London, Brixton Academy
5 Nottingham, Rock City
6 Manchester, Academy
7 Newcastle, Academy
9 Glasgow, ABC
10 Leeds, Academy

The article was also written for The Music Magazine.

Radiohead’s death knell for the humble album

Radiohead chief warbler Thom Yorke has claimed that his band are no longer interested in releasing albums, signalling a potential knock for the format that it may struggle to recover from.

The world was on the edge of its seat waiting to see how Radiohead would next release music after the revolutionary genius distribution model of In Rainbows, and fans were given a sneak preview last week when the band released a tribute to Harry Patch, the last remaining survivor from World War I, who died recently.

The track was previewed online and then made available for download for £1 with all proceeds going to charity. And that seems to be the way the band will go about releasing new material from now on.

Yorke told Believer magazine: “None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off … It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. It’ll kill us.”

A tad melodramatic perhaps, and we retain an air of scepticism as Yorke has threatened to give up making albums before, but if the band follow through with this threat, the implications could be huge.

This article was written for The Music Magazine.

Burnley at the World Cup? It could happen.

Clarets captain Steve Caldwell has this week been recalled to Scotland’s international squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Norway, sparking interest that for the first time since 1982 a Burnley player could play in the World Cup Finals.

Scotland are well placed to qualify alongside group leaders Holland for the finals, and it is the Scots that represent Burnley’s best chance of having a player at the tournament.

Caldwell is one of three Clarets in the squad, along with veteran Graham Alexander and record signing Steven Fletcher (pictured below). Burnley’s talented young midfield player Kevin McDonald will also be hoping to force his way into George Burley’s reckoning if he can impose himself on the Premier League this season, as well as new signing Brian Easton who has worked his way through the youth set up for his country.



Only one Scot has ever played in the World Cup Finals while representing Burnley and that was Jock Aird at the 1954 tournament. He made two appearances before Scotland’s early exit, in a 1-0 defeat to Austria and then a 7-0 hammering by Uruguay.

Of course, there is every chance that England will be the only home nation travelling to South Africa, and it is highly unlikely that a Burnley player could be picked in Fabio Capello’s squad. But stranger things have happened, and if Wade Elliott or Chris Eagles play to their full ability regularly over the next few months, Capello may be tempted to go for a curveball, unknown option.

Just one Claret has represented England at a Finals and that was Colin McDonald, who was the first choice goalkeeper for the 1958 tournament and who kept a clean sheet against Brazil.

Northern Ireland is the home country where Clarets have been most successful down the years, with three of Burnley’s five World Cup finalists playing for the small country. Indeed, two Clarets were part of their 1982 quarter-final team - Tommy Cassidy, who made just one substitute appearance, and Billy Hamilton, who started all five games and scored twice against Austria.

Burnley’s most celebrated player of all time, Jimmy McIlroy, after whom a stand at Turf Moor is named, made five appearances for Northern Ireland at the 1958 championships.



And with Northern Ireland well placed to qualify after a bright start to their campaign, Burnley’s Martin Paterson and Michael Duff will be dreaming of World Cup glory should their nation qualify.

The chance to see our Claret heroes taking on the very best in the world is just one of the many benefits of promotion to the Premier League. Steven Caldwell was in the international wilderness before his defensive partnership with Clarke Carlisle finally clicked and the Burnley back line stopped shipping goals. His return to the Scotland squad is well deserved, and will hopefully mark the start of the Burnley charge to the World Cup next summer.

Lightspeed Champion announces London date

Dev Hynes, aka Lightspeed Champion, has announced a festival warm-up show in London at the end of this month.

The hat-wearing folky hero will play the Garage venue on October 28, the day before his Leeds festival show. He will then play the Reading leg of the festival the day after.

Tickets are just a tenner and are on sale now from here.

The former Test Icicles man will be previewing material from his upcoming second album, the follow-up to 2008’s Falling off the Lavender Bridge.

This article was written for The Music Magazine.

Poor pre-season means nothing

The last couple of weeks have seen a clamour from some Burnley fans to find something, anything, to moan about. The most popular topic seems to be our less than impressive run of results in pre-season. Losses to Bradford and Leeds as well as needing a late goal to get a draw at Accrington Stanley resulted in the panic button being pressed by certain sections of the fans.

Last season we tested ourselves against a similar level of opposition, also with poor results, and were rewarded with a terrible start to the season that left us staring relegation in the face for the first month of the season. Fans pointed the finger at poor pre-season planning and a failure to test ourselves against top opposition, but the reason for our slow start was much more to do with the wrong tactics being played than the players not being adequately prepared.

Once Owen Coyle had settled on the right formation and line-up we were away and never looked back. Hopefully Coyle will have learned from his mistakes last season and will pick the right side for the opening game at Stoke next weekend.

You’d think that with it being our first game in the top flight for 33 years we’d be happy just to go down and take part and that any positive result would be a bonus. But our staggeringly difficult run of games following the Stoke game - we host United and Everton before travelling to Chelsea and Liverpool - means it’s important we get off to a bright start and get on the board. Chances are we’ll get very little from the first few weeks.

Of course, the Britannia is a tricky place to go and many Premier League teams found it difficult there last season. Stoke are a physical side and the fans are very vocal down there, making it an intimidating place to go. But having just come from the Championship we are well practiced in dealing with the style of football that is the Potters’ bread and butter. We are experts at dealing with the long ball forward, and we have come across many of the players in Stoke’s team before.

Pre-season is more about building morale in the squad, getting fitness levels up, and gelling the players together rather than picking up results. As long as the players have reached the necessary stamina levels there is no reason we can’t get off to a positive start at the Britannia.

This article was published at FansOnline Burnley.