Ever since seeing PWD live for the first time when they supported Bring Me the Horizon last year and then again at Sonisphere, we’ve been looking forward to this show – and we weren’t let down. A blindingly heavy set that had the whole room moving, plus two fine support acts in the shape of The Ghost Inside and Miss May I.

Enjoy our photos!

Best news you’ve had today?

That there was barbeque in the venue so we could have barbequed food – that’s really good news for a southern boy!

Best thing about touring the UK with Norma Jean?

Obviously we have a history with Norma Jean (Josh was there original signer), and we’re all friends. I’ve known them all since middle school so just being with them is the best. Being in the UK is just a bonus because the UK is always very nice to us and the shows are a blast. The whole scenario in general is just the best!

Best thing about being in The Chariot?

Being able to play our live shows every night, it’s very fun, exciting and fresh. We always switch things up, change things around, add songs, take songs away – we try to feel out every night so it’s not just ‘last night’s show’ or ‘tomorrow night’s show’, and that’s a blast. It’s also very therapeutic in a lot of ways, I feel like being able to do that every night helps me stay on the straight and narrow. Live shows are such a pleasant thing to be able to be part of every single night.

Best song your band has ever written?

I have a favourite, but I don’t know if it’s the best. My favourite song is probably ‘Then They Came to Kill’ on the Fiancée release and it featured Hayley Williams from Paramore – that was a bonus. It’s just a really fun song, it has a lot of parts and a lot of different things. However, live my favourite one to play is ‘The City’, which is the song where we really try and remove the barrier between us on stage and everyone watching. That song has a part in the end that pretty much demands crowd participation.

Best line/lyric you’ve ever written?

The one that means a lot to me is “calm rose”, which our guitarist just got tattooed on his knuckles. The line is “calm rose, heavy winds” but the imagery is of a crazy storm of life all around you and one single, solitary calm rose. It’s about taking baby steps to get out of whatever storm you’re in.

Best thing about your fellow band members?

Definitely that we’re all friends and that every night is different. When it all works it can be a very magical thing, but when it doesn’t it can be a real train wreck. When it is a wreck, the best part of being with these dudes is that you can just go with it.

Best show The Chariot has ever played?

That’s a tough one – we have a top three craziest shows, which, in our book are probably the best. We had one in Moscow and at the time it was by far the nuttiest we’ve ever played – the crowd participation was just immense. We also played Essen in Germany and somewhere in Italy, and those three are definitely the best of our career so far; they were awesome.

Best band The Chariot has ever toured with?

I’m a big fan of Converge – they keep putting out records that are phenomenal – and we did the Sounds of the Underground touring festival with them. They’re such a good band so I’ll give it to them!

Best show you’ve ever seen as a fan?

I saw Arcade Fire and, while I don’t know if it was the best I’ve seen of all time, it really opened my eyes because they’re such a huge band and I hadn’t seen a good arena rock show in ages. Man, it was a really powerful show and it opened my eyes to know that you can be an arena rock band and still have that passion and feel like you’re enjoying yourself. That was something I felt was missing from some of the other arena shows I used to see back in the day. I didn’t expect to be so blown away by how good it was.

Best band ever?

The Beatles – that’s easy.

Best album ever?

I probably have a top five. One of my favourites that I listen to so much and really rocked my world at the right time would be the Geisha record by the Smashing Pumpkins.

Best song ever?

‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Simon and Garfunkel, but I really like the Elvis version a lot. It’s just a quality, quality song.

Best movie ever?

That depends on my mood. I really enjoyed Moulin Rouge because there’s so many songs and so much going on. I also like documentaries and there’s one called Man on Wire that, as an artist, opened my eyes. It’s tough to call out one though, because sometimes I just want to watch Dumb and Dumber!

Best ice cream flavour?

I don’t like ice cream, so no ice cream would be the best!

Best pizza topping?

Pepperoni.

Best day of your life?

Well I’m married so I should probably say my wedding day! It was a very great day.

Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

My dad always used to say, “if you’re going to do something, do it all the way.” That dealt with a lot of character and how people see you. My dad drilled that into my head my whole life, whether it was cleaning my room, starting a band, whatever. It’s a blessing and a curse – a blessing ultimately, but sometimes, before starting a project I realise I can’t corners or anything like that.

The Chariot, photographed for the Daily Dust by Dave Musson Photography

Make sure you check out our live coverage of their tour with Norma Jean. Also, The Chariot is playing this year’s Hevy Fest – this is a good thing!

Enjoy our selection of snaps below!

Also, make sure you check out our interview with The Answer frontman, Cormac Neeson. You can find out what he had to say right here.

The Skulls have just come off supporting the Black Keys on an arena run, so have certainly had plenty of chance to hone their live chops.

We also saw Broken Hands another British act flying the garage rock flag with plenty of aplomb. Enjoy our photos of both bands.

First up were Parisien fivepiece Admiral’s Arms, who are clearly having plenty of fun on their first UK run. They are full of energy with tight, punchy songs and by the time their bassist joins the crowd for the end of their last song, they’ve won themselves more than a few new Brummie friends.

Second on the bill, Canada’s Dead and Devine. Very much alive they also rip through their set with plenty of precise playing and chugging beatdowns. Much fun.

Third up, The Chariot. If you’ve not had the joy of seeing this lot play before just know this; they are IN-SANE. Guitars and limbs fly, band members spend as much time in the crowd as on stage and the drummer manages to carry on with the final song despite having his kit dismantled by his singer. Oh, and they’re brilliant musicians too. Fantastic stuff.

Then it was left to Norma Jean to bring it home and they do it some style, sounding as heavy as a rhino with a hangover. Their riffs are as big as monsters and they pack so much passion into both their songs and their performance that it is very difficult not to be drawn in. A fine end to a fine evening of metal – raise those horns and enjoy our pics!

Photos: Dave Musson Photography

Best news you’ve had today?
Nikki Six from Motley Crue is a fan of the band and plays our music on his show…pretty cool!!!

Best thing about touring the UK with The Union?
Being able to hear those guys rock out every night.

Best thing about being in The Answer?
I don’t have to get a real job.

Best song your band has ever written?
Waste Your Tears

Best line or lyric in any of your songs?
“Belfast town won’t you bring me around like a street light swingers rope upon the ground”..not sure if its my best but I like it.

Best thing about your fellow band members?
Micky’s nice hair

Best gig The Answer has ever played?
Madison Square Garden with ACDC

Best band The Answer has ever toured with?
See previous answer

Best gig you’ve seen as a fan?
Pearl Jam, Dublin 1996 I think

Best band ever?
Free

Best album ever?
Smashin Pumpkins “Siamese Dream”

Best song ever?
Thats impossible to answer but for the sake of the interview I’m gonna say “Ramble On” by Led Zep

Best movie ever?
Midnight Run

Best ice cream flavour?
Chocolate

Best pizza topping?
Hot Chilli

Best day of your life?
When Liverpool beat AC Milan in the Champions League Final.

Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Don’t let anyone make you afraid

We’ll be checking out The Answer and The Union playing together in Wolverhampton – be sure to come back to the Dust for some great photos from the show!

This article titled “How to make metheglin” was written by John Wright, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 15th February 2012 09.30 UTC

Metheglin, which is simply a flavoured mead, pre-dates even wine made from grapes, so it is a pity it has gone out of fashion.

Mead was one of the first drinks I ever tried (owing to a girlfriend who took a worrying interest in Celtic rituals in which mead was apparently an essential ingredient). But beware of asking for it in a pub. I did once, only to be told “I am terribly sorry, Sir, but we don’t serve plonk here”. While mead is still being produced commercially, I can find no one who makes metheglin, so if you want to try this ancient drink you will have to make it yourself.

“Mead” and “metheglin” are basically the same words, coming, according to one source, from the Welsh “meodyglyn”. The only difference is that metheglin is a mead with flavourings added. There are endless old recipes for metheglin; the 17th century “The Closet of Sir Kenelme Digby” lists several dozen with snappy names such as “Sir Baynam Throckmortons’s Mead” and “Mead from the Muscovian Ambassador’s Steward”.

A vast array of flavouring ingredients are used – virtually anything with a strong flavour which isn’t actually poisonous (at least not very poisonous): watercress, fennel, liverwort, marshmallow roots, scurvy grass, cloves, borage, marjoram, ferns, flowers, and so on.

There are many modern recipes which are equally imaginative and it will be necessary to try a few before you find the one you like best (Pattie Vargas and Rich Gulling’s Making Wild Wines and Meads is an excellent source, listing over two dozen).

Last year I made a batch using dried mugwort and a very small quantity of wormwood (both Artemisia species). The flavour was something of an acquired taste, which unfortunately I never managed to acquire. At the same time I made a garden herb version. This is safer while still being local and seasonal.

Of course it is only the hardy perennial herbs that are available in February and a quick expedition out of the back door has found thyme, bay and rosemary. The flavours survive the brewing process fairly intact, but not too strongly. A good drink to have with lamb, of course, and if you find you don’t like it, an excellent thing to use in cooking.

1.4 kilograms of runny honey
4.5 litres water
About two tablespoons of chopped rosemary
One level dessertspoon of thyme leaves
Six bay leaves
Juice and zest of two lemons
Grape tannin – quarter teaspoon
Yeast nutrient – follow instructions on sachet
White wine yeast, one sachet – follow the instructions

Put the water in a large pan on the hob and turn on the heat. Once it is just too hot to touch, pour in the honey and use some of the hot water to wash the remaining honey into the pan. Stir until the honey is dissolved and bring to the boil for ten minutes, skimming off any foam.

Turn off the heat and immediately stir in the herbs, grape tannin, lemon zest and lemon juice. Cover and leave to cool.

Transfer to a sterilised fermenting bucket and add the yeast nutrient and the yeast and cover. Allow to ferment for about three days then pour into a demi-john using some muslin cloth draped into a funnel to get rid of all the bits. The funnel, muslin and demi-john should be scrupulously sterilised. Fit a bubble-trap and leave for two months. Rack-off into a new demi-john and bottle when clear.

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Bird Song Alarm Clock allows users to select their favorite bird songs or to have the app choose a new bird song at random each time an alarm sounds.

The calming sounds are certain to raise eyebrows, ears and smiles, rather than the buzzes, bleeps and bloops often found in iPhone alarms.

We’ve tried it, and love it.  However, now the snow has gone, we may actually hear birds for real again…!

In the DD meetings we have we often talk tech, we are all crazy for it, however we all differ on our opinion of where to buy it.  While most supermarkets dabble in tech they fail to offer any real choice and value..we are left with just a handful of decent tech stores in the UK and today, we are looking at Curry’s.

Dave Mussons is a great photographer and is often posting his amazing snaps on the Dust, this gave us our lead, we all have camera’s on our phones, but what if we wanted a compact camera, how good would Curry’s be at selling the low end range of cameras.

Narrowing the search has been really well thought out and it is very easy to filter the search by budget, pixels and various options. It took a very short time to find a camera that fitted our criteria – which was a present for our nephew of just 8 years old.

Very quickly we found the spongebob camera and found some nice links to reviews.  The one thing missing was whether this camera had a memory card or not, but given the price, just £14.99, it probably wouldn’t break the bank if it did.

The whole process took just ten clicks from arrival to checkout, very very good, plus registering new account was simple.

So would we recommend Curry’s for electrical/digital purchases?  Absolutely with no hesitation, the search experience is very browser friendly and the site very clearly laid out.  We’d recommend you shop around though, because you never know what bargains you may find lurking at the bottom of the sea..  You can go grab your own spongebob or best compact camera in terms of price and quality on Currys.co.uk.

We are happy to reward Curry’s with 8 Dusts out 10.

This article titled “Apps Rush: 7digital, Band Boss, Metro, Desksplorers Knights, Psonar, Skitch and more” was written by Stuart Dredge, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 3rd January 2012 11.47 UTC

7digital+

Digital music store 7digital’s app has been popular on BlackBerry and Android, but after languishing in Apple’s approval process for a while, it’s now available for iPhone too. The app enables 7digital customers to wirelessly sync MP3s bought from the store to their iPhone for offline listening, making it a bona-fide iTunes rival on the device.
iPhone

Band Boss

Managing bands? There’s an iPhone game for that, developed here in the UK. Band Boss has you managing a pixelly artist or group with tours, albums and singles. It has plenty of charm, including real artists to manage (virtually).
iPhone

Metro

Free newspaper Metro extends onto Windows Phone with this new app from Associated Newspapers, joining the versions already available on rival platforms.
Windows Phone

Desksplorers Knights

The latest app in the educational game series for 6-9 year-olds, this focuses on the Middle Ages with animation, games and storytelling.
iPhone / iPad

Psonar

Cloud music service Psonar wants to do for streaming music what pay-as-you-go did for mobile telephony: open it up to a cash-strapped teenage audience. Users pay 1p for every song that they play through a system of virtual credits.
iPhone

Skitch for iPad

Evernote’s Skitch app gets upsized for iPad, enabling people to annotate photos, screenshots, maps and other images on their tablet.
iPad

When Saturday Comes

Independent football magazine When Saturday Comes has joined the App Store Newsstand, with an iOS app selling monthly and annual subscriptions to a digitised version.
iPhone / iPad

Flick Golf Extreme

The Extreme version of Full Fat’s Flick Golf game was a hit on iOS, but has quickly been ported to Android too. Flick golf balls through a variety of unusual courses, from icebergs to fighter jets.
Android

Spider Jack

Chillingo’s Spider Jack has been a casual hit on other platforms, but now it’s spun onto Windows Phone. The gameplay, as ever, focuses on a spider catching flies.
Windows Phone

Spy Mouse

Another iOS hit making its way to Android is Spy Mouse, which is the work of Real Racing / Flight Control developer Firemint. Avoid cats and steal cheese in this line-drawing puzzler.
Android

Mass Effect Volume 1: Redemption

Dark Horse Comics has released a new digital comic based on the Mass Effect console games, telling a story that sits between the two games, filling in the plot.
iPhone / iPad

GymPact

GymPact wants to help people get fit in 2012 by providing financial incentives: if they don’t check-in at their gym when they said they would, they pay – while good users get rewarded. There’s a fish’n'chip shop next to my gym, I’m not sure how it would tell the difference… Dollar signs indicate a US focus.
iPhone

National Geographic Traveler Magazine

National Geographic has taken its travelling magazine to iPad, with annual and monthly subscriptions as well as one-off issue sales.
iPad

Paramount100

Movie studio Paramount Pictures is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a free iPad app. Photos, film clips and music scores are all included.
iPad

N.O.V.A. for BBM

Here’s an intriguing combination: Gameloft’s first-person shooter N.O.V.A. meets RIM’s BBM messaging service. We assume the idea will be to help people deathmatch against their chat-contacts.
BlackBerry

Mike V: Skateboard Party HD

Billing itself as “The only 3D skateboarding game available on the Android Platform”, this aims to go where Tony Hawk grinded and ollied before, based on skateboarder Mike Vallely.
Android

Fluff Friends Rescue

Mobile/social games company SGN has a new iOS game based on its Fluff Friends franchise, aiming at younger gamers with its pet-rescuing action. Yes, parents, in-app purchases are included.
iPhone / iPad

Trudie Styler’s Warrior Yoga

Not just Yoga workouts. There are songs from Sting too. And it’s filmed at the couple’s Tuscan villa.
iPhone / iPad

Inclusive London

The Inclusive London app helps people with accessibility needs find hotels, restaurants, pubs, shops and other locations. Criteria include wheelchair friendliness, baby changing facilities and hearing loops.
iPhone

OWN Second Screen

This app is understandably US-focused: it provides “exclusive content” on the iPad while people are watching the Oprah Winfrey Network TV channel. It uses the Media-Sync platform developed by Nielsen and Gracenote, which has previously been used for second-screen apps by ABC.
iPad

Driving Eco2

This is intriguing, from car-maker Renault. It’s described as “a widget in order to help Renault cars drivers to minimize the fuel consumption of their cars”. It requires specific hardware plugged into the vehicle, though, to transmit data from the engine to the iPhone.
iPhone

Electric Sheep Infinite Evolving Artwork

Software artist Scott Draves is behind this iPad app, which is a “collaborative abstract artwork”. The listing explains: “You can vote to determine which sheep, or designs live, die, and perpetuate their genes as you participate in their world-wide Darwinian evolution. This app navigates this nonlinear video space.”
iPad

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Downton Abbey has leapfrogged EastEnders to become the most-watched TV show over the festive period, after newly released figures show that an additional 3.5 million viewers chose to record the ITV1 drama and watched it after it aired on Christmas Day.

BBC1′s EastEnders won the battle for the title of the most-watched show on Christmas Day – for the third year in a row – easily beating the Julian Fellowes costume drama into fourth spot by almost 2 million viewers. The shows went head-to-head at 9pm on Christmas Day.

However, the BBC’s victory has been short-lived following the release of new figures from the official TV measurement body, Barb, which includes so-called “timeshift” viewing by households who have recorded shows in the seven days after first transmission on personal video recorders such as Sky+.

Downton Abbey’s Christmas Day audience was 8.1 million, well behind EastEnders’ 9.9 million, but consolidated figures show that 3.5 million viewers caught up with the ITV1 show later in the festive period.

In total 11.6 million viewers watched the Christmas Day episode of Downton Abbey within seven days.

This compares with EastEnders which saw its consolidated audience rise to 11.3 million, after timeshift viewing added about 1.5 million to its total audience.

During the last series of Downton Abbey fans complained to ITV about the number of commercials that ran during the programme, so that may have prompted some viewers to record the programme so they could skip the adverts.

Barb’sconsolidated seven day viewing figures are a mixed blessing for ITV, with Coronation Street dropping to fourth place, down a spot from the original Christmas Day viewing figures, thanks to Downton’s popularity on catchup TV.

Coronation Street pulled in 9.3 million viewers live on Christmas Day, and a total of 10.5 million after recorded and catchup viewing is included.

BBC1′s Doctor Who also drops a spot, to fourth, after originally notching up a Christmas Day audience of 8.9 million.

A total of 10.8 million caught Doctor Who over the festive period, according to Barb’s consolidated viewing figures.

BBC1′s Absolutely Fabulous fared better when recordings are taken into account, with almost 2 million choosing to watch it on another day, putting it in fifth place with 9.1 million. An audience of 7.4 million originally tuned in to catch it live.

Every Boxing Day, Barb releases “overnight” ratings for Christmas Day, which are official figures but, according to Barb, “are not the final figures as exact programme timings will not have been incorporated and timeshifted viewing remains to be added”.

With the rise in personal recording devices such as Sky+ and online players such as BBC iPlayer, some shows can see a huge rise in viewing figures as word of mouth spreads about a programme.

Earlier this year, Sky drama Mad Dogs saw a total linear audience of 817,000 for its live premiere across satellite and cable.

But when looking at the consolidated numbers across a seven-day period, the total audience was more than 2.2 million.

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John Terry has a problem with his image. This much we know. But the nature of that problem may come as a surprise. Terry’s tortured season took a surreal twist on Tuesday when a blurry image resembling him appeared on cigarette packets in India. The banner at Stamford Bridge may need upgrading. Captain. Leader. Legend. Unwitting anti-smoking campaigner.

The Terry likeness appears on packets of Gold Flake cigarettes, right above the “smoking kills” warning. Terry’s representatives are taking legal advice. “It would seem that the picture is of him and he has not posed for anything like this,” said Keith Cousins of the Elite Management agency. “We don’t know where the image is taken from, but he has not given his consent for this,” he said. “We have consulted solicitors in London and India to investigate the matter and take appropriate action.”

There is no suggestion that Terry has been driven to a debilitating 90-a-day habit by the stress of playing alongside David Luiz, and the England captain’s representative said he is a non-smoker. The image was produced by the Directorate of Visual Publicity, whose additional director general, KS Dhatwalia, said it is “not clear” why the image had been used. “We sent the creative to the health ministry and they then cleared it and circulated it,” he said. “But how Terry’s picture got to be used is not clear.”

Nor is it clear why they used that particular image, which shows a posturing man, oozing virility, rather than somebody whose insides have been ravaged by tobacco. Surely the cheap symbolism of Terry weeping in the rain after the 2008 Champions League final or wheezing in the slipstream of Robin van Persie earlier this season would have been more appropriate.

Another official from the Directorate later told Reuters that the advert had “nothing do with John Terry. It was purely a piece of artistic imagination and I don’t know why an issue is being created”.

It is not the first time government departments in India have had problems with images. In 2010 an advertising campaign newspaper for the Commonwealth Games in India became a source of embarrassment. Images of the athletes were set against a backdrop of planes apparently emitting orange, white and green vapours to represent the Indian national colours. In fact the planes were Italian and the smoke was the red, white and green of Italy.

In the same year, the state of Meghalaya confiscated school textbooks that featured pictures of Jesus Christ holding a a can of beer and a cigarette. If the same fate befalls the Gold Flake cigarettes: John Terry special edition, they will at least became one of football’s more peculiar collectors’ items.

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This article titled “The Joy of Six: football unbeaten runs” was written by Scott Murray, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 2nd December 2011 08.43 UTC

1) Perugia (Serie A, 37 games, May 1978 to October 1979)

Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan side are more iconic than the later Fabio Capello version but surely not as good. Sacchi’s side won two European Cups but only one Serie A title; Capello led Milan to three titles in four years, plus one Champions League, the latter with the only performance in a final seriously to rival the one given by Real Madrid in 1960. Capello went his first season, and the best part of the following one, unbeaten. The run stretched for 58 matches, an Italian record.

But in many ways it is not an Italian record. Having already won the 1991-92 title, Milan’s last-day celebrations in Foggia were an eye-opener; they were 2-1 down at half-time, only to prevail 8-2. During their run they had put four past Roma, Ascoli, Cagliari and Verona, five past Napoli and Sampdoria. The following season they won 5-4 at Pescara, 5-1 at Napoli, 5-3 at home to Lazio and 7-3 at Fiorentina. No, it is not a very Italian record at all.

Compare and contrast with the only other team to go unbeaten all season in Serie A during the modern era: Perugia. They remained undefeated during the 1978-79 season, which had begun with a fortune teller who lived a couple of streets away from the stadium declaring that Perugia would win the scudetto. Her reasoning was that they played in red and white, which happened to be the national colours of the fresh-from-the-box pope.

Sadly this papal blessing proved to be a lot of bull. Though Perugia went through the entire campaign unsullied by defeat, they recorded only 11 wins out of 30, drawing the other 19 games. Nearly a quarter of their games – seven – ended in goalless draws – none more Latin. They were notorious for keeping possession well enough but doing little with the ball. They had the best defence in the league, built around the captain, Pierluigi Frosio, which conceded only 16 goals. But their main striker, Walter Speggiorin, scored only nine, a fairly poor return even for Serie A back in the day. The right-winger Salvatore Bagni managed eight.

With six matches to play, Perugia trailed the leaders, Milan, by two points. They could manage only a draw against Milan in Perugia, the first of four in their last six. They ended the season in second, three points behind Nils Liedholm’s side, for whom Gianni Rivera enjoyed a scudetto-winning swansong as another legend in the making, Franco Baresi, made his debut. Perugia’s unbeaten stretch lasted seven games into the following season, until Torino turned them over at home 2-0. It would be the first of nine league defeats, as they ended mid-table, the aura resolutely gone.

2) Celtic (Scottish First Division, 62 games, November 1915 to April 1917)

Only two clubs have gone through an entire Scottish top-flight season unbeaten. No prizes are on offer. But you will be pleased to hear the relentless sitcom-style one-upmanship of the Old Firm has been in evidence since the early days. In 1897 Celtic appointed the 29-year-old Willie Maley as manager. He won the title in his first season, the team unbeaten in all 18 games, winning 15 and drawing three, as they ran rings round opponents in their then green-and-white vertical stripes and black shorts.

Sure enough, the next year Rangers had to go one better. They too had a young boss – the 33-year-old match secretary and future manager William Wilton, who had been running the team at Ibrox since the age of 26 – and now they had an unbeaten season to match. Unlike Celtic, they did not drop a point, winning all 18 games and scoring 78 goals in the process.

The nearest either team has come since to an unbeaten season was Rangers’s near miss of 1967-68. Davie White’s team’s only defeat of the season came in their last match, at home against Aberdeen, a 3-2 reverse that saw them hand the title to Jock Stein’s Celtic. After the game the Rangers striker Alex Ferguson – the club’s leading scorer that season with 23 goals – was approached by a frustrated fan who toe-punted him viciously in the shin before wandering off. “I couldn’t really blame him,” said Ferguson. “I felt as sick as he did.”

Celtic too have nearly, but not quite, gone through an entire campaign unbeaten, though despite falling two hurdles from home, at least they won the league that season. It was also the end of a Homeric unbeaten run that stands as a record in Scotland today.

The Scottish First Division was not suspended for hostilities during the Great War. They won four titles in a row under a middle-aged Maley between 1914 and 1917. The 1915-16 and 1916-17 seasons were the peak for a legendary team featuring the playmaker Jimmy McMenemy and the goalscorer Jimmy Quinn. They lost three times in the first 12 games of the 1915-16 season, then not again in the league until Kilmarnock beat them in the second-last game of the following season. Two titles were in the bag, but perhaps the 62-game unbeaten run has more resonance. No mean feat, especially when, on 15 April 1916, they had to play two games in one day, winning 3-1 at Motherwell before heading back to Parkhead to tank Raith Rovers 6-0.

3) Preston North End (FA Cup and friendlies, 42 games, 1887 to 1888)

Arsenal hold the English league record for going unbeaten, their brilliant side of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires sashaying through the 2003-04 campaign unscathed, a run that had begun with a 6-1 win at home to Southampton in the penultimate game of the previous season and continued until they lost 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 to Wayne Rooney’s saucy triple salchow and pike at Old Trafford in the 10th game of the 2004-05 season. At 49 games the run was a magnificent achievement, albeit one tinged with the bittersweet pain of falling one match short of an historic half- century not out, and to a dodgy penalty to boot. However, any sympathy soon evaporated with the side’s graceless reaction to their first taste of league defeat in 17 months, an unnamed Gunner throwing a pizza-and-soup meal-deal combo in the direction of Sir Alex Ferguson in the tunnel after the game. A monstrous sulk lasting a month ensued; by the time they came round, they had won only one of five league matches and José Mourinho was disappearing into the distance, flicking Vs into the rear-view mirror.

For their unbeaten Premiership efforts in 2003-04 that Arsenal team were crowned the Invincibles. It is a monicker that has failed to catch on outside the red-and-white half of north London, however, and here is why. Elsewhere during that season Arsène Wenger’s side lost: the opening game of the campaign, the Community Shield against Manchester United, on penalties; an FA Cup semi to the same opposition; a League Cup fixture against Middlesbrough; and Champions League matches against Internazionale, Dynamo Kyiv and Chelsea. Only a churl would attempt to demean their stunning efforts in the league by bringing other competitions into the discussion but then, if anyone is going to start bandying terms like Invincibles about, well, the churl will not be the one who has started the row.

The thing is, precedents have been set, and there are only one true Invincibles in English football: the Preston North End side of 1888-89, who romped the first season of the Football League, finishing 11 points ahead of Aston Villa after winning 18 of their games, drawing the other four and scoring 74 goals. It is fair to point out that Preston had only 22 league matches to play, as opposed to Arsenal’s 38. And Wenger’s side had five competitions to contest, not two. On the other hand, you can only beat what is put in front of you and Preston did not lose a single competitive match that season; they also won the FA Cup, keeping a clean sheet in every game in their run. Now that is invincible. (In the interests of balance, Arsenal fans irritated with any Preston one-upmanship may like to point out that Tom Watson’s Sunderland side thrashed North End 4-1 in a friendly during their so-called Invincible year.)

And yet arguably Preston’s grandest achievement came the season before, with a barely believable 42-game run of consecutive wins. Sadly, William Sudell’s team bridled at the very last jump, the 1888 FA Cup final against West Bromwich Albion. Having beaten Hyde 26-0 along the way to the final – a score that is still an English record – they were so confident of winning that they requested a photo of themselves taken with the trophy. Before the match had started. “Hadn’t you better win it first?” asked the referee. Good call, ref! George Woodhall’s goal 13 minutes from time gave WBA a 2-1 win and ensured Preston were sent back to Lancashire to think on. Which, in fairness, they clearly did.

4) Hungary (Friendlies, Olympic Games, Central European International Cup, World Cup, 30 games, June 1950 to July 1954)

Spain hold the record for the longest unbeaten run in the international arena, a stretch which began after a 1-0 friendly defeat by Romania in Cadiz, took in their victorious 2008 European Championship campaign and ended with a surprisingly comprehensive 2-0 defeat by the USA in the semi-finals of the 2009 Confederations Cup. But nobody really remembers any of this. In a strange quirk of a sport which has been going for the best part of a century and a half, there is only one unbeaten international run with any real historical or emotional heft: the 30-game pomp of the golden Hungarian team of the early 1950s.

Those 30 games were actually 32: a 7-1 win over Turkey in the 1952 Olympics and a 5-0 thrashing of East Germany are matches which do not seem to count, for strange bureaucratic reasons that fly over the Joy of Six’s simple head. But 30 it officially is, and what a run in any case, starting with a 5-2 win in Poland in June 1950, taking in the gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics – chiefly memorable to Jeno Buzanszky for the kiss he got off Miss World at the medal ceremony – and Hungary’s famed 6-3 and 7-1 eviscerations of England in late 1953 and early 1954.

The run also took in some of the most famous matches of all time at the 1954 World Cup: an 8-3 skelping of West Germany; a hard-fought 4-2 win over Brazil (after which Ferenc Puskas hit Pinheiro upside the head with a broken bottle during a dressing-room brawl that lasted over 10 minutes); a sparkling skillfest against Uruguay (which nevertheless contained the best card-marking reducer in the entire history of football); and the run-ending defeat by West Germany, with a little help from linesman Sandy Griffiths, who controversially flagged Puskas offside late in the final.

Unlike Arsenal at the Battle of the Buffet, Puskas was philosophical in the wake of defeat. “To take defeats with the same dignity as we accepted triumphs must be our aim,” he mused. Although like Arsenal, food was on the mind of the player later christened by Alfredo di Stefano as the Galloping Gut: “Had we been offered the role of runners-up before the series started, we might have accepted gladly. But then the appetite for success grows as one eats.”

Hungary immediately went on another unbeaten run after their shock defeat in Berne, another 18 matches, giving them a total of one defeat in 49 games between June 1950 and February 1956. The team, however, was starting to break up as players fled for the west.

5) England (Friendlies, World Cup qualifiers, September 1988 to May 1990)

And the award for the longest unbeaten international run by any of the home nations goes to … Scotland. Between 1879 and 1888, the Scots went 22 matches without defeat, a run which included 13 straight wins, only two draws, and wins over England by 5-4, 6-1 and 5-1. On the flip side the only other teams Scotland played over the nine-year period were a not particularly good Wales and an equally dismal Ireland. And the run was bookended by defeats by England; 5-4 in London in 1879, a 5-0 humiliation in Glasgow in 1888.

(That run of 13 wins, incidentally, has been bettered only by Spain, Brazil, France and Australia, the last for the most part swatting aside nonentities such as Tahiti and the Solomon Islands.)

England’s best run of results – statistically speaking – were between 1890 and 1896, a 20-game unbeaten stretch. This time it was Scotland’s turn to bookend a run of fixtures which generally turned out to be one-sided wallopings of the Welsh and Irish. Their post-war record is a much more impressive 19, between October 1965 and April 1967, taking in as it does the winning of the World Cup in 1966. Two 3-2 Wembley defeats propped up either end of this golden era: Austria coming back from 2-1 down with 17 minutes to play in 1965, half the Scotland team messing around with ball tricks in the 1967 Home Championship while Denis Law had the funk on because he wanted to rattle in more goals.

Often forgotten now, though, because of what immediately followed it, is England’s staunch run after Euro 88 under Bobby Robson. England’s stock had rarely been lower after losing all three games in Germany that summer but, though they went home with their tails between their legs, they also took back the knowledge that they had for the most part matched the new European champions, Holland, in an undeserved 3-1 defeat.

It was not always smooth. England stuttered to a lucky 1-1 draw in Saudi Arabia late in 1988, causing the Daily Mirror to pen the headline GO, IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, GO, which, while being slightly unfair on Robson, may well be the last time a British tabloid has shown any form of thought, reverence or respect to Islam. England mooched with some uncertainty through their World Cup qualifying group. But they made it through unbeaten and in the run-up to Italia 90 form began to pick up, with a 1-0 win over Brazil at Wembley, followed by Paul Gascoigne’s greatest display, that daft-as-a-brush 4-2 win over Czechoslovakia.

The 17-game run was ended in May 1990, when Uruguay won England’s World Cup send-off at Wembley 2-1, Peter Shilton letting a José Perdomo free-kick through his hands, which were flapping like the doors of a haunted saloon in the wind. Robson announced his relief at the end of the run – better a defeat when it did not matter than at the World Cup finals. That long period unbeaten would stand England in good stead: they escaped defeat in their final warm-up match against Tunisia with a last-minute Steve Bull goal, then grimly battled their way to that night in Turin.

England went 12 games unbeaten at the start of Graham Taylor’s reign, too, before Germany turned up at Wembley. But let us not go anywhere near there.

6) Sparta Prague (51 games, Central Bohemian league, 1920 to 1923)

Only three teams have put together a longer unbeaten run in the league than the aforementioned Celtic team of the world war one. Al Ahly of Egypt remained undefeated between May 2004 and January 2007, a run of 70 games. Steaua Bucharest and Ceausescu’s goons helped themselves to a tainted 104-game run in Romania between August 1986 and September 1989 (though their European Cup win of 1986 and appearance in the 1988 final shows there really was little need to load the dice). The world record is held by ASEC Abidjan of the Cote d’Ivoire, a 108-match combination between December 1989 and 1994.

But here is the one: between 1920 and 1923, before the advent of a national Czechoslovakian league, Sparta Prague won all four of the regional titles on offer. They played 51 times during those four campaigns – and won all 51 matches. Which is truly ridiculous, even before you tot up the goals for and against: 237 to 40. And people say modern football is an uncompetitive nonsense.

Many thanks to Cris Freddi and Rob Smyth

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.

Wenner Media, the publisher of Rolling Stone and other popular magazines, looked to MEI’s team of digital-publishing specialists to help build the app using a combination of custom development and the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite(TM). MEI guided the production process, including training on the Adobe DPS software, editorial workflow development, template creation, app construction and final submission to Apple.

“The Beatles Ultimate Album-by-Album Guide” is a comprehensive companion to the 13 albums released by the legendary rock group. For each recording, the app provides a main article, a playlist with audio samples and a link to purchase the tracks, an extra “Testimonial” story, pictures and more. It takes the wealth of Beatles history showcased in Rolling Stone’s original print album guide and transforms it into a full-featured iPad experience, enhanced with interactivity and engaging content only available in the tablet version.

“The Beatles Ultimate Album-by-Album Guide” is now available in the iTunes store.

Device Requirements:
* iPad
* Requires iOS 3.2 or later
* 64 MB

The grand masters of funk, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, are back on the road in support of their newest album ‘I’m With You’ and the Dust was lucky enough to photograph their final night in the UK, as the Peppers rocked Birmingham. Enjoy our gallery!

You may be already subscribing to a dvd or book club, with KOPI you can now subscribe to coffee.  A new roast is delivered to the door every month.  It  suits serious coffee gourmets and we are very happy to put it to the test for you.

We received the first coffee pack Guatamala Finca Santa Clara Genuine Antigua very promptly.  Neatly packed with a glossy leaflet to explain in details the provenance and farming background of this unique coffee.  The packet comes clearly labelled and is informative with the name, provenance , strength  and date of the beans.

We used our Italian espresso coffee maker and enjoyed a powerful coffee aroma spreading across the office.  The taste was intense without being too heavy, a very distinctive taste that places this coffee above any  fine range available in the main stream shops.

We liked the concept of Kopi, the discovery of new coffees on monthly basis is appealing and would make an ideal and original gourmet present.  We especially liked putting the coffee on the map and would like to see that part developed further with  links to youtube videos of the areas where the coffee originates from.

So it’s with fairness that we will give KOPI a whole 8 Dusts out of 10

www.kopi.co.uk

We were introduced to the lovely Melissa, living brand of Choi Time a superior brand of Chinese tea.  We were sent samples of her impressive range and enjoyed drinking tea with a different approach.

One of the girls brought in a proper tea pot for a start – we all gathered around the tea pot watching the flowers slowly unfold and felt immediately enthused by this new tea ritual.

The girls were especially impressed by the Choi Time Damask Tea Buds.  Pretty to the eyes it has a subtle rose and jasmine aroma.

So following one of our new tea ritual meeting we decided to give Choi Time a whole 8 Dusts out of 10.

Filed away in the drawer marked "how have TV styles changed" let’s take the darling presenter of the BBC, put his best mate in a high powered Dragster, and have a token female no-one remembers introducing a filmed piece.

Top Gear. 1979. Let’s rock!

I’m sure in the film it made sense, but removed from context it’s wonderful, hilarious, and a bit freaky.

Tucked away in the wonderful Things Apple Is Worth More Than Tumblr site is this lovely statistic from Reuters:

Earlier on Friday the DJ STOXX euro zone banks index fell 4 percent, valuing its 32 members at $340 billion. In contrast, Apple’s market capitalization has soared to $340 billion on the back of the success of innovative technology products like iPods, iPhones and iPads.

So the 32 banks that control the European currency could start again if Apple were to "see them good". Throw in a balanced budget proposal in each National Government and you’ve solved the problem.

Okay, we’d never be able to run a Windows 8 device on the continent, but that seems a fair exchange, doesn’t it?

The shots are said to deliver instant energy boost all in sugar free guilt with the added benefit of being packed with anti-oxidants.  We all decided to try one and agreed to hand them over to one of our Daily Dust reporters currently training for a marathon.

The shots are striking in colour, a rather vibrant pink that in itself is enough to revive your eyesight just by looking at it – I have to say that this put me off slightly but after reading  the ingredients I was satisfied that no artificial colourants had been used and can only assume that beetroot was more likely to be responsible (no red pee!!)

I took each shot before my runs along with a good sip of water, the taste is very sweet but I was prepared to put up with it should it improve my performance.

Most of my runs take place in the evening,  at times it’s difficult to gather the energy to go for a run so I got used to taking a shot as part of my ritual and I can say that from a psychological point of view it did give me a boost.

It is hard to say whether it really improved my performance physically and I probably should carry on with the test one month in one month out to come to a valid conclusion.

The lads from the Daily Dust were all quite happy with the taste and unlike myself really liked the look of it (boys will be boys!!).  Some of them decided to replace their coffee fix by a shot – sadly, they’ll probably add vodka too!

So after buzzing with the team we agreed to give 7 Dusts out of 10 to the Voltz Energy Shots.