Let's all meet up in the year 2011... doesn't quite have the same ring to it

The Republicans have made gains in the midterm elections. Britain is being run by public schoolboys. Fighting is still going on in Afghanistan, bombs are still going off in Iraq, and we're still running out of oil.

Fortunately, Pulp have decided to reform, which immediately cancels out the negative effects of all the above.

For those who weren't around during the Britpop years, Pulp were Officially The 3rd Best Britpop Band, after Blur and Oasis, although I always thought it was a little unfair to rank the three of them, as they were all so different. I prefer their 1995 album Different Class myself, but my mate Kenny reckons that His'n'Hers was a superior album, and this formed part of his hypothesis that 1994 was the greatest year for music ever, which I found fairly compelling.

But Jarvis Cocker, the lead singer, was an inspiration to millions of geeks everywhere. He was skinny, awkward, wore thick-rimmed NHS specs, and threw shapes like you wouldn't believe.

(Coincidentally, or maybe not, he was also a dead ringer for my A-level Sociology teacher. Phil, I still remember that the Badger is the only mammal with a bone in its penis. Your lessons were clearly worth the effort.)

Jarvis' greatest moment was the 1996 Brit Awards, when he heroically provided expert physical commentary on Michael Jackson's narcissistic performance of the execrable Earth Song. Check 0:22 and 0:34 for his erudite opinion on the King Of Pop.



That should be enough to send anyone who doesn't already know scurrying to iTunes or somewhere and start downloading Pulp's back catalogue. Jarvis Cocker, genius and Michael Jackson-botherer, I salute you.