The Brabantia '10 litre Binny Wall Mounted Waste and Storage Organiser' or bin to you and me is an attractive well-made item available in four colour combinations, mine is a 'lipstick red' bin with the separate frame and lid in different shades of orange. The box suggests it can be attached to walls and used as storage or attached to the insides of cupboards and used as a bin. I had originally thought that I would use mine to store items for recycling but I think it is just a bit too small for that and it seems a bit too elaborate (and expensive) just to use as a storage receptacle. Therefore I think that before purchasing you need to make sure that you have a specific use for this attractive well-made bin.

After reading Jay Stringer's first novel about Eoin Miller, the gypsy detective from the Midlands, and not being really impressed but liking some aspects of the book I was interested to see if this second novel was an improvement. Eoin is an ex-policeman whose continuing desire to right the wrongs of his local West Midlands community is still strong and has led him to work for the shadier side of the underworld, where he is recruited to work for a club owner and notorious gangland boss. This leads him into a number of cases of rape of young immigrant girls and thus he becomes embroiled in an investigation that leads to uncomfortable revelations that are a little to close to his own past for comfort.

I like the premise of a crime novel set in the less familiar landscape of the towns of the West Midlands and the sense of place is quite well handled, and Stringer can string a sentence together (he is an obvious devotee of American noir fiction) but ultimately I could not warm to our 'hero' whose constant introspection and seeming self-pity became a little tedious. The story was quite slow to get going and the lack of tension made for a less than exciting read. Stringer seemed to introduce new characters at every turn and I ultimately found myself becoming quite confused.
I feel that a little less emphasis on the chief protagonist's self-pity and a bit more action would have improved this story no end, as ultimately I didn't care much about any of the characters.

The cover shows Valerie June looking very formal and glamorous giving the impression that she is some kind of sassy pop singer or R&B diva. When you hear the record it's something of a shock that this is raw, updated country blues with lots of acoustic guitar and banjo (!) and she even includes a version of the old traditional bluegrass gospel song `Trials, Troubles, Tribulations'. The majority of the album was produced by Kevin Augunas (Florence & the Machine, Edward Sharpe) and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and there is a Black Keys feel to the more rocky tracks like 'You can't be told' and 'Pushin Against a Stone', while the opening track 'Workin Woman Blues' was produced by Peter Sabak in Budapest. June doesn't have a a particularly strong or distinctive voice and has the 'twang' of a country singer that seems to me to work better on the more acoustic numbers. I thought that this was an interesting record, I liked its variety but I thought that the songs weren't quite strong enough, 'Workin Woman Blues' is probably the strongest song with the best arrangement but my favourite track was the charming country ballad 'On my way'. Three and a half stars.

This record was made in 1996 just after James had surgery for throat cancer and was one of the last albums he sang on before giving up singing to concentrate just on playing harp. His vocals do sound a bit rough on some tracks but it's not a deal breaker and his harp playing is still fabulous - with a foot in both the country and the Chicago camps. The record features James accompanied by Joe Louis Walker on guitar, David Maxwell on piano and also (surprisingly) modern jazz bassist Charlie Haden - but don't worry Charlie stays in the blues groove and is rock-solid throughout. The feel and playing really remind me of some of Sonny Boy Williamson II's (Rice Miller) records were he was accompanied by minimal backing with just bass/piano and Sonny Boy was one of James's mentors and he covers Williamson's "Dealin' with the devil".

James has made better records but I do like the feel of this one, his harp playing is top-notch throughout and the accompanists are all very sympathetic, there is also a good choice of songs featuring Cotton originals, songs by old boss Muddy Waters and well-know blues such as "Worried life blues" and "Play with you poodle". "Ozark Mountain Railroad" shows what Haden can do, it's a melodic double bass solo on the "John Henry" theme - I would have liked to hear James playing along or perhaps other songs featuring improvisations, with the two men trading licks. I still felt that this was a very worthwhile record with James very much centre stage and it did go on to win a Grammy for best traditional blues record.

I saw James at the San Francisco Blues Festival a few years ago and he was amazing, as soon as one number finished he immediately started playing the introduction to the next one, he hardly seemed to stop playing the whole time he was on stage. However, since winning his battle with throat cancer in the mid-90s he has concentrated on just playing harp and left the singing to other members of his band and on this record a series of high-profile guests including Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, Keb Mo, Delbert McClinton, Ruthie Foster and Warren Haynes handle the vocals. Although the final track 'Bonnie Blue' does feature James singing along with Colin Linden's resonator guitar and is very moving and one of the album's best tracks.

The album was produced by Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, Susan Tedeschi and George Thorogood & the Destroyers) and features new songs specially written for James by Hambridge, Gary Nicholson and Richard Fleming. James' harp sounds great throughout and he certainly goes for it on the mainly uptempo collection of songs, on the title track his harp has a particularly dirty sound and blends well with Joe Bonamassa's excellent lead guitar. The rocking train blues 'Midnight train' with Gregg Allman also works well and I did like the two more laid-back songs by Keb Mo which provide a bit of variety and allow James to stretch out, there's also nice piano from Chuck Leavell and bass from Glenn Worf. Laid-back is one thing 'Wrapped around my heart' isn't, although it's a slow blues Ruthie Foster really rips it up and makes this another of the album's highlights. James certainly isn't growing old gracefully - he shows that as a 77-year old he can still cut it and really rock it out!

Everybody likes the very personable Hugh Laurie, who has entertained us from Fry and Laurie to Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster via Peter's Friends and Stuart Little and finally mega-stardom with House. This album carries on from his previous one `Let them talk' with more classy jazzy blues, with Laurie holding his own with his talented American musicians but taking slightly more of a back seat by leaving some of the vocals to others. Taj Mahal sings on Little Brother Montgomery's `Vicksburg Blues', while Jean McClain sings on the opener `St. Louis Blues', as well as `Send me to the 'lectric chair' and Jelly Roll Morton's `I Hate A Man Like You'. Guatemalan singer Gaby Moreno handles Joe McCoy's `The Weed Smoker`s Dream' (Why Don't You Do Right?) as well as dueting with Laurie on the sexy bilingual tango `Kiss of fire' and both women rip it up on a fabulous rollicking version of the title track, Sister Rosetta Tharpe's `Didn't it rain'. (Jean McClain deserves to get her own recording contract after her contributions here.) My favourite track featuring Hugh was his laid-back, very personal take on the old blues standard 'Careless love'.

I've seen less than kind reviews of this record, which I find hard to understand - it is well-played by Laurie and his all-star Copper Bottom Band (although I thought that guitarists Kevin Breit and Greg Leisz were under-used), well-produced by Joe Henry and there is lots of variety both in the material and the different singers. I thought there was a good mix of older and more modern songs - the album closes with Alan Price's `Changes' and also include's Dr. John's 'Wild Honey'. There is also a nice mixture of well-known and more obscure songs, from the show-business `One for my baby' usually associated with Frank Sinatra to Jack Dupree's druggy down and out `Junkers Blues'. If you liked the multi-million-selling `Let them talk' then I'm sure you'll also like this, which is more of the same really - with Hugh's love of the music again shining through.

JJ Grey and Mofro just get better and better and I think that this album is their best yet. With a singer like JJ Grey you can't really go wrong, he's got a strong, very emotional voice and can rock out on songs like "Floribama" and "Your lady, she's shady" but he can also really sell the ballads like the title track and "Write a letter" and he works great in combination with the back-up singers. The band also support him superbly with the brass section being totally intergrated into the sound rather than just being an add-on and I find their sound really original, with elements of rock, soul and blues but a really modern, almost rap-like, twist. There is lots of variety here from the 'throwaway' funky numbers to serious ballads but the band also have a really recognisable style - and they have produced a really great album. Be sure to catch them on one of their summer 2013 British festival appearances...

This may not be the best Delmore Brothers record but it is a great record of 'country' harmonica playing, featuring both Wayne Raney and Lonnie Glosson, with both of them playing together on some tracks! While this may be country music it is heavily influenced by the blues and Raney and Glosson were both clearly influenced by the black harmonica player Deford Bailey who had played on the Grand Ole Opry and while their playing isn't really original they are very good players with a real feel for the blues. Glosson and Raney both also feature as vocalists and both are also credited as song writers along with the Delmores. The tracks were recorded in the late 40s and early 50s and despite the listed artists (The Hallelujah Trio, Hank Dalton etc) the personnel is always the Delmore Brothers with Raney and Glosson, plus additional guitar and bass players. The tracks were recorded in a variety of locations including New York, Dallas, Memphis and Cincinnati and the sound is very good with the harmonicas mainly recorded acoustically but listen to "Trouble ain't nothing but the blues" where the harmonica is very echoey and slightly distorted, almost like Little Walter! This is a cracking record of wonderful harmonica playing (and also some nice hillbilly country guitar - listen to "Freight train boogie") anyone interested in harmonica playing should give it a listen - there isn't a bad track on it. Can white men play the blues? - these two guys definitely could...

(And they weren't the only white boys blowing blues harps, look out for recordings by amongst others Gwen Foster, Bill Cox, Henry Whitter, James Francum Braswell, Dave McCarn, Walter Parham and Ernest Stoneman.)

Following in the footsteps of other teenage blues guitar prodigies like Monster Mike Welch, Jonny Lang and Joe Bonnamassa comes young Austin Young and his band No Difference from Colorado. Like his forebears he also has fabulous technique and a great guitar sound and you can tell he has listened to and absorbed a variety influences but the final track "Miss you Moore" suggests his love of Gary Moore, which you can definitely hear in his playing throughout the record. If his vocals don't quite match the maturity of his guitar playing at the moment he has still got plenty of time to develop, as indeed Joe Bonamassa's vocals did. Many of the above guitarists got into blues after being influenced by their fathers and similarly Austin's father is actually the drummer in the group, which also comprises Noah Mast on bass. This is very much contemporary rock blues, with lots of variety - tracks like "Springtime snow" and "Magdalena" are surprisingly gentle and melodic but he can also rock out as on the opener "Thunderhead" with its blistering guitar and "Give me one good reason" is a nice slow blues. I was going to give this album three stars because it is a bit too rock-blues for me but you can't deny Austin's huge potential and I'm sure many other people will find it just what they want.

Although I'd never heard of the Ikra brand before my first impressions on opening the box were that this is a well-made machine in a tasteful colour scheme of light grey, mid-grey and red. The German-made trimmer is built around a hollow steel shaft with an adjustable plastic handle at the top and the trimmer motor's plastic housing at the bottom. The plastic guard at the back of the head is easily secured with three screws and the wire guard at the front just snaps into place. The whole thing feels solid and has a pleasing weight - which could be a disadvantage to smaller people using the machine. It comes with a thirty-foot bright orange mains cable that will only be long enough for very small gardens - I had to use it in conjunction with an extension cable (a cordless Ikra trimmer is also available). The instructions include details on assembly, extensive "safety instructions" and "operational precautions", as well as notes on operation, adjustments and replacing the cutting line spool.

In use I found it worked very well, there are numerous adjustments that can be made to the telescopic shaft and the head, as well as the handle that moves through 180 degrees to allow edge cutting. The variable speed motor coped with both long and short grass as well as thicker weeds, and the wire guide was useful to protect against damaging flowers round the edge of my lawn. I found the guide wheel attachment very useful for edge cutting and it worked well both on lawn adjacent to paving and lawn butting up to to flower beds. The tap'n'go line feed head worked OK but I was a bit surprised how many times I had to use it trimming my two smallish lawns. After trimming my back and front lawns the trimmer was also surprisingly dirty - you'll need to make sure that the air vents on the motor housing don't get blocked. My only concern with this trimmer would be being able to buy a new line spool and other accessories (a `twincut scythe' system to fit this model is available) as at the moment this brand doesn't seem to be available in British stores.