The days between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve always have a muffled, wrapped in cotton wool feel about them. The world is at half speed, dank, and grey, but there are atoms of excitement around. Like right now. Radio 2 is broadcasting a two hour special hosted by Slash on his guitar heroes.

Slash. Radio 2. Fifteen years ago, these two words would never have fitted, not even with the deftest of shoe horns into the same sentence, but today, there's literally no hipper station.

Once the indomitable dowager duchess of easy listening, wall-paper music; today, if there's a musical boundary they've either broken through it, or pushing at the edges.