Once upon a time, in a land not so far, far away, in a pretty drab and cheaply constructed high-rise office building perched on top of a hill–possibly in Islington or somewhere similar–lived a few young men. These were not the type of men who smiled only when genuinely happy, nor were they anything like pleasant young men. No, these men, while they might have been nice once, had now gone some way towards concealing their better attributes beneath public personas. They were defined more than anything else by their ostentatiously expensive personal accessories, and their bizarre jobs, which revolved around selling things that they never actually saw.

All that many of us wanted for Christmas, apparently, was more classical-pop crossover bands; as Il Divo and The Choir Boys added their names to the ever-expanding roster of genre-bending bands, such as G4, Amici Forever (the ‘first opera band’), Charlotte Church, the Mediaeval Baebes and Vanessa Mae. However their music appeals to us, their considerable success and controversial appeal does serve as a reminder that musical segregation –convenient, perhaps– doesn’t come without certain associated tensions.