Ice-cream van melodies: the top ten from irritating to infuriating

ICE-CREAM vans are a great concept, bringing the cooling balm of a 99 to your very door. But why are their siren songs so shit? 

Greensleeves

What is this medieval bollocks? Are you trying to attract a family of serfs? Peasants under feudal lords don’t have three quid for a knock-off Magnum.

The Blue Peter theme

Reminds children of dull, sanctioned fun. And the tune’s actually called Barnacle Bill. They should have called the programme Barnacle Bill. It would have made as much sense as Blue f**king Peter.

The Match of the Day theme

Erling Haaland isn’t running to the ice-cream van for a Zzap. He’s got his own ice-cream van, negotiated as a perk, parked on the lawn outside his 17th-century mansion and forgotten.

La Cucuracha

You know what everyone likes to think about before digging in to a delicious lime screwball? Cockroaches.

O Sole Mio

‘Just one Cornetto,’ as the nineteeth-century Italian folk song goes. But the ice cream man doesn’t sell Cornettos. He sells almond-and-honey Cornettinis that never seem to melt.

The Entertainer

Not so much an entertainer as a vendor, is he. And it is always he. The glass ceiling in the ice-cream van business must be exceptionally low.

Popeye The Sailor Man

Does Popeye even like ice cream? He f**king loves spinach and spindly women, neither of which have positive ice-cream affiliations.

Yankee Doodle

With the van playing this and the twat down the round with his Colonel Bogey air horn, the US Civil War was enacted on your very cul-de-sac.

Pop Goes The Weasel

If you were writing a melody that taunted the listener for not having an ice-cream it would be this.

Teddy Bears’ Picnic

This is toddler-level shit, and you’re expecting grown adults to rush to their feet in excitement? Know your audience, do the Vengabus song.

SNP to hold referendum on independence from Sturgeon

THE Scottish National Party is to hold an independence referendum over its association with Nicola Sturgeon.

Following its former leader’s arrest on Sunday, the Scottish National Party is to hold a once-in-a-generation referendum on whether it should sever all ties with Sturgeon, her husband and their former treasurer to go its own way.

SNP leader Humza Yousaf said: “We’re calling it Indyref 2 and the British government’s more than happy for us to hold it.

“The question is simple. Should the SNP be forever shackled to a woman being investigated for significant financial irregularities, a woman who bloody loved putting questions to the public, or get rid?

“Some say ‘how can you survive without her?’ or ‘where’s your gratitude?’ or ‘better together’, but we existed as a party and a national identity before Sturgeon, and I’m confident we can again.

“The question will be put to the people. And if we lose by a narrow margin then we’re fully prepared to override the democratic process and have another go in a couple of years.”

“It’s what Sturgeon would have wanted.”