In an episode of "I'm Alan Partridge", the titular hero says that U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a song that "really encapsulates the frustration of a Sunday" when you have to "mow the lawn" and "wash the car".

Partridge is gobsmacked to discover that the song is actually about the Bloody Sunday massacre, but he can console himself that many a song has been misunderstood. For example, you didn't really think that "Y.M.C.A." was a gay anthem, did you?

'Y.M.C.A.' – Village People
"Come January 2025," Victor Willis, who wrote the lyrics for Village People's camp classic, wrote on Facebook, "my wife will start suing each and every news organisation" that "falsely refers to Y.M.C.A." as "a gay anthem". Willis, the band's singer, added that anyone who thinks it is should "get their minds out of the gutter".

The line “you can hang out with all the boys" is "simply 1970s Black slang for Black guys hanging out together for sports, gambling or whatever", he explained, insisting that "there's nothing gay about that".

'Every Breath You Take' – The Police
"I think it's a nasty little song, really rather evil," said Sting of his band The Police's hit "Every Breath You Take", because "it's about jealousy and surveillance and ownership". Greg Kot, on the BBC, agreed, saying it "expresses the kind of sentiment that gets a guy tossed in prison for stalking".

In the lyrics, Sting "takes the part of a stalker or voyeur", said the Financial Times. But countless "smitten couples" have chosen it as a wedding anthem, with "many miles of wedding aisle" walked to it and "numerous pledges" being "trothed" to the sound of Sting singing about "every vow you break".

'Born in the USA' – Bruce Springsteen
 A lot of fans heard Springsteen's magnum opus as a "feel-good, patriotic anthem", said Kot, and so did Ronald Reagan, who praised Springsteen and his song of "hope" during his re-election campaign in 1984.

But beyond the "big, seemingly uplifting chorus", the song "confronts the emptiness of the American dream", as Vietnam veterans returned to a country "in which working-class people are treated like little more than cannon fodder". The crestfallen verses "mock the empty slogan in the chorus".

Homeowners are feeling "betrayed" by the news that some of the UK's biggest mortgage providers are refusing to lend against properties with spray foam in the roof.

An estimated 250,000 homes in the UK have spray-foam insulation, said the BBC. And, because much of it was installed under the previous government's Green Homes Grant scheme, there are growing calls for politicians to apologise.

'Dangerous rot'
Spray-foam insulation is a "quick and unobtrusive technique" for filling roof spaces and walls with liquid foam, said The Guardian.

It can be beneficial when installed properly but, when "applied poorly", moisture can get "trapped behind the foam, leaving roof timber at risk of dangerous rot", said the i news site. Unfortunately, it's impossible to check on the quality of the work, or the state of the roof timber, after it's done, "without removing all of the insulation".

'Cowboy traders'
Now, homeowners with spray-foam insulation are "struggling to sell" or remortgage because a quarter of major lenders are "reluctant to deal with" houses that have this kind of insulation. 

Of course, the spray-foam insulation in many homes may have been correctly applied but there's no way to tell, and mortgage lenders are wary of the "cowboy traders" who applied the foam without a full survey or sufficient expertise, said The Guardian. Fears about the problem have risen so high that all homes with the insulation are now under suspicion.

"Urgent action is needed", the Insulation Manufacturers Association told the BBC, adding that it was worried that affected homeowners could now "needlessly" turn to "cowboy removals companies" to get rid of the insulation.

'Little more than a scam'
The foam is "still being aggressively sold to largely older and potentially vulnerable homeowners", Andy Wilson, an equity release consultant, told The Guardian. Its downsides are "rarely" mentioned and the "focus is saving on heating costs".

One elderly couple told ITV News that they are facing thousands of pounds of repairs "and the prospect of being unable to sell their home". Their son told the broadcaster that the couple "trusted" the spray-foam offer because it was a "government scheme" but "it's turned out to be little more than a scam".

Edinburgh: Peffermill House
A fine 17th-century tower house, built in 1636, and situated in 3.5 acres of secluded mature gardens close to the city centre. The property has a rich history: Dr Johnson and Boswell are thought to have visited Peffermill, and Sir Walter Scott is believed to have used the house in one of his "Waverley Novels, The Heart of Midlothian", calling it Dumbiedykes. 7 beds, 3 baths, 3 showers, 2 kitchen/ dining rooms, 4 receps, garden, parking. OIEO £1.375m; Rettie

Aberdeenshire: Thornyhill, Fettercairn
A stone-built country house dating to the 1850s. The property is surrounded by mature gardens of approx. 7 acres. 5 beds, 1 bath, 2 showers, kitchen/ dining room, 3 receps, outbuildings, garden, parking. OIEO £725,000; Galbraith

Perthshire: Newton Castle, Blairgowrie
An imposing listed mid-16th-century castle set in about 11 acres of enclosed grounds (a further 25 acres are leased). 7 beds, 3 baths, shower, kitchen, 4 receps, 2-bed cottage, outbuildings, parking. OIEO £1.25m; Savills

Highlands: Eilean Tigh, Stoer
A handsome house with far-reaching views over Loch Neil Bhain. 4 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, 2 receps, outbuildings, garden, parking. OIEO £350,000; Bell Ingram

We need the best of business innovation in government
Rachel Reeves in the Financial Times
After "nearly a decade and a half of stagnation and decline", Britain has a "radically different government" that is "relentlessly focused" on "delivering what matters most to working people", writes Chancellor Rachel Reeves. "Growth that does not make working people better off is pointless" so "our mission will be judged" on how it delivers higher living standards. "Nowhere do we see greater innovation than in our most successful businesses" and "we need that innovation in government".

What is the real toll of natural and climate disasters? Science has staggering new answers
Devi Sridhar in The Guardian
New research has found that a "large number of premature deaths" in the US could be "traced back to tropical cyclone events", writes Devi Sridhar. We're "used to thinking about natural disasters as events confined in time and space", but although earthquakes and hurricanes "might be confined in geography", longitudinal studies can "help us understand the full range of effects and what extra efforts might be needed to rebuild".

No-banter clause
Martin Samuel in The Times
If there "really was a Room 101", writes Martin Samuel, "banter would be my first entry" and that would include "banter about haircuts, banter about your football team, banter about your new cardigan" and "certainly the type of banter that Gregg Wallace appears to find amusing". It's "not that I don't like a joke" but banter is "often about point-scoring" as the "banterer is taking cheap, unsolicited shots" at the "banteree".