School of rock: Why Pink Floyd were not prog. The recent passing of Pink Floyd’s Rick Wright reminded me how my love of that band provoked so much scorn from friends who believed that post-hardcore groups like Sebadoh and Slint were the only viable forms of musical expression. A couple of years later, one of those friends conceded that Wish You Were Here was a bleakly beautiful song and that the Floyd were not quite the pompous prog behemoths of legend. — The Guardian music blog

A Pinter primer. First staged in 1975, No Man’s Land is the latest of Harold Pinter’s plays to be revived in the West End. The production stars Michael Gambon as the boozy Hirst, who finds himself playing host to a stranger named Spooner (played by David Bradley). The Duke of York’s production also stars Little Britain’s David Walliams and is directed by Rupert Goold. — The Guardian

Abandoned homes used to shelter troops often prove deadly in Iraq. It was just after 10 p.m. when a sergeant started yelling in the darkness. “There’s a bomb in the building!” The dozens of soldiers bivouacked in an abandoned house here grumbled as they threw on their dusty flak vests. They’d been awake for more than 30 hours. Several called the warning a prank. Ten minutes later, the soldiers learned the house had been wired with explosives from top to bottom. If the bombs had gone off, the explosions would likely have killed everyone inside. “It’s better to be lucky than good,” Capt. Russell Wagner muttered under his breath. — Wall Street Journal

Let’s learn judo with Vladimir Putin. The semi-naked-fishing, tiger-neutralising Vladimir Putin has enhanced his macho image with a new DVD. — The Independent