Oldham's Got Talent

Ahh, yes. John Stapleton. Oldham's most famous son. From Lancastrian obscurity to...erm, GMTV. We're all real proud of him up here. Or as we "Norr Then" people (or "folk")say, we're all "chuffed" for him (which also means "farted" in Newcastle). And which is quite confusing actually. So, for that reason, the whole business of Oldham having any talent at all remains unclear.

Until now, that is!

Ladies and gentlemen, there's a new Oldham in town. An Oldham that has nothing to do with the old Oldham, and isn't even a town. No, the new Oldham is in fact a human being called "Craig Oldham", who's a designer at the award-winning design agency, Music, in Manchester (which is near Oldham, yes).

But is this Oldham talented? YES! Cos not only does Craig's work look amazing (even after he's let me write on it), our Craig's on the shortlist for this year's D&AD Executive. But to get to the top, and perform for Her Majesty Queen at this year's Royal Variety Performance (or the D&AD Executive equivalent at least) Craig needs plebs like us to vote for him!

So to get someone talented, young, and (ahem) Northern on to the D&AD Executive for a change, just follow these simple intructions.

First, you have to be a member so, please go to www.dandad.org/membership/executive09.asp to view the cvs, manifestos and to vote. You'll need to log in to the Members Area using your membership number and password. If you don't have a password, you can create one at www.dandad.org/membership/registration.asp

Finally, in Craig's own immortal words, "Blah, blah, blah. The deadline for voting is 5.30pm on 21 August."

So vote NOW! NOW dammit! Go on! It's not like an ITV phone-in thing that's rigged. This is serious guys. Like proper democracy.

Surely, you rememember democracy in this country, don't you? Don't you..!?