snow patrol? keane? the kooks? Muse? i don't particurly like any of these, but i could see some being nominated.

yeah, Muse will be I reckon

Plan B is great

would they give the nod to someone like belle and sebastian or are they too anti-industry?... they tend to throw in an obscure one or two (whether they're any good or not) with a non-indie token type (classical, jazz etc...) with 3 or 4 good acts and 3 or 4 pretty s**te acts... we'll see... last year was a good winner but yeah... british me arse!

I reckon Hot Chip will get a nod. Is it for English or British acts? If it's the latter than My Latest Novel might get a look in.

Belle and Sebastian's Dear Catastrophe Waitress was nominated a couple of years ago, somewhat surprisingly. I'd nominate The Life Pursuit for the writing alone, but I don't think their excavation of 70s sounds is going to meet with massive critical approval. I'd put Camera Obscura at an outside bet of being nominated. They certainly deserve to be.

Aberfeldy might get a nod

camera obscura = great aberfeldy = not so great still, that has nothing to do with whether they'll be nominated or not... i mean it's not as if "the mercury music prize exists solely to champion uk music by promoting the 12 albums of the year by british or irish artists".... ....oh....wait

Seeing as she won the Irish equvialent, would Julie Feeney get a nod ?

It's kind of 'British Isles' acts - because Gemma Hayes got a look in with 'Night On My Side', remember? Benni - I'm not feeling Plan B at all. I was really excited to hear his stuff, because what I read about it sounded really interesting, but when I eventually heard the record I was so dissapointed. I really think he is just a dodgy rapper with a guitar and pretty poor sounds. The production is a bit lame and cliched, and lyrically, he's not even that smart. I dunno, maybe I'm missing something...

see, that mission statement of theirs that i posted above is very interesting... the uk obvioulsy doesn't include the republic... but yet they are promoting the 12 albums of the year by british and irish artists... which means they could be talking about northern ireland only... but then why did gemma hayes get a look in?... so the only 100% logical way to read it is that they can pick irish artists if they are championing uk music so they must be on a uk label, then... so artists like the frames can't be chosen but gemma hayes can... whatabout bellx1 - on an irish arm of a worldwide label... it's all very confusing, isn't it... they need to reword their mission statement before i get further tongue-tied

Isn't the stipulation that you have to have sold less than 500,000 albums or do i have it arseways? Surely The Arctic Monkeys have sold more than that? Apart from them, i reckon you're on the money Úna with Hot Chip added to the list and someone we haven't heard of yet like a tuba quartet from Estonia with English parentage? Get thee to a bookies!

no, I don't think there's album sales limit - sure Coldplay were nominated for it last year.

RE: Plan B – musically (in general) he’s not really my thing. But I can still appreciate a good tune or lyric when I hear it and that’s pretty much what I mean when I say I like Plan B. I think (what I’ve heard of him so far) is impressive. Stripped down music and excellent lyrics. Pretty much the kind of ‘voice of a generation’ tag that was attributed to The Streets on their first album….. until they went s**t that is. Saw the dude bang out a tunes on Jools Holland a while back and thought he was deadly… just him and his guitar and a great story.

Hope Of The States - Left okay I'm dreaming, i know

I have to agree with Una. I'm not really feeling Plan B either.