We know, we know-- complaining about the iPod's battery life is so last year. But here's the thing about fads: sometimes it takes them a little while to travel, and that can lead to weird situations wherein one country is just getting into the swing of things while another has long since moved on. For example, we hear that the hula hoop is just now hitting it big in Sri Lanka. The hottest dance craze on Christmas Island is the Macarena. Yemen is currently all about pet rocks. And so on.

So it really doesn't come as any particular surprise that England is just now catching on to the thrill of vehement grumbling that the iPod's battery might stop holding a useful charge just a few months after its warranty expires. What does come as a bit of a shock, though, is the fact that apparently the British government is getting involved; faithful viewer Matt Gough notes that the House of Commons is getting in on the action. A Macworld UK article reports that "Labour MP for Chorley, Lindsay Hoyle," tabled a motion "calling for Apple to ensure that replacement batteries are plentiful in supply and priced at a reasonable level" because he's concerned that, what with Brits buying up so many iPods over Christmas, "when people come to buy replacement batteries they find that they cost £100 and that they have little knowledge of where such batteries can be obtained from." (We're going to ignore the grammar and sentence structure there, but deep down inside our very hearts are breaking.)

It seems that ten other MPs were swayed by troubling reports of unruly Americans vandalizing posters over the matter (oh, for the good old days when they just protested by dumping tea in the harbor and seceding from the empire), and thus signed on as well. Personally, we're entirely unfamiliar with the British system of government-- we know there's a House of Commons, a House of Lords, and some guy with a TARDIS in charge of controlling the Dalek population, but that's about as far as we get-- so we'll take Macworld's word for it that since this iPod hubbub is "an Early Day Motion," it's "unlikely that it will be debated in the commons."

Anyway, the point's largely moot, since Apple recently extended both its iPod battery replacement policy and its AppleCare Protection Plan for iPod to the UK, so iPodians can extend their coverage to a full two years for £59 (€79 for Irish 'Podders) and out-of-warranty British iPods can have a brand spankin' new battery installed for £79. Still, we found it worthy of mention that in the UK the iPod is a hot enough topic to merit attention from their system of government. It's not like you see many congressional debates about it on C-SPAN. Well, okay, if you pay attention you'll notice that half the Representatives are rockin' out with white earbuds, but it's just not the same thing.