Alas, once again Weasel's favourite fell at the last hurdle. Despite being the overwhelming favourite of punters, bookies and music critics on the night, Bat For Lashes didn't win the Mercury Music Prize. Nor did Miss Winehouse come to that, and if her expression was anything to go by she seemed quite put out, especially since her LP has sold enough copies and occupied enough column inches in the press  to make it a defining album of the year.

Indie Ravers, the Klaxons, walked off with the award after a, frankly unintelligible, 'thank you' stint at the microphone. Lads, I know you're excited and all that to still be up late past your bedtime, but you don't need to actually get close enough to suck the microphone like a lollypop when you're speaking into it. They were certainly pleased to win the award though, not like some past sullen winners who simply mutter a grumpy 'thanks' and stalk off as if they've just been insulted by the win. Teenagers these days, eh? Their live set wasn't bad though.

The Mercury nomination has certainly meant a lot to Bat For Lashes though. When Weasel saw her at Glastonbury this year she had a devoted cult following, but you'd have been hard pressed to find a copy of her album in the high street (Weasel found one copy in total between all the music retailers in Bournemouth the Monday after the festival). A couple of months later and Bat For Lashes is suddenly a hot property with music journos (some saying so on the night) predicting great success for Miss Khan.

Although arguably a Mercury nomination has that effect on any album, Bat For Lashes seems to have benefited more than most. And in the end that's worth a lot more than a £20,000 cheque.