Conversion Tables

News & Politics

Alright. Fingers on buzzers. Last front-bench politician to convert to Catholicism?

Ann Widdecombe, correct, who changed denomination from the Church of England following the decision to ordain female priests. Good old forward-thinking Widders.

Interestingly, if you answered Alan Clark I'd have marked you wrong on two counts. For one, I'm not sure I'd call him a front-bench politician, since he never held high office. And two, his widow denies the reports that he converted to Catholicism shortly before his death. So it's Widdecombe or bust. Or Widdecombe's bust. I'll allow you a quiet shudder there.

So who else, then, has done a Reverse Henry? Thrown away the faith into which they were born in order that they might join the Alma Mater of Christianity - perhaps while serving as a peace envoy in a hotbed of religious zeal?

Looking down the list I find Buffalo Bill and Eric Gill to be a happy rhyming couplet of Catholic conversion. Bill, whose achievements primarily involved bison; and Gill, who not only sculpted Prospero and Ariel for the BBC, but invented its current font of choice - Gill Sans. Both found sanctuary in the Pope's bosom (not Widdecombe's). Gill converted early on in life, and we shan't mention the child abuse in any detail as it's an open goal as far as this conversation is concerned. Bill took the oath on his deathbed. They all count.

Bob Hope makes the list, having lived like Blair with a family composed in its entirety of Catholics, and John Wayne's last act was to follow suit for the same reason. The Jewish Siegfried Sassoon bit the bullet during his life as well, as did Evelyn Waugh (in 1930). And the man who once upon a time occupied my first room at university, JRR Tolkien, moved with his mother from Baptism to Catholicism at the age of eight. (It's not name-dropping if the name in question had been dead for more than 30 years when the incident to which you refer took place.)

But perhaps the finest name of them all on the list is that of Delia Smith. Yes, your favourite gastronomic goddess is a culinary Catholic. She was baptised into the Church of England but became a Catholic at the age of 22, writing the book "A Journey Into God" in the process - rather God than me.

Inspect the list for yourself on Wikipedia here. I have double checked all the entrants above but be careful with some of the others, it being Wikipedia and all that.

Goodbye Jonny, Hello Colly

News & Politics

It's alright, everyone. We play the South Africans at cricket in July 2008 and we'll beat them then. Mark Thursday the 10th of July, 11am, in your diaries now - the first test begins at Lord's.

Lib Dem Photo Op

News & Politics

As Clegg becomes the early frontrunner in the Liberal Democrat leadership race, the old leader lends his backing:

Compo for Home Affairs, surely...

The Beeb: Free With Your Croissant

News & Politics

There are moments in life - a fair few, actually - when I'm proud to work where I do. This is one of them:

The BBC's online services will be made available free of charge at thousands of wi-fi hotspots around the UK. The corporation has agreed a deal with wi-fi firm The Cloud, which operates 7,500 hotspots around the country.

The news website, programme sites and downloads of TV shows via the iPlayer can be accessed freely.

Any wi-fi enabled device will be able to surf the BBC's website in one of The Cloud's hotspots without paying a log-in or subscription fee. Users wanting to download a BBC programme - or stream a video - will have to use a laptop initially.

But the BBC said the ambition was to let users download programmes over wi-fi on to portable devices, such as the Sony PSP and Nokia 95.

[source: BBC News - 'BBC online to go free over wi-fi']

I mean, it's not simply that this is remarkably useful, in the sense that you can now go into a coffee shop and watch your favourite BBC TV series at your leisure, for free, on demand, in high quality. Or surf the many and varied BBC websites (yes, even catch up on what's been happening in Berkshire - you could listen to ice hockey highlights!).

It's more, for me, the fact that this is ridiculously clever brand positioning.

We are faced with a big dilemma in that younger, internet-savvy people (a bit like, well, me, really) are not always drawn to BBC content. They spend their time on Youtube and Facebook, not necessarily because those websites do anything better than we do it - we offer different services - but because they don't perceive the BBC to be offering anything of interest to them.

But stick them in a wi-fi hot spot and give them two choices - pay up for the web, or enjoy the BBC for free - and I reckon they'll be downloading Eastenders before you can say "boom, boom, boom boom boom boom-boom-boom".

Not that enticing 16-24 year olds back to the BBC (were they ever there?) is going to be as simple as luring them into a hot spot then acting as an alternative to highway robbery. Yes, getting the BBC for free in thousands of places up and down the country is great. But that means nothing without upping our game in terms of the stuff we're putting out for people to use.

The most excellent Drop Click rugby game is a perfect example of what we need to do more often. It's a quiz based on the Rugby World Cup, but by answering questions you progress in the World Cup, eventually winning the final (hopefully!) and posting a high score. It's very clever and looks immense. When I first saw it, I thought it was an independent production, and was very pleasantly surprised to discover it had the BBC name attached.

Now fans going to Paris can play Drop Click on their phones before the final - and cheekily, BBC Sport have got a new link on their rugby pages, advertising mobile coverage:

If only I worked there, eh, in that pit of cunning ideas. Well, steel yourselves, because here's an announcement: I now do. I'm pleased to say I've been offered an attachment at BBC Sport Interactive until the end of March, working for bbc.co.uk/sport.

The aim of the game is mainly to develop and write for the BBC's Beijing 2008 Olympics website, which obviously will form a large part of the BBC Sport website next year. I can't go into any detail but I've seen initial designs for this and they look stunning. The task in hand for me is to make those already excellent designs redundant by coming up with stuff so unbelievably good, it needs incorporating into them.

Watch this space. Well don't watch this space, watch bbc.co.uk/sport, the new home of yours truly at the Beeb. I've not started quite yet - you'll know when I do, because I'll be purring with enthusiasm after my first day in the Sport Interactive newsroom at Television Centre - and I'll be back at BBC Berkshire at the end of it, but in the mean time there is going to be a lot of fun, and hard work, to be had. And you can enjoy it all for free, in a coffee shop near you.

2,206 Wasn't Enough

News & Politics

So it's goodbye Ming, despite one of the more impressive lists of Facebook friends you'll see. The problem, one suspects, is that Ming's friend list was also the list of the only UK ciizens who'd vote for him.

From the BBC News website:

Sir Menzies Campbell has resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats, "with immediate effect". Senior Lib Dems Vincent Cable and Simon Hughes made the announcement, saying the party owed Sir Menzies "a huge debt of gratitude".

Speculation has been growing about the Lib Dem leadership, particularly since Prime Minister Gordon Brown decided not to call an early general election - and indicated he may not do so until 2009 at the earliest.

[source: BBC News - 'Liberal Democrat leader resigns']

It's a little difficult to stomach the notion that Gordon Brown's election-that-never-was has brought about Ming's downfall.

After all, if you're a Liberal Democrat (and at least one Dayorama author is), then you'd be a fool to have installed Ming in the first place if the premise was Gordon Brown taking the nation to the polls as soon as he assumed power.

Nobody expected Brown to call an election when he took over, and the media fervour of the last few weeks has only been because wildly excited political journalists thought 2009 had come early. All the political hacks I've seen have looked decidedly downbeat since Gordo chickened out.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to conclude that equally disappointed Lib Dems, staring terrible opinion polls and a two-year wait in the face, saw breaking an antique Ming as an excuse for the cheap thrill of a leadership contest.

Not that anyone outside the party can name any other Liberal Democrats to take over, with a few exceptions. We know Vince Cable because he just told us Ming had resigned and he's the acting leader; we know Lembit Opik because he's bonking a Cheeky Girl; and we know Charles Kennedy because he used to be leader.

It's not a world class squad, is it? If the Lib Dems were in the Rugby World Cup, they'd have been Georgia. And just as there are only eight rugby pitches in the entire former Soviet state (fact), so there are few visible opportunities for the Lib Dems to develop.

Credit, though, where credit is due. A search to see which of Ming's Facebook friends has recently updated their profile reveals some staunch loyalty among the faithful:

Oh, and speaking of the faithful, let's see if Ming and I have any mutual friends...

Well done Rachel - but shame on you, Amy Jones. Bet you're Charles Kennedy's friend...

What's That, Lassie?

News & Politics

From BBC News Online:

"The search for a deaf and blind dog of 18, which has fallen down a hole on a south Wales' hillside is continuing sporadically into the night.

"Rescuers are using their hands, pick axes and shovels to try to reach Jack Russell cross Sprogget, who vanished under old mine workings in Torfaen.

"It is thought the hole, which Sprogget has fallen into, opened up on top of the old workings from the former Six Bells colliery nearby."

[source: BBC News: 'Deaf blind dog search continues']

Now I have every sympathy with Sprogget's owners - nobody wants to lose their dog in any circumstances - but one has to ask a few questions about this.

Did it not strike anybody that a deaf and blind dog, on a hillside above an abandoned colliery, was an accident waiting to happen?

I'll grant you that even a deaf and blind dog can probably enjoy a good walk with bracing breeze and plenty to smell, but you'd think a lead would be a very wise investment given the inability to call the dog back or wave at it, even without a gaping hole opening up in the hillside!

Sprogget's owner, New Zealander David Sandford, who moved to the area in April, said he believed the hole on the hillside had opened up after recent rain.

Initially he had feared Sprogget might not have survived the first night.

He said: "This is the biggest event of his life so far so I just hope he comes out of it."

Of course one also has to ask: how unlucky can one dog be? Not only has Sprogget lost his sight and hearing, he's somehow had the misfortune to wander into an open hole above an abandoned mine. That's just not fair.

Good luck Sprogget. I'm off to check the sculpture trail for fissures. I don't want to be the one responsible when Toby embarks on Journey to the Centre of the Earth to retrieve his tennis ball...

Hockey Night In London

News & Politics

You might be aware - and I suspect more Americans are aware than Brits - that ice hockey's NHL is coming to London this weekend.

Two games between the LA Kings and Anaheim Mighty Ducks will take place at the O2 Arena, giving British hockey fans (and Europeans prepared to fork out for flights) a taste of the best ice hockey league in the world.

The LA Times has written a very nice report looking at British ice hockey fans - you can read it here. I've excerpted my favourite bits below:

"Some British mysteries just bamboozle the brain, from Stonehenge to Jack the Ripper to the chronic popularity of "Big Brother" to just who on David Beckham's green earth bought enough hockey tickets that London would sell out two NHL games in a hasty fortnight.

"Start by combing the green hills of England, Scotland, Ireland. Tucked in there amid the outnumbered rugby fans and the outnumbered cricket fans and the legions upon legions of keen-eyed soccer fans who can spot an opponent's handball infraction from a buzzard's distance, somewhere in there, yes, some people do report their own hockey fandom.

"They follow unembellished clubs such as the Coventry Blaze, the Basingstoke Bison and the Sheffield Steelers in the Elite Ice Hockey League, which Roberts rates on a level with the United States' East Coast Hockey League. They decry soccer's hegemony without risking deportation.

"They read newspapers with frustration. Epitomizing their place in the margins, they might read a hockey score in the newspapers knowing full well the game went to overtime, but the newspaper will note only, say, "Coventry 3, Cardiff 2," because there's just not room to note the overtime what with all the soccer coverage.

"They often know their athletes personally. If they're out shopping in Basingstoke, say, and they see a member of the Bison, they'll just have a chat.

"Trickles of Kings and Ducks fans have come to London in recent days and have marched through the O2 arena, which houses so many good, varied restaurants that you could live in it full-time without risking malnutrition -- a sports-arena rarity.

"Some inveterate Kings fans such as David and Linda Baltazar of Downey, who rapidly signed on last spring after the announcement of the game, on Friday witnessed the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and filed into the O2 for a party Friday night -- all part of a whirlwind, five-day London trip. The Baltazars also reported that the Kings tour group they joined on the club website had fallen victim to some savage infiltration from Ducks fans.

"Tickets, by the way, are being sold on the open market for $800, according to some news reports."

Get My Dog, I'm Leaving

News & Politics

So, farewell then Jose Mourinho.

The Special One has walked out on Chelsea and Spurs fans are already lining the gates of White Hart Lane in the forlorn hope that the board will throw half a billion quid at Jose to replace Martin Jol.

Nobody really knows what happened that's caused Mourinho to up sticks at quite such a surprising moment, but the consensus seems to be that he and his Russian chairman had a bit of a barney and this is the end result.

On the BBC's 606 message board, contributor Eduardo_rules came up with this - probably entirely accurate - rendition of those final moments:

Roman: Jose, we're not happy about the start to the season. And we want to play better football.
Jose: Let me run the team and do it my way. I have won two Premiership titles, a Carling Cup and an FA Cup, not to mention the UEFA and European Cups with Porto.
Roman: No, we want it done differently.
Jose: Okay. Maybe I'll just leave then.
Roman: Maybe you should.
Jose: Maybe I will then.
Roman: Fine.
Jose: Okay I'm leaving. Someone get my dog for me 'cos I'm off.
Roman: You go then.
Jose: Right I'm off, last chance, 'cos I'm really going.
Roman: Bye then.
Jose: Bye.

(Jose leaves)

Roman: B*$%*^$! What are we gonna do now? (Much swearing in Russian) Avram, do you have any ideas?

Avram: Well funny you should say that...

Not Only Have They Given An Inch

News & Politics

... but they've given a mile. Yes, that's the news today - the EU have got bored of trying to persuade Brits to change from imperial to metric, that they've finally given up. Fabulous. I may be of the metric generation, but tell me to bake a cake with 1/2lb of flour and 4oz of sugar and I'll know what you're talking about. Give it to me in grams and I'd actually have to think about it.

I'm also amused by this article. Now, there's a debate on BBC Oxford about whether the view of Didcot Power Station is one of the worst edifices in the country. Rubbish, I actually think it's pretty beautiful. Well, in the way only a power station can be beautiful. The view from the M40, looking over the Oxfordshire plain wouldn't be the same without Didcot (you know, the bit where the sheep stand on the edge of the cliff and end up with one leg longer than the other...). Anyway, apparently Didcot is one of the healthiest places to live, by life expectancy. It seems living next to a power station isn't such a bad thing. Now, that's good to hear since I was brought up in the shadow of Didcot.

I'm enjoying HK so far. All well and good. More on that over the weekend... (i.e. when I actually do more than walk from my apartment to the Office!). I do have the most fabulous view from the 43rd floor overlooking HK harbour though!

This Is A Little Bit Silly

News & Politics

Nobody denies that it's horrible when little children go missing, and it's impossible to imagine how it actually feels were it, God forbid, to happen to your children.

But there is a line between sober reporting of this kind of tragic development, and sensationalising something to the point where the actual human loss seems to be somehow devalued and overlooked.

This screenshot of the Daily Express website, on the page where you can view its last seven front covers, is a case in point:

In case you can't tell, the front page has the word "Madeleine" splashed across in big letters on each of the seven days. (On two of them the word "Diana" has also made it.) The same photo of Madeleine is on six of the seven front pages.

This was drawn to my attention while reading the BBC Editors' Blog earlier on. In it, the BBC's head of TV news - Peter Horrocks - had the following to say:

"The situation that many facts are not reliably established has not stopped many of our press and broadcast colleagues from treating rumour as being newsworthy.

For instance, ITN led last week on a claim that a child like Madeleine had been sighted in Belgium. ITN headlined this with a lurid photo-fit of a suspect abductor with the words "Does this man have Madeleine McCann?"

The BBC gave little prominence to the possible Belgian sighting, on the basis that there have been many previous false sightings."

Well ITN are so unhappy about this accusation that ITV News editor-in-chief, David Mannion, has written back using the comments:

"I feel I must correct the impression made by Peter Horrocks concerning the reporting of the story by ITV News.

[Peter] singles out ITV News for leading on the potential sighting of Madeleine with a man at a café in Belgium to which the BBC gave little prominence on the grounds that there had been many other sightings.

May I point out that, like the BBC, ITV News has given little or no prominence to the countless sightings which appeared to have no basis in fact. The Belgium sighting, however, was different. The person who believed she saw Madeleine was a highly credible witness, a professional woman who worked with children and often worked with the police. We sought and achieved an interview with the woman in order that we might establish for ourselves, her credentials and to question her about what she saw. The police in Belgium confirmed that they regarded the matter worthy of detailed follow up investigation. In my book this was a story and your article, Peter, amounts to little more than an excuse for missing it."

Well, no, that's not a story. One hates to parrot the party line but, no matter how reliable the witness, there was absolutely no hard evidence (indeed now that the evidence has arrived, it strongly suggests the sighting was in error). If the same "highly credible witness" had said she'd seen a UFO, and had seemed pretty convincing when interviewed by ITV, I still doubt they'd have run the story unless they had bloody good visual evidence for the existence of such a thing.

The coverage of a young girl's disappearance shouldn't be about "missing stories". There are two stories: one, the girl is missing, and two, the girl has been found. While things remain in a state of flux it is absolutely pointless reporting on glimpsed sightings unless there is demonstrable, hard evidence to lay before the public. As for seven days of Express front pages, the continual use of Diana as a marketing device is sickening enough, without this.

The Newsgathering Grid

News & Politics

If you were reading yesterday, I promised you a multimedia special including the solution to the tantalising question: where have I lost my BBC pass?

The answer is just to the right of the Citroen:

Yep, I tossed my BBC pass to one side on the grid at Silverstone as I prepared to film this piece to camera. It was clicking against my jeans and I didn't want the unnecessary noise. As I threw it down onto the grass verge, I made a mental note: "Don't forget to pick that up."

I forgot to pick it up and, having done the filming during a short break without any cars on the circuit (bar the Citroen), only remembered once Porsches and Ferraris had resumed thundering round the track at hundreds of miles an hour.

So, lying as it does on a stretch of grassy verge almost inaccessible to man, my BBC pass has probably found a new permanent home just next to the fifth grid position. Look out for it at next year's Grand Prix.

Yesterday's filming at Silverstone was a marvellous, jaw-dropping experience. We'd gone along to report on a young man from Maidenhead who, aged 15, has a bright future in motorsport. He'll most probably go on to become a touring car ace, but you never know - he might just be the next Lewis Hamilton yet.

The filming was a treat in itself. We shot interviews in the Silverstone pit lane, then I perched in the back of a Renault Espace, filming our kid in his souped-up Citroen Saxo as we did a slow-motion lap of the Grand Prix circuit.

Ever since I put this date in my diary, I've had a dream of recording a piece to camera with cars buzzing past my ears while walking gingerly down the grid to the start line. I was amazed to discover we could make this a reality - and, having jumped a fence, enlisted the Saxo to roar past me as I bellowed an impromptu script to the camera. The image above is taken from the middle of this. It's one of the most exciting things I've ever done.

That said, it has competition for that honour from the laps of Silverstone I spent as a passenger. Some of the cars idling in the pit lane were literally worth millions of pounds, and we were offered a seat in one of only two Ferrari F50 GTs in the world. The father of our racing starlet was kind enough to offer us a lap alongside the young maestro, first in the Citroen, then - unbelievably - in a Porsche 911.

I could feel my guts scream with anticipation as we roared out of the pit lane, slamming round the corners, thundering over the rumble strips, and lurching from side to side as the tyres fought to grip the legendary tarmac.

To think I used to try to nip over the grassy bit of the chicane on Formula One computer games. In real life it turns out it's bad enough being on the tarmac, without going cross-country. Then I looked across at the driver. Here I was, in a Porsche 911, being hurled around a world famous motorsports venue... by a 15-year-old.

And he's a much better driver than me, I can tell you. No wonder he's already top of his junior championship with a deal to drive at senior level next year. I've added him to my collection of future sporting legends - I now have interview footage of a potential British number one tennis star and, who knows, maybe the next Lewis Hamilton. Va va voom.

PS As regards this being a "multimedia special", the caveat is: only if you're on Facebook. I only had time to upload the final video piece there earlier on. Think of it as an incredibly small incentive for you fuddy-duddies out there to sign up. By which I mean all our parents.

Man Bites Dog Bites Badger Bites Man

News & Politics

Words military spokespeople never thought they'd say:

"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area."

That's as may be, but try telling that to the Iraqi locals around Basra, where the British military are of course based. They have a different story to tell. Mike Drummond, editor of US paper The Charlotte Observer on attachment in Iraq, explains more:

White “hog badgers” [are] attacking people in Basra. Badgers, of all things. And white ones, no less.

The story comes gratis from the Al-Mashriq newspaper, one of the many dailies our staff reviews at morning meetings. The article even used some jpeg images culled from the Internet. One of the images, I’m fairly certain, isn’t even of a badger. I’m also fairly certain badgers don’t live in Iraq.

Supposedly, the creatures have something to do with a British military plot, Al-Mashriq said, citing scared locals.

Later, [Mike's associate] Hussein and I have a chat [and] the subject, naturally, turns to badgers in Basra.

Hussein talked with one of his friends there. Didn’t know anything about badgers, white ones or otherwise. But he did hear about the young man who was bitten by a dog. Later, the young man flew into a mad rage and, before dying, bit his father. The older man is now in the hospital. You know, that sounds like rabies to me.

So now authorities in Basra have declared a sort of jihad on feral dogs in the city. Given how itchy the trigger fingers are in this country, you don’t want to be a dog, or anything on four legs, wandering the streets of Basra. Those badgers better lay low.

More: Mike Drummond's Baghdad Diary

Well, for more of the British response - plus some quotes from locals who insist the British killer badgers are very real - click here.

Go Ahead, Jump

News & Politics

Bless Madonna, trying to get into the spirit of things as she closes the Live Earth event at Wembley.

What to say, when you're the last act on stage and everyone else has already harped on endlessly about the environment? What to say, when Terence Stamp has just come on stage and sucked any momentum out of the entire day with a dry, monotone speech delivered like a lecture to the Wembley WI?

Here's Madge's suggestion:

'"If you want to save the planet, let me see you jumping up and down!"

What's that going to achieve? Are we going to collectively jog the planet slightly off course, widen the orbit a fraction, and cool the face of the globe just enough to get by for another few hundred years? I mean, it's a plan, but even 80,000 people being ordered to "Jump, Motherfuckers!" by a 48-year-old mother of two-and-a-bit is unlikely to work. Al, we need a Plan B.

Another Whodunnit

News & Politics

We ought to have known, really. If there is anything early Saturday evening television has taught us, it's that whenever something is amiss in major British cities, it's got something to do with a Time Lord.

The following copy has just arrived down the wires from Cardiff:

Two controlled explosions will be carried out in Cardiff this afternoon, as part of a BBC production, believed to be Doctor Who or Torchwood.

The explosions - large enough to damage a number of windows at the film site - will take place at 1200 and 1400.

South Wales Police say they understand that, with the heightened security measures currently in place across the country, this may cause some concern to members of the public in the vicinity who are unaware of these events.

High visibility uniformed Police Officers are on duty in the City Centre to provide the necessary public reassurance.

Quite what South Wales Police think those officers will achieve, God only knows. Have they not seen the show? You need a police box!

Keeping It In The Family

News & Politics

It would have been difficult to miss the widespread coverage of the symbolic hand-over of power between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown this week, but that I did. Not through ignorance, you understand, but sheer business. I was at a job interview (which you'll hear about as and when things progress, over the next 9-12 months), then travelling with my mother, and generally being constructive.

I did discover, therefore, that if you are a busy, hard-working member of society, you don't realy notice which personalities occupy the seats of power so long as you have food on your plate, a roof over your head, and the trains run on time (mine didn't). After all, Tim Henman is still out of Wimbledon, England are still rubbish at cricket, and it's still raining. Plus ça change, Gordon, plus ça change.

Nevertheless, it has been pointed out that six of the new Cabinet (Ed and David Miliband, Ed Balls, Ruth Kelly, Jacqui Smith and James Purnell) read PPE at Oxford. Those of us in the Dayorama Village - it's like the Westminster Village, but better - stifled a giggle at that because I read PPE at Oxford. I expect my job offer got lost in the post...

Much like my father's, really. The few hardy souls who've read my Dayorama biography - yes we have those: click here - will have read Ollie's rather cryptic message about there being a Lord in the family. It is true; my father is a working peer, though he prefers to be known as 'a Peer of the Realm.' His take on the new PM is this:

"I have not yet received a job offer from Gordon. Maybe he has lost my number.
Different PM: still ignored.
love,
Sulking Dad"

Well, exactly.

GB (Or 'Not TB')

News & Politics

That's no longer a question. Today Tony Blair ploughed through his final Prime Minister's Questions, and in a few short moments he'll pop his feet up, settle back, relax, and look forward to a peaceful non-confrontational retirement... as a Mid-East envoy.

In the mean time he did still have that half-hour minefield to negotiate. We know the drill by now. First, the condolences to the members of the armed forces killed this week. Then the announcement of Prime Ministerial engagements. Except this week: "I will have no such further meetings later today, or any other day." Much laughter in the Commons.

Everyone seems to be wearing their front bench finery, particularly the likes of Ruth Kelly, who's dolled herself right up for this one. Gordon continues to look deeply bored by the whole process: he gives off an aura which suggests, in present mood, his answer to most PMQs would be, "Whatever".

And perhaps that attitude's rubbing off. To a Lib Dem question about the relationship between Church and State - "given his successor's reported views" - Blair's simple response: "I think I'm really not bothered about that one."

You know what, today does mark a paradigm shift on the front benches. For the first time in a long time, the Conservatives will have the better hair. Maggie's hair went a bit wild, John Major's retreated to a polar opposite, and several Tory leaders since have been entirely bereft - all the while, Tony's kept a refined mop, but one which suggests a hint of daring on occasion, even as it's greyed with age.

Gordon, by contrast, not only has boring hair, but hair that's already showing a considerable grey twinge. If he sticks around as long as Blair, it'll all be an arctic white by 2017.

And as we look across to the other side of the House, we find David Cameron's hair has miraculously Blairified itself! It seems to have perked up a bit from out of nowhere, as though it were arching a bushy eyebrow, and it's developed that upstanding greyish tweak without joining Brown in the box marked 'grey' entirely. Cameron is clearly the heir to Blair hair and this can only bode well for his election chances.

In the mean time PMQs continues, although it's like leaving a family gathering where you know the various strands of the family don't particularly like each other, but feel the need to be courteous. Messrs Cameron and Campbell pay their respects, Blair pays them back, and all the while everyone disassociates themselves from the other's politics.

There's that awkward tension in the air as these various family members share a cool, distant pat on the back resembling a hug. You stand by the door waiting to leap into the car and drive off, but someone else keeps insisting on paying a phenomenally insincere compliment.

Ian Paisley has the honour of the penultimate question. "I fully understand he was downcast, disappointed, angry and that perhaps he even lost his temper. But I want to say that he treated me with the greatest of courtesy. I disagreed with him on many things but we faced them, and I'm glad today that I can stand here and say to the Prime Minister: the people of Northern Ireland felt the same way as he felt, but we have made progress.

"Not as great a progress as I would like to see, but they are dedicated. The Unionist people I speak for are dedicated to see what has been started, concluded, so that every man and woman in Ulster will have the same rights, liberties and opportunities. I hope he'll look back and be able to say it was well worthwhile."

And if you're friends with Ian Paisley, you know it's time to leave.

Tony Blair's final words: "That is that. The end." Applause. Ovation from both sides. And with that the Prime Minister, doing well to hold back tears, shakes the hand of the Speaker of the House and departs.

Psycho Disappearce

News & Politics

Stuart Pearce has been sacked as Manchester City manager. Sighs of relief all round.

BBC journalist Chris Bevan, himself a City fan, has written an excellent article on Pearce's sacking here:

As a Blue I can speak from first-hand experience about how painful it has been to watch City this season.

Defensively we have been sound but there has been no creativity in our midfield and zero cutting edge up front. I am used to being frustrated watching City but it has rarely been as bad as this.

Even when we did score goals and win games it was through a war of attrition and that seems to be the only way Pearce knows.

Apparently Gerard Houllier, ex-Liverpool, is interested, and it can't escape notice that Paul Jewell has resigned as Wigan manager today. I'm not sure either of them inspire me but I'll lay off the speculation. Bevan wants Derby's Billy Davies in, which is the equivalent of Everton appointing David Moyes a while back, and that's done them no harm.

I remember meeting Stuart Pearce 18 months ago, when he was fairly new to the job - you can read about it on Dayorama here, and listen to my full interview with him.

Back then the atmosphere at the club was very positive. Pearce was still being hailed as the club's saviour after a brilliant run once Keegan had gone, and on a bitterly cold morning at the club's Carrington training complex, he was all fun and games.

I had gone to interview him for my broadcasting postgrad and had sat nervously at the back of the entire press conference, not saying a word. Once that had finished, Pearce stood up and - in front of the assembled journalists - pointed his finger at me.

"Oi!" He said. "You! I hear you've got some questions for me."

What do you say when Stuart Pearce says that to you? I can't even remember what I said but it wasn't very impressive. We went off to a tiny media booth at the back of the room and Pearce rested himself up against a table. There was a cream handbag next to it. I saw my chance to level the score.

"Is that yours?" I asked.

What was I doing? I'd just implied to the man dubbed Psycho, face to face, that he carried a handbag.

"Nope. Mine's the black one," replied Pearce.

In the ensuing eight minute interview he was nothing but honest, thoughtful, and frankly interesting. So many football manager will spout on til kingdom come without really saying much, but even when Pearce didn't say something, it meant something.

I remember asking him how he felt about missing out on a World Cup medal as a player. He'd been honoured by the Queen - would he swap that for England honours?

Pearce replies: "I don't know," with incredibly thoughtful intonation, and then he thanks the Queen. There's just enough pause in his reply for it to be clear that even Stuart doesn't completely know the answer.

Perhaps what sticks out now, in retrospect, is the way Pearce talks about football management. Back when the interview happened there was absolutely no danger of him losing his job, so he was looking at things from a very healthy point of view. But even then he knew it was never likely to last:

"Football management's very tough, no matter whether results are going well or not so well. You have to have a long-term goal and also win your short-term battles.

"I'll never enjoy management as much as I enjoy playing. I miss the camaraderie between the team - management gives you a second place to that but make no mistake, when your team win and you've put your little bit in... you can never be one of those players again."

Labour Party Like It's 1997

News & Politics

It can be difficult for broadcasters to fill Bank Holiday schedules.

Many local radio stations, for example, will air a totally different line-up of presenters on Bank Holidays - not necessarily lesser lights, but regular presenters filling different slots according to need, since others are off.

TV is trickier, especially for smaller niche stations. And as BBC Parliament's editor Peter Knowles explains, his channel is "the narrowest of niche channels"...

"You’d have to travel down the channel listings as far as Discovery Ironing +1 before you’d find something more niche. What it says in the lid is very much what is inside: Parliament.

"So, over a bank holiday weekend where the weather was less than inspiring, the channel made use of some surprising resources."

"From the archive, ten years on from New Labour coming to power, BBC Parliament showed in entirety the election night broadcast and this ran all day across the rainy bank holiday Monday.

"We’ve been told that many participants in the 1997 election stayed glued to their sets, throughout the day. (Next stop in our tour of the election archive:1987, which is showing 5 October)."

[source: BBC Editors' Blog]

And by now you'll have guessed which sad idiot watched almost the entire 14-hour repeat of the 1997 election. I couldn't help it. I was only channel-surfing and there, suddenly, was Dimbleby, about to cross to Enfield Southgate where he was told Michael Portillo could lose his seat.

The moments passed in blurs: Tony Blair speaks to his constituents at Sedgefield, William Hague goes on air refusing to speculate on who might be next Tory leader, Portillo's seat goes, other leading Conservative figures drop like flies around the country, Taunton goes Lib Dem (I remember that!), John Major leaves Downing Street, Tony Blair arrives, all with the man Dimbleby somehow keeping his eyelids prised apart throughout.

A few people have left comments on Peter Knowles' little article thanking him for the repeat, since they were too young to fully understand it when it happened first time around.

I know exactly how they feel - so was I, and this was a brilliant second chance to relive a defining political moment (there's not been an election like it) from a time when I would only have been 12. I can remember, at school the following day, OJ and I adopting staunch pro-Conservative stances and generally acting upset, simply because I don't think either of us had been introduced to the concept of not being Conservative. (OJ still hasn't, whereas I've adopted the position of being nothing in particular and a dead, non-voting loss to society.)

It must be said that the 1997 broadcast was a high water mark for the use of graphics. They look good even by today's standards. Peter Snow's swing-o-meter has never since reached the highs it did on that night, thanks mainly to the gainful employment most Labour candidates were able to offer it. I think this was the last election to have just enough graphics capability to look good, without over-egging the pudding a bit.

I'm now counting down the days til the 1987 election's repeated - one I definitely don't remember. But then I can barely remember what happened in 2005 now. It's a good job the local elections were last week, otherwise I'd have turned up shocked to discover it was Labour taking a hammering, having just seen John Major fighting back the tears as he left Downing Street for the cricket.

Come on, Gordon. Get into power and call a general election. We need another exciting one, I can't wait til October.

A Tremor In The Voice

News & Politics

I know we've got readers in Kent and our Chief Kent Correspondent, Amy, might even be there as I write. There've been "earth tremors" there, as the BBC and Sky have taken to calling them, thus giving the much underused word "tremor" a fresh breath of life.

We don't as yet know what precisely has happened - some are saying there's been an explosion, some are saying it was just an earthquake, measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale.

What we do have in all situations like these are eyewitness reports from people in the region. People like Paul, quoted by BBC News Online. The following emphasis is mine:

Paul Smye-Rumsby, who lives in Dover, said: "It was about 08.15 when suddenly the bed shook violently.

"I thought my wife had got cramp or something but then I saw the curtains were moving and the whole house was shaking. It lasted about 1.5 seconds.

[source: BBC News Online]

I'm sure Mrs Smye-Rumsby will be thrilled. In front of the nation, her husband has compared her movement in bed to a minor earthquake!

Bad Day At The Office

News & Politics

Today's not been great for English cricket. As I write the South Africans are nine runs off a victory with approximately 31 overs to spare, which suggests an England defeat is becoming likely, and that'll be the end of their World Cup.

Performances on the pitch (there goes another four, five needed) have been pretty useless, but performances by England cricketers off the pitch haven't been top notch either.

Stand up Michael Atherton, former England opening batsman now plying his trade as a commentator for Sky Sports. A couple of overs ago one of the South African batsmen had a great big mow at the English bowling (who wouldn't?), edged it, and wicketkeeper Paul Nixon caught it. We'll pick up Atherton's commentary here:

"And that's out! No, wait, it's a no ball, but neither Paul Nixon nor Graeme Smith have realised!

"Had Nixon realised, he might have had a shy at the stumps!"

Pause.

"Er, not that that would have mattered at all."

Having just completed my umpiring course, I'm well placed to tell you why Athers is making a fool of himself. It was a no ball, which means the batsman obviously can't be caught, but he can still be run out. Alas, not by the wicketkeeper he can't, if nobody else on the fielding side has touched it. If that did happen it'd be a stumping, and you cannot be stumped off a no ball.

So, as Athers belatedly realised, Nixon lobbing the ball at the stumps would have achieved nothing. If you've captained England in a record 54 test matches and you're still not 100 per cent on what can or can't happen from a no ball, when will you be?

And there are the winning runs from Graeme Smith, the hapless Saj Mahmood watching his delivery disappear back behind him to the boundary. Thank you and goodnight.

New Venue For 2027 Cricket World Cup?

News & Politics

Who says we only ever hear bad news from Iraq? Quoting BBC News Online:

A Royal Military Police Major from West Sussex is spearheading a scheme to teach cricket to children in Iraq.

Andrew Banks, of Midhurst, is helping to bring the game to Basra Province to build bridges with local communities. Major Banks, of 110 Provost Company, said it had stopped some children from throwing stones at soldiers.

He said: "Something that runs through the sport is fair play. It would be very nice if the concepts of right and wrong were extended beyond the sports field.

"Maybe we have started something in Iraq. At least the children and their teachers were enthusiastic. But I don't think the Australians need to worry yet," he added.

[source: BBC News Online - 'Major builds bridges with cricket']

It occurred to me that maybe, once the 2007 Cricket World Cup is done, the tournament could move to Iraq and Iran for the 2011 tournament.

But alas, it seems the hosting of the 2011 World Cup has already been decided: it'll be shared between India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

So how about 2015? Nope: that'll be Australia and New Zealand. Okay then, 2019? No again: the tournament's back in England for that year.

Astonishingly, the ICC has everything sewn up until we reach 2023, by which time Iraq probably won't have had time to qualify for the World Cup, let alone host it. Bangladesh first appeared in competitive action in 1979 and reached the World Cup for the first time in 1999, which means we need at least 20 years, so it's all about 2027... if the ICC haven't already booked that one up, too.

By the way, we are now officially only the third article on the internet to mention the 2027 Cricket World Cup. In twenty years' time I'll look back on this as a proud moment. Coverage starts here and it's my sworn ambition to write for Dayorama at the 2027 World Cup Final. (I'll be 42. I'm going to go and cry now.)

Look, No Hands

News & Politics

One of the great joys of having every Wednesday off is the ability to watch Prime Minister's Questions, live and in full. You can't beat that half an hour for 'Punch and Judy politics', which is of course a far more enjoyable breed of politics than any other on offer. Unless you're a Liberal Democrat, in which case PMQs is no fun at all and you've already discovered many other enjoyable perks of politics, most of them illegal in many countries.

This week David Cameron took another opportunity to lob grenades at Gordon Brown before the good Chancellor gets his chance to fight back once Blair's gone. Cameron employed the ingenious measure of asking members of the Cabinet to vote on their future under Gordon - have a listen:

This from the man who would have 'Punch and Judy' banished. I hope he regrets that statement. The very last thing you want to do to Prime Minister's Questions is get rid of the comedy and high farce element, to be replaced by more inane wittering from pet Labour MPs, asking if the Prime Minister will congratulate himself for the success of a flower arranging demonstration in their Grimethorpe West constituency.

By the way, I managed to get my first ever shots onto regional telly on Monday night. South Today aired the story of Reading Rockets' triumph in the basketball at the weekend, using some of the footage I shot for the web special (which you can find here).

Apparently I, in my inexperience, cocked up some button or other while sending the footage down the line from Caversham to Southampton, which made some shots look a little the worse for wear on screen, but we live and learn (in my defence there was nobody around to help so it's a miracle it got there in the first place). I should have some speedway stuff to send them next week so we'll try to get it completely right next time!

Tesco West, Where The Aisles Are Clear

News & Politics

Tesco is launching itself as "Fresh & Easy" in the USA with a series of stores set to open in the midwest and west coast, starting with Phoenix, Arizona.

Here's how Tim Mason, of Tesco USA, sold the idea to the British press:

"The Fresh & Easy Neighbourhood Market format is designed to draw customers back to their local neighbourhoods by offering high quality, fresh and nutritious food at affordable prices.

"Our company has enjoyed strong success in countries throughout Europe and Asia, and we are excited to bring that success to America."

[source: BBC News Online - 'Arizona gets first Tesco US store']

And here's how he sold it to the Arizona Republic newspaper:

"It is not a funny specialty store that sells imported things that a few Brits have a hankering for. It is very deliberately designed to meet the needs of the 21st-century American consumer."

[source: Arizona Republic - 'Tesco touts healthfulness, ease']

Funny how the mildly denigrating latter comment didn't make it over this side of the pond. Still, at least there's no danger of Tesco destroying the smaller town centre shops in Arizona. If they ever even existed they've long since been killed off by the indigenous grocery behemoths, let alone the plucky outsiders.

Friendly Fire

News & Politics

The Sun has pulled off a blinder in acquiring the video footage of a friendly fire incident which killed a British soldier.

You can watch the full fifteen-minute video here. I just have done and, if you've ever played any Flight Simulator games, it's a bizarre, harrowing experience to see and hear what it's like behind the controls of a real fighter jet when something's just gone horribly, horribly wrong. Even listening to the audio alone is extremely powerful.

Not The Age Of The Train

News & Politics

Much as I loath the service I receive from First Great Western, this wasn't down to me.

Fortunately, none of the 400 passengers or further evacuees from Didcot Parkway station seems to have been hurt, but it could be leaving First Great Western with some long-term damage. If postings on a number of railway forums are to be believed, this is the third such fire involving one of First's newly re-engined High Speed Trains. And, let's be honest, the enthusiasts are usually right.

If there's one thing First Great Western is right about, it's the long-term merits of refurbishing its 30-year old HST fleet over buying new; they're much preferred by passengers on the grounds of speed, number of seats, ride-quality and comfort, to the point where FGW plans not to renew the lease on some of its newer trains when HST refurbishment is complete. But with quite such dramatic teething troubles (for teething troubles they are, I'm certain), it's a wonder the country's media aren't licking around First's headquarters with all the ferocity of Saturday's flames.

I hope they get this sorted before something terrible happens. Quite aside from the potential dangers of trains bursting into flames unannounced, it would be tragic to see the excellent reputation of the HST besmirched by an ignorant media, hungry for an easy scapegoat. The age of the train would dominate the headlines, and First would be slaughtered for their use of 'museum pieces' or the like, where actually they deserve praise. The danger lies not with the HST because it's old, but with a modification that presumably needs a little more thought.

It could happen to any train...

... but as Ollie and his online journalist friends know, seldom you can find a photo, eh Ollie?...

One Flu Over

News & Politics

You have to feel sorry for the 160,000 turkeys on a farm at Holton, in Suffolk, now facing the chop after three thousand of their colleagues succumbed to the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

They probably got away with Christmas on the grounds that Farepak collapsed - thousands upon thousands of Christmas hampers went unpacked, so our feathered friends were given a stay of execution.

Only, sadly, for Christmas to catch up with them a month and a bit later. Whoever sneezed first in that barn last night must have experienced an all-too-fleeting moment of the deepest unpopularity before they expired.

There's some horrific pictures on the BBC News website, showing turkeys apparently being emptied from a truck into a container as the authorities try to contain the outbreak.

Meanwhile here in Berkshire all thoughts turn to how we're going to cover this story.

Last year we put a piece of broadcasting kit in a farmhouse in West Berkshire - if bird flu appeared in the area, it meant we could get a local farmer on air in good sound quality almost immediately.

Two months ago we sent an engineer out to bring all that kit back, since it was felt we needed it elsewhere. Do we rush it back in place in the expectation that H5N1 will wend its way across the south? Will our roving reporter be stood in the middle of nearest turkey farm come Monday morning? There's about three people in this newsroom all weekend, so resources aren't exactly overflowing, but if I were you I'd put money on the sound of gobbling on your radio this coming week.

Sit Down, Shut Up And Cry

News & Politics

You have to pity the few remnants of the Barmy Army still to be found sat in various Aussie cricketing stadia, watching 2005's heroes cementing their position as 2007's laughing stock.

Not only have they had to contend with a run of performances not seen since George Bingham first suggested to the other 600 members of his light brigade that there was nothing for it but a good old-fashioned charge.

Nope - now our beleaguered England fans Down Under can't even get pissed and fart around like morons, thus losing their one great love aside from cricket: the Aussie authorities have banned the Mexican wave!

Now to you or I, that sounds like an unbelievably killjoy attitude from a nation just about to finish wiping the floor with some of the most spineless cricketers produced since the short-lived Grass Snake XI.

But apparently the Aussie version of the Mexican wave isn't just a statement of utter tedium brought on by the sporting "event" in question - it's an excuse to lob your food at the nearest small child, says Australian columnist Malcolm Conn:

Anyone who wants to complain about the banning of the Mexican wave by cricket authorities should turn their anger towards their fellow spectators.

Sections of the outer at some one-day international matches are yobbo-infested cesspools of drunkenness, foul language and sprayed beer.

During my time as a father of young children who loved cricket, I was reluctant to take them into the outer at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during a one-day match. It could be unpleasant, unsavoury and dangerous.

Being showered with beer, food, rubbish and, in some cases, urine from yobbos relieving themselves in their empty beer cups, takes all the fun out of a Mexican wave.

[source: The Australian - 'Yobbos ruin game for true fans']

You can see why, in that light, the Mexican wave is slightly less appealing. But over on the other side of the fence - well away from cans of urine - Sydney Morning Herald columnist Philip Derriman says the tide should turn in favour of the wave:

Recently, the SCG [a cricket ground] did something else which has proved more successful than all the other measures combined: it restricted everyone outside the members' area to light beer. Not a huge change, you might think, replacing beer that's around 5 per cent alcohol with beer close to 3 per cent. But the effect has been profound.

Since the change was introduced in all public areas at the SCG last summer, unruly behaviour has all but disappeared.

In fact, there wasn't a single arrest during the recent Test, or during last week's one-dayer against England. No spectator did anything bad enough to warrant it. All of which confirms what everyone has known, that alcohol is the root cause of crowd problems.

In light of this, the SCG should now consider relaxing the ban on the popular Mexican wave. Cricket Australia, not the SCG, ordered the ban, apparently because drunks were using the Mexican wave leap as an opportunity to shower people around them with chips and beer.

Now that the beer is light, the wave ought to be trouble-free.

[source: Sydney Morning Herald - 'It's safe to revive the Mexican wave']

The solution, surely, is to adopt the straps used by Nintendo Wii controllers? Despite early technical problems they've done a fine job of keeping every gamer's Wii under control:

Strap one of those puppies on and you can leap up as many times as you like, but the beer - or any other contents - stay about your person. I thank you.

Going Out Live

News & Politics

I'm going to give you something of a world exclusive here.

A couple of hours ago a lady rang the newsroom at the radio station. When I answered she said she'd given us a call because she "just wanted to moan".

This is usually the cue for ten or fifteen minutes of thinly veiled abuse from a member of the public dissatisfied with the work we're doing in some shape or form. But it turned out that the lady didn't want to moan about us - she wanted to moan about her electricity company.

Now you'll remember we had some mightily blustery times on Thursday, as a rather large storm passed over Berkshire and the other Home Counties. Well after the worst had passed, this lady discovered a live electricity cable dangling over her driveway, just underneath head height. It had been brought down in the storm and while all the other houses in her street still had power, she didn't - except for the death-trap swinging to and fro near the front door.

Naturally she rang the electricity company to report this as quite an urgent matter, and she says they agreed. They'd send someone over, and in the mean time she and her family were to remain indoors and on no account venture out near the cable.

That's all well and good, but it took the electricity company over a day - in fact, nearly two - to turn up! The lady was busy telling me the story on the phone when she broke off to answer the door, and in the background I could hear a gentleman explaining he had come from the electricity company about the cable (clearly he'd made it past said cable to the door - it would be unfortunate to electrocute the electrician).

So this poor lady has been trapped in her home for a couple of days, afraid to leave for fear of sending however many thousand volts down her spine. Somehow she seemed quite chirpy about the whole thing, whereas I'm sure I'd be on the point of murder if I had things to do and couldn't get past my door unless I diced with death.

What would have happened had one member of the family fallen victim to the cable? What if a neighbour happened by and failed to notice it? What if the postman suddenly found his round curtailed when leaning back up from their letter box? Who would be responsible for the horrific accidents that could have taken place? The owner of the property or the electricity company charged (sorry) with maintaining the cable? I'm hoping we get her on our breakfast programme on Monday, it should be really interesting.

The storms have apparently also taken their toll on Basingstoke Town FC. Some of the exterior walls at the club's ground have been blown over - and the club are getting one of their fans to fix it! According to their manager, who spoke to me earlier, a supporter named Cliff is a dab hand at this sort of thing.

It reminds me of Slough Town's Darron Wilkinson, who's just taken over as Slough manager having previously been a player. In 2004, when they played Walsall in the FA Cup, the FA said Slough's ground needed segregation for home and away fans putting in. It just so happened Darron was a scaffolder, so he ended up installing the extra facilities, then playing on the pitch!

The Clouds Will Part

News & Politics

Just another highly entertaining story from Boris I felt like linking.

2007: A Briefing

News & Politics

So, what can you expect in 2007?

For starters, 2007 is an International Polar Year - only the third ever, after years in 1882 and 1932. It means groups from various countries will club together to pool their resources in order to further our understanding of the poles.

And speaking of Poles, the first day of 2007 sees Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union, while Kofi Annan will finally step down as UN Secretary-General, to be replaced by South Korean Ban Ki-moon.

At the end of January, Microsoft will release their new operating system - Windows Vista - for public consumption.

On 11 March the US and Canada switch to Daylight Savings Time, two weeks ahead of the UK, in a change to the previous dates. Meanwhile, on the same day, the World Cup of cricket begins in the West Indies (anyone got a ticket?). Two weeks and a day later, the long overdue smoking ban comes into force in England.

22 April heralds the first round of the 2007 French presidential election . I'm supporting Ségolène Royal, because I like her name. As with the US election, there was very little science involved in my deliberations. The second round takes place on 6 May.

The Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Helsinki on 12 May, after Finnish band Lordi won in style last year. Expect the Icelandic vote to be somewhat distracted - they've got a general election on the same day.

6 June marks the start of another G8 summit, this time in Germany. Will Tony Blair be there? And three weeks later it's the start of the Manchester International Festival - coincidentally, just two days before a calendar blue moon (a second full moon in a calendar month). Maybe it's Manchester City's year...

The first day of July brings us the concert for Diana, which will take place at Wembley Arena, and six days later London is again the centre of attention as the starting point, somewhat illogically, for the Tour de France.

Finally, in September we can look forward to the World Cup of rugby, with matches mostly in France but also occasionally in Wales and Scotland.

Now, the bookies have long since cottoned on to our predilection for a prediction, and at 6/4, Girls Aloud splitting up is a hot favourite for the year ahead - but the Spice Girls could reform, at 12/1.

Prince William to become engaged to Kate Middleton is at 2/1, far more likely than the 10/1 shot that is Osama Bin Laden being captured - itself a dead cert compared to the UK winning Eurovision, at 20/1.

But some people are banking on an altogether less likely proposition: the Second Coming.

"Will the Rapture happen in 2007?", asks