I'm The New Long Jump Record Holder Apparently

During one of our lunchtimes chats, we had the discussion about if you was on a train and jumped up, would you actually land in the same place and after much backwards and forwards we decided in the view of passengers on the train, as you are travelling at the same speed of the train you are on, yes you would but to anyone outside of the train, no you would land a few metres further forward.
Someone actually came up with the maths which i tried to ignore as not to get a headache but the jist is that if the train is travelling at 100 mph (approximately 44 metres per second), and you are in the air for 1 second, you would land 44 metres further along the track than when you started.
Yep, bit of a headache to work out and i took his word for it because he is a bit of a brainiac but then we got BIG, planet sized actually because the Earth is careening through space at 67,000 mph or 29,900 metres per second so for that 1 second jump, when we land we have travelled 29,900 metres or 18.5 miles through Space.
That's three quarters of a Marathon in 1 second which is not only mind boggling but makes a mockery of the long jump World record which stands at a piffling 8.95 metres and i just beat while standing in kitchen and didn't end with me shaking sand out of my shoes.
 

Special Guest Blogger: Pam Hogg

If there’s one thing I’ve mastered in my 70-odd years as a Scottish fashion maverick, it’s leaving quite the impression. Whether it’s through my designs, my opinions on the eternal Scottish drizzle or my unshakable belief that kilts are not just for men (more on that later), I’ve certainly not done things half-cocked.
Growing up in Scotland, I learned early that fashion and functionality were two peas in a pod. While the pretty lasses in London were swanning around in flimsy cocktail dresses, we up here were stitching extra layers into our skirts to survive the April gales. But you know what? That bloody cold taught me something vital: comfort is key. Yes, even in fashion. Hence why my first design, a tweed skirt with a secret thermal lining, became an instant hit among office workers and the elderly.
I always fancied myself as a bit of a rick chick and in the 70s I played in several bands, one regularly supported The Pogues during their early days but i was creating a sideline of clothing some of pops greatest icons,  Paula Yates, Marie Helvin, Siouxsie Sioux and Debbie Harry.
The 1980s were a muckle turning point. I had tried to be the pop star without little success but in the early 80s I traded in my clothing market stall for a walk on the wild side of London’s fashion scene. I’ll never forget my first show, one critic called it a bagpipe exploded on a catwalk but my Scottish heritage was the backbone of my work.
My 'Patchwork of Perseverance' collection made the models look like they’d raided a skip and a grandmother’s attic, but good grief, it won awards.
It was then that i dipped my toes back into the World of Music when Debbie Harry asked me to support her 1993 tour so I cobbled together a new band, Doll, in five days, and in 1994 with the band firmly established, opened for the punk band The Raincoats.
I did come back to fashion in the 2000s, designing outfits for musicians including Rihanna, Björk and Kylie Minogue and when i lay dying of Cancer i knew that i had done my part to prove that fashion isn’t just about looking pretty, it’s about being bold, being weird, and being Scottish enough to know when to wrap up warm.

See The Funny, Snarling Clowns

As luck would have i wasn't here for the extreme right wing march in London yesterday where thousands of fascists descended in Parliament Square to the relief of shop owners everywhere as the national shoplifting rate dropped for a day.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon who organised the even put the turnout at 150,000 but the Police said 50,000 (and who would you believe, the police or someone who has been sentenced five times for assault, threats, harassment and fraud as well as contempt of court) which is still 50,000 too many but with that many people chanting all sorts of racist nonsense, it took the combined IQ of the crowd to 50,000 as each right wing extremist has the IQ of a wooden bench, the cleverer ones anyway.
Luckily, 50,000 morons out of a population is 70 million is a small number but the concern is that most of these are of legally voting age and we all know where they will be scratching their X, next to Nigel Farage who is the new face of racism in the country and who leads Reform who are currently leading the polls for the next Prime Minister which should scare the hell out of anyone who isn't a nutter or insane.   
Whenever i see or hear of crowds of fascists and racists getting together, my mind goes to a punk song from the late 80's which summed up perfectly what happens when the extreme right wing get their claws into the next generation.

Between the hours of twelve and two
The nagging doubts will come to you
Be paranoid parents coz they're after your kids
Who don't know what an Aryan master race is
They'll plant the seeds that will grow in time
And start the disease that will poison their minds
Fill them up with hatred and dress them up in robes
You know how the story goes
We've got one Mississippi
2 Mississippis 3 Mississippis
4 Mississippis 5 Mississippis 6 Mississippis burning
We've got 7 Mississippis 8 Mississippis
9 Mississippis 10 Mississippis
11 Mississippis 12 Mississippis burning burning burning
Burning down on this little mining town
Where people come from miles around
To see the funny snarling clowns

That's the concern, the seeds are being planted and are growing in, and poisoning the minds of the next generation.
I am confident that the UK is not on a trajectory of becoming like America under Trump where the racists are not longer on the fringes but emboldened to spout their awfulness by the snarling clowns in charge but then i never thought it would happen over there and we are watching on with amazement that it did and the suffering, destruction and ruin that has followed being run by people who are evidently not qualified to run a country. Take note UK.

Iran War Part 2?

Israel have always seen the phrase 'ceasefire' as a reason to not cease firing at all and during the ongoing ones with Lebanon and Gaza, the death toll continues to grow with 8 more killed in Gaza today and an unknown amount in Lebanon following 100 strikes against Hezbollah targets.
After Netanyahu spoke with his simple patsy in the White House, the one with Iran looks iffy also as the War Criminal in Tel Aviv and the sex pest and (probable) pedophile in the White House announce that they have been on the phone to discuss: 'Intense preparations for renewed attacks against Iran since the ceasefire was agreed last month'.
US officials say Trump, who has just returned from being poo-poohed by China,wants to negotiate a deal to end the war but Iran's refusal of his demands has put military action back on the table for which Iran replied that they would like to negotiate a deal but what America is offering are 'Not tangible' and are only offering 'Excessive and unacceptable demands.'
Whether the Tangerine Tyrant is bluffing to exert pressure on Iran we will find out but we know Israel are always itching to bomb and kill their neighbours in the Middle East so Trump could be bounced into it anyway if Israel do what they do best and break the ceasefire.
What has not yet sunk in into Trump's dementia riddled brain is Iran did not back down during the last onslaught and will be unlikely to back down this time either and are actually more likely to hit out again at other Middle East nations as they have already threatened to do.
The man with his name running through the Trumpstein Files he is so keen to distract from is desperate to end the debacle he started but the Iranian leaders are not allowing him to which gives us the very strange situation where many people i have spoken to are rooting for Iran over America and Israel, such is the depths America's reputation have fallen to under the man who vies for the worst American President in my lifetime with George W Bush. 

Congratulations Bulgaria

It doesn't happen very often but Bulgaria was one of my picks to win the Eurovision Song Contest with Bangaranga which took place in Vienna amidst protests and boycotts over Israel’s participation.
The most relieved people in the building must have been the Eurovision Organisers who faced wholesale boycotts if Israel won and with the European Jewish Community urging all Jews to vote for Israel, at one point it looked as though the stage in Tel Aviv was going to be a lonely place next year but Bulgaria swept in to snatch top place with the final scores of the night and make sure we all arrive in Sofia next year.  
The loud booing when Israel moved to the top of the leaderboard before they could shut off the crowd reaction as they did in the performances, quite rightly made it crystal clear to the Organisers what the Eurovision Crowd thought of their refusal to ban Israel for their ongoing War Crimes and just what would hit the fan if they won it.
I was in discussions with friends and colleagues that i would be boycotting itself for the first time since the 80s if Israel won it but that bullet was avoided luckily.
The UK Performer, Look Mom No Computer, admitted before his performance that his synth pop song was marmite which some people will love and some hate but finishing bottom on 1 point showed that the liking it crowd was pretty small but the Bookies favourite, Finland, ended up sixth which shows just how difficult it is to guess the eventual winner (if it isn't set up by a religious community beforehand that is) and we had the usual neighbours voting for neighbours but nothing we can do about that and it is just accepted as it always has been but all's well that end well so congratulations Bulgaria on your first ever Eurovision win and see you next May.

Special Guest Blogger: June Lockheart

So, picture it: 1954. I was fresh-faced, wide-eyed, and destined to become the only human regular on a show with a dog who could out-act half the West End. That’s right, Lassie.
I played Ruth Martin, the moral compass, the tea-pourer, the woman who said, 'Timmy, no!' approximately six thousand times. I loved that dog but do you know how hard it is to share screen time with a cute collie?
I’d rehearse my lines for hours, deliver my monologue and then Lassie would tilt his head, whimper beautifully with those large, soulful eyes and steal the scene.
Still, I built a legacy. Or at least, I thought I had. I was in films such as A Christmas Carol and Meet Me in St. Louis and then 1965 rolled around, and I was offered a role on Lost in Space. Finally! A human drama! Space adventure! A chance to wear a skirt in zero gravity! I was Ma Robinson, the calm, capable matriarch of a family that kept getting lost.
People keep telling me Lost in Space was ahead of its time to which I say, it was so far ahead that it didn’t even know where it was going but I held it together. I hugged Robot, I soothed Will, I gave Judy sensible advice and all while wearing heels on alien planets.
And yet, somehow, the Robot and Dr. Smith became cultural icons. The Robot, bless him, with his blinking lights and melodramatic warnings got action figures but I don’t begrudge the Bot his success. He was a good colleague, always on time and never complained about the heat on the soundstage.
I did a lot of TV, stage and screen work and I was the glue in most of them, the sensible woman in the middle of chaos, whether that involved Timmy in a well, or Will Robinson being menaced by a sentient turnip from Planet Zorblax and yet, through sheer force of being the only adult in two shows dominated by non-humans, I carved out a niche.
I made peace with my place in pop culture. I was never the star attraction. I wasn’t the wonder dog or the sassy robot. I was the one who said, Now, now, let’s not panic, while the world exploded around us.

Most Beautiful Countries

With 193 countries in the United Nations, Earth has something for anyone and everyone but some nations are a bit better than others and the World Population Review has ranked the Globe's most beautiful countries in 2026 and of the top 100, i have been to only 25 of them although 7 of them are in the top 10 so that's not bad.
Top and most beautiful is Greece, then it is New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Thailand, Norway, Iceland, Australia and Austria.
Ireland is 11th, Canada 18th, France 20th, Japan 23rd, UK 45th,  China 46th, Germany 50th, USA 51st and Russia 66th.
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and i don't know what criteria the World Population Review used to choose the most beautiful but for me Austria was breathtaking but then we was there in December with the snow and halfway up a mountain and every morning we looked out of our window at a scene from a Christmas Card so it may be very different in August although i do enjoy a mountain scenery so all of the Alpine nations would do it for me.  
The UK has the green rolling hills and history going for it and France, especially Paris, is spoilt for famous monuments and statues, it must be a nightmare trying to cram it all in for a tourist guide because everywhere you look is something famous and the Scandinavian Countries have the fjords which are so beautiful that people get up in the early hours just to take a photograph.
I guess all countries have something which makes them stand out, just some of them are very well hidden.

Ready, Steady....Go!!!

 
At the moment West Streeting has done the first part of sparking a leadership contest against Keir Starmer and resigned but as if yet, he hasn't yet triggered the leadership bid but you can be sure that once he does, the rest of the runners and riders will pile in and Sky TV had been polling the Labour membership and as that famous Michael Heseltine saying goes: 'He who wields the knife never wears the crown' implying that the person who ruthlessly orchestrates the downfall of a leader rarely becomes the leader themselves.
Amid the leadership manoeuvring of the last few days, Sky News has been polling Labour members to ask who they would back in a potential contest and its grim reading for the former Health Secretary because if Wes Streeting were to go up against Sir Keir Starmer directly, he would lose hands down with 53% for Starmer and only 23% for Streeting.
Of the list of who is expected to run for Prime Minister, Starmer would beat the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood 64% to 15%, Lucy Powell the Deputy Labour Leader 51% to 27%, Bridget Phillipson the Education Secretary 46% to 25%, Al Carns the Armed Forces Minister 45% to 17% and the  Chief Secretary to the PM, Darren Jones, 40% to 25%.
The people the Labour Members state they will vote for to beat Starmer are Andy Burnham, who is currently not an MP but is working hard to become one in time would win easily 61% to 28%,  Energy Secretary Ed Miliband 46% to 39% and Angela Rayner with a much tighter 45% to 41%.
Each challenger will need 20% of the party's MPs to back them and there are 403 Labour MPs, so the support of 81 would be needed which means there are only enough for 4 challengers (Starmer is on the ballot anyway so doesn't need the 81) so some won't even make it to the ballot paper stage where members vote for their preference and the bottom candidate gets eliminated and their votes goes to the second choice until someone receives more than 50% of first preferences then they will be declared the winner.
Andy Burnham does seem the clear favourite but his problem is he is not an MP so someone will need to step aside for him to run a by-election and hopefully get elected so he can join the potential candidates but whoever the eventual victor is, it's hard not to see the removal van outside 10 Downing Street carting away Keir Starmer's furniture before the end of Summer.

Special Guest Blogger: Liam Payne

They say life begins at 16, or as I like to call it, The Age I Realized My Voice Cracked More Than a Demolition Crew. Back when I was a scrawny lad with a comb-over thicker than my savings account, I auditioned for The X Factor because I thought fame meant free pizza and a personal trainer named Vogue.
Little did I know after being unsuccessful the first two times that my third attempt would see me end up in a band with four other blokes who’d collectively make me look like the most put-together member of The Muppets.
We went from shoving each other into swimming pools on MTV’s Made to selling out stadiums. The pinnacle? Our first world tour, where I discovered that being a pop star meant eating chicken nuggets in a van and pretending to know how to play guitar but we sold over 70 million records between the scrappy days of 'All Together Now' to the global phenomenon of Story of My Life, so we did something right.
I dated influencers and models and had a child with X-Factor judge Cheryl Tweedy but through it all I remained the cheeky little lad from Wolverhampton who thought fame would cure his social anxiety although it didn't even scratch the surface, drugs and drink on the other hand....
One Direction was a massive, mind-blowing, chart-topping, hair-gel-fueled rollercoaster that turned us from normal lads into a global franchise. When the band officially went on hiatus back in 2016, I thought I’d finally have the freedom to sleep past 9 a.m.
I went solo and had hits and my own clothing line with Hugo Boss but let’s get morbid for a tick. How did I kick the proverbial bucket? Well, the rumors say 'drug overdose' and i was very open about my struggles with drugs and drink  since the peak of One Direction's success.
In early October 2024, me and my girlfriend travelled to Argentina to renew my United States visa at the US embassy in Buenos Aires and after she returned to her home in Florida, i stayed in Argentina.
If you have ever been to Buenos Aires you will know it is a city that will steal your heart, your soul, and if you’re not careful your balance but the next bit is hazy because i was off my face on drugs and drink but i was later made acutely aware that however much stuff you have coursing though your body,  physics and gravity still apply and I fell about fourteen feet to my death from the apartment balcony.

The Financial Cost Of War

Dwight Eisenhower: 'Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron'.

In a congressional hearing, appearing alongside US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, Jules Hurst, under secretary of war and chief financial officer, said the total cost of the Iran War is currently $29bn. So Google states that:

Average cost of elementary and middle school construction - $25-$30m
Average cost of electric power plant in USA -$2 billion
Average cost of fully equipped hospital in USA - $200m
Average cost of concrete poavement in USA - $352 per mile
Average cost of a bushel of Wheat in USA - $6
Average cost of building a new home in USA - $450,000

So to put it another way, the Iran War so far has cost Americans 1,160 new schools, 14 electric power plants, 145 new fully equipped hospitals, 89,230,769 miles of concrete pavement, 4,833,333,333 bushels of wheat or 64,444 new homes and from what I can see, all you have to show for missing out on all this is...paying more for your petrol.