Hats off to Danny MacAskill

There's something marvellously inspirational and optimistic about this Danny MacAskill trick-riding video. Great music by Band of Horses too.



No surprise that his talent has been recognised and he is now to feature in a Hollywood movie. He's not just fantastically athletic but displays extraordinary creativity in planning his stunts.
Well done Danny.
Happy New Year everyone.

What will we call the next decade?

The noughties seems to have been coined for the decade that's just about to end but what of the next?
The 'tennies', the 'teenies', the 'twenty tens' are all unsatisfactory.
Any thoughts?

Hitchhikers' guide to murder

I've been wondering why you don't see many hitchhikers these days and the statistics in this video explain why.

Volvo bought by Chinese

Ford has agreed the sale of Volvo to Chinese firm Geely.
It was bad enough when Ford bought Volvo but this is surely not going to see a return to the high production values and attention to detail that made the marque one of the greats.
After the news about the demise of Saab earlier in the week the Swedes must be suicidal - although apparently that's an urban myth. 
I've had a Volvo 360, 740s, 760, 850s, T5s, XC90 and V70s but this is it. I'm off to Mercedes, a 90s S-class, unless there's an old V70R around of course.

Schumacher comeback

Michael Schumacher is making a well-predicted return to Formula One.
But should he?
Will he win the title again like a latter-day Niki Lauda or will he be well off the pace after four years out?
I'm not sure he should but if the Mercedes (Brawn) is competitive he may return to the podium. His team-mate Nico Rosberg is unlikely to show him up either.
Whatever happens it can't be as bad as Nigel Mansell's comeback with McLaren in 1995. The portly former world champion could not fit in the car and, despite his storming time at Ferrari and Williams, that remains the lasting memory of Mansell.
The sadly departed Observer Sport Monthly once compiled a list of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time and I was lucky enough to be at No8 - when France beat New Zealand 43-31 in the Rugby World Cup semi-final at Twickenham in 1999.
Two-try Jonah Lomu looked shellshocked after the game.
Can Schumi join the pantheon of comeback kings? An interesting season awaits.

Auschwitz sign returned

The theft of the sign from the Auschwitz concentration camp reflected badly on the whole human race and it is an enormous relief that it has been found.
We must stay vigilant against extremism in all its forms. This sorry episode serves as a salient reminder of that.

Eurostar showing its age

It's important to remember that the Eurostar trains brought to a halt in the Channel Tunnel by electrical problems are now 15 years old.
The styling means they may still look pretty high-tech but this rolling stock was built between 1992 and 1996.
In 2003 Eurostar announced plans for a facelift but no real engineering upgrades have ever taken place.
In the light of more extreme weather on the way isn't it about time they undertook a root and branch appraisal of the trains?