On her new tour, Madonna will be performing a:

cover of John Lennon's 'Imagine' is backed with images of sick and injured children from around the world.

Remember this?

“The use of affectionate names such as ‘darling’ will also constitute sexual harassment.”

A CARING businesswoman was booted off a government scheme helping young offenders go straight — for calling a colleague PETAL.

Stunned Sarah Templeton was accused of using language that was “not appropriate”. She was barred from two jails where she was working as a volunteer.

Danny Baker's interview with Ken Russell is now on his show's website. Have a listen, it's a treat.

Allesandro Pettachi today beat the post war record of stage victories in one Giro d'Italia when he won his eighth stage. Amazing.

Number Seven

I've just used our Bosch Electric Lawnraker for the first time this year. You'd never get one in a "planned economy". It's completely unneccesary but I love it anyway. I know I don't strictly need it, I could use a regular rake. I don't care though because I want it. It does a better job and it's so much easier.

With his sixth stage win today in this year's Giro d'Italia, Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) is just one win shy of tying the post-war race record of seven stages held by De Vlaeminck, Maertens and Saronni. Having won exactly half of the stages thus far this year, Petacchi has not offered the slightest doubt that he can equal or break the record.

"Today I've demonstrated that at the moment I'm the number one sprinter," Petacchi said after Friday's stage. "I've also shown that last year was not a fluke. I would love to get to Milan with the ciclamino jersey and even try to win on the new parcours that we'll be riding."

With more vigilant riding by Petacchi's Fassa Bortolo team, the sprinter from La Spezia could be in contention to tie the record as early as Sunday, a stage which features climbing in the first half of the parcours but could allow a regrouping in the second half if the sprinters lose contact.

My copy of British Light Classics arrived this morning and I've already listened to it four times already. It's joyous. You really feel like it's summertime and you are in a jalopy or on a train going off to the seaside. A feeling which the art-deco sleeve complete with posters of streamlined LNER locomotives reinforces.

You'll be really quite surprised how familiar many of the tunes on the disc are, they have seeped into the DNA of 20^th century British people. Buy it, it's great!

So this is me coming home this evening.

In some places this evening it was absolutely pouring with rain while in others it was bone dry. I suspect the start of the cricket test is to blame.

At one point in the rain I was stuck behind a car which was in turn stuck behind someone in an Audi A3 who was committing my most major pet peeve by ambling along at 40mph in the countryside (admittedly it was a bit slippy having had great weather all week beforehand but come on already) and then carrying on at 40mph in the village. Grrr!

So finally we came to a stretch of road suitable for overtaking with nothing coming the other way so I passed the first car and lined up behind the spray coming off of the leading one.

After a left hand bend I floor it, move over to the right and then suddenly hit an enormous puddle that I hadn't seen coming. The car immediately suffers from tremendous drag, sends a pair of tidal waves off to the left and right and any grip that had been lost by the Pirellis manifested itself within my buttocks. Clench. Within a split second I manage to keep the car pointed in the correct direction before powering through the water.

I could tell the Audi A3 driver wasn't too thrilled with what had just happened because he gave me a flash of his headlights. Perhaps his window had been open - which would have served him right! Anyway he was out of sight soon enough as, newly unhindered, I zoomed clear.

He survived Russia and now the intrepid Tim Newman has been into Iraq. Go and check out his photos.

The latest installment of the Portsmouth News' D-Day series is out.

The huge army became part of the Hampshire and West Sussex landscape – and then suddenly it was gone.

So how many nurses will you sack?

THE boom in Britain’s bloated public sector was exposed yesterday as bureaucrats promoted “jobs” worth nearly £10million in a single advertising supplement.

The oil seed rape all around here is just about to go over and patches of green are starting to appear as the flowers go over. These fields either side of the road between South Harting and Petersfield are still in full bloom and on a day like today, boy, are they bright.

Top Gear's Richard Hammond is to compete in the Bognor Birdman contest. Jeremy Clarkson and James May had entered but have both withdrawn from the July 4^th event due to "production scheduling difficulties". I wouldn't blame them if they've simply chickened out; it's a heck of a drop if you don't fly.

Another fine Mark Steyn column in yesterday's Jerusalem Post.