Tour de France

The Tour de France is not just the World's hardest sporting event, it is in a totally different league from anything else. 23 days of racing at a pace that most good cyclists could not maintain for half an hour. (The British media reward their efforts with no tv coverage on the main channels and a few column inches in the newspapers squeezed beneath the latest on Wayne Rooney's holiday in Barbados.)

Well done to Alberto Contador in winning, to Lance Armstrong for battling on when things weren't going his way, unlike many stars who would simply have pulled out and to our own Mark Cavendish whose stage win on the Champs Elysees yesterday was spectacular and left a bunch of world class sprinters scattered helplessly behind him.

Now we just need Bradley Wiggins to get his act together for a podium finish next year.

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Ryanair

Flying with Ryanair the other week, I discovered at check in that my luggage was 3 kg over the limit (15kg). Rather than pay the excess baggage charges, I chose to suffer the indignity of boarding the plane wearing three tee shirts, two jumpers and a waterproof coat with a trainer in each pocket. A towel draped casually around my neck, trying desperately hard to look like a scarf (It was about 30 degrees C in the airport) completed the image of the suave and sophisticated traveller.

Now I have only admiration for Michael O Leary's business model of paying exactly for what you use and nothing more, but I really feel that he has missed a trick. Why don't airlines weigh each passenger with their luggage and charge a set fee per kilogram. After all, mass is mass (as any science teacher might be able to tell you) and needs fuel to carry it from A to B, no matter whether it is in the hold or attached to the person sat next to me. I'm sure various groups would object, such as the Friends of Fatties and the Stout Supporters Union but they could all be told where to go.

If you are reading this Michael- then go on, I dare you...

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Etape du Tour

Imagine 10 000 people in a bike race on closed roads, with huge climbs and hair raising alpine descents. This was the 'Etape' on Sunday; a 112 mile course in the Pyrenees over the stage that the Tour de France will ride this Thursday.

You can really fly through the bends using both sides of the road (although judging by some of the competitors' bike handling skills, this was probably what they normally ended up doing) and there are loads of spectators along the route shouting "allez!", ringing cowbells and generally doing French things, so you feel just like a pro as long as you don't look at your watch. (The photo shows me just missing someone who was wheeling a broken bike out of the way.)

There were three big climbs on this year's course; Col du Marie Blanc, which wasn't too bad except for the bottleneck near the top, the unrelenting Soulour and just to finish us off at the end; the 12 mile horror of the Tourmalet. All in all, a hot, sunny and extremely memorable day out. Comical moments included a donkey wandering across the road on the freewheel down to La Mongie after the finish, which nearly wiped me out.

If you've ever even vaguely considered it, then get training and race next year. There is a real carnival atmosphere about the event and loads of Brits go out to do it.

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Etape du Tour

For those of you who are interested, I am once again riding the Etape du Tour this Sunday. It's in the Pyrenees this year and features such delights as the Col du Soulour and the Col du Tourmalet; neither of which sound very flat to me. The pros ride the course next Thursday as Stage 17 of the Tour de France.

If I survive the experience, then I will be back next Tuesday.

ps if anyone can tell me why my Orange Mobile Broadband has been so slow and erratic for the last week then please let me know, as Orange don't seem to be in any hurry to do so.

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Science Reporting in The Times

For the second week running, I've read an article in the Sunday Times explaining how either a car or a city will be 'powered by water'. I can't post the link because they would now like you to pay to access their website.

If anyone who works for the Times is reading this, could you please use some of the money to pay for the science editor to take a GCSE in the subject. They will then discover that it actually requires lots of energy to split water into Hydrogen and Oxygen. (If you do it the opposite way round-ie combine the two gases to make water, then you can generate electrical current to power whatever you like)

The general standard of science reporting throughout the media is absolutely terrible. Articles either contain basic mistakes or are sexed up versions of something that appeared in New Scientist a few weeks earlier, with a bit of certainty added for good measure.

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Jeremy Vine

I urge you to listen to Jeremy Vine today (Monday). He's got a couple of fruits who agree with Zenna's comments and it's hilarious. "Schools should reflect society and children need to see that not everybody is perfect" was one of the lines I remember.

I have to say though, that I'm starting to come round to the idea that we need really crap people employed in every career, because they really do make you feel better (unless they are a doctor in which case they probably don't in the long term).

Anyway, for all those of you who would love to see me in a darkened room, click here to watch my short ITV interview which didn't make the Ten O' clock News the other night because Moaty couldn't make up his mind whether to talk to Gazza or top himself.

Oh and Here's a link to the facebook page set up for PC David Rathband

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Ofsted

I've met some very good school inspectors but also plenty of dimwits and after hearing Zenna Atkins' words of wisdom; maybe it's time to scrap Ofsted and simply run the state school system like Tesco, with area managers for each county who have the power to reward the good teachers and heads and sack all the rubbish. (Every member of staff knows exactly who they are- just let them vote on it)

Regional managers could in turn keep an eye on them and somebody at the top can take overall responsibility and face the shareholders (ie the taxpayers). Surely that couldn't be any worse than the current ridiculous system of hoop jumping inspections which don't really measure anything worthwhile and paying everyone the same regardless of whether they are good, bad or not even there for months on end.

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