The astronaut has launched a new career as a rap star. The 79-year-old, who was the second man to walk on the moon, teamed up with hip-hop megastar Snoop Dogg to record the single Rocket Experience. The track was created to mark the 40th anniversary
of the Apollo 11 mission.
BAD WEEK
Silvio BerlusconiThe flamboyant Italian prime minister was engulfed in yet another sex scandal. The 72-year-old right-winger has strongly denied claims that escorts were paid £850 a head to attend parties at his home. Call girl Patrizia D'Addario told newspapers she slept with Berlusconi after he allegedly told her to "wait in the big bed".
WHAT THE PAPERS SAID ABOUT...
…about the Scottish government's plans to tackle climate change THE SUN
Scotland can take pride in being at the forefront of moves to tackle climate change. Even Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken notice of the ambitious plans backed at Holyrood yesterday.
Hasta be a great idea.
THE SCOTSMAN
The new Scottish target is not the highest in Europe or the first to set an 80 per cent cut. Norway is committed to going to a zero-carbon economy by 2050. Sweden is going for a 75-90 per cent cut by 2050. Even in America, the bad boy of climate change, individual states are ahead of Scotland in their emissions targets.
THE HERALD
The proud claim that Scotland is leading the world on climate-change legislation is already beset by fears that get-out clauses will ensure the ambitious targets remain statements of intent rather than reality. The SNP government could hardly do less when the campaign by environmental groups to set a minimum target of 42 per cent was supported by a political coalition at Holyrood consisting of Labour, Lib Dems and Greens, with a Labour amendment to the bill specifying a 40 per cent target.
BEST OF THE BLOGSThere could be a simple method of knowing when the worst of the recession is over – loiter around Marks and Spencer's and see if men have started to buy new underwear. According to former Federal Reserve boss Alan Greenspan, when men want to save money, they stop buying underwear boxers and Y-fronts because very few people are likely to see them.
David Maddox, The Steamie, www.scotlandonsunday.com
(Speaker John] Bercow is going to have his work cut out for him. There's the travesty that (Westminster] has a shooting gallery and not a crèche. There are faintly ridiculous traditions which are quite intimidating for most MPs because they are just ridiculed if they get them wrong. Personally, I'd rather an MP's mind was on what they were saying and how they were voting than whether they were standing in the right place or using the right form of anachronistic language.
Caron's Musings, http://carons-musings.blogspot.com/
Do not read the complacent, self-congratulatory ramblings of the Director General of the BBC. For you will not find even a hint of concern that the Beeb sees fit to deploy our licence fees on paying an annual salary of more than £160,000 to 50 executive apparatchiks (not including the Wogans and the Wosses of this world).
Holyrood Chronicles, http://holyroodchronicles.blogspot.com/
RIP
FARRAH FAWCETT
February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009She had "big hair" before big hair was invented.. Fawcett was the cute, blonde, Texan pin-up girl who lit up the original Charlie's Angels TV series in the 1970s. Her acting break came in the Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors, whom she later married. They divorced in the 1980s and she formed a long-term relationship with actor Ryan O'Neal. She earned acclaim for her performance as a battered wife in The Burning Bed. Her last, and possibly most moving performance, was a video diary of her fight against cancer.
THE WEEK ON THE WEBEver find yourself harrumphing over how modern music is "just a racket", are you strangely drawn to spending your weekends pottering around garden centres? You are slowly turning into your parents and, it seems, you are far from alone. http://www.b3ta.com/questions/gettingolder/
Why waste your time with sprawling, bum-numbing three-hour cinematic epics. Instead here's a rib-tickling selection of film funnies which are no more than five seconds long. http://5secondfilms.com/watch/robodog
Is there such a thing as a good family photo? Here's a showcase of other people's kith and kin photographic misfortunes for you to enjoy. http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com
TABLOID TALKGaining a first-class degree is always an achievement that requires a certain amount of hard work, but not quite the lengths gone to by university student Kate Archer.
The Daily Record revealed last week that the 28-year-old from Aberdeen sat the final exam in business management and law at the city's prestigious university while having contractions.
And within 12 hours she gave birth to a healthy first child, Grace.
She told the paper:
"I'm surprised I was able to remember as much as I did in the exam, as your brain turns to mush when you're pregnant."
CATCH UP ON THE WEEKSUNDAY
Downing Street issued a statement denying reports that Tony Blair urged Gordon Brown to hold the Iraq War inquiry in secret. It was alleged the former leader warned the hearings would amount to a "show trial" if they were held in public.
MONDAY
Maverick Conservative John Bercow became the youngest Commons Speaker in modern times, aged 46. He defeated a host of challengers including Margaret Beckett and Ann Widdecombe.
TUESDAY
The BBC confirmed it is to ban swearing on its flagship channel until 10pm after a backlash from disgruntled viewers. The shake-up was suggested by the BBC Trust in the wake of the Jonathan Ross-Russell Brand furore.
WEDNESDAY
Details emerged of a male stripper from Aberdeen convicted of impersonating a police officer and pulling over other drivers using flashing lights. Stuart Kennedy, known as Sgt Eros, fitted a white strobe light to the dashboard of his car to stop motorists.
THURSDAY
It was predicted that unemployment in Scotland could double to 250,000 in just two years as the country bears the brunt of the recession.
FRIDAY
Karl McCluney, 15, was convicted of murdering a two-year-old girl who was left in his care for 90 minutes. Demi Leigh Mahon was beaten, bitten and had her hair sheared off during the attack which left her with 68 injuries.
New Commons Speaker John Bercow tries to calm MPs at Prime Minister's question time
QUOTES OF THE WEEK"I am not only a tennis player. I am a woman"
Argentina's Gisela Dulko,after beating Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon"It can praise or blame whoever it likes, it is free to write its own report at every stage."
Foreign secretary David Miliband on the Iraq inquiry"That's where I was brought up. I lost my virginity under the Humber Bridge."
Steven Sharp, marketing director of Marks & Spencer, during a discussion about Hull"If you are, for some unknown reason, not enjoying Big Brother, please don't tell me. It's really harshing my mellow"
Davina McCall, who hosts the Channel 4 reality show"The scale of the deficit is truly extraordinary"
Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, on the economic crisis"Until something comes along that I feel as strongly about as I did Hermione – like, I felt that it was life or death – I don't want to act again
Emma Watson, teenage star of the Harry Potter films
"It's about getting the right work-life balance
A source close to Five newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky, on her expected pay cut – said to be up to £300,000 – after quitting the channel's evening news bulletin The full article contains 1305 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
