My most recent blood pressure reading (yesterday) was 97/68.

Perhaps the Kommandant of a small Austrian village is right—“It may be very amusing for you British, but F***ing is simply F***ing to us. What is this big F***ing joke? It is puerile.” However, I still laughed.

I am American by birth, but I sometimes feel I have become a monarchist in that benevolent monarchies seem to offer the most freedom.

Kate Bush will release her first album in 12 years, a double album entitled Aerial, on 7 November, preceded by a single, “King of the Mountain”, on 24 October.

The announcement for Paul McCartney’s “Fine Line” (out yesterday and available digitally) says: “Unfortunately, these downloads are currently only available for PC users as they use Windows Media 9 technology.” The unspoken message: so long as the litigation between Apple Corps Ltd. and Apple Computer remains unresolved, don’t hold your breath waiting for this to show up on iTunes.

And now, Mary Hopkin for Coca-Cola.