PALIN MITENK BLOG

By Sophie Freeman

Romantic reunion: Amy Winehouse kisses her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil in a Spanish restaurant on Sunday night


It's been just seven months since they divorced, but already Amy Winehouse is back in the arms of her ex Blake fielder-Civil.


The Back to Black singer and her 31-year-old ex-husband were spotted cosying up to each other at a Spanish restaurant in north-west London on Sunday night.

They spent an hour-and-a-half together at the Jamon Jamon eaterie in Camden and were seen popping outside for intimate kisses, hugs and cigarette breaks


Passionate: The couple spent 90 minutes together at Jamon Jamon in Camden, north-west London


But their romantic reunion was cut short after Fielder-Civil was forced to rush home to South Yorkshire as part of his court-imposed curfew.

Amy didn't let it spoil her evening, however, and carried the night on with a trip to The Good Mixer pub, Camden, with friends.

Earlier this week it was reported that Amy, 26, had been looking at a £2.5million house in Camden as well - despite having moved out of the lively area last year in a bid to put her drug struggles behind her.


The long goodbye: Fielder-Civil gives Amy a hug before leaving for his rehab clinic in Sheffield


Before the divorce: The couple in 2007 before Fielder-Civil was sent to prison

Amy's mother Janice was said to have been behind her daughter's relocation to the leafy suburbs of Barnet, north London, so she could keep an eye on her.

The meeting between the divorcees comes just weeks after the pair apparently enjoyed a two-day love-in at a flat in Sheffield, where Fielder-Civil is being treated in a rehab clinic.

He was released from prison earlier this year after serving a 27-month sentence for grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice, but was sent to rehab after failing yet another drugs test which breached his parole terms.

The renewed romance will horrify Amy's father, Mitch, who blames Fielder-Civil for getting his daughter hooked on cocaine and heroin.

The couple married in Miami, Florida, in May 2007 but divorced after a turbulent two-and-half years.


source: dailymail

By Georgina Littlejohn

Hurt: Jessica Simpson fights back tears as she hits out at former lover John Mayer on The Oprah Winfrey Show


Some people would find it a compliment to be described as 'sexual napalm' in bed.

But not Jessica Simpson, who didn't take too kindly to ex-boyfriend John Mayer's recent unchivarlrous comments about her.

But what better way to gain revenge for her perceived humiliation than to slam the singer on Oprah Winfrey - in front of an international audience of millions.

And as the singer struggled to hold back the tears, it became clear that she had won this particular battle for public support.

Jessica, 29, spoke to the Queen of Chat about how hurt she was when former lover Mayer, 32, told Playboy magazine last month that she was like a drug to him sexually.

He said: 'And drugs aren't good for you if you do lots of them... Yeah, that girl is like crack cocaine to me.

'Sexually it was crazy. That's all I'll say. It was like napalm, sexual napalm. Did you ever say, "I want to quit my life and just f***ing snort you?"'


Betrayed: Oprah asks Jessica how she felt after Mayer described her as being like 'sexual napalm' in bed


Stunned: Jessica said she doesn't want people to know what she's like between the sheets


He later apologised for opening his mouth and said he'd behaved like 'an a-hole'.
But despite his apology, Jessica is still livid about his remarks and looked visibly upset in her interview with Oprah.

The full interview will be broadcast in the U.S. tomorrow but a sneak-peek trailer shows Jessica telling Oprah: 'I don't want people to know how I am in bed.'


Weight issues: Jessica admits that she struggles with the criticism she faces over her weight


Oprah then asks her if she felt betrayed by Mayer's comments - but Jessica's answer won't be revealed until tomorrow.


Explosive: Simpson and Mayer at an event in New York in 2007


Simpson also opens up about her weight issues and the criticism towards her, which she revealed she often struggles with.

The trailer shows her telling Oprah: 'It's a really hard thing for me to talk about.'
Simpson and Mayer dated on and off for almost a year from August 2006, nine months after she split from her husband Nick Lachey, with whom she starred in the reality TV show Newlyweds.

She returns to our screens on a new reality TV show called the Pride Of Beauty which starts to air in the US on March 15 on VH1.

Jessica may take some comfort in the fact she is not the only ex-girlfriend that Mayer has publicly spoken about.

When he and actress Jennifer Aniston, 41, first split up in August 2008, he held an impromptu press conference outside a New York City gym, revealing that he was the one who ended their relationship.

He said: 'I ended a relationship to be alone because I don't want to waste somebody's time if something's not right. I don't waste people's time.'

He also discussed his brief relationship with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, who he dated in 2002.

During a gig in Hollywood in 2006, Mayer said he never got to have sex with her because she had a bout of food poisoning brought on by some bad fish on their date.

He later apologised, saying: 'It really was me making fun of myself.'


source: dailymail

By Nick Mcdermott

Sony said the glitch only appears to be affecting the original PlayStation 3 and not the new slimline version


Thousands of PlayStation 3 owners were yesterday warned to stop using their consoles after a glitch caused older models of the machine to stop working.

Electronics giant Sony said it was working hard to resolve the problem, which has left many British users unable to play their favourite titles or access the online gaming and shopping network.

Industry insiders say the errors are most likely caused by a calendar bug, which began affecting gamers yesterday, as the internal clock and calendar on the PS3 switched from February to March.

Many owners reported their console clock had reset itself to Dec 31, 1999 or Jan 1, 2000.

Players were also unable access the free online PlayStation Network, which allows them to experience online games, as well as chat to friends and family around the world and surf the web.

Other users complained that trophy and achievement data, which is built up as the player improves, had been corrupted or lost.

Sony warns that even if owners did not attempt to access the online network, data and saves may still be lost.

The problem is only believed to have affected the older PS3 models, but not the newest slim version that went on sale in September last year.

Those with older machine trying to access the PlayStation Newtork were presented with an error message that read: '8001050F – Hardware failure. Cannot update Firmware or connect to internet'.

The glitch comes as a blow to many hardcore gaming fans only days after the release of much-anticipated flim noir thriller Heavy Rain, which requires a download update before it can be played.

Sony yesterday said it was working 'flat out' to resolve the glitch.

In a statement, the Japanese firm said: 'We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

'We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.'

It is still unclear whether a 'patch' which will be released to resolve the issue, will reinstate or fix the loss of trophy data.

Sony is not the first company to deal with a Y2K-like bug years after 2000.

At the end of 2008, thousands of Microsoft's Zune media players unexpectedly crashed, due to a problem with their internal clock.


source: dailymail

By Daily Mail Reporter

Technicians install electric cables at the heart of the ATLAS detector, part of the Large Hadron Collider, which was restarted last night


Scientists have restarted the world largest atom smasher over-night, in a fresh bid to uncover the secrets of the universe.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, sent low energy beams of protons in both directions around the 17-mile particle accelerator under the Swiss-French border at Geneva.

After a cautious trial period, CERN plans to ramp up the energy of the beams to unprecedented levels and start record-setting collisions of protons by late March, spokeswoman Christine Sutton said.

The restart follows a 10-weeks winter shutdown during which scientists made improvements and checked out the smasher's ability to collide protons at energies three times greater than has ever been achieved before.

The Large Hadron Collider was built to examine suspected phenomena such as dark matter, antimatter and ultimately the creation of the universe billions of years ago, which many believe occurred in an explosion known as the Big Bang.

It was originally launched amid great fanfare and controversy on September 10, 2008. Some critics led by scientist Otto Rossler, claimed the machine would spawn a shower of mini-black holes.

Within four years, they said one of these 'celestial vacuums' could have swollen to such a size that it is capable of sucking the Earth inside-out - a claim vehemently denied by CERN.

In the event, the machine was shut down just nine days after launch, when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated and set off a chain of damage to the magnets and other parts of the collider.


The LHC will blast particles both ways around a 17-mile circulur tunnel


CERN had to undertake a £26million program of repairs and improvements over 14 months before it was ready to retry the machine at the end of November. Then the the collider performed almost flawlessly, giving scientists valuable data in the four-week run before Christmas.

Specialists have checked out and improved electrical connections and other parts of the machine since the shutdown, but still want to take further steps to make sure the Large Hadron Collider is ready to operate at higher energy.

'There's a long way to go between getting the first bunches of protons to go around and actually getting the machine to its top working levels,' Ms Sutton said.

'It's a lot like having designed a Formula One racing car. The first time you send it out, the guy doesn't go round the circuit as fast as he can. You have to learn about the controls, how the car handles.'

The long-term goal will be to run the proton beams at 7 TeV in each direction, but CERN has decided that it will continue its cautious approach and run at 3.5 TeV for 18 to 24 months.

Then a long shutdown will allow for further improvements for operation at the full design energy.


source: dailymail

By Marcus Barnes

Chill out! Emily Atack lets fly after a taxi allegedly almost hit her as it reversed outside Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, north London


You'd think a night on the ice would have cooled her mood, but Emily Atack saw red after she was voted off ITV1's dancing show last night.

Following her exit from Dancing On Ice, the Inbetweeners actress, 20, snapped and let rip at a taxi when the car allegedly almost hit her as it reversed.

Emily was visibly upset following her loss in the dance-off with Danniella Westbrook - she was pictured outside Elstree Studios accompanied by her sister as she wept.


Tears: The Inbetweeners actress was comforted by a female friend after she lost her temper with the taxi driver


And the incident with the taxi seemed to spark a torrent of rage from the actress as she hit the car and shouted at its driver while her sister tried to hold her back.

She then turned to her sister and cried on her shoulder as she received a comforting embrace.

Emily appeared on today's This Morning show, where she explained what happened


Upset: Miss Atack couldn't hide her dismay at leaving Dancing On Ice - she wiped away tears following her exit from the show


She told host Phillip Schofield: 'I got a phone call earlier asking did I attack a taxi last night?! I said "no…" and I was wracking my brains to see where this came from and I remember someone backing into me and my sister.

'And I remember going ‘whoa whoa whoa’ and banged on the door [of a cab] because I thought it was going to run over my feet, and somehow that’s turned into me "attacking a taxi"… but it was nothing more than that.'

The actress, who plays Charlotte Hinchcliffe in the Channel 4 show, competed with former EastEnders star Danniella in the dance-off after she failed to pick up enough votes from the public.


Exit: The 20-year-old actress and her partner Fred Palascak were voted off the show following their dance-off with Danniella Westbrook and Matthew Gonzalez


She repeated her dance to The Crystals's Da Doo Ron Ron, which featured the actress being lifted in a daring helicopter spin above partner Fred Palascak's head.

And while most of the judges praised her improvement, the show's 'Mr Nasty' Jason Gardiner visibly upset Atack with his comments.

He told her: 'The thing about you that’s really annoying is that I don’t see a performance from you still. There is just nothing.


Discipline: The Inbetweeners actress was voted off the show despite receiving her highest score so far


'Your movements and choreography are very lazy, and some of the movements are just pointless. I don’t know what more to say to you.'

Ironically, prior to the flare-up, the actress had told hosts Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that appearing on the show had given her discipline and changed her attitude.

After she was voted off, she told the presenters: 'It's changed my life, my attitude. It's given me discipline. It's been such a privilege working with Jayne and Chris.'


source: dailymail

By Anny Shaw

Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset blamed a bad ski run on watching too much porn and hearing noises from the next room


The thrills and spills of the Winter Games will be remembered long after the Olympic torch was extinguished last night.

And we are not talking about the action on the ski slopes and toboggan runs.
Vancouver has carved itself its very own niche as a rather scandalous event, where even the condoms ran out such was the 'off-piste' activity of the competitors.

Running away with the gold medal for risque behaviour Norwegian cross-country skier Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset tops the list of gaffes for blaming a bad ski run that cost him the gold medal on watching too much porn.

'My name is Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset,' he said. 'I skied the second lap and I f***** up today. I think I have seen too much porn in the last 14 days.

'I have the room next to Petter Northug and every day there is noise in there. So I think that is the reason I f***** up. By the way Tiger Woods is a really good man.'
Hjelmeset's next-door neighbour was not the only one who made the most of his downtime in the Olympic Village.

Health officials well-versed in the needs of the world's elite athletes had already provided 100,000 free condoms to 7,000 athletes and officials, which works out about 14 condoms per person.

But apparently this just wasn't enough.

With just a couple of days to go officials were forced to ship in an emergency supply of condoms after supplies ran dangerously low during the last week of the Games.

The Games was also memorable for its unique take on celebrations.

U.S. snowboarder Scotty Lago was sent home before the closing ceremony after racy photographs surfaced showing a woman kissing his bronze medal near his waist.

'Keeping my medal in a safe spot for now, ha ha,' Lago tweeted when he got home.


A female fan 'kisses' Scotty Lago's bronze medal at a party during the Games. The snowboarder was reprimanded by the US team when the photos emerged


Lago won the medal in the men's halfpipe competition and was forced to go on U.S television to defend the rather risque shots amid reports the United States Ski and Snowboard Association had forced him to leave the Olympics.

There were further red faces when rather racy pictures of Germany's curler Melanie Robillard emerged just in time for the Games.

Robillard had taken part in the shoot to raise money for local ice rinks in her area but has declared that she won't be posing up again any time in the near future.


Germany's Melanie Robillard plays against Sweden last week, and , left, her racy photo for a calendar

'I've been asked and I refused. Once is good. The first time was extremely blown out of proportion and I'd just rather not. It was a one-time experience,' Robillard said in an interview last year.

While the closing ceremony went without hitch yesterday, the same can't be said for the opening ceremony.

While glitches may have overshadowed the Games, the festive spirit that spilled onto the streets of Vancouver earned the city a gold medal in drinking.

So much so that local hospitals are reporting spikes in emergency room visits for alcohol-related sicknesses and injuries.

Photographs of members of the Canadian women's hockey team drinking champagne and beer on the ice rink after their victory over the U.S.caused a stir among officials.


Members of the Canadian women's hockey team celebrate after beating the U.S. to win the gold medal

The women celebrated their 2-0 victory against arch-rivals America by guzzling beer, swigging from bottles of champagne and puffing on cigars.

Unfortunately, they chose to do it on the ice rink, in full view of the public and cameras, rather than in the changing room.

Even worse, star player Marie-Philip Poulin, 18, the youngest in the team and scorer of the two goals, is under British Columbia's legal drinking age of 19. Photos showed Poulin on the ice, with a beer in her hand.

Another player, Haley Irwin, poured champagne into the mouth of teammate Tessa Bonhomme while gold medals swung from their necks.

And one of the women, Rebecca Johnston, even tried to drive the ice-resurfacing machine during the party.
Supporters said the events were simply a traditional ice hockey celebration.


Technical hitch: During the lighting of the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony of the Winter Games, one of the four pillars of the Olympic cauldron didn't rise up


During the lighting of the Olympic torch a technical malfunction meant that one of the four pillars of the Olympic cauldron didn't rise up, leaving speed skater Catriona Le May Doan looking awkward when she couldn't ignite the flame.

And a rare gaffe cost Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer the gold in the 10,000m race after his coach sent him into the wrong lane getting the skater disqualified.

Kramer has suggested a new coach will be joining him for the 2014 Games.

Amy Williams' gold-medal victory in the skeleton bob was undoubtedly a cause for celebration for most Britons, even temporarily thawing her frosty relations with team mate Shelley Rudman.


Sven Kramer was disqualified from the 10,000m speed skating race after his coach wrongly told him to switch lanes


Australian commentators joked about U.S. skating star Johnny Weir's costume


But after a brief handshake and a curt 'well done' it seems full rivalry was resumed.

Miss Rudman did not attend the celebratory meal held for Miss Williams, nicknamed Curly Wurly for her pre-Raphaelite locks, after the medal ceremony.

A pair of Australian TV sports commentators came under fire for describing male ice skaters' routines as 'Brokeback Mountain' exercises.

Eddie McGuire and Mick Molloy joked about organisers being shocked at discovering one skater was not gay, adding that the non-gay skater was unlikely to be controversial and flamboyant U.S. figure skater Johnny Weir - because he wore a black and pink outfit while holding a heart-shaped cushion.

The British men's curling team arrived in Vancouver as world champions and with high hopes.

But they left empty-handed without even making it to the semi-finals, sadly not making the most out of the £1.1m invested in curling over the past four years.

And finally, one of the first things you might expect to get at the Winter Games is plenty of snow.

When rain fell on the pistes instead, making them more mud bath than winter wonderland, Canada ended up flying in more of the white stuff in a desperate bid to make Cypress Mountain ski and snowboard-worthy.

But then, who need snow, when all the action appears to be off the slopes?


source: dailymail

By The Inspector

Garden of England: Thurnham Keep


Kent is well-known for its idyllic, historic towns - but Maidstone is not one of them. If the county is the Garden of England, then Maidstone, with its ring roads, superstores and fluorescent take-away shops, is the thistle in the middle of the lawn that no amount of pesticide is able to remove.

But we didn't need to stray far from the town centre before reaching the Chaucerian countryside. Thurnham Keep, built from the ruins of a castle, is just four miles away in the hamlet of Thurnham and only 45 miles from central London. Turning up at the grand Jacobean facade felt like stepping into the scene of a Susan Hill ghost story.

Through the iron gates, we meandered slowly up the drive before arriving at the front door in misty darkness. The wind and rain was hammering down on the seemingly deserted house, which stood boldly isolated on top of a hill looking out over the North Downs.

Then suddenly we were greeted at the entrance not by haunting organ music, but the dulcet tones of Peter Andre's Mysterious Girl and the surprisingly young and energetic owner, Amanda Young, in tight jeans, and her dog.

She had grown up at the house before buying it from her father, and runs it with her husband, Mark, a full-time computer software designer and part-time beekeeper. 'I never see Mark during the week as he's working. I love having guests to stay. It keeps me entertained,' she said. Unlike many B&B owners, I sensed she believed it.


Immaculately designed: The Keep's traditional rooms


'We've got a lovely young couple in the end room. They took our dog for a walk this afternoon. You can have either of these two rooms.'

Both were traditionally but immaculately designed, of the kind you'd hope to find in a top country house hotel. Amanda demonstrated the turn-and-push technique of using the plug in the Edwardian bathtub, which was the size of a double bed. 'My son and husband have cooked me Chinese so, if you don't mind, I'll leave you a glass of wine downstairs by the fire and let you get on with it,' said Amanda.

Though supper is not available at the house, the local pubs and restaurants offer some pleasant choices.

'The pubs do get booked up very quickly, so would you like me to make you a booking?' Amanda had asked. We declined her offer - which was a mistake. After calling the fourth pub, The Dirty Habit, three miles up the Pilgrims Way, we managed to get a table. It had been a resting place for James II on his travels to France. We ate well.


Classical: The gardens look out over the North Downs


After breakfast the next day - when we shared the dining room with the 'lovely young dog-walking couple' - we left feeling guilty that we had been so dismissive of what Maidstone has to offer.

Thurnham Keep, aside from playing pop music for much of the time, turned out to be a delightful, if slightly eccentric, hideaway.

Travel factsThurnham Keep
Castle Hill
Thurnham, near Maidstone
Kent ME14 3LE

Double room £120 B&B

Tel: 01622 734149
thurnhamkeep.co.uk


source: dailymail