For anyone who missed it, I was back on BBC Radio London this morning his time discussing the collapse of the British high street. Standing in for Vanessa was the lovely Jeni Barnett, with whom I have a good old tussle about the problems faced by the floundering town centre. A bit of background, experts predict 60,000 high street shops - around one in five - will close in the next five years. People are getting fed up of the lack of parking, poor choice and high costs and turning more and more to online shopping. The result - our high streets are becoming ghost towns. Here's the interview - as always, you'll have to nudge in to around the two-hour mark to hear it.

I remember going to a village fair with a friend and his daughter and seeing the look of delight on her face at the fairground rides. Her dad suffered with a bad back so he passed on taking her on the tea-cups, merry-go-rounds and bumper cars and the onus fell onto me. It was a moment I had been dreading because I had to make a rather embarrassing  confession - I was absolutely terrified. Even the little rides which chug round full of ten year olds all beaming with delight - they leave me rigid with fear. I have no idea why but I suspect it is a control thing, a bit like people who are scared of flying say it because they are not in charge of the cockpit. For as long as I can remember I have avoided “thrill” rides like the plague. So it was with just a little trepidation I accepted the challenge to ride what could quite possibly be the most terrifying roller coaster in the world. The Smiler opens at Alton Parks, Staffordshire, on Thursday (May 23) and th

Batten down the hatches as forecasters warn there are a few wet and windy weeks on the way. As we nudge into summer, experts have started talking about what we can expect over the next couple of months. After last year’s washout - the wettest summer for 100 years - many are rightly hoping for a turnaround this year. The bad news is that early indications suggest we may get a repeat of 2012’s catalogue of misery . Remember June, July and August? A long, grey dredge of drizzle, rain and chilly winds. Weather forecasts can only really be close to exact up to 10 days in advance, although long-range forecasters can give a pretty good idea of what is further afield. They use models based on probability and track the paths of high and low pressure systems to give an indication of what the weather might do in the coming weeks and even months. The good news is, this can change so although early indications show a miserable summer on the cards, it is not yet a fai