Robert Hampton

So there I was, proudly showing off my new Bachmann Class 66 model to my nephew, lecturing him on the need to be extra careful with these delicate, precision-crafted models.

And a bit snapped off in my hand.

This looks like fun. I’ll have to give that a try before I’m too old to buy a Young Person’s Railcard.

There’s a new shop in town advertising mobile phones, DVD players and iPods starting from as little as £5, and punters have been queueing up to get in and get their hands on those bargains.

Quite right too: with prices that unrealistically low, it couldn’t possibly be a rip off!

Presumably Steven Gerrard did some quick calculations on the back of an envelope, juggled his incomings and outgoings, and worked out that, with a little belt-tightening, he could just scrape by on £100,000 a week.

Meanwhile, some real athletes will be competing in London in 2012.

All of a sudden there was a loud bang and a flash of bright light. It threw me to the floor in the middle of the train.

At first some people thought it wasn’t serious, perhaps just a minor derailment, although some people were screaming.

Scared? I’m terrified.

Tonight I was on the evening rush hour train out of Liverpool Central towards Hunts Cross. It’s a busy train and is always standing room only. As we barrelled through the tunnel towards Brunswick, I realised that if someone on board was to detonate a bomb, there would be carnage, and escaping from the tunnel would be difficult.

Which may be why there were several police officers patrolling Liverpool Central station tonight, and more standing on the platform at Brunswick.

Suicide bombers change the rules. How do you protect yourself against someone who is prepared to strap explosives to themselves and blow themselves up? What can you do to deter someone like that?

It was slightly unnerving when the auto-announcer on my train to work suddenly and solemnly intoned: “This is a security alert”

Turned out to be a standard announcement about watching for suspect packages, but I’m sure anyone on the train who was still half asleep was wide awake after hearing that.

We used to laugh when this sort of thing happened in the American Bible Belt. Now it’s happening here:-

A primary school cancelled a Harry Potter day over complaints it could leave children into “areas of evil”.

Nothing to see here — move along please!

There’s a nice article about James Blunt in today’s Mail on Sunday. Here’s the bit that I liked:-

Blunt’s first attempts at live performances were hardly auspicious. At their debut, his group were booed off stage after their keyboard player hit the Demo button by mistake and Greensleeves wafted out over the speakers.

It’s just such a wonderful, funny scene to imagine. Even the story isn’t true, I want it to be.