The Sex Pistols turned down an invitation to perform at the Olympics’ opening ceremony because the organisers wanted to censor one of their most famous songs, John Lydon has revealed.

1. Duct Tape

£3.33, staples.co.uk

It doesn't just seal tears and cuts in your suitcase, but can also be used to waterproof things, cheaply and quickly, on the hoof.

As mysterious as he is wary of vowels, Sbtrkt was the toast of the evening at the The Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards.

Fancy dress parties are becoming more and more popular, and the demand for eye-catching and original outfits is at an all-time high.

Stores which bore the brunt of rampaging mobs during the summer riots face another two years before they resume trading at previous levels.

It's not just our insides that need a reboot after Christmas...These products promise to get our skin glowing too

A French pastiche on American silent film is a smart, witty treat – and much more besides

1. Instead of a Book by Diana Athill

£20, granta.com

Can anyone resist the 94-year-old grand dame of publishing? This volume of letters spans 30 years.

This stunning nation celebrates 50 years of independence on Friday, but its wonders have been millennia in the making.

One of the things that first drew viewers to Mad Men – before Don Draper's existential angst, Roger Sterling's dubious wit or Joan Holloway's "hillsides" (copyright: Roger Sterling) – was the clothes. The hit US drama, now approaching its fifth series, remains a long-overdue reminder that our grandparents once dressed pretty darn sharp, too. So there's a crushing inevitability to the news that its costume designer, Janie Bryant, has teamed up with Banana Republic to produce an "official Mad Men clothing range".

I survived! I'm back from V Festival, a little sunburned, a little tired, but still, essentially, alive. And my bank balance doesn't look too bad either. In fact, during the entire time I was inside the festival, I managed – almost – to avoid spending entirely. I bought one coffee, three bottles of not inexpensive diet coke, some chips and a chocolate bar. Not the healthiest of weekends, admittedly, but not the most expensive, either.

There's nothing that says 'holiday' more than running around buying the products (travel-sized where possible) for a 'can't-do-without' beauty bag. Here are mine:

It's possible that there are viewers who tuned into Beaver Falls (E4's new comedy series about a trio of oversexed Brits doing a season at an American summer camp) in the hope that they would find a delicate comedy of manners, distinguished by its tender observation of human frailty. But if so they're the kind of people who shouldn't be left unsupervised with a box of matches. The title, with its sophomoric double entendre, surely gives fair warning of what you're going to get, and even if you ignored that red flag it wasn't very long before it was clear what we were in for. Fresh out of Oxford (Brookes, but they don't mention that on the application form), Flynn, Barry and A-Rab have plans for a perfect working vacation, looking after spoiled rich kids, and opportunistically taking a crack at any girl old enough not to provoke a queasy sense of sexual abuse in the viewer (they may not entirely have pulled this off).