Yello's music long since became an everyday component of modern culture – particularly "Oh Yeah", whose yawning title-phrase and bomp-bomp, chicka-chicka hook have proven applicable to many movie situations – but while their pioneering work with samplers and sequencers remains admired by their peers, the Swiss duo's albums rarely secure UK releases these days.

From Heston Blumenthal's molecular menu makeover at McDonald's to the horror of Big Brother's comeback, BB: Celebrity Suicide Watch, the past decade has seen our leisure time transformed in ways we could never have imagined.

If you need a photo taking, where do you go? Mario Testino is busy, passport booths make everyone look like a government anti-crack campaign, and Snappy Snaps can be a bit harsh. My friend went recently, and when she suggested that the results weren’t exactly Holbeinesque, the ‘artiste’ responsible replied sullenly that “the camera never lies”. Then there’s the average makeover studio, where subjects submit to transvestite make-up and a tight perm before being photographed sitting backwards on a chair.

The problems which attended the troubled gestation of Basement Jaxx's fifth album – among them family illness, relationship break-up and a lack of confidence about their direction – have clearly left their mark on the aptly-titled Scars, the weakest release of their 10-year career.

Martin Simpson follows up 2007’s award-winning Prodigal Son with analbumcomprised of equal parts traditional and original material, all featuring his virtuoso handling of just about any stringed instrument.

The first stage of a £12.5 million upgrade for one of Britain's most familiar tourist attractions started today with the removal of the first of the London Eye's 32 capsules.

What better venue for a spot of academic deconstruction than a French museum? The Musee du Quai Branly in Paris has chosen to grapple with Edgar Rice Burroughs's chest-beating, vine-swinging, loin-cloth sporting creation: Tarzan.

The iconic Australian vegetable spread Vegemite is getting a makeover.

It's that time of year to get less fat. Normally I don't bother. If I really have to go to the beach I put on a T-shirt and say I'm wearing a life jacket underneath. A bulldog clip behind each ear makes all the difference. It's easy to cheat. But this year visual tricks are not an option. I've got to go to a wedding in June, and if I don't fit into a 100kg suit the bride won't turn up. The happiness of more than one member of the wedding party is in my heavy hands.

South Africa's President-elect Jacob Zuma made a triumphant appearance before cheering supporters last night as early results showed a resounding win for the ruling African National Congress.