McCarthy & Stone, the Bournemouth-based retirement homes group that was taken private for £1.1bn in 2006, has posted an £8.8m loss following heavy interest payments.

This year, everyone is welcome at the Albert Hall. David Lister salutes a vintage season

Passion play wins a place in the heart

Even committed political agitators need a hobby. In a blog for the Daily Record, George Galloway reveals he's working on – what else? – a musical about Dusty Springfield. The fiery former MP recently spotted a CD of 1960s hits at a service station. Soon, he writes, it was gracing his car stereo. "The star who shines brighter than all the rest on this trip down memory lane is Dusty Springfield – as fresh today as a spring field should be. And, as it happens, one of the many projects on which I'm working – with Scots writer Ron McKay – is a stage musical, eponymously entitled Dusty." McKay and Galloway must've bonded over Springfield's hits while campaigning for Gaza. Yet Diary feels obliged to inform them their idea is not an original one. Dusty musicals have already been staged in Australia, The Netherlands and Bromley. Last year a theatre producer even appeared on Dragons' Den hoping to persuade Britain's best business minds to back her version (also eponymously entitled Dusty). Needless to say, they declined.

We're backstage at the London Coliseum during the first stage and make-up rehearsals for ENO's new production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers.

It's that time again. Prom season is upon us. With 100 concerts in 58 days, starting on Friday, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to tuning in. Read on...

They shoot...

Rupert Murdoch, patron of the arts. It still has a most unlikely ring to it. But it has to be said that the investment of Sky television in culture is proving quite impressive. It now has four arts channels (OK, two are HD versions of the first two), but even just having two arts channels counts for something at a time when ITV is axing The South Bank Show and the BBC has insufficient arts strands.

My father, Clive Wyngard, who died on 24 March after a long and brave ight against prostate cancer, arrived here from South Africa as a teenager to follow his calling to be a priest. His parents in Kimberley sold their piano to pay for his voyage. He studied at Leeds University then Theological College at Mirfield, Yorks.

A star from Everton's academy, Leon Osman has been key in the club's march towards the FA Cup and Europe. Ahead of eight crucial days, he talks Ian Herbert through his rise

Goldie, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and Bollywood included in this year's line-up at the Albert Hall

Edward Seckerson interviews Olivier award-winning actor and singer Michael Ball about his time performing as Edna Turnblad in the West End production of Hairspray.

West Bromwich 2 Manchester City 1

Schalke 04 0 Manchester City 2