Cults do not get much more cultish than Butch Hancock. Unjustly a complete unknown to the vast majority of the music-buying public, Butch Hancock is a hero to students of "alternative country". Having started out alongside Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore in the legendary Flatlanders in the 1970s, he went on to carve out an idiosyncratic solo career while pursuing his other interests, including photography, art and leading river- raft trips - pushing out tapes on his own Rainlight label. With unique takes on politics and life, such as "Talkin' About That Panama Canal" and "Smokin' In The Rain" taking their place alongside songs such as "West Texas Waltz" and "If You Were a Bluebird" that have been made - relatively - famous by Ely, much of this material now appears on two compilations. But as with the Austin, Texas scene's other oddball multi-talented genius, Terry Allen, Hancock has an independent attitude worthy of somebody often seen as the Lone Star State's answer to Dylan and has therefore enjoyed a career more stop-go than his devoted fans would like. Tuesday, however, sees a rare London appearance at The Weavers, and a new album, "You Coulda Walked Around The World", is imminent, too.

I See from my diary that I have, on occasion, found myself at Mr Jonathan Aitken's house in Lord North Street. But my visits have been infrequent: no more than a dozen times a year since the early 1970s, often fewer. Last year, for instance, I visited the building on only 10 occasions, and I have no record of having enjoyed myself at all.

Panama was the engineering miracle that changed the world by dividing a continent.

Geoff Wragg's Sasuru continued his relentless progress when landing a short-neck victory over fellow British raider Wixim in the Group One Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp yesterday.

Sue Montgomery discovers there is a great deal at stake in today's Classic

It is not a bird, nor a plane, but one man's vision of the future for luxury cruises.

Shergar, Henbit and Quest For Fame all emerged from the Chester Vase to win the Derby and there was another Classic tremor yesterday when Panama City was successful at the Roodeye. They are shaking in their boots at the Capannelle, where Peter Chapple-Hyam's colt is likely to appear next in the Italian Blue Riband.

If the Romans who built Chester ever raced horses on the Roodeye, you can be sure that someone was forever complaining that the big race on the first day of the May meeting was a lousy pointer to forthcoming events at Londinium and Eboracum. A similar charge will no doubt be levelled against the Chester Vase today, as pundits with a persistent grudge against the track's unique contours remind us that no Vase winner has gone on to win the Derby since Shergar in 1981. Those with a more broad-minded view of the future, however, will pay close attention to its outcome.

The spirit of the Mayans is alive and well in Chiapas.

While the party celebrations were being cranked up in Perth for the return of the Australian Navy with Tony Bullimore and Thierry Dubois, fears grew for the Canadian yachtsman Gerry Roufs, who also disappeared in the Vendee Globe race.

JON CULLEY

Leading Alternative Investment Market broker Gerrard Vivian Gray is likely to face Stock Exchange censure over the failure of its client Rupert Galliers- Pratt to disclose his directorships in a string of failed companies before his current company, Optical Care (Bermuda), was admitted to AIM in February.

Uncannily mirroring the situation in neighbouring Colombia, Panama's President Ernesto Perez Balladares admitted yesterday that his 1994 election campaign had received funding from Colombia's Cali cocaine cartel.

Anyone who wears high heels in summer is brave, or mad. Thank goodness then that this summer fashion lets you off the hook, because strappy, flatty, thongy things are in. You can pay a couple of hundred pounds for a designer named flip-flop, and the leather will be softer, but really the high street versions are better. Oasis, Clarks and Dorothy Perkins have excelled themselves this season with sandals starting from around pounds 12. The subject of sweaty feet has raised its toe on these pages of late: so make sure the insoles of your sandals is leather, otherwise your feet will slide around like a syrup on a bald man's head when the weather turns hot. Also worth remembering, although not featured here, are more casual sandals such as Birkenstocks (0800 132194) and Panama Jacks (01582 765774), they are comfortable beyond belief. It's also worth spending a few minutes pampering your feet - hard skin and claw-like toe nails defeat the object of a pretty sandal.