THE BLACK CROWES SHEPHERD'S BUSH EMPIRE LONDON

The Rolling Stones Murrayfield Edinburgh

Do Scotland deserve to be 500-1 outsiders for the World Cup?

WHEN POLITICIANS go on Desert Island Discs, they try to select a choice of records that reveals a more human side. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam chooses a top eight that hints at a sharper humour than some colleagues. (Tony Blair chose Bruce Springsteen's Fourth of July and Neil Kinnock opted for John Lennon's Imagine.)

Main claim

t HOSPITAL CRISIS. The NHS is either coping perfectly well with the winter rush or falling apart at the seams, your point of view largely depending on whether you're Frank Dobson or everybody else. In what amounts to a kind of millennium bug dry-run, a flu outbreak combined with a record shortage of nurses has led to some hospitals asking relatives to nurse their own kin. If the shortage gets any worse the NHS may have to rethink its official resistance to the hiring of crazy people who think they are nurses.

Rachel Hunter's decision to leave her husband Rod Stewart in order to `find herself' is another poignant reminder of the plight of the ageing rock star.

A journeyman footballer is about to reach an all-time league appearance milestone. FIRST NIGHT; Graeme armstrong

ROD STEWART

1

IT'S SUMMER 1971, and I am with my father at Brands Hatch, the noisy shrine to Formula One motor racing. In the parking lot, two lanes of cars are heading for the exit when their procession is halted by a couple of tough-looking bouncers. They stand before the lead Toyota, extending their hands like traffic policemen, then wave a spectacular yellow Lamborghini Miura through the gates. The queue re-starts. We drive out. And exactly 100 yards up the road, we encounter the canary-hued Italian passion-wagon again, parked on the grass verge. Standing beside it, drinking champagne, oblivious to our staring eyes, is a skinny oik with a large nose, a shiny yellow satin suit and a blonde-goddess girlfriend. Rod Stewart and Dee Harrington have decided that, rather than sit in a traffic jam, they'll while away half an hour with vintage Krug and a little light posing.

SIMPLY RED

MIKE OLDFIELD TUBULAR BELLS 3 HORSE GUARDS PARADE LONDON

WIZZ JONES AND JOHN RENBOURN FAMOUS GROUSE HOUSE, EDINBURGH