Don't all thank me at once... Now the new football season has started I've decided to be brave a make a few predictions. The bookies won't like me but it's a burden I'm willing to shoulder. I reckon either Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United will win the Premiership. Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United will win the FA Cup, oh and Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United will win some/all/a few of the other trophies and associated gongs handed out every season. Controversial choices I know as the Premiership is so competitive.

Pimp My Ride If any of you are looking for a new set of wheels, look no further. It's 'blingin' man innit!

Cars and… It’s hard to believe I’ve had the M Coupe almost two years and despite my dislike of BMW customer service and the current model range, what dear god have they done to the 3 Series, the little Coupe always manages to make me smile. As a driving machine it has few peers, whereas most current machinery is about disconnecting you from the driving experience the M Coupe almost at times gives you too much. The lack of any traction control and 320bhp through the monster rear tyres makes wet and slippery roads at times….challenging. It’s taken a while but BMW Chiswick have now resolved all the issues that have at times blunted the ownership experience that frankly I don’t expect from a premier brand like BMW. Some truly awful dealerships, my bile and vitriol mainly reserved for Sytners of Sheffield, and a lack of understanding how certain M cars work have lead me to conclude that this is will the last BMW I’ll own. If you have a BMW outside the standard or extended warranty schemes take it to a specialist like Munich Motors or Munch Legends, they know more about BMW cars than BMW do. If you do have an extended warranty as I do, get BMW to do the stuff covered by the warranty and get specialists to do the rest. However it’s been a real tough decision to decide to sell the M. I’m not driving to Reading as much as I used to, once maybe twice a week a week tops, and spend most of my time in London. We’re also going to moving soon, locally if possible, and get another Vizsla. And it’s the last point that's the killer. Izzy fits nicely into the back of the Coupe but sadly she’d be a bit cramped if she had to share the space with a second and potentially larger male Vizsla. So what on earth do I replace it with? There’s nothing I can think of for same money that’s as bonkers supercar fast and I could fit two medium sized gundogs into. Thy only option is leave the world of ‘evo’ style motors and go all sensible. But maybe, as K suggests, there is a sensible option that still allows for some Porsche baiting. A few years back Volvo did a mad version of the 850 called the T5, they then went all silly and released the T5-R and in estate form went touring car racing with it. In standard form it booted out about 250 bhp could worry a 911 and Boxsters were easily shown what the rear of a T5 looked like. Subsequently Volvo revamped the 850 estate and called it the V70, kept the ‘R’ version and thoughtfully added All Wheel Drive to reduce the number of times you’d have to replace the front tyres. It was in production right up the when the current Phase 2 V70 range was introduced in 1999/2000. They are cheap now with low mileage examples changing hands for between 6k and 8k so this will leave a serious piece of change from the M Coupe for a few ‘modifications’, well one really, an ECU upgrade which will release a further 60 ponies without further adjustments to other parts of the car. I can then still get real stomp on if I have to but I can be accompanied by Mrs C, Izzy, her new chum and for the first time since the PT Cruiser some luggage. It is ironic that there are as few, maybe fewer, V70Rs in the UK as there are M Coupes so the transition may take a while. Fun this week as Top Gear Magazine have a free version of the 'Cool Wall' you can stick on your fridge. Just don’t forget to put the new BMW 3 Series, 5 Series X3 and Jeremy Clarkson in the section marked ‘Seriously Uncool’.

The day the world changed With the sixtieth anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima I like many others have been wondered if there was an alternative. The question of the whether or not it was justified has tested modern historians since the late forties and continues to do so even now, especially as its effects are still felt today. As the war drew to its conclusion the Japanese believed it was possible for both the Emperor and the Imperial structures that supported it to survive, the allies in effect would get in sight of Japan and call it quits. However the 1943 Casablanca Conference called for the unconditional surrender of German, Italy and Japan and after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war in the Pacific, notably the invasion of Okinawa, the Americans saw no reason to let the Japanese off the hook. So along side the development of the ‘bomb’ the Americans were planning the invasion of the Japanese homeland. Called Operation Downfall it was in two parts, firstly Operation Olympic an invasion of the southern Japanese island of Kyushu planned for November 1st 1945 and Operation Coronet, an invasion of central Honshu and Tokyo scheduled four months later on March 1st 1946. To give a sense of scale of the task the Americans landed 5 amphibious and 3 airborne divisions at Normandy, Olympic was to land 14 divisions and Coronet 23 divisions. The Japanese has predicted much of the American intent and put in place a plan for homeland defence called Ketsu-Go or “Decisive Action” and it’s objective was simple. Destroy as much of the America invasion fleet whilst still at sea using some 3000 Kamikaze planes along with hundreds of boats, mini subs and submarines not destroyed by the US Navy. The remaining Japanese Imperial Army was still a force to reckoned with and consisted of almost as many men as the Americans planned to use, they also had far more aircraft in reserve than thought, some 10,000 of various types and lets not forget the indigenous population with also would have fought to the death. One thing is certain then; the invasion of the Japan would have been the bloodiest campaign in history no matter who prevailed. Subsequent estimates put the possible US casualties at some 1.4 million and Japanese maybe five to ten times that, its also speculated that had the invasion been the bloodbath many predicted Truman would have used the bomb anyway. So it’s possible to conclude that the question is not as simple as ‘atom bomb’ or ‘invasion’ but that the attack on Hiroshima was a tragic and horrifying inevitability as the cost of an invasion was unthinkable, especially in the context of the 17 million people has already lost their lives in the Pacific since the attack on Pearl Harbour.

Saw two things yesterday I was sat in a Sushi bar in Soho and director Alan Parker was sat opposite. I resisted the opportunity to tell him that I think his 1988 movie Mississippi Burning is rather good. I also got to spend a little time with a PSP, sadly not mine but a colleagues. I'd seen one in the flesh but never had the chance to have a proper button bash, I now want one. It looks great, has a nice weighty feel and the screen looks bright and remarkably detailed, but most importantly it helps scratch the gadget itch like few other 'small objects of desire' I've seen for a while.

Tax and Porn Can you tax porn sites on the internet? Well a member of the US congress believes you can, the truth be told however Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat, is really trying to use tax as a tool of censorship. One day, soon I hope, politicians will learn that trying to control the internet is as futile as it is pointless. Whatever you think of pornography especially on the internet, you know that this is the thin of the wedge. Today a porn site, tomorrow your blog 'cos you've said something unsavoury.