Seven Fuels of Grave

Three men accused of desecrating Jewish graves have appeared in court charged with wilful damage. A 19 and 20-year-old were granted interim name and image suppression at the Auckland District Court today but the other defendant, 23-year-old Nathan Symington, was not. The two men granted suppression had little to say outside court today, but Symington was keen to emphasise his innocence. "I'm fighting this to the bitter end," he said. "If I did it, I'd plead guilty straight away." So would I if I had done anything that despicable. But Symington’s only connection to the crime was through a friend who had taken a photo of the graffiti and sent it to him, which he then shared. And speaking of sharing, I have more to share tonight: forget the seven Tour de France victories. Forget the yellow jersey celebrations on the Champs Elysees. Forget the name that dominated the sport of cycling for so many years. As far as cycling's governing body is concerned, Lance Armstrong never existed. Once considered the greatest rider in Tour history, the American was cast out on Monday by his own sport, formally stripped of his seven titles, and banned for life for his involvement in a massive doping programme that tainted all of cycling and his own reputation. But I don’t see him as a doper. He is a respected cyclist who had beaten cancer as well as seven consecutive packs of riders. It’s unfortunate that this has happened to such an inspirational man. In my books, all seven of his Tour titles stand. But we have more on the books tonight because Kim Cattrall hasn't ruled out starring in Fifty Shades of Grey. The Sex and The City actress confirmed she is being considered for the role of mysterious older woman Elena Lincoln in the big screen adaptation of the racy novel. Cattrall revealed she is up against Uma Thurman for the sexy part. Cattrall, who has previously denied any involvement in the film, could have an advantage over Uma in the casting race for Fifty Shades of Grey. It has recently been revealed that Thurman has signed to another upcoming movie project (Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac) while Cattrall can fit Fifty Shades into her schedule. It’s anybody’s race, but whoever does play Elena is likely to share some steamy scenes with the lead male character Christian Grey. Stars linked to that role include Ryan Gosling, Ian Somerhalder, Matt Bomer, and Chris Pine. But whoever they pick for that role won’t matter because if they pick Mila Kunis for the role of Anastasia Steele, then I’ll just spend the entire movie jacking off to her scenes. Until then, here’s a scene worth getting in on: Stockton-on-Tees, a small city in northeastern England, has only one claim to fame. The first railway tracks were made and laid in the city in 1822, and the first train ran on those tracks in 1825. But it might one day have another claim, also related to transport: a local start-up company called Air Fuel Synthesis has just produced the first petrol from air and water. It's expensive now but their technique for making petrol from air and water can only get cheaper. They only made five litres in two months – it isn’t much but Peter Harrison, the company's chief executive, hopes within two years they'll build a larger plant producing a tonne a day. He envisages refinery-scale operations in fifteen years. "We've taken carbon dioxide from air and hydrogen from water and turned these elements into petrol," Harrison told a conference at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London. So what this could mean is that fuel may get cheaper and the world might never run out of petrol. But it also poses an ethical dilemma – would it really be right to misappropriate air meant for breathing and water meant for drinking? Turns out we might not have a choice. But America will have a choice in two weeks between a douche and a turd.