Easily one of the best scenes from one of the best movies of all time.

Eddie Izzard showing everyone they're actually not that bad at understanding French.

Brilliant Bond...

Last night I had one of the most terrifying experiences I can recently recall. I've been working hard this week, some late nights but more importantly churning through things at a furious pace and with unrelenting energy. As I settled into bed last night I switched on BBC iPlayer to watch a show I'd missed before going to sleep. As I did I noticed some small sparkling lights in the middle of the screen - 'how annoying' I thought, '...the screen has cracked'. As I checked the screen I realised it wasn't the Macbook that was faulty, but my own eyes; I'd arrogantly assumed in my invincible youth that I couldn't be at fault.

Having spent twenty minutes carrying out a purely customary investigation (splashing water into my eyes, covering each eye and refocusing, blinking furiously, etc.) I diagnosed that it wasn't anything in my eye. This gradually became more worrying as my vision got worse, I couldn't focus and the small sparkling lights spread into a giant blind spot. I couldn't see anything other than blurred images. I tried to focus and couldn't. All I could see was shapes and light. I was blind.

It wasn't a pitch black blindness, but a total inability to see anything in detail - only a change in light tone which gave me some indication of where my laptop was but wasn't much help in a dark room at 11pm. I began to panic.

What I was most fearful about was waking up in the morning and my sight having gone completely - I recalled stories of people waking one day unable to see, and that was it for the rest of their lives. I kept opening my eyes in the hope it had cleared but it hadn't - if anything it had worsened - I lay there cursing. I felt so unbelievably powerless to do anything, and so just closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

I woke this morning with a start, immediately testing my eyes and attempting to read an old newspaper on my floor. My mind was obviously accelerating much faster than my body, as it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust and emerge from their slumber, but as they did and as the words began to form and make sense a wave of relief crashed over me. Over today I felt pathetic for such a panic, but I did realise how important little things are in making your life what it is.

I'm not going to turn this into a soppy 'I thank god for everything I have' post, but I do feel a certain need to refocus (no pun intended) on looking after myself. I've started this year with a bang, having committed to run the Great North Run for Alzheimer's Society and intend to be in the best health I can be in a year's time. I've pledged to myself not to waste my youth and I think last night was a reminder how easily things can be taken away from you. I have since been told it was most likely a migraine without the headache, something I'd never experienced before. This does give me some limited comfort, as I'm not sure I could handle my life without my sight.

"The British screwed us..."

-Hank Paulson as Barclays pulled out of Lehman rescue

Greg Wallace is back!

Ray Gosling, a very brave man. The issue of assisted suicide or euthanasia has been given a high profile because of recent cases straddling the legal line - some resulting in prison, other resulting in freedom. All, essentially, ending someone's life because it's deemed not worth living. It's no easy question to answer, or to put in law, as nearly all cases need to be heard on an individual basis. I think the important question should be, what would you do?