Barack Obama is president-elect of the United States of America.
One hundred and fifty years since slavery and there's a black man coming to the White House! How amazing and what an achievement for people of colour everywhere.
Following the election live on British television I can't remember ever being as proud as I was when it was announced Obama had passed the required 270 electoral college votes milestone.
What an astonishing feat for a largely unproven young candidate and what a fantastic result for his campaign team, who succeeded in engaging a critical mass of young voters across the US.
I confess to liking this man's style back when it wasn't even clear he'd stand for election. His powers of oratory are most akin to those of Martin Luther King Jr but the distance of a few decades gives him a unique take on the problems of today.
No wonder then that old stalwarts like Jesse Jackson have found his style of rhetoric hard to take.
The process may not have suited some but if ever a dream was realised it was surely that of Martin Luther King this week.
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Thanks to the hard-working folk at Aardman Animations, my favourite TV stars, Wallace and Gromit, are returning to our screens this Christmas.In their first outing since the 2005 film, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, inventor Wallace and canine sidekick Gromit open a bakery.
The wonderfully lugubrious Peter Sallis once again provides the voice of Wallace with Corrie actor Sally Lindsay playing love interest Piella Bakewell. (I love these names!)
Apparently there's also a bit of romance for Gromit...
A Matter of Loaf and Death is described as a classic 'who-doughnut' mystery. We have been warned!
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Pensioner popstars, The Zimmers (average age 80), have released their first album. Following their 2007 hit version of The Who's My generation, 91-year-old lead singer Alf Carretta and the gang, originally assembled for a TV documentary, have launched their new Lust for life CD.
The new album includes The Prodigy's Firestarter, the Beastie Boys' Fight for your right to party and the title song, Lust for life by Iggy Pop.
Despite their years The Zimmers show no sign of wanting to slow down. Instead they're doing their best to prove we shouldn't write off old people and ageing doesn't have to mean loosing the rock and roll spirit.
Zimmers rocker Dolores Murray says, "It's quite overwhelming at times when people tell us they feel empowered after meeting us and hearing what we stand for."
Go Zimmers! Lust for life is out now.
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