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Getting your notebook and pen out in front of BBC deputy head

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Getting your notebook and pen out in front of BBC deputy head of newsgathering and new director of its "virtual" college of journalism, Vin Ray, is a bit like trying to paint a picture with an Old Master peering over your shoulder. Then, an editorial that he wished to publish in favour of David Cameron as leader of the Tory party was vetoed on the verge of publication by Murdoch MacLennan, chief executive of the Telegraph Group, probably on instructions from the chairman, Aidan Barclay Mr Newland has had enough.. Two weeks ago, he learnt that John Bryant had been appointed editor-in-chief of the Telegraph Group over his head. He went off to his lawyers to see whether he had a case for constructive dismissal.

It is difficult to think of another editor who has been as abused, ignored and taken for granted by any newspaper management as Mr Newland has over recent months. In resigning as editor of The Daily Telegraph, Martin Newland has done the honourable, and sensible, thing. William Hill, the betting agency, said it expected to take £5m this weekend, and that, coupled with bets placed on ITV's X Factor and BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing, which are broadcast on Saturday night, was likely to amount to the highest amount of money taken by bookmakers since television betting began.Sid Owen is favourite to be crowned King of the Jungle at 3-1, but David Dickinson, the perma-tanned presenter of BBC1's Bargain Hunt, has had his odds cut from 6-1 to 4-1.. And five series on, despite plunging our society to new depths of inanity, as its detractors claim, Britain's appetite for I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! does not seem to have abated. The first episode of this year's show was expected to attract an estimated 11 million viewers as the latest line-up of former soap and pop stars - and odd former prime minister's daughter thrown in for good measure - were wheeled out to begin their onslaught in the Australian jungle last night. The prime minister's daughter in question, Carol Thatcher, 52, was joined by nine others - including Jimmy Osmond, 42, of the Osmonds fame, Jenny Frost, 27, a former member of the girl band Atomic Kitten, Antony Costa, a former member of the boy band Blue, Sheree Murphy, 30, and Sid Owen, 33, former EastEnders actors, Jilly Goolden, 48, a television presenter, Kimberley Davies, 30, a former Neighbours actor, Elaine Lordan, 39, a former actor on Emmerdale, and the antiques expert David Dickinson, 64.While some families might be proud of their offspring's decision to rough it in the camp - a considerable amount of the money raised by the television voting is donated to the charity of the contestant's choice - Carol Thatcher admitted last week that she had not yet mustered up the courage to tell her mother.An indication of what might be in store for the contestants was given early on, when each of the 10 were given the choice of entering the camp by either walking a tightrope or skydiving.Richard Cowles, the co-executive producer, said: "From the moment the celebrities step into the helicopter and set off for camp they shouldn't take anything for granted and they can expect things to be a lot tougher than anything they saw in previous years."Bets for who was likely to join previous winners of the show - who include another former Atomic Kitten, Kerry McFadden - were placed with some frenzy over the weekend. The television reality show that has spawned a much-publicised celebrity marriage and revived the ailing career of many a sinking star, is back on our screens again.

Itokawa is typical of the small, rocky objects that regularly cross the path of the Earth's solar orbit.Hyabusa's measurements have already indicated that the asteroid is probably a loose pile of rubble held together by weak gravity rather than a single, large object.Itokawa's gravity is about 100,000 times weaker than that of the Earth and any attempt to grab a sample in the normal way would almost certainly fail, which is why the Japanese space agency has come up with the idea of firing a high-speed metal pellet at the surface.Examining asteroid samples could help to unlock the secrets of how celestial bodies were formed because their surfaces are believed to have remained relatively unchanged over the eons, unlike those of larger bodies such the planets.. It is due to land in the Australian outback in June 2007.Hayabusa, which weighs 1,100lb, has suffered from a number of problems, including a faulty positioning system and damage to its solar panels caused by a solar flare.The Itokawa asteroid was chosen as the target for the mission because it belongs to the ubiquitous stony "S-type" objects that populate the inner solar system. We definitely want to try again," said Junichiro Kawaguchi, the mission's project leader.Toshihisa Horiguchi, a spokesman for the agency, said that the reason for the failure was unknown. "Hayabusa reached extremely close, but could not make the landing," he said.The probe switched to auto-control, which enabled it to store data about its movements before transmitting the information to ground control, where it was later analysed.The precise location of the probe was still unknown, but it was probably within six to 60 miles of the asteroid, Mr Horiguchi said. Officials plan to make a second attempt at landing on Friday.Scientists were in communication with the probe and analysing data to try to calculate its exact position, but it was unclear whether there had been a technical problem, Mr Horiguchi said.The failure to touch down on the asteroid comes after the loss of a tiny robotic lander from Hyabusa called Minera, which weighed less than a bag of sugar and was designed to take pictures of the asteroid's surface.However, it appears that the asteroid's gravity was too weak to draw Minerva close enough to the surface and the lander now seems to be stranded in orbit around the asteroid.Hayabusa, which was launched on 9 May 2003, is also hovering alongside the asteroid as they both travel through space at a speed of many thousands of miles per hour.The probe is designed to come close enough to the asteroid to fire a tiny metal pellet that should disturb small amounts of dust for the probe to scoop up during a fleeting touch-down which will last no more than a second.Once Hayabusa has captured a sample from the asteroid, its ion engine will be fired once more to send the probe on its long journey home.

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