This weekend, I read that NASA has announced a new research project. They want to chain a space station to the earth with a rope made from "carbon-nanotubes". This would be 60,000 miles long yet strong enough to act as an elevator cable. It would mean cheap, cheerful passenger lifts going straight up into space.

With luck, it will happen in our lifetime. Let's hope they do discounts for pensioners.

Uri Geller writes: The atmosphere around David Blaine's box has been pretty scary, especially after dark. I've been down to the river bank by Tower Bridge almost daily, to give my friend support, and there are plenty of well-wishers, but a small minority of yobs and racists are out to make trouble. Two louts were flicking Nazi salutes at David one night. Like me he's Jewish. Security chased the thugs off, but I was sickened that this could happen in London, of all places.

David's still smiling. He's taken the abuse and has emerged unscathed. These incidents actually make him stronger. But I didn't expect it to be like this, I confess. I'm shaken.

I still though, feel positive that he can see it through.

Horse Voices!
by Sarah Dening, Dream Doctor
About ten years ago, I experienced a very vivid dream about a horse race. As the winner passed the post, I heard someone mention its name, which was 'What'. Next morning, as I was glancing through the newspaper race cards, I was amazed to find that a horse called 'What' was entered in one of the races. I described the dream to a friend and we each decided to have a small wager. We were delighted when the horse won, at excellent odds.The dream itself is amazing, but what makes it even more mysterious is that I never heard of this horse again. In view of its success, I could not understand why it was not entered in another race. I have often told this dream to friends but I nearly always get a look of disbelief.
Harry, Newport

Dear Harry,
Once, people believed that dreams like yours were messages from the gods or the realm of the spirits and took them very seriously indeed. In our own, highly materialistic, culture, they are far more likely to be met with cynicism, as you now know. This makes it all the more satisfying that you and your friend were rewarded for your willingness to be open-minded. To have ignored the dream would have been silly. To put your shirt on it would have been dangerous. In making a small bet, you got the intuitive balance just right. Thank you for this fine addition to our library of predictive dreams.

Dear Paula,
In our full birth charts, we ALL have ALL twelve signs of the zodiac. So Mars, will be having an 'energising influence' on each of us in different ways. That's why I am now so keen to look at the combined impact of all that extra energy. I suspect it is about to bring the future forward faster than we ever thought possible..

Mysteries by John Michell

UFOs: Readers' own stories
"About eight years ago I was driving home with my then boyfriend. Above a dark country road we saw something large in the sky. We stopped and stood underneath it, transfixed. The shape was how you would imagine a typical UFO, round on top with a flat underside and windows round the edge. It stayed there above our heads as we stared up in total silence. It felt like an eternity. There was no engine noise, no sound whatsoever. All of a sudden it shot away and was gone. We drove home in silence and did not speak about it for quite a long time afterwards."
Lucy, Nottinghamshire.

People often do not talk about their experiences. Their friends and families do not want to hear. That is why I am so pleased to receive your stories, many written down for the first time. I have spent hours reading these and will share more of them with you in future weeks. I shall keep all these reports as a valuable archive resource for future researchers into this phenomenon. Next week, let's look at what's really going on - and what might it mean.

Time Stands Still
A few points stand out in many descriptions. The object seen is generally large and silvery-grey, with flashing, coloured lights, sometimes humming. It hovers, moves around at incredible speeds, then vanishes. One like this was seen by Stewart in Lancaster. "The thing that amazed me," he wrote, "was that there was no sound." Many witnesses say the same. "There was total silence - no birds, no wind, no traffic." and "It seemed as if time stood still"..

Dear Jonathan,
Last Friday night I witnessed a "blood red moon". It was incredible, breathtaking. Also eerie. Isn't a red moon symbolic or ominous?
Annette

Hey Jonathan,
The coast here in California has been experiencing an intense red tide for a couple of weeks now. It has been quite spooky...especially at night. I am convinced I saw it GLOWING.
Norman

Dear Annette and Norman,
There is a dull scientific explanation, but with Mars, the red planet, brighter and closer than ever in history, I think these ARE omens. Tides of powerful passion are now rising, all over the earth. And winds of great tension are blowing too. We all need to be careful about how we sometimes blind our minds to reason.

Dear Jonathan,
Last week, you wrote about William Lilly, the 17th century astrologer. Your story is grossly inaccurate. He could NOT have supported Oliver Cromwell after the Great Fire, since this happened in 1666, after Cromwell had been overthrown.
Kevin

Dear Kevin,
Whoops! Sorry, I got the order of events wrong. Happily, the dedication of his memorial went more smoothly on Monday.

House of the Rising Son
By Geoffrey Cornelius
On Monday, in London, a plaque was unveiled. It marks the house where William Lilly, Master Astrologer lived from 1620 onwards. Lilly was a major figure of his time but today, he is mainly remembered for publishing a dramatic woodcut showing the Gemini twins above a city in flames. Some years later came a great plague (1665) followed by the Fire of London (1666). London is well known as a Gemini city, so Lilly's woodcut was rather pointed. He was called before the Parliamentary Commission set up to examine the causes of the fire and could have been in serious trouble of a witchcraft charge. He wisely denied any special knowledge of the fire, but there is evidence from his papers that he had seen the strong likelihood of a fire for the city in 1665 or 1666.

DAVID BLAINE has certainly picked a good time to take his latest challenge. He was born on April 4, 1973. That makes him an Aries, ruled by Mars so he definitely has the stamina to see this through. Many born under Aries feel as if they are going through something of an endurance test at the moment. David's trial is just a little more obvious than most. And it is not, by the way, an illusion.
Click here for more information on David's endurance test.

URI GELLER knows just how it feels to have a real feat of mind over matter mistaken for a cheap magic trick. David and Uri are friends... but David IS an illusionist, Uri ISN'T! Except of course, that David is not using any trickery now. On Monday, here on this page, Uri will reach inside David's mind to see exactly how he is coping. Uri is a Sagittarian, born 20 December 1946. He's excitable, enthusiastic and sometimes, some say, he goes a bit too far.
Click here for Uri Geller's psychic challenge and mind power articles

CHRISTINA AGUILERA is a Sagittarian too. She is often accused of much the same thing. Born December 18, 1980, she has become famous not so much for what she wears as for what she doesn't. Yet it's clear, from her lyrics and interviews, that she's not the kind of girl you can see right through. Her full birth chart reveals surprising depth plus an adaptable, philosophical nature. She's happy though, to show off her assets... and the world is happy to let her.

STEPHEN GOUGH has not made the world so happy by copying Christina's example. This ex Royal Marine set out, some while ago, to stroll starkers from Land's End to John O'Groats in the U.K. Nudity, he says, is a basic human right. The prudish Scots though, have thrown him into Inverness Prison on charges of "Breach of the Peace". Because he won't get dressed, he is effectively in solitary confinement. They won't even let him have any visitors. But Stephen, a Taurean born May 13, 1959, is made of stern stuff. We will yet see him win his battle if we don't avert our eyes.