Victoria Beckham, who, less than 24 hours after reuniting with her former bandmates, was back in Los Angeles.

They hadn't been in the same room together for quite some time so you'd have thought the Spice Girls would have had lots to catch-up on.

Or maybe not for Victoria Beckham, who, less than 24 hours after reuniting with her former bandmates, was back in Los Angeles.

The fashion designer was snapped jetting into the city last night, just a few hours after she and the Spice Girls joined forces once more to announce details of a West End musical based on their songs.

That was quick! Victoria Beckham flew into Los Angeles last night less than 24 hours after reuniting with the Spice Girls in London

 

Company: Victoria was joined by hairdresser and friend Ken Paves as she made her way through the terminal

 

And despite her crazy 24 hours and a long-haul flight across the Atlantic, Victoria, 38, still looked her immaculate self.

Dressed in tight leather trousers, towering heels and her trademark huge sunglasses, Victoria looked very chic as she made her way through the terminal at LAX.

Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she teamed her outfit with a huge belt and a clutch bag and she was accompanied by her good friend and hairdresser Ken Paves.

You must be tired! It was a busy 24 hours for Victoria who had flown in to London especially for the reunion and despite the long haul flight still managed to look effortlessly chic

Victoria had flown out of London where she had met up with her former girl group friends - Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown and Geri Halliwell - to launch the musical.

And they went back to where it all began - the St Pancras Hotel in London, where they filmed their Wannabe video in 1996.

The musical, entitled Viva Forever!, will tell the story of 'a beautiful, talented girl and her best friends who get swept up in the obsession of today's TV celebrity culture'.

The sunglasses are there for a reason! Victoria hid her face from the flashbulb frenzy as she got into her waiting car

The musical 'charts her journey into the world of overnight fame and its impact on her relationships with her mother and the friends she thought she'd have forever'.

Based on the Spice Girl songs, it was written by comedienne Jennifer Saunders and produced by Judy Craymer, the theatrical impresario behind the success of Mamma Mia!

Saunders, who cameoed in their film Spice World, said: 'The second I knew this project was up for grabs I rang my agent and said I had to be involved.'

Spice Girls forever: (L-R) Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham launched the musical at the the St Pancras Hotel in London, where they filmed their Wannabe video in 1996.

The group's reunion today comes four years after their sell-out Return Of The Spice Girls world tour, which ended prematurely after they cancelled the gigs in South America, South Africa and Asia.

During their four years in the charts, they enjoyed nine No.1 singles and two No.1 albums in the UK, including one No.1 single and album in the U.S.

Keith Barry promises €50,000 for Psychic Wayne if he proves he's a psychic

Psychic Wayne's week is getting any better after he was challenged to a €50,000 showdown by Irish illusionist Keith Barry.

Keith seems to be a little p*ssed off at Wayne Isaac claiming he's a psychic on TV3 every night this week. The illusionist tweeted: "Wow. Seems there's been a backlash against psychics since I've been away. #PhsychicWayne is getting a hard time!! And rightly so - he's terrible."

Wayne's new show on the station has caused much hilarity already as Irish punters queue up to rip the piss out of him. Like on Monday when this guy fed Wayne the Fresh Prince of Bel Air back story.

Some Irish smartarse also set up a fake Twitter account for the medium and started taunting Keith Barry. He didn't take to kindly to the jibes and has now challenged Psychic Wayne to either put up or shut up. Barry says he'll give him €50,000 if he can prove his 'powers' are real.

Wayne has now reported the rogue account to Twitter, but says he is up for the challenge... depending on what it is. He said: "I have never heard of him. The thing is, what is the challenge? It's a bit open and random. it depends what he's got in mind." But surely Wayne should already know that.

Looks like the scene is set for even more embarrassing entertainment from Psychic Wayne next week. Can't wait!

F1 driver catches golf ball in speeding Mercedes

Video: F1 driver catches golf ball in speeding Mercedes

Former F1 driver David Coulthard may be best known for his skills behind the wheel, but it turns out he pretty handy at golf too after catching a falling golf ball in his Mercedes.

The boys of Top Gear paired up Coulthard with golfer Jake Shepherd to do almost the impossible - land a golf ball in a speeding car.

The video above shows the unbelievable effort that went in and the successful shot. Needless to say, though, there were countless other attempts made.

The two sportsmen have managed to set a new record for the world’s fastest hole-in-one. Guinness World Records verified the feat as the longest golf shot caught in a moving vehicle.

Coulthard was driving a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster while Shepherd teed off at the Top Gear track. Coulthard hard to speed275 metres down the track to catch the ball which was clocked at 178mph.

David was still travelling at 120mph when the caught the ball, an amazing feat in itself considering he's looking up into the air and not at the track.

PM is now carefully back-pedalling after an ongoing investigation by The Times revealed that thousands of people, including musicians, footballers, dentists, doctors and bankers, are engaged in similar behaviour.

PA Photos

Do you want to pay less tax? It's totally legal. For the vast majority of people (Warren Buffett excluded), the honest answer is likely to be "yes".  That is the question a financial adviser apparently asked comedian Jimmy Carr, who this week was crucified in the press and forced to apologise over Twitter for investing money in an offshore "tax-shelter" scheme. David Cameron promptly described Carr's actions as "morally wrong" - but the PM is now carefully back-pedalling after an ongoing investigation by The Times revealed that thousands of people, including musicians, footballers, dentists, doctors and bankers, are engaged in similar behaviour. According to the outspoken Cameron, Britain is full of very bad people" - even if this does embarrassingly include a number of high-profile Conservatives and their families.

The Prime Minister will rue his hasty reaction. The coalition is now stuck in a rut - does the Treasury condemn and crack down on all offenders, to stick with George Osborne's staunch anti-avoidance stance? Or does it accept that the system is flawed and needs drastic overhaul? Cameron faces an important question: how can the government convincingly make the strongest case for taxation (better, fairer public services) while simultaneously cutting those services and dealing the ensuing strikes in those systems? Don't answer too quickly, Prime Minister - that doesn't tend to go down too well.

Tax-dodging celebs: five of the best/worst

 

 

It’s the story that’s got the entire nation’s knickers in a twist: celebrities – those bastards again – paying so little tax as to be barely paying any tax at all. Using all manner of tricksy accounting loopholes, Jimmy Carr and three-fourths of Take That have managed to keep hold of nearly all their lovely loot, while the rest of us have our paycheques held down and roughly bummed by HMRC on a monthly basis. 

(We don’t fully understand how Carr and Take That managed it, but we think it goes something like this: you exchange all your cash for Colombian pesos, then use invisible ink to write yourself an enormous cheque every 20 minutes, via a Dutch bank account registered to Santa Claus’s House, The North Pole. Pretty simple when you know how!)   

Celebs avoiding their fair share of taxes (whether by legal or illegal means) is nothing new, however. Here are five of the biggest tax-dodging scamps in all of show-business... 

BONO 

When U2 took to the stage to headline Glastonbury Festival last year, it wasn’t only whoops, cheers and woo-yeahs that greeted them – a section of the crowd were there to protest U2’s ‘interesting’ accountancy methods, which involve them basing their operations in the Netherlands, where royalties on music incur virtually no tax. Highlight of the protest: a 20ft inflatable banner that read “U pay tax 2?” ’Ave that, Boner!

WESLEY SNIPES

Wondering why you haven’t seen Wesley Snipes in many movies lately? (You probably haven’t been wondering that at all, but for the sake of keeping things moving, let’s just pretend that you have.) Well, it’s because the gravel-voicedBlade star is currently serving a three-stretch in a Pennsylvania prison for filing tax returns that had a strong whiff of bullshit about them – he’ll be out on July 19, 2013. 

NAS

If anyone’s still keeping score in the long-running Nas vs. Jay-Z beef, we’d have to say that Jay-Z is on top right now: Jay-Z is headlining the Main Stage at Hackney Weekend 2012 tomorrow, while Nas is on the 1Xtra Stage; Jay-Z is married to Beyonce, while Nas suffered a nasty divorce from Kelis in 2009; and Jay-Z reportedly banked $37million last year, while Nas is currently being pursued by the IRS for $6million in unpaid back-taxes. 99 problems…  

Nas: Made You Look (at your tax return)

MIQUITA OLIVER 

Telly presenter/Lily Allen’s bezzie mate Miquita was forced to file for bankruptcy last November, after HMRC whacked her with a bill for £174,000 in unpaid taxes. £174,000?! We had no idea that being perma-sarcastic about pop videos was so lucrative – we’re clearly in the wrong business… 

ONE DIRECTION 

The unstoppable, ten-legged, bum-fluffed pop phenomenon have ‘done a U2’ and set up their own overseas company – with themselves as directors – in order to save themselves a shit-ton of tax: as much as £220,000 for every £1million they earn, according to The Sun. That’s means a whole lot more loot to spend on deep V-neck T-shirts and sideways haircuts.  

Assange seeks political asylum

On Tuesday night WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange applied for political asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after failing in his bid to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex crime allegations. The 40-year-old Australian is currently inside the building in Knightsbridge, having gone there on Tuesday afternoon to request asylum under the United Nations Human Rights Declaration. The country's foreign minister Ricardo Patino told a press conference in the South American country that it was considering his request. In a short statement last night, Mr Assange said: "I can confirm that today I arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy and sought diplomatic sanctuary and political asylum. This application has been passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the capital Quito. I am grateful to the Ecuadorian ambassador and the government of Ecuador for considering my application." The computer expert, who was on £200,000 bail after failing in several attempts to halt extradition, attracted several high-profile supporters including Ken Loach and socialite and charity fundraiser Jemima Khan, who each offered £20,000 as surety. Other supporters included Bianca Jagger and veteran left-winger Tony Benn. The Swedish authorities want him to answer accusations of raping a woman and sexually molesting and coercing another in Stockholm in August 2010 while on a visit to give a lecture. Assange, whose WikiLeaks website has published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables that embarrassed several governments and international businesses, says the sex was consensual and the allegations against him are politically motivated. The Supreme Court last month ruled in favour of a High Court ruling that his extradition was legal. Last week the Supreme Court refused an attempt by him to reopen his appeal against extradition, saying it was "without merit". He had until June 28 to ask European judges in Strasbourg to consider his case and postpone extradition on the basis that he has not had a fair hearing from the UK courts. A statement issued on behalf of the Ecuadorian Embassy said Mr Assange would remain at the embassy while his request was considered.

Westlife singer Shane Filan is declared bankrupt

Westlife singer Shane Filan has been declared bankrupt in the UK. The Irish band have sold millions of records but Mr Filan suffered enormous losses in his country's property crash. In a statement, the 32-year-old said he had "worked long and hard" to tackle his debts and was devastated that his problems have come to this conclusion. The pop star filed for bankruptcy in the UK which has a less onerous bankruptcy regime than the Republic of Ireland. In the UK the period of bankruptcy typically lasts for a year but in the Republic of Ireland it is at least three years and more commonly 12 years. Mr Filan owns a property company, Shafin Developments Limited, with his brother Finbarr. It was established in 2004 and had been involved in developments in Counties Leitrim and Sligo in the west of Ireland. Last month, the company was placed in receivership. Escape Earlier this week, the singer was declared bankrupt at Kingston-upon-Thames County Court and his name has been placed on the UK insolvency register. The father-of-three is the latest in a steady stream of highly indebted Irish property developers who have filed for bankruptcy in the UK. Ireland has agreed to liberalise its bankruptcy regime as one of the conditions of its EU/ IMF bailout. However the country's banks are concerned that the reforms could lead to a flood of mortgage defaults as ordinary homeowners use bankruptcy to escape from negative equity. Westlife is one of the most successful boy bands of the last decade, selling more than 44m records. Last October, they announced they were splitting up. The band is currently in the middle of a farewell tour and continues to fill major concert venues.

A Facebook crime every 40 minutes

A crime linked to Facebook  is reported to police every  40 minutes. Last year, officers logged 12,300 alleged offences involving the vastly popular social networking site. Facebook was referenced in investigations of murder, rape, child sex offences, assault, kidnap, death threats, witness intimidation and fraud.