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Normally I’d say that alcohol and vehicles don’t mix – but in this case I think we’ve found a nice compromise. With a sober driver and a gaggle of tipsy riders in back, this 7-seater electric beer bike might be one of the weirdest ways to get your brew on. And since I found it on my favorite collection of ridiculous EVs on the internet, it’s a great addition as this week’s Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week.

What’s not to like here?!

Built on what appears to be a steel buggy frame, there’s a driver’s bench up front and space for drunk tourists in the rear.

Four of the six victims passengers get a set of bicycle pedals so that they can pretend they’re actually doing something productive while day drinking, and the last two can enjoy the comfort of a hard plastic bench seat to pass out on. At least the driver’s bench has some foam in it, but that rear bench looks like it’s made out of airplane tray tables.

I’ve got a sneaky suspicion those pedals do absolutely nothing, though it’d be pretty cool if they were actually connected to the drivetrain.

The real power comes from a 3,500W motor on the rear axle. It’s not huge, but this isn’t a particularly fast vehicle either. It only gets up to 25 km/h (15 mph), but the world goes by pretty quickly when you’re day drunk with a reaction time that can be measured in seconds.

The electric beer bike runs on a 48V system and has a massive 400Ah battery, meaning you’ve got a freaking 20 kWh battery! I think this beer bike might have more range than a Nissan Leaf!

It’s definitely got more beer capacity than a Nissan Leaf, that’s for sure. There are not one but two wooden casks, though I think that one in front might be fake. Something about having a steering wheel passing through it screams “not watertight” to me.

Realistically speaking, that rear keg is probably fake too. I’m not sure where the beer actually comes from, but there are a pair of taps on the world’s smallest (and most mobile) wet bar, so it must come from somewhere. Like manna in the desert, this electric beer bike is ready to roll up and rock your socks off right when the clock hits 5 PM. Or noon. Whatever. You’re on vacation.

I know this thing is probably meant for tourist towns (remember what those were like?) and other events, but I really want to just own one of these as a personal vehicle. Imagine pulling up to work in this. Or using it for an Uber. I really want to see that text message: “Hi Jim, your driver will be arriving shortly. Remember to check the license plate (123456) and the car details (blue Chinese Beer Bike). Have your mask on and enjoy your ride.”

How can that not be a five star ride every time?!

With lights, fenders and even an awning (wouldn’t want you to get sunburned while you’re getting drunk and dehydrated), there’s some nice thought put into this electric beer bike. Check out the short video clip above to see it in action!

I’m not saying this electric beer bike is worth the $6,500 that the vendor is charging for it. But I’ve also been known to buy crazy electric vehicles on Alibaba before, and this is tugging at my heart strings in a dangerous kind of way.

I might just need to become my local beer bike entrepreneur around town. With the right markup, how long can it take to recoup that startup cost?! I mean, I’d be kind of crazy NOT to but it, right? Right. Guys?

I just hope there’s a plan for how to get it home if the battery ever runs out or (more likely) the thing just breaks down. Somehow I don’t see six drunk college students being much help when its time to push 1,300 kg (2,900 pounds) of bike-car.

But at least we’ll have something to drink while we wait for the tow.


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Davina McCall says she has short-term memory problems after brain tumour surgery

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Davina McCall says she has short-term memory problems after brain tumour surgery

Davina McCall has said her short-term memory is “a bit remiss” as she recovers from brain tumour surgery.

Speaking from her bed, the visibly emotional TV presenter posted a short video updating her Instagram followers on her condition, saying it had been a “mad” time.

She expressed an “enormous heartfelt thank you” to people who had messaged her after she revealed this month she had a benign brain tumour, a colloid cyst, which she described as “very rare”.

Looking bright, but with a visibly bruised left eye, McCall said: “My short-term memory is a bit remiss.

“But that is something I can work on, so I’m really happy about that. I’m writing everything down, to keep myself feeling safe.”

She added: “It’s been mad, and it’s just really nice to be back home, I’m on the other side.”

In a message posted with the video, she reiterated her thanks for all the support she has received, adding: “Had a great night’s sleep in my own bed. Have a couple of sleeps during the day which keeps my brain clear… Slowly, slowly…”

When she first shared her diagnosis, she said chances of having it were “three in a million” and that she had discovered it several months previously after a company offered her a health scan in return for giving a menopause talk.

The 57-year-old star said support from her fans had “meant the world”.

She said she was being “brilliantly looked after” by her partner, hairdresser Michael Douglas, and her stepmother, Gabby, who she calls mum.

Becoming tearful, the presenter said: “I’d quickly like to say big up the stepmums. I don’t really say thank you to Gabby enough. She’s been an amazing rock my whole life.”

McCall was estranged from her birth mother, Florence McCall, who died in 2008.

Kate coming out of the Big Brother house in 2002
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McCall with 2002 Big Brother winner Kate Lawler. Pic: Rex Features

With a catch in her voice, McCall went on: “I’ve got a massive dose of vitamin G – I’m just really grateful. I’ve always been really lucky in my life, but I feel unbelievably grateful right now. So, thanks for everything, all of you.

“I’m on the mend, I’m resting and sleeping loads and I feel really good. I’m just very lucky.”

Stars including presenter Alison Hammond, singer Craig David and radio host Zoe Ball quickly shared their delight at the positive update.

McCall rose to fame presenting on MTV in the mid-1990s, and later on Channel 4’s Streetmate, before becoming a household name as the host of Big Brother from 2000 to 2010.

Davina McCall  with her partner Michael Douglas and her daughter Holly Robertson after being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire
Pic: PA
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McCall with her MBE, alongside her partner Michael Douglas and her daughter Holly Robertson. Pic: PA

She’s gone on to present programmes across the networks, the most recent being ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad.

Last year, McCall was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.

Married twice, McCall has three children, two daughters and a son, with her second husband, presenter Matthew Robertson.

She has lived with Douglas since 2022, and they present a weekly lifestyle podcast together, Making The Cut.

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Barbara Taylor Bradford, the ‘grand dame of blockbusters’, dies aged 91

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Barbara Taylor Bradford, the 'grand dame of blockbusters', dies aged 91

Barbara Taylor Bradford, the bestselling novelist who wrote A Woman Of Substance, has died at the age of 91.

The Leeds-born author, who sold more than 90 million books, died peacefully at her home on Sunday after a short illness and was “surrounded by loved ones to the very end”, a spokeswoman said.

Taylor Bradford, who was often labelled “the grand dame of blockbusters”, hit the big time when A Woman Of Substance was published in 1979, making her an overnight success.

The story sold millions of copies and traced the journey of Emma Harte from life as a servant in rural Yorkshire to heading a business empire.

The rags to riches story was followed by many other successful books with the author’s works being published in more than 40 languages across 90 countries.

Barbara Taylor Bradford,.
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA
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Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA

Barbara Taylor Bradford on her 21st birthday.
Pic: Bradford Enterprises/PA
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The author on her 21st birthday. Pic: Bradford Enterprises/PA

Charlie Redmayne, chief executive of publisher HarperCollins, said the author was a “natural storyteller”, adding: “Barbara Taylor Bradford was a truly exceptional writer whose first book, the international bestseller A Woman Of Substance, changed the lives of so many who read it – and still does to this day.”

Taylor Bradford, who was made an OBE in 2007 for services to literature, wrote a total of 40 novels during her career – her most recent was The Wonder Of It All, published last year.

Barbara Taylor Bradford.
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA
Image:
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA

File photo dated 01/06/93 of Barbara Taylor Bradford with her husband Robert at Claridges Hotel, London, during a visit to launch her new blockbuster book "Angels". Bestselling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, who wrote A Woman of Substance, has died at the age of 91, it has been announced. Issue date: Monday November 25, 2024.
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Taylor Bradford with her husband Robert in 1993. Pic: PA

Born in May 1933 as the only child of Winston and Freda Taylor, she worked as a typist for the Yorkshire Evening Post before becoming a reporter and then the paper’s first woman’s editor.

At the age of 20, she moved to London and worked in Fleet Street for Woman’s Own and the London Evening News.

She met her husband, American film producer Robert Bradford, in 1961 and they married in London on Christmas Eve in 1963 before moving to New York the following year.

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The couple were married for 55 years until he died from a stroke in 2019.

Following a private funeral in New York, the author will be buried alongside her late husband at the city’s Westchester Hills Cemetery.

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Adele bids tearful farewell to Las Vegas residency as star admits she doesn’t know when she’ll perform next

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Adele bids tearful farewell to Las Vegas residency as star admits she doesn't know when she'll perform next

Adele has bid a tearful farewell to her Las Vegas residency show, as the Someone Like You star admitted she doesn’t know when she’ll perform again next.

The British singer-songwriter, 36, launched Weekends with Adele at Caesars Palace in November 2022 and performed her 100th show there on Saturday.

Her mammoth run of sell-out shows at the venue, which seats around 4,000 people, has been a success but has taken its toll.

In July, Adele said she would be taking a “big break” from music after her current run of shows.

Videos posted online from her concert on Saturday show the singer getting tearful as she bid Vegas goodbye.

“It’s been wonderful and I will miss it terribly and I will miss you terribly,” she said.

She added: “I don’t know when I next want to perform again.”

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Adele has performed every Friday and Saturday across the residency, with plenty of memorable moments.

One included when she burst into tears after spotting Celine Dion at a performance.

Adele is known to idolise the Canadian singer.

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Speaking at the beginning of September, during a show in Germany, Adele told fans she wouldn’t see them “for an incredibly long time”.

“I just need a rest and I have spent the last seven years building a new life for myself, and I want to live it now,” she added.

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