I Try Cherry & Vanilla Pepsi

The trilogy is complete!

In early July, I mentioned that Pepsi had released a trio of new sugar free drinks. The three flavours all have an ice cream theme. The first one I tried was Rasperry Ripple. That was followed by the surprisingly nice Salted Caramel. Cherry & Vanilla eluded me because it was unavailable on the two attempts.

Well, third time lucky. And all that.

As I've written in the past, I enjoy cherry colas. I also have a fondness for vanilla-flavoured Coca-Cola and even enjoyed Cherry Float Coke earlier this year. I felt that there was a good chance I'd enjoy Pepsi's take on a fruit and vanilla collision.

Unfortunately, even though I found the drink to be refreshing, it didn't live up to my hopes. 

The flavours didn't seem to complement each other in Pepsi's version as they do with the Coca-Cola variety. However, with all that said, there is something that might explain it.

After trying regular Cherry Float Coca-Cola earlier this year, I tried the zero sugar version a little over a week later.  I didn't find it to be as enjoyable as the fuller flavoured one. It's worth pointing out that these Pepsis are all sugar free as well, so maybe there's something to conclude from the two experiences.

It's possible I would have enjoyed a full fat Cherry and Vanilla Pepsi.

Now that I've tried all three, it's time to rank all three flavours. From worst to first. To be fair, if you've read all three posts, I'm sure you'd have worked it out already. 

Ranking the three new Pepsi flavours for Summer 2026

3. Cherry and Vanilla

2. Raspberry Ripple

1. Salted Caramel

The Stand

How Can Gianni Infantino and FIFA Get Out Of This One?

UEFA showed a lot of balls yesterday, when the football governing body stood up against FIFA's plans to offer up the World Cup to private investors. 

Such a proposal could bring around $20 Billion more to FIFA. 

The idea appears to have caught all of the football bodies off by guard. Many are evidently against the proposal but some might be tempted by the monetary reward FIFA's president - Gianni Infantino - has waved towards those whose okay he is looking to secure.

A lot of balls

UEFA has made it clear. No European team will be involved in anything relating to FIFA until such an enterprise is nixed.

Could you imagine a World Cup tournament without any European representation? To put it in current context: the 2026 World Cup had three of the four semi-finalists came from teams under the UEFA umbrella.

So far joining UEFA, in this stand against FIFA, are CONCACAF (The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) and the Asian Football Confederation.

As well as that - in the midst of writing this post, news that someone high up at FIFA has resigned in protest at the move has filtered in.

Carlos Cordeiro - senior advisor to Infantino at FIFA - has left his post. In his resignation letter, he wrote 'As a senior advisor to the FIFA President, a former banker and lifelong football fan, I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup.'

The figurative rats are jumping ship. Let's hope the captain does the right thing. 

Taysom Hill Leaving The Saints

Versatile.

Whenever I see that word, I remind myself of a conversation I had with a classmate, in our final year at high school.

We were talking about the Championship Manager PC game. My friend mentioned a player (I cannot recall who!) he always tried to bring to whichever club he managed. I surmise he was in charge of. 

'He's versatile,' my friend stated. He then stopped. 'Do you know what versatile means?' he asked.

'Of course I do,' I uttered with astonishment. Seeing as I remember that conversation all those years later, you can obviously tell how I insulted I was at the question.

I came across my own versatile player as an adult. Not for football. Obviously not for Championship Manager, either.

Taysom Hill is a versatile player in American football. His 'Swiss Army Knife' style has performed well for me whenever I've picked him on my fantasy football teams whether they were regular or DFS.

Whenever he's in the fantasy draft, Hill is assigned as a tight end. That's pretty decent for someone who can feature in quarterback and running back plays. 

If that fantasy football league I play in returns for 2026 (it's not looking good), there's a good chance I'll look out for Hill again. However, it won't be as a member of the New Orleans Saints.

Hill, and the Saints, announced yesterday that he will not return to the team. The player wrote a really nice letter to the city of New Orleans. The Saints, on the other hand, sent Hill off with a touching video tribute.

Selfishly, I hope this isn't it. I'd like Taysom Hill on my next fantasy team. Because he's versatile.

SummerSlam Intros Take Me Back

There's a video, recently uploaded to the WWE Vault channel on YouTube, which took me for a ride down Memory Lane.

It consists of a load of intro videos to WWE SummerSlams from years gone by. They start with 1990 and work up.

Seeing those videos, to begin some of the biggest PPVs in WWF/E history, took me back to some good times.

And bad ones!

There were at least a couple which reminded me of watching SummerSlam on a Monday night with the first day back at school, following the summer holidays, looming.

Not that I completely hated school. I'd have rather stayed home and watched my SummerSlam tapes, though.

2026 Booker Prize Longlist Revealed

The longlisted nominees, for this year's Booker Prize, were revealed within the last hour. In this post, you'll find a list of all of the titles vying for honour as well as the judges and important dates for your Booker Prize diaries.

The 2026 Booker Prize 'Booker Dozen' 

As has become a tradition for the Booker Prize, thirteen novels have been selected for the 'Booker Dozen'. 

• All Them Dogs by Djamel White
• Black Bag by Luke Kennard
• Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman
• John of John by Douglas Stewart
• May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry
• Switzy by Emma Cline
• The Disappearers by Marlon James
• The End of Everything by M. John Harrison
• The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
• The Renovation by Kenan Orhan
• The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis
• The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
• The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams

There are two previous winners in this year's longlisted nominees. They are Douglas Stewart (Shuggie Bain, 2020) and Marlon James (A Brief History of Seven Killings, 2015). 

Should either author win, they'll join Mary Attwood, J.M. Coetzee, Peter Carey and Hilary Mantel on the list of two-time winners.

The Judges

The judging panel, for the 2026 Booker Prize, will be chaired by Mary Beard. She'll be joined by Raymond Antrobus, Jarvis Cocker, Rebecca Liu and Patricia Lockwood.

2026 Booker Prize Shortlist Announcement Date

This year's Booker Prize shortlist will be revealed on Tuesday 22nd September at an event held at the Southbank Centre, London. All five judges will be on hand to discuss their six selections.

2026 Booker Prize Award Ceremony

The winning nominee will be announced on Monday 9th November. The award ceremony will once again be held at Old Billingsgate in London. The victor will receive £50,000 while the other shortlisted authors will each be given a runners-up prize of £2,500.

Bill Oddie Passes Away

Bill Oddie has passed away at the age of eighty-five.

I suppose my first introduction to 'Britain's most famous birder' was when he voiced one of my favourite cartoons as a child - Bananaman.

Yes, I came along somewhere in between Oddie's stint as part of The Goodies and his other ventures which came after his time as part of the comedy trio.

One of Oddie's paths led to being in pantomime with a friend of my family. She invited us over to London to see a performances one December weekend during the late 80s. We hung out with her after the show and Oddie came by. He didn't stay, though. My memory of that experience is of Oddie walking away as a few people came by requesting his autograph. 

That recollection is corrupted, however. As I sit here thinking back, I am envisioning Oddie still in the costume of the character he played - Sarah the Cook from Dick Whittington and his Cat. That cannot be how it truly went. He must have been in his regular clothes.

Anyway, back to modern day. 

Oddie's work with birdwatching is what I'll remember the most. He served his audience well by teaching them about one of nature's most magnificent, and intriguing, creatures.

He made people laugh and then let them learn. 

I Try Salted Caramel Pepsi

On July 7th, I wrote a post after trying one of three new flavours recently introduced by Pepsi. I noted that the raspberry ripple flavour was nice and was better than two other special Pepsi flavours from early 2025.

I have now found, and tried, the second summer special.

Yep, it's salted caramel.

As I pointed out in the post from earlier this month, the logo appears on the image of an ice cream inside a cone in these new flavours. Brilliant.

I thought the drink itself was top notch and refreshing (drinking in the heat may have been a factor!). In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's better than raspberry ripple.

With that said, it's very sweet (even though it's sugar free). I could see many disagree with me on this one. I wouldn't blame them for doing so.

When I first took a sip, I was reminded of the Pepsi from last Christmas. I suppose that was because you shouldn't really see Pepsi and gingerbread, and - in this case: salted caramel - figuratively mashed together.

But, here we are. Salted caramel Pepsi is something that wouldn't be foreign as a Christmas flavour. 

I recommend giving it a go.

Next up will hopefully be the elusive cherry and vanilla Pepsi. Stock had run out at my local Tesco, so I was unable to purchase it when I was hunting for the remaining two flavours.

Once I find it, I'll write about it. 

I suspect I might have left the best for last considering Cherry Coke is my GOAT cola. Plus, I enjoyed Coke Cherry Float earlier this year. It wouldn't surprise me if I have a similar opinion about Pepsi's rendition.