Sideswipe

Snapped at the Ellerslie Racecourse

A painting of a bride and groom has been removed from the Liverpool Registry Office in case it offends gay couples tying the knot. The wedding scene, and another of Romeo and Juliet, has been ruled unsuitable for single-sex, civil partnership ceremonies and have been replaced by landscapes. Liverpool City Council said: "The world's moved on. It's not just weddings any more - that's why it's the Ceremony Suite. This decision wasn't based on the new civil partnerships. They do all kinds of things - citizenship ceremonies, non-religious naming ceremonies and heterosexual partnership ceremonies." (Source: Ananova.com)

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A British drugs squad officer left a packet of speed in a 10-year-old schoolgirl's bag after a drugs awareness lesson. The police officer put three packets of the drug in her bag but after the demonstration took back only two, reports the Mirror. The child's mother said: "I still can't get my head around this. My 3-year-old was playing at the table where those drugs were. She could have mistaken it for a bag of sherbet and swallowed it. That could have been fatal."

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A reader would like to take a sideswipe at the three youths who tried to break the glass panels on the bus shelter opposite Temple St in Meadowbank around 12.30am on Sunday. The European youths dressed in designer clothing were in a red diesel-powered Range Rover with roof racks and rego starting with TM (parents take note).

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And we think Winston's ideas are unhinged: Most politicians are a little bit barking, but Russia gets more than its fair share of the potentially certifiable. This is particularly true when it comes to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. This MP made a helpful suggestion in a telegram he sent to the French authorities trying to help stop the appalling violence that is ripping through the country, by offering to send Russia's football hooligans - many of whom he says have special forces training - into French cities to restore order. The French have, so far, failed to respond to the kind offer. This is not the first time Mr Zhirinovsky has had such clever ideas. Previously helpful suggestions have included the annexation of Alaska, the restoration of Russia's imperial borders and the invasion of Turkey. But perhaps the icing on the cake is his environmental policy. He wants to employ large fans to blow radioactive waste across the Baltic states and Germany.