Sideswipe

Safety first: We wonder if there were any gentleman callers.

Australia Post Chairman Linda Bardo Nicholls tells the the Australian Financial Review magazine who was her greatest professional influence ... "Dr Don Brash ... who gave me my big break in the mid seventies. I was working at the Auckland University Library and he was just back from working at the World Bank. He borrowed a book and I told him I had a degree in economics and he said: "I'm starting this new thing called a merchant bank [Broadbank Corporation]. We could use someone like you." I took the job because he was the first businessman I met in New Zealand who wore long trousers."

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A reader responds to yesterday's item about secret handshakes for sex: "You may be surprised to learn that back in the 1950s if one wished to pass a certain unspoken message to a member of the opposite sex, one shook hands with the middle finger folded back into your palm - unmistakable, silent and invisible to others in the vicinity. Lots of times resulted in the recipient turning tail and running off. Bit shocking really ... those were the days when sex happened (of course it did) but it was far less out in the open, fear of pregnancy hovered and the majority of people were virgins into their 20s until they married!"

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Banning smoking in bars is not enough for some non-smokers: "As a non-smoker I look forward to the NicStic [the smokefree cigarette from yesterday's Sideswipe]. No more ashtrays. No more smoke. No more smelly people. I will be able to sit outside cafes again. I won't have to hold my breath entering and leaving buildings. Sure the smokers will still get cancer and die but think of how great it will be for the non-smoker".

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A Labour Party kind of course: A student is studying for a degree in air guitar. Amanda Griffiths is researching the craze for a PhD, reports the Mirror. The idea came about when she won an air guitar heat in Manchester in 2002. Professor Sheila Whitely, chair of Popular Music at Salford University, was also on the show and suggested she do a doctorate in air guitar to add to her performing arts degree. She is due to travel to Finland this month for the world championships. She said: "We were discussing why there were so few women involved and the professor invited me to do research under her supervision." Amanda will look at "codes of performance within the air guitar phenomenon".