Sideswipe

Kylie Minogue

The Observer's Mary Riddell explains why the public are so moved by a popstar's illness: "Kylie's story is for anyone who felt shock that a diva who looked as non-degradable as vinyl could get cancer. It was like learning that Barbie had glaucoma."

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Bali Haque of Howick writes: "Friday afternoon flight from foggy Wellington to Auckland. Our Air NZ flight attendant had just assured us that we were ready to take off, but then, with some bemusement and embarrassment informed us that we had a bit of a problem - we had no pilots!

This fact was confirmed with something of a flourish as she flung open the doors of the cockpit. It was indeed sadly empty. After a few minutes, undaunted, our attendant told us that there was both good and bad news.

The good news was that the missing pilots had been located. The bad news was that they were currently circling overhead because they had overshot their landing in Wellington due to the poor weather conditions. There was going to be a delay, and we would just have to wait and see!

But wait, help was at hand. Two passengers in Air NZ uniforms rose from their seats, (mutterings of 'we'll do it') and headed to the cockpit, amidst loud cheers and applause. Ten minutes later we were in the air heading for Auckland, only slightly late. I want to thank our wonderful flight attendant for her calmness and humour, and our intrepid pilot passengers ... "

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Loony left or just a subversive sense of humour? The National Party may be a little slow off the mark when it comes to pre-election attention seeking, but the most minor of the minor parties, the Alliance, has to resort to its own Winston Peters-style immigrant scandal to drum up a bit of spin. In a mini press release sent to the Herald yesterday, Andrew McKenzie, Alliance Party justice spokesperson, says: "The Alliance questions the entry and feting of Alistair Campbell to New Zealand as PR officer for the Lions tour of New Zealand which begins on Friday, given his high-profile role as a servant of what many view as war criminals in Iraq."

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A reader writes: "Yesterday's story mentions delay in the drive-through due to a discount offered to police. As an operational ambulance officer I can assure that this is not common practice for ambulance staff. McDonald's state the reason for the discount is because the police provide increased security during their visits to their restaurants. To this date McDonald's head office have failed to respond to my requests for a similar discount offer. I don't necessarily feel we should get something for nothing but I cannot allow McDonald's free press for an apparent charitable act that they don't perform."

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Ambiguous domain name corner: A media release headed "Get Nailed at nailed.co.nz" arrived in Sideswipe's email yesterday and was nearly mistaken for a particular type of spam. Investigation revealed the website was for "home owners, renovators and builders" offering a service "providing home owners with free educational information on building and renovating, online ... "

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Almost ready for release is Spanish designer Pep Torres' "Your Turn" washing machine, developed to encourage housework sharing. Users initially register their fingerprints and Your Turn will not operate if the same person's print is entered twice in a row. (Source: newsoftheweird.com)