Sideswipe

Free living: Is this an offer you can't refuse? Seen in the Flatmates section of the Herald classified pages.

According to Popbitch.com, the person who took the picture of Nazi Harry at the Colonials and Natives party in London was focusing mainly on brother William, and Harry was kind of an afterthought, which is why there is only one picture doing the rounds. The editors at the Sun zeroed in on the Harry shot, and allegedly paid the photographer £8000 ($21,200) on the spot for the photo and copyright. The Sun can expect to profit in the area of £500,000 from the photo's use elsewhere, including in the Mail, which allegedly forked out more than £50,000 the very next day.

* * *

Alison Woodcock writes: "Our son (31) recently had several German friends staying. They went to a bar, where a very new arrival was sorting through his 'new' currency trying to find the correct notes and coins. The barmaid was watching his dilemma, announced that he was drunk, removed what was left of his drink and brought him a glass of water. Another example of our new law!"

* * *

A seller of new goods on eBay Australia has explained how things work in the cowboy country of online auctions: "In the event that you leave us negative feedback unreasonably, we reserve the right to terminate your warranty."

* * *

A reader says Waiheke's inhabitants have been known by a few names. "A few decades ago, before upgraded ferries and the like, I recall a description (non-PC by today's standards) as being Cadbury Islanders - full of fruits and nuts".

* * *

A reader writes: "A few weeks back I was in a consultant's waiting room and listening to the background music you can't seem to escape from. The Vivaldi was quite nice and when that finished I hoped the next piece would be some more. Unfortunately it was the Horst Wessel song (without the words) which was the National Anthem of the Nazi Party. I gently pointed this out to the receptionist but got zero reaction. I think that some other patients might not be so polite."

* * *

There's no doubt online magazine nzgirl is a publicity slut - not that there's anything wrong with that - but their latest stunt sounds like the work of an evil sorority of Spice Girls. Last year a light aircraft flew over the Big Day Out towing a banner proclaiming "Scott Kelly has a small dick". A name plucked out of thin air apparently, but the real-life Scott Kellys of this world were less than impressed and some threatened to sue. All good publicity for the mean girls, you can be sure. This year they're running a Worst Ex-boyfriend in New Zealand competition, with the winner receiving the same fate. Maybe the team at nzgirl would like SideSwipe to dig a little dirt up on their defunct relationships and sexual proclivities for publication, to fully exploit the promotional potential of such a stunt. No, we thought not.