Ron from Kerikeri has little sympathy for Pakistani novelist and BBC journalist Mohammed Hanif, a guest at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival who was stopped at Auckland airport for two hours.
"My heart bleeds for Mohammed!" he says. "I know exactly what it is like to be dragged out
from the queue at an airport. To be thrown into a glass enclosure pending the inquisition by security personnel. To be stared at as to whether I am a suicide-bomber, a drug trafficker or a fleeing child-molester. To be embarrassed, grossly delayed, at least partially stripped, examined minutely - verbally, physically, and electronically - until, finally and reluctantly, they release me to continue on my innocent journey. Am I an alien? No! Dressed in strange garments? No! Look shifty? No! Carrying drugs? No! I am none of these! I'm white, balding and patently harmless, so why the hell am I going through this torment? Because I have a titanium knee!"
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A man who twice beat his girlfriend got his punishment yesterday - 60 hours working out at the gym. Brown, an unemployed IT worker from Essex, attacked his former girlfriend and the judge ruled Brown must attend a gym three times a week for an hour for 20 weeks. The judge also imposed an eight-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and fined him £1000 ($2577). The first incident involved slapping around the head and the second occurred after his partner found him watching porn. He grabbed her hair and hit her over the head and when she broke free he pushed her against a wall, brandished a garden spade and injured her thumb. (Source: The Sun)
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What are the chances? Sue writes:
"There must be one talented hen out there. In a recent packet of a dozen eggs, 11 of them had double yolks. Here is a picture of five of them and the sole single yolk egg in our frying pan at the weekend."
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More kid miscommnication:
"I used to tell my kids that it was time for the 'adults to watch TV' when the Wiggles video had to make way for the news," writes Sharon Newey. "But it didn't sound so good when youngest told his daycare teacher that Mum likes to watch adult videos."
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A reader writes:
"If people see it as okay to text message at lights, is it okay to toot your horn to let them know the light has changed and to move it? Apparently not, as this is exactly why I received a $150 ticket on Monday."
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View today's Herald cartoon.
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Today's Video Webpick: The new Heart of the City’s ‘Big Little City’ ad campaign by Colenso is slick. So it should be for $1.8 million… but to me it looks more like Europe, rather than any Auckland I know.
click here. Plus, a new site, Tweeting Too Hard, lists the most self-important tweets, submitted by egotistical users. Here's my top 10... . click here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.