Sideswipe

Spied on the roadside in Dinsdale, Hamilton, by Trevor Crosbie

A reader writes: "After I have worked fulltime for six years, Inland Revenue has decided I must not be paying nearly enough tax and has sent me my first tax return to complete. But get this, the self-addressed return envelope requires me to attach my own stamp. Never mind that I've paid tens of thousands over the years, they won't spare 45c for a postage paid envelope.The thought of civil disobedience has crossed my mind, ie, sending my return back without a stamp, but I know that if I do that, I'll spend the rest of my year filling forms IR3, DN2.51, GT11.23 and OP77.43. It is the IRD after all."

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David Wikaira-Paul looked gutted when he was prematurely eliminated from Dancing with the Stars on Sunday, but he must also have learned valuable lessons about life and television. First, despite having the moves, the charm and the looks, you can be beaten by a dancing potato. Second, winning is all about marketing. And third, even if the judges had been told by producers that Rodney Hide was an embarrassment and jeopardised the show's credibility, and to help sabotage the politician's successful text campaign with deserved low scores, sometimes such measures are not enough.

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My, how we laughed when TV3's Carolyn Robinson, introducing the weekend review of the third X-Men flick, referred to Anna Paquin's character as "Rouge" (make-up for cheekbones) not "Rogue". Though it may have been a comment on Paquin's cosmetic appeal because many of the characters' names do sound as if they could adorn a perfume or aftershave bottle. Eau du Wolverine, anyone?

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A US newspaper has fired a reporter who wrote an anonymous letter to the Pulitzer Prize board criticising the paper's entry uncovering a coin investment scandal. George Tanber, a reporter for The Blade for 14 years, was fired for "displaying a pattern of conduct which was dishonest, inappropriate, or both", the paper said. He had been suspended the week before after admitting to editors that he wrote the letter. The Blade was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzers for its April 2005 reports about a state of Ohio investment in rare coins managed by prominent Republican fundraiser Tom Noe. The scandal led to theft charges against Noe, and Republican Governor Bob Taft pleaded no contest to ethics violations. Tanber's letter claimed the newspaper knew about problems with the investment in 2004 and tried to cover that up in case its investigation was discredited. The Blade hired investigators to track down the author and retrieved emails from his work computer. (Source: AP)