Sideswipe

By ANA SAMWAYS

One medium's 'svelte' is another's 'fat hell': Liv Tyler has been told by movie bosses that she risks losing top film roles unless she loses weight. The Washington Post says Liv, who trimmed to "a svelte 54kg" for her part as heroine Arwen in the Lord of The Rings trilogy, insists she's happy with her current 66kg weight and doesn't want to diet. Meanwhile, New Idea gives us Renee Zellweger's "Fat Hell" at 54kg.

"They will just put food in front of me, so we'll be talking about something else, while all this fat is going into me," says the lardy Zellweger.

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France's $18 billion-a-year wine industry is fighting back against a Government campaign to discourage drunken driving. It claims the Government is scaring people away from ordering a glass when they go out and sales at restaurants are slumping.

Wine makers have always promoted moderate drinking to comply with the country's blood-alcohol limit of .05.

But they say the Government is overreacting when it tells drivers that the safest way to stay out of trouble is not to drink at all. (Source: Newsday.com)

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A reader named Dave "who doesn't give a toss" has found an upside to the World Cup loss:

1) The impoverished rugby union will no longer raid the piggy banks of children's sports teams' funding to pay out the winning bonus.

2) The chance for another coach has arisen (again).

3) Carlos will be free to model in women's magazines.

4) No one will pay thousands to see the ABs in the final, the poorest are now equal to the wealthy.

5) Who has the shield?

6) Some other sport may make TV news.

7) Now we may talk about 'teams playing in stadiums' not 'franchises in stadia'.

8) We can bring back Buck.

9) Canterbury don't have the shield.

10) We have the shield!!

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Some conspiracy theorists are still confused about that Carlos Spencer-God joke we did last week (in case you missed it, the punchline has Carlos telling God to get out of his chair). Yes, the All Blacks actually lost to Australia because of that one. But wait, there's more ... "Next time," advises one letter writer, "joke about Tangaroa, Mohammed or Hone Heke, because they are not real." There's something to be said for teaching more New Zealand history in schools, isn't there?