KEY POINTS:
Two bully-boy policemen in Somerset told off a 5-year-old boy for playing hopscotch with friends. The pair ordered Ryan Badland and his five playmates to stop because chalking the grids on the road in their quiet cul-de-sac was "graffiti". Ryan told his mother the officers had handcuffs and he was scared they would take him away. The police told the children's parents that chalking on the street could be classed as graffiti. The incident follows the case of a young boy whose home in Merseyside was visited by four police after he sent an email to a classmate calling him "gay". (Source: Daily Mail)
* * *
A reader finds the latest Mitsubishi Pajero TV ad amusing. "It shows a family driving their Pajero from their backyard through lush fields and forests, sparkling rivers and over beaches until it finally ends up in a desolate wasteland with nothing left alive except the occupants. Indicative of what the Pajero's CO2 emissions do to the environment? Unfortunately the website does not mention what its CO2 emissions are, so it's hard to tell."
* * *
Best Dancing With the Stars moment: Criticising Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws' gaping-mouthed debut, judge Alison Leonard likened his performance to that of a horny teenager. Laws suggested she had a dirty mind. "We should get on well then," she quipped back pointedly.
* * *
Adorable parent factoid follow-up. Stephen writes: "My mother still has two old-style dial phones in her house. They are over 25 years old and in perfect working order. They actually belong to Telecom and she pays $12.50 per month for the privilege of renting them. In fairness, I think she only keeps them to spite me."
* * *
A reader writes: "In reference to Wayne Houston's story about his burmese cats who chase rats ... Releasing rats in a reserve is a pretty stupid thing to do in a country where we have flightless native birds. Rats also love to eat birds' eggs. In future I recommend killing the horrible introduced destructive rat, and not letting it roam free in our beautiful country."
* * *
Rod Rowlands from Herald Island congratulates the person who called noise control in Freemans Bay to close down the jazz band at 7.45pm. He writes: "Noise levels for residential areas are set in the district plan, and it amuses me that some people think the law doesn't apply to them. Time of day is totally irrelevant. For those who want to engage in activities involving higher levels of noise, there are plenty of venues to hire where there will be no disturbance to anyone else." (What about all the obsessive lawn-mowing, weed-whacking, hedge-trimming, skil-sawing suburban DIY noise-makers? How about a campaign to get those public nuisances silenced by the ACC noise police? - Sideswipe).
