The Unusual News Thread

[Si Hunt]

They might as well just not bother finishing the hearing. Let's face it, even if he's found innocent, it ain't gonna look good for his promotion prospects.

Si.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Dalek saves man ...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...-by-Dalek.html

[Si Hunt]

Mobsters 'plan to snatch Katie Price'

Katie Price has been informed that she is being targeted by kidnappers, a report claims.

According to the Daily Star, Russian gangsters are currently planning to snatch the glamour model and hold her to ransom when she takes a trip to Marbella to promote her KP Equestrian range later this year.

How much will they take not to bring her back?

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Motorists returning to unlocked cars to find items missing are discovering their belongings have been removed...by the police.

Officers in Richmond upon Thames in south west London have been taking the items to shock drivers into being more careful about their property.

Police have been removing such items as handbags, laptops and satnavs from unsecured vehicles.

They have been leaving the careless owners a note telling them they can retrieve their items from Twickenham police station.

The initiative has been introduced as Richmond suffers from a high number of thefts from cars.

A Richmond upon Thames council spokesman said today: "We fully support this initiative and we are particularly proud of the relationship we have with the police.

"We do have an issue with theft in the borough and particularly theft from cars.

"We see our borough as a green and pleasant suburban place and this can lull householders and car owners into a false sense of security in that they leave house keys under flowerpots and display items prominently in unlocked cars."

Theft is illegal. ILLEGAL. "A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it."

So if the Police give it back to you, then it's OK apparently. Hmm.

[Perry Vale]

That's rather odd, to say the least. I can just imagine real thefts from cars going unsolved though, as the station is too busy dealing with all the people getting their stuff back that the Police took!

[SiHart]

It's all very well making people aware of these things, but surely this is a step too far? If people leave these items on show then that's their own problem and they will have to deal with the loss throigh thefty, should that happen. I wouldn't have thought it's the Police's business to go round preventing crimes by stealing the items themselves.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

How odd.

Not the action, but the justification. Wouldn't it have sounded better if they'd said "we're removing these items because we spotted they were unprotected and so took them to stop someone stealing them" rather than "We took them to shock you into not being so stupid"!

Si.

[Captain Tancredi]

Thing is, it has the potential to cause somebody real distress if you just happen to leave your work laptop in the car while you stop to pop into the newsagents or something, or have your handbag on the seat while you stop to post a letter on the way to go on holiday. It also assumes that the copper who removed the item is going to arrive back at the police station quicker than the motorist, which isn't necessarily the case if you're talking about a PC on the beat.

[Stuart Wallis]

And the offer would have to make the removal in uniform in order to stop a have-a-go hero starting on them - which gives a tealeaf with a convenient uniform carte blanche!

[Philipnet]

The woman who changed her name to Princess-Rainbow.com

Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up!

As names go, we’re sure you’d agree that Princess-Rainbow.com is a pretty unusual one. We’ve never met anyone named after a domain name before.

So when we read about a Manchester woman who’d changed her name from Claire Forshaw to Princess-Rainbow.com by deed poll, we decided to investigate further.

The full story was in the Independent last week http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...m-1749329.html , but we managed to track down Princess-Rainbow.com herself to ask a few questions http://inside.123-reg.co.uk/archives...ess-rainbowcom

[Jon Masters]

Entropy strikes again !!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8223310.stm

BUT TARDIS not Tardis. Bloody Bbc

[Paul Monk]

BANG! And the radiation is gone

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...ds/8217772.stm

[Stuart Wallis]

I was wondering - were Bob Baker and Dave Martin pouring Cillit Bang into the coolant tanks of their power stations in The Hand Of Fear and The Claws of Axos? Perhaps that's why there weren't any mushroom clouds or naughty fallout when they blew them up!

Cillit bang - a thousand and one uses!

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Radiation, yes indeed! You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked, goggle-boxed do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense! Everybody could stand chest x-rays a year. They should have them too.

[Stuart Wallis]

I sprinkle plutonium on my Weetabix every morning, it's not done me any harm, he said speaking from his mark 3 travel machine!

[Si Hunt]

The parents of a boy who has run away to try to catch a train have asked railway staff to put up warning posters to stop him getting into danger.

Four-year-old Toby Friend has even tried to buy a ticket at the station near his house in mid-Kent.

He has climbed his back garden fence and crossed two main roads 15 times in his effort to reach the station.

"He just loves the train so much... he thinks he can go on his own," said his mother, Kirstie Field.

I know you need eyes in the back of your head etc. but.... take responsibility for your own damn childcare!!!

Si.

[Rob McCow]

I quite agree!

He has climbed his back garden fence and crossed two main roads 15 times in his effort to reach the station.

How lost can you get?! And surely someone would have spotted a 4 year old out on their own? And wouldn't the station staff ask the kid where his mum was if he tried to buy a ticket?

Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children!

[Si Hunt]

Yeah, why do they need photos of him at the station? So they can tell him apart from all the other 4 year olds who are legitimately catching trains on their own?

Also 15 times! Can you not crack the art of keeping hold of your child after that number of times!! Just don't leave it outside alone! Simple!

Si.

[Simon R]

Is the internet to blame?

[Si Hunt]

George Harrison's wife and Rodney Bewes locked in row over fence!

Obscure!

Plans to replace a razor wire fence at the Oxfordshire home of Beatle George Harrison have been branded "unnecessary" and "inappropriate".

Harrison's widow, Olivia, has applied to replace the 8ft (2.4m) fence that surrounds the property in Henley-on-Thames to maintain security.

But neighbour, actor Rodney Bewes, claims the wire has almost killed his cat and cost him thousands in vet fees.

The town council has opposed the fence, which is in a conservation area.

Severed artery

The high-security fence was installed after the 58-year-old Beatle was stabbed seven times by an intruder who broke into Friar Park in Gravel Hill, Henley, in 1999.

Mr Bewes, who starred in the 70s comedy The Likely Lads, said: "Is the razor wire necessary? Our cat has been caught three times, once severing an artery, and we know of three other cats which have been injured.

[Si Hunt]

Aguilera 'almost loses lyrics to new album'

Christina Aguilera has reportedly almost lost the lyrics to a song from her next album.

The 28-year-old popstar was recently dining at the Osteria Mozza restaurant in Los Angeles, when she thought of new lyrics and decided to write them down on a napkin.

According to the National Enquirer, when the singer was finished with her meal, the staff cleared the table along with Aguilera's lyric sheet.

A source said: "Christina wasn't looking when the busboy took the inked-up napkin. When she realised it was missing she ran after him.

"Christina explained to the waiter what had happened and she found the napkin on top of a plate, unharmed."

Stories about something "almost" happening always ring the alarm bells, but here, in the space of the headline and the end, the big event goes from seemingly all the lyrics to a new album being lost, to "one song" to the actual truth, a few jottings on a napkin in a restaurant. What next? "Christina makes cup of tea and forgets idea she had - idea for new album lost!"?

Still, good to see the precious napkin was recovered "unharmed".

Si.

[Rob McCow]

If only the waiter had wiped up some spilt gravy with the napkin before handing it back to her, there might have been something worth hearing on her new album.

[Stuart Wallis]

We've had The Ketchup Song, now Ode to Gravy.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

People are supposedly upset and in tears after a board in New Zealand has decided that a town here called Wanganui should now be spelt with a "h" as Whanganui.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10598000

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2874...ver-h-decision

The people of Wanganui are "angry, upset and disappointed” by a New Zealand Geographic Board ruling that the city's spelling must include an "h", Mayor Michael Laws says.

"This council will fight for the democratic rights of its constituents," Mr Laws said at a packed press conference this afternoon.

He said Wanganui was not a Maori word, but had a culture, heritage and mana all of its own. The Geographic Board's decision was "racist", biased and failed to take referendum results into account, he said.

But he had always been confident in democracy and he would be petitioning Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson to uphold the wishes of the Wanganui community.

The board met yesterday to debate the request from local iwi Tupoho, before issuing its decision this morning.

The issue will now go before Mr Williamson, who will consider whether to formalise the change to Whanganui.

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia wept when she heard the news.

"I know that they were many of our old people who wept this morning at this result.

[Si Hunt]

Tesco has been accused of religious discrimination after the company ordered the founder of a Jedi religion to remove his hood or leave a branch of the supermarket in north Wales.

Daniel Jones, founder of the religion inspired by the Star Wars films, says he was humiliated and victimised for his beliefs following the incident at a Tesco store in Bangor.

The 23-year-old, who founded the International Church of Jediism, which has 500,000 followers worldwide, was told the hood flouted store rules.

But the grocery empire struck back, claiming that the three best known Jedi Knights in the Star Wars movies – Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker – all appeared in public without their hoods. Jones, from Holyhead, who is known by the Jedi name Morda Hehol, said his religion dictated that he should wear the hood in public places and is considering legal action against the chain.

"It states in our Jedi doctrination that I can wear headwear. It just covers the back of my head," he said.

"You have a choice of wearing headwear in your home or at work but you have to wear a cover for your head when you are in public."

He said he'd gone to the store to buy something to eat during his lunch break when staff approached him and ordered him to the checkout where they explained he would have to remove the offending hood or leave the store.

"They said: 'Take it off', and I said: 'No, its part of my religion. It's part of my religious right.' I gave them a Jedi church business card.

"They weren't listening to me and were rude. They had three people around me. It was intimidating." Jones, who has made an official complaint to Tesco, is considering a boycott of the store and is seeking legal advice.

Tesco said: "He hasn't been banned. Jedis are very welcome to shop in our stores although we would ask them to remove their hoods.