It's been a good week ...
for dog poo
Dog fouling is a pet hate. On many occasions, while scraping away at the soles of a toddler's shoe, I have contemplated leaving dirty nappies on the doorsteps of the offending dog owners.
Now a Taiwanese city has come up with an ingenious method of keeping dog mess off its streets by offering prizes to owners who clear up after their pets. According to officials in New Taipei City, more than 4000 people have collected 14,500 bags of excrement. For each bag they turned in, they were given a lottery ticket.
A woman in her 50s won the top prize – a gold ingot worth £1400. Other prizes included smaller gold ingots and household appliances. The scheme, which was due to end in October, has been so successful that it has been extended. Since August, it has halved the amount of dog mess in the city.
The local authorities admit they don't know whether the collectors are dog owners who have suddenly developed a conscience, or just people who will stoop to pick up poo to win prizes. Who says the streets aren't paved with gold?
It's been a bad week ...
for Simon Cowell
(It's not often you get to write that, but boy, was it good.) For the first time in what seems like a decade, the winner of this year's X Factor is not the bookies' favourite to win the coveted Christmas number one spot. Instead, the surprise front-runners are the Military Wives choir, put together by choirmaster Gareth Malone for a BBC2 documentary.
Bookies have slashed the odds on the choir – who are partners of serving military personnel – to just 5/6. The unknown singer to roll off Cowell's X Factor conveyor belt in time for Christmas is second favourite in the betting at 11/10.
The Military Wives, whose solo star is Scot Samantha Stevenson, are jerking tears across the nation with their charity single Wherever You Are. It's sentimental and a bit schmaltzy – in fact, it's everything a Christmas number one should be. Most importantly, it doesn't have the X factor, so bring it on, girls.
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