It’s been a good week for ... artistic licence

A white stone statue of Mary and baby Jesus has undergone an unusual restoration. The head of Jesus – which went missing from the statue in churchyard of Sainte Anne des Pins, Sudbury, Canada last year – has been replaced with a bright orange version.

"It really is shocking to the eyes because of the big contrast in colour," admitted Father Gerard Lajeunesse.

After the statue was vandalised, the church had struggled to find someone to repair it until artist Heather Wise offered to create a temporary replacement. She plans to carve a permanent stone head next year.

Lajeunesse said some parishioners had been surprised or disappointed with the statue's new appearance, but replacing the whole thing would have cost up to $7,500 (£6,200). “Hopefully what is done at the end will please everyone," he said.

Meanwhile, the baby Jesus bears a striking similarity to Maggie from the Simpsons.

It’s been a bad week for ... space oddities

The Schiaparelli lander had a heatshield, a parachute and rocket thrusters in order to slow its approach to the surface of Mars. Sadly, it appears they were unsuccessful in preventing a crash landing.

It was intended to be the first European spacecraft to carry out science on the Red Planet, but it now looks likely that the European Space Agency’s (ESA) spacecraft met its end in a destructive high-speed collision at the planet’s surface.

Although ESA has not yet conceded that its lander crashed – and it may be weeks before its fate is known for sure – scientists said that this appeared the most likely scenario.

But it might just be lost in space ...

Anything could happen up there, and remember, in space no-one can hear you scream.

So ponder, for a moment, a happier ending.

Space odysseys can be a lonely business. I like to think Schiaparelli just got a bit fed up with the daily grind of collecting galactic data and has decided to bunk off.

Or maybe he took an R2 Detour.