IT'S been a good week for ... seasonal warnings
INVERNESS revellers, take heed if you want to avoid seeing flashing blue fairy lights. Local police have been tweeting warnings to the tune of the 1930s Christmas song Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.
The tweets from @InvernessPolice begin: “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not fight I'm telling you why, Police Scotland's coming to town.”
The seasonal ditty continues: "He sees you when you're thieving, he knows when you're gonna breach. He knows if you're wanted or not, so you better take heed of this speech."
Another tweet warns: “If you're going to drink drive, you better think twice, The Constables know if you're naughty or nice. Police Scotland's coming to town.”
All good advice, although I think the polis in Inverness lost their poetic licence a while ago. They might be on the beat, but their scanning’s terrible.
It’s been a bad week for ... panto
Did she learn her lines? Oh no, she didn’t! Entertainer Stacey Solomon angered a pantomime audience by reading lines from a clipboard on the show's opening day.
The singer, who plays Fairy Bowbells in Dick Whittington at Milton Keynes Theatre, appeared onstage clutching the sparkly prop a day after returning from Australia.
The producer said it was a "prompt" to ensure a smooth show, but some panto fans described her use of the clipboard as "a sham" and "embarrassing". Another suggested the part should have been given to someone who "had time to rehearse and didn't double-book work".
Christopher Marsh, a theatre company actor, described it as "disrespectful and "unacceptable", given tickets for the show cost between £14 and £35.
Solomon's representative said the singer hadn't had time to learn her lines or rehearse with the rest of the cast because she had been co-hosting ITV's I'm A Celebrity Extra Camp in Australia.
Pantomime producer Kevin Wood said: "Stacey chose to take to the stage having just returned from the jungle as she didn't want to disappoint her fans by not appearing in the show.”
The script was a "prompt" to ensure the show ran smoothly, and she "should be applauded for her professionalism", he added.
So she’s not really a pumpkin after all, then. And anyway, I’m sure she’ll put it all behind her.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here