Oh brother

MUCH debate about referee Hugh Dallas awarding Rangers four penalties in their game against St Mirren at the weekend. As the mischievous Tory MSP Murdo Fraser, who has been nominated in the past at The Herald Politician of the Year Awards for his use of social media, wrote after the game: "So glad I bought Bro. Dallas that pint in the Lodge last night. To be honest I didn’t expect FOUR penalties, but who’s counting?"

Heat is on

STILL some pretty bleak weather around. As a Newton Mearns reader was told by a chum he bumped into: "It was so cold I even let the wife turn up the thermostat."

Bagged it

WE have been remembering the late Scottish miners' leader Mick McGahey as there is talk of having a permanent memorial to him. As Paul O'Sullivan recalls: "During the miners' strike in 1984, the NUM had a meeting with the National Coal Board headed by Ian McGregor. As they were coming out of the meeting, McGregor put a plastic bag over his head to avoid being photographed. Mick asked him, 'Taken up glue-sniffing, huv ye?'"

Paint it black

AND all this talk of miners reminds us of the Glasgow schoolteacher who confronted a pupil who had decided she was a goth, complete with too much make-up as far as the teacher was concerned. "My grandfather used to come up from the coal mine looking like that,'' he told her, but was put off his stride when she replied: ''What? Did he wear mascara, too?''

Baby talk

MORE on Winston Churchill falling out of favour with Dundee. Says Jim McGovern: "In 2008 a ‘blue plaque’ was unveiled in Dundee to commemorate Churchill. His last surviving daughter Lady Elizabeth Soames was doing the honours. There were various framed pictures of Churchill’s rare visits to Dundee, and Lady Elizabeth said, 'The local press didn’t really take to our family. That photo is of my mother carrying me in Dundee during the 1922 election campaign. My mother said the caption under it in the Dundee Courier said ‘Mr Churchill’s wife with their unbaptised child’ “

Love it

AN early reminder that St Valentine's Day is approaching. It reminds us of the woman asking her boyfriend if he loved her, and he confirmed that he did. "Would you die for me?" she persisted. After hesitating he told her: "Mine is more of an undying love."

Domino effect

OUR photo of the Domino pizza delivery bikes falling over in a row reminded Stephen Murray: "I was driving round the narrow streets of Barcelona looking for somewhere to park and unfortunately my wing-mirror clipped the first of a line of mopeds and motorbikes outside a cafe and they all went down like dominoes. I pulled over wondering how on earth I was going to sort it all out when three guys came out of the café almost doubled up with laughter. Together we set all the bikes up again, shook hands, they returned to their coffees and I carried on and eventually found somewhere to park."

Food for thought

FINALLY someone finding a positive slant amidst all the political turmoil. Says reader Willie McNish in East Kilbride: "I received a text from my son to let me know that he was not getting fat - he was just stockpiling in case of a food shortage after Brexit."