Robert McNeil
Miss murder
Historian Lucy Worsley has criticised crime dramas that invariably involve women being horribly murdered: something we’ve complained about for ages. But she wants more stories about women doing the murdering. Honestly, why can’t we have decent detective stories in which no one gets killed and the police have an easy time as everyone gets along?
Land of killer beasties
The south of England must be an awful place to live. Every year, the public prints run stories about killer insects arriving from the decadent Continent. This week, it was Asian hornets and toxic caterpillars. Flesh-nipping terrapins are also on the loose, dumped by kiddy Ninja Turtle fans. Place sounds an absolute hell-hole.
Jumpy pumpy
Chinese scientists have found that male spiders hop it after sex. To avoid being eaten by their charming amours they leap away lithely at nearly three feet a second. Even during copulation, they hold their legs like coiled springs. It’s not so much “love ’em and leave ’em” as “love ’em and survive”.
Bugs for tea
More folk have been advocating eating insects instead of meat to save the planet. Why not try this on children first? Kids don’t know how their ham or mince is procured. Only on growing up do they learn the awful truth. The same would happen with food from insects (which don’t even get humanely stunned first).
Dream on
Children spend 25% of their time daydreaming, according to a study by Queen’s University, Belfast. This was reported as a bad thing, impeding the ability to learn, which ignores the true fact that you learn little of importance at school. Daydreaming, on the other hand, stimulates the imagination. It’s the secret of creativity: never pay attention.
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