Sideswipe

Game punishment: Taken outside a shop in a mall in High Street, Auckland City.

A London lawyer sent this email to a secretary: "Hi Jenny, I went to a dry cleaners at lunch and they said it would cost £4 to remove the ketchup stains. If you could let me have the cash today, that would be much appreciated. Thanks Richard." Her reply was: "With reference to the email below, I must apologise for not getting back to you straight away but due to my mother's sudden illness, death and funeral I have had more pressing issues than your £4. I apologise again for accidentally getting a few splashes of ketchup on your trousers. Obviously your financial need as a senior associate is greater than mine as a mere secretary. Having already spoken to and shown your email and Anne-Marie's note to various partners, lawyers and trainees in ECC&T and IP/IT, they kindly offered to do a collection to raise the £4. I declined their kind offer but should you feel the urgent need for the £4, it will be on my desk this afternoon. Jenny."

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A reader responds to the playground-type promotional billboard for the Lions tour suggesting our visitors are a " bunch of pussies".
"Surely your 'reasons to dislike rugby' should be 'reasons to dislike Auckland'. What a warm, friendly greeting to thousands of visitors who'll be spending large amounts of money in the region! Tourism Auckland are way off the mark with this one and I was offended by this message not only as an Aucklander but as a Pom living here. Tourism Auckland should follow the warm receptions given by Rotorua and Hamilton to help dispel the 'Jafa' mentality in the rest of the country, which the city rightly deserves."

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The reason nobody's listening to Radio Live is not that the shows aren't any good (Devlin, Laws, Henry actually offer an alternative to the old fellas on Newstalk ZB). It could well be a marketing problem. Two dinky little branded gifts, a weird clock/pen combo and a squashy little rugby ball to toss around the office, have Radio Live emblazoned across them but no details of where on the overcrowded dial to find them (Try 100.6 FM in Auckland and 100 FM in Waikato).