Sideswipe

SUV covered in vinyl (please refer to story below).

A reader from Tairua writes: "My wife took this photo of an SUV, completely covered in thick padded vinyl, parked in Santa Barbara last week ... It seems a very expensive way to protect the paint work." If anyone can think of a better explanation for the over-dressed SUV, please email Sideswipe (link below)

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If in doubt, blur it out. An AFP photographer learned this lesson the hard way after publishing a photo online of Hurricane Katrina victim Latesha Vinette holding up her Red Cross debit card. Within hours Vinette was paged by the management of a Houston stadium, where she was living, to receive a call from Mastercard asking about cash advances of $65,237. This included the attempted purchase of a Ferrari and hundreds of purchases from eBay including, ironically, camping gear. Vinette had just received one of the many $2000 debit cards issued to Katrina evacuees by the Red Cross, which she happily displayed for the camera, providing a full view of the debit card's number and expiration date. The photos were carried by a number of news outlets or published as an accompaniment to news articles about Katrina, thereby broadcasting a supposedly valid debit card number to millions of viewers.

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Why is there outrage over the likes of Paul Holmes clearly impersonating a bigot with his "cheekie darkie" comment, but no one cares if radio's motor-mouths drop other clangers. Yesterday horny old Michael Laws on Radio Live managed to detour from the murder of the brunette German hitchhiker into a pervy little daydream, telling his listeners about the male fantasy of picking up a Swedish hitchhiker who was into free love and wanted to stay the night. He concluded by saying Birgit Brauer "was no Heidi Paakkonen". Pull your head in, Michael. Please.

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A reader writes: "The story on Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field prompted my idle mind to pose the headline: Taito to say ta-ta to Thai tiler?" TOBY the enrolled-to-vote dog achieves more international publicity than Helen Clark. Tom Agee's Google search found 893 references to the story, including ABC News with the opener: "It was almost inevitable New Zealand's election would turn into a dog fight when you look at one of the country's 2.83 million voters, Toby the jack russell terrier."

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Do my hands look big in these cuffs? Back-stage at fashion shows is not the most unlikely place to find an undercover police officer any more, given the unforgivable massacre by Kate Moss (right) of millions of individual cocaine particles. Scotland Yard is planning to use undercover police to infiltrate fashion shows and parties to try to catch more hoovering crimes within the look-good industry. Good luck with trying to make a bobby inconspicuous.