For some time women have been able to make their derrieres more shapely by investing in padded underwear.

Now guys you can do the same!

A Canadian firm sells 'reinforced' underwear for men and sales are booming.

"Britain is one of our largest customer bases."

For further details go to www.buttforyou.com

They don't come cheap though - a pair of briefs costs $40. However, that includes two sets of 'contoured machine-washable pads'.

Here is a testimonial:

"I just received the padded briefs I ordered. They look great! It's always a risk ordering something like this off the internet, but I just tried them on and they feel great! I'd say I almost look like the guy with the jeans on your homepage! I assume they will add comfort to my bony butt, but the self confidence in filling out a pair of pants is going to be worth the price. Thanks."
Bob. B. Santa Barbara, CA

And what about another part of the male anatomy?

Yes, you can buy briefs to enhance that too!

But don't expect to see photos on this blog.

Queen Elizabeth II examines a model of Albert Einstein during a reception at Buckingham Palace for representatives of the British scientific community

Police chiefs are urging the government to make flag-burning a new criminal offence, as part of a drive to crack down on Islamic extremists and others preaching violence and religious hate.

The law regarding it varies in different countries of the world.

It is illegal in Denmark to desecrate the flags or national symbols of foreign nations, while legal to burn the Dannebrog, Denmark's national flag.

The reasoning is as follows: the burning of foreign flags falls into the realm of foreign policy, as the burning of another country's flag could be understood as a threat to that country. The burning of the Danish flag, on the other hand, does not concern foreign countries, does not fall under foreign affairs, and so remains legal.

Why do they do it?

Reasons given include:

As a protest against a country's foreign policy.

To distance oneself from the foreign policy of one's home country.

Out of hatred of the inhabitants of a country (which may be linked to xenophobia or racism).

Because of religious, moral, or personal objections to exalting symbols or icons.

As a protest against nationalism.

For enjoyment or pleasure.

Should we ban it here?

Or would it be a denial of our right to free expression?

A US soldier goes window-shopping
at a local shop in Karada, Baghdad.

Figure of fun: Sacha Baron Cohen in character as Kazakh reporter Borat

Will you be going to see the latest film by Sacha Baron Cohen?

Or do you find it offensive?

'Ali G', was funny in short doses, but now many people say Baron Cohen has gone too far and that, amongst other things, his film is anti-Semetic.

A typical 'joke': Borat asks the man behind the counter in a gun shop: "Which gun would be best to shoot the Jews?" The man recommends a 9mm pistol.

But Baron Cohen is himself Jewish - so does that make it OK?

In other scenes in the movie he washes his pants at a Central Park lake, defecates behind a bush in front of a Plaza building and says to girls he passes on the street: "Very nice. How much?"

Do you think that funny?

I suppose "Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice".

The Office For National Statistics has revealed in a recent survey (Yes, another one) that, as a nation, we are not as sexy as perhaps we thought we were.

I love statistics, don't you? (But nobody ever asks me.)

To continue - The survey states that one in six men under 70 had no sexual partners in the past year, while 73 per cent had only one.

One in eight women between the ages of 16 and 50 had no sex at all in the past year.

But don't despair - quality is more important than quantity:

"It may be a cultural thing, but it's not necessarily how often you are having intercourse but how good it is.

Brits tend to survive more on companionship in relationships rather than a very active sex life.

"If you are with someone for a long time and familiar with them you are less likely to feel passionate about them and your sex life does not depend on frequency but on quality."

A map has recently been published showing the most tranquil places in the British Isles.

However, finding tranquillity in modern life has become so difficult that even to look for it is liable to have the opposite effect.

"I have always had a weakness for younger men because they are generous and have no complexes"

(Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, 79, on marrying a man 34 years her junior.)

La Lollo said she met her husband to be, Javier Rigau y Rafols, of Barcelona, Spain, at a party in Monte Carlo and the two have been dating for 22 years.

By my reckoning, he was 23 when they started dating - and she 57.

"We wanted for this to happen sooner, but it just wasn't possible" she said.

This is an "installation" by the Austrian artist Erwin Wurm on the facade of the Museum of Modern Arts in Vienna.

He has named it "House Attack".

The Soyuz-2 space vehicle blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Do you tip after a restaurant meal?

You should only do so if you have received good food and service. If not, COMPLAIN and do not leave a tip.

What about a service charge added to the bill? Does it always go to the waiting staff - and shouldn't those who cook the food receive some of it too?

And what is a "voluntary service charge"?

It is a legal ploy whereby employers can avoid paying VAT on that portion of the bill. A service charge added automatically is subject to VAT, but something added voluntarily becomes a tip and is not chargeable to VAT.

The best way round all this is to leave a tip in cash, on the table - or preferably to hand it directly to the waiter.

Do the waiting staff pay tax on tips? The answer is that they should - by declaring the amount on their annual tax return form (if they receive one).

In the absence of a declaration, the tax authorities estimate the amount of tips. The employee is often happy to accept the estimate when it remains low, but usually objects and appeals when it becomes unreasonably high.

In many restaurants the staff set up a 'tronc' system administered solely by themselves, where all tips are pooled and tax is deducted before distibution.

Do all tips go in? What do you think?

HM Revenue and Customs have recently had to climb down on the assessment of National Insurance contributions on tips, which has caused restaurants to incur bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds and, in some cases, cease trading.

Finally, restaurants can avoid paying the minimum wage where tips can be regarded as making up the difference.

What do you think of that?

Why are we British so bad at pronouncing foreign words?

It's all God's fault! (See note below)

We should have a common international languauge - English.

In the meantime, we shall continue with our wrong pronunciation of foreign words.

Do you sometimes have difficulties in a restaurant? I don't mean in deciding which knife and fork to use - but how to say the names of some of the wines and dishes.

How do you pronounce "Pouilly Fume" (the French white wine)?

Forty per cent of English people eating out chose to say "pooh-il-ee fume-ay" rather than the correct "pooh-yee few-may".

And what is an "expresso" coffee? Perhaps something drunk in a hurry? No, the correct name is "espresso", coffee that has been "pressed out" at force.

Here are some more foodie foreign names that are frequently mispronounced:

Top of the list of linguistic clangers highlighted by the study for the BBC's Good Food magazine is the Italian toasted bread dish bruschetta.

Given a choice between two phonetically spelt options, 63 per cent pronounced bruschetta as "broo-shet-tar" rather than the correct "broo-sket-tah".

Another favourite for mispronunciation is chorizo, the spicy Spanish sausage often cooked in red wine. Of those surveyed, 56 per cent were convinced that adding an Italian-sounding "tz" sound – making it "chore-ritz-oh" – would be more authentic, when the softer "chore-reeth-oh" is correct.

Tortilla, the flat, unleavened Mexican bread often dipped in salsa, did not come out as "tor-tee-ya" in 12 per cent of answers.

Does it matter, as long as we are understood when we order?

And is it an affectation to pronounce foreign words like a native?


NOTE: THE TOWER OF BABEL

The tower of Babel never got close to being finished.

Did you know?

One dairy cow gives off enough methane gas in a single day to fill around 400 empty one-litre bottles, which is really bad for the environment.

Once it's left the cow, all that methane gas goes up into the atmosphere and makes the hole in the ozone layer bigger, increasing global warming.

The cows also lose energy every time they let one go, so it's important for them as well as the environment.

Apart from the obvious - don't feed them baked beans - scientists have worked out a special mixture to give to cows to reduce their emissions.

It also makes them smell sweeter!

FROM AN EBAY ADVERTISEMENT

Next time Fatso - Put your clothes on before taking the photo!

Some time ago, a businessman from Gloucestershire offered his four teenage granddaughters £1,000 (almost $2,000) each if they got married before moving in with their boyfriend.

Bon Jovi wrote:

I don't need no license
To sign on no line
And I don't need no preacher
To tell me you're mine
I don't need no diamonds
I don't need no new bride
I just need you, baby
To look me in the eyes

I know they have a hard time
And your Daddy don't approve
But I don't need your Daddy
Telling us what we should do

But times are changing and the Church of England yesterday backed proposals to give millions of unmarried couples who are "living in sin" similar legal rights to their married counterparts.

Risking accusations that it was undermining marriage, the Church said that cohabiting couples with children should be granted significant legal protection if they split up.

Its stance will dismay many Anglicans, who believe that any support for people living together outside marriage will erode the institution.

The Christian Institute, an influential lobby group, said: "Any change to the law that moves cohabitation on to a more equal footing with marriage is to be resisted.

"The danger with the Church of England suggestion is that any attempt to legislate on the dissolution of a cohabitation is likely to be further developed in the courts to reflect divorce law. That would further erode the special status of marriage."

The Church of England's stance also contrasts with that of the Roman Catholic Church, which issued a warning that the commission's proposals would "fundamentally change the legal basis of family life in this country".

What do you think?

How is your Japanese?

The above notce prohibits smoking in certain streets in Tokyo, which have been designated “smoking-free street areas.”

Now it is coming to London!

Yesterday's Evening Standard reported on the whole of its front page in banner headlines "SMOKING BAN ON WEST END STREETS".

"The ban on smoking in West End pubs and clubs next year could be extended to the pavements outside.

In some areas entire streets will be no-smoking areas with offenders facing on-the-spot fines of £50."

What next? Banning smoking in your own home or back garden?

FRANCE TO BAN SMOKING IN PUBLIC

France is to ban smoking in all public places from next February, the prime minister has announced, and cafes, nightclubs and restaurants are to be given until January 2008 to comply.

Those found in breach of the ban would be fined - 75 euros (£50) for individuals and 150 euros for the premises where the offence occurred.

Public places include stations, museums, government offices and shops, but not streets or private places such as houses or hotel rooms.

Several countries have already taken similar measures.

Opinion polls in France - often considered a nation of smokers - suggest 70% of the people support the ban.

The European Union's most enthusiastic smokers are in Greece, Cyprus and Portugal, according to findings published in May this year.

Trans-Siberian train hot water boiler

Quotation from a European Travel Guide:

Every Trans-Siberian train has a special tea-boiler, that works on fire! It is a very nice thing, and you can have hot water for free, or make yourself some tea (teabags can be bought from conductor very cheap).

But hot water is not free on "One" - a British railway line.

A commuter has won won his battle to stop the company charging passengers £1.95 ($3.65) for a cup of hot water to make their own tea.

Paul Bartlett,55, began his campaign because he drinks herbal tea , which the train operator does not serve.

He pointed out to the firm that coffee on its trains cost only £1.50 ($2.80) a cup and the train company has now responded by slashing the price of hot water to 10p (19 cents).

What does 'limbo' mean to you?

A dance under a bar, as above - but perhaps without the fire?

Well, in the Catholic Church (but not the Anglican) it means something else.

It is the place outside Heaven, Hell and Purgatory inhabited by the souls of unbaptised children and others who, because of their 'original sin', will never meet God face-to-face.

The Vatican has made it clear that the concept of limbo is outdated and the Pope has said that it is merely "a hypothesis" and that he would "let it drop".

He is expected to make a pronouncement soon.

It's about time too.

The poet Coleridge said:

Tis a strange place, this Limbo!--not a Place,
Yet name it so;--where Time and weary Space
Fettered from flight, with night-mare sense of fleeing,
Strive for their last crepuscular half-being;

I think it is a concept we can do without.

Poor innocent kids!

The London Eye

Tesco stores are being criticised for allowing credit card payments at their quick-service checkouts and petol pumps without the necessity of signing or using "chip-and-pin".

This means that anyone can use a credit or debit card by simply swiping it - and that opens the way to fraud.

Which? Magazine has accused Tesco of being "highly irresponsible" for not having adapted the tills to chip-and-pin technology.

"It is hard to believe that the UK's biggest supermarket is making it so easy for criminals to use stolen credit cards in their stores," Mr Fowler said.

"We can only hope they close this obvious loophole and introduce standard security procedures in the very near future."

Tesco denied that it had a significant fraud problem at its self-service tills.

A spokesman said: "While it is impossible to stamp out all credit card fraud, fraud levels at our self-service checkouts and petrol pumps are very low and no higher than at our main checkouts, which have full chip-and-pin,"

They have now started to introduce chip-and-pin at all their self-service tills and the process should be completed by December.

Church of England leaders have warned that calling God 'He' encourages men to beat their wives.

They told churchgoers they must think twice before they refer to God as 'He' or 'Lord' because of the dangers that it will lead to domestic abuse.

In new guidelines for bishops and priests on such abuse, they blamed "uncritical use of masculine imagery" for encouraging men to behave violently towards women.

They also warned that clergy must reconsider the language they use in sermons and check the hymns they sing to remove signs of male oppression.

The recommendation - fully endorsed by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams - puts a question mark over huge swathes of Christian teaching and practice.

It throws doubt on whether the principal Christian prayer should continue to be known as the Lord's Prayer and begin 'Our Father'.

It means well-loved hymns such as Fight the Good Fight and Onward Christian Soldiers may be headed for the dustbin.

The rules also throw into question the role of the Bible by calling for reinterpretations of stories in which God uses violence.

The guidelines also claim that abuse is common within marriage and says this is because marriage heightens a sense among husbands that they own their wives.

PC gone crazy?

Children from Christian families may be turned away from popular Church of England schools to make way for non-believers and those of other faiths under a new quota system.

At least a quarter of places at all new Church of England schools will be set aside for other pupils, according to guidelines outlined by the Church yesterday. The reform of school admissions will also affect Roman Catholic schools which will in future need to prove that their intakes reflect the social nature of the areas from which they recruit.

The changes have been prompted by the Government's admission code going through Parliament.

It imposes a ban on the interviewing of pupils and requires faith schools to be more open about the criteria they use to measure religious commitment.

Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, praised the new arrangement, announced in a joint statement from the two churches, as a step forward for cohesion.

"A good education is one of the best ways of building understanding of the many issues that unite us as opposed to the views that divide," he said. "We want to preserve the special contribution faith schools make to raising educational standards and offering choice.

"Church of England schools have an excellent record of providing high quality education and serving disadvantaged communities and Catholic schools are among the most ethnically and socially diverse in the country."

About a third of all mainstream state schools have a religious character. Most of these are from the major Christian denominations, with 4,600 Church of England and 2,000 Catholic schools.
The agreement follows a speech earlier this year by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which he said there was need for a "clear public commitment" to integrate children of all faiths and guarantee places for local children. He said that in some areas, Muslim children were as likely as others to be educated in church schools because such institutions were trusted by minority religious communities.

P.S. The change will not apply to existing schools - only new ones.

Lee Redmond, 65, the woman with the world's longest fingernails (24ft 7in), at the launch of the 2007 Guinness World of Records

Kinky Friedman, irreverant country singer, satirist and self-proclaimed "equal opportunities offender", was his usual ebullient self as he bounded on to the stage at the latest stop in his remarkable campaign to become governor of Texas.<