Our highlight this week has to be the story of Gayle Newland. She ‘disguised’ herself as a man and tricked another woman into sleeping with her. Her disguise appears to have been a woolly hat, into which she tucked her long hair, and a prosthetic penis. We feel sorry for her victim who will spend the rest of her life seeking a man with a pink and shiny permanent erection. Not even intravenous Viagra would produce the longevity of plastic. With this relationship at an end we assume Gayle is on the pull again. She must be the only woman in the world that has had to work out, as all men do, which side to ‘dress’ when she wears trousers.

    We love surveys. A recent one by Yakult identified – we use the word lightly – the top ways to prove you are sophisticated. We didn’t get a look in until 6 – know how to choose wine. We thought that was for novices and added how to open and drink it at a sitting – none of this nonsense about units or leave a glass for tomorrow. Reading daily newspapers came at 11 and we all scored on that one though our interest in the obituary columns didn’t get a mention. Once you reach a certain age outliving contemporaries becomes competitive! According to the poll, the most sophisticated age is 38. Assuming downhill all the way from there may account for the dress sense of some of our contemporaries. Note the use of ‘our’ though some of the comments from our grandchildren about what we’re wearing might mean ‘we’ rather than ‘our’. Alternatively, 38 may be the age where you believe these polls since being naive didn't appear on the list.

    Jeremy Corbyn promised a new age of politics and last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions certainly proved to be different. Hearing ‘Call Me Dave’ answering questions from Kevin in Wolverhampton and Nigel in Leeds was amusing if less than taxing for the PM. Taking the process forward offers some interesting possibilities. JC selected his questions from the 40,000 emails he told us he’d received. Clearly he selected the half dozen he asked before the Wednesday deadline. If he had emailed his selected questions to Cameron on Tuesday, to be published on Dave’s web site, answers from the public would also have been available. Nigel in Leeds could have received an answer from Felicity in Clapham.  Both leaders would now be sharing the public’s views. That really would be a first for politics. 

    The flood of ‘refugees’ – the word is questionable based on the multitude of countries from which they come – has put the European Union under the spotlight. In most respects it has challenged the word Union to a degree never before faced. Apart from the committed federalists like Jean-Claude Juncker, most leaders are showing their real colours. The EU is a disparate group of European countries that see membership of a large club as having benefits for their own people. Faced by a serious challenge the club implodes, borders suddenly becoming borders again, Schengen just an inconvenient word. Maybe the immigration crisis will cause leaders to take another look at what the EU has become, rather than using weasel words and majority votes to try to paper over cracks. And what about the refugees reaction to being offered homes in countries they don't wish to settle in? Will they accept the will of the EU? What do you think?

    Linkedin is a site I generally have a look at when a so-called executive puts both feet in mouth. Kate Davies, Chief Executive of Notting Hill Housing is a recent example. Her recent comment about ‘a dead baby on the beach in Turkey and the immediate change in attitude to refugees’ was a cracker. She was suggesting that it would take something similar to change Nimbyism and prejudice against state subsidised tenants. Linkedin shows an interesting skill set for Miss Davies, including, interested in people, community development and stakeholder engagement. It should add motherhood and childcare to complete the picture. It can't be long before she becomes a government spokesperson on children care.

    We used to think locking up your daughters was the only requirement when Silvio Berlusconi came to town. Now it seems you need to lock the wine cellar as well, particularly if his mate Vladimir Putin is with him. The pair uncorked and tasted a £60,000 bottle of 1775 Jeres de la Frontera on a visit to annexed Crimea. If they didn’t finish the bottle, we wouldn’t mind a taste.