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Respectfully yours

It took 22 hours of needlework at the Skin and Ink tattoo parlour in Swansea to complete. But now the pair have split up, and Alan Jenkins has a permanent reminder of a relationship that turned sour.

"I thought I'd have it done to mark 15 years of our marriage," said Jenkins. "I had five million needle pins in my back. The pain was excruciating, like broken glass being scraped over old wounds. She didn't want me to have it done, but I wanted to show her some respect."

South Wales Evening Post (Robert Barbour)

Aiming high

Although he has a full year to go, David Lewis, the Lord Mayor of London, is already considering a life away from the City. But it is unlikely to be rooted in Oxford's academic heartland. His intention is to retire to Wales eventually.

"One wouldn't really have envisaged the grandson of a Cothi Valley sheep farmer getting to the position I'm in," he said. But that's what an Oxford education can do for a man.

Oxford Times (Chris Coghill)

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