This England

Danger: wheelie bin!

A council is refusing to empty wheelie bins if they are left on gravel driveways - for fear that stones could become trapped in the wheels and cause the bins to topple over.

The policy came to light when binmen repeatedly refused to touch the bin left out by Mark Birkett, 38, in Trowbridge, Wilts, because the wheels were on his gravel drive.

Following complaints, the council says it will now collect bins from loose driveways so long as they are the other way round with the wheels on the pavement.

Daily Mail (Ron Rubin)

Not-so-liberal tendency

Some readers sometimes accuse us of being somewhat right-wing, and I never know why. I think of us rather as being liberal.

I write this because I fear the events of October point towards a vastly more powerful, left-wing central government. With the government now in charge of over half of our banks, it is moving further into the role of Big Brother. Orwell forecast it, but it has taken a couple of Scottish former Marxist students to make the move into nationalising the banks.

Compass Wessex (Alan Bance)