Friday, February 25, 2005

In the News...

This is one of the more bizarre things I've read of late - a moustache bonus for Indian policemen:
Mr Jain hit upon the idea of a 37 pence per month moustache allowance after a seminar attended by district policemen and local residents. There were a few constables with moustaches in the gathering and he noticed people looking at them with awe and reverence.
This led him to encourage his force to grow moustaches that are an integral part of India's folklore, closely associated with respect, honour and above all masculinity.
But police officials said they were keeping an eye on the shape and size of the moustaches. Only "proper" moustaches were encouraged, ones that twirled rakishly along the upper lip.
Handlebar moustaches were permitted, but only if they did not look overly menacing or challenging.
Policemen were discouraged from growing moustaches sported by villains in Bollywood films. The characters are often portrayed stroking their whiskers malevolently whilst torturing their victims or eyeing up women.
In the Times we read of an enterprising English schoolboy who made his own napalm and brought it to chemistry class. Happily, he seems to have gotten away with a ticking-off.

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