Taking the good with the bad

I've had a particularly trying few days, most of the problems being related to technology and its failings: no land line, no broadband, a mysterious corrupt file message as two days' work is erased before my eyes and proves irretrievable. (No, don't tell me how to find it, because I've done the damn thing again, and knowing that all my effort was needless would break my heart - or balls, as we say in Italy.)

So it's good to get some heart-warming news from the British courts. Lydia Playfoot, the girl for whom saying 'No' just isn't in-your-face enough, has seen her case dismissed against the school that refused to let her wear her 'purity ring' (replacements obtainable for only £13 from It's a Silver Ring Thing, the business religious organisation run by her mum and dad and ex-lingerie model and Jacko fan, Denise Pfeiffer - more about the lovely Denise here). Even better, her father's been ordered to pay £12,000 in costs to the school. Expect an increase in the price of beanie hats, etc., to cover this. You can read all about it here.

Suddenly, everything seems rosy again.