Reporter's Diary

Press, 8 September 1980, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

To err is human .... CANON Bob Lowe, vicar, of Fendalton parish, has been bombarded with protests from short people objecting to his remark about “little men” on his “Open Pulpit” television series. According to the latest issue of the St Barnabas newsletter, Canon Lowe made a joke about little men when he interviewed the wrestling promoter, Steve Rickard. “It wasn’t much of a joke but it has evoked the most remarkable response. The ranks of the four-feet-six have amassed against me, and one or two have threatened to punch me on the nose. This, I am sure, they would do if only they could reach,” he writes. He goes on to mention a book by an American about tall people, which discusses the plight of tall women. “It seems that tall girls rush into marriages with tall men,’ with unhappy results,” writes Canon Lowe. “Love at first height is no good.”

To forgive, divine CANON LoWe’s • ' ex» periences have led him to

sympathise" With. Tom Scott, the , journalistrat the ' core; .’.of the •fracas engenderedjby Mr . Muldoon who did not want Mr Scott to go to India or China with him. "Life, in New Zealand is hard for the funny-man," Carion Lowe says. “He says he also feels , sorry for the Prime Minister. “In the light of my own recent experiences, I .. cannot blame him for being a bit ; choosy about his travelling companions. There are quite a number of people I wouldn’t want to have with me on any trip to China.” As a result of this diarists ■ recent re- , marks on. the television page abdt.'; Canon Lowe and his dialogue with Bill Andersen on “Open Pul- . pit,” the voluble vicar says he wouldn’t even want to take us on a trip to Kaiapoi. Tsk tsk. Never again A FLEDGLING farmer, who had recently bought his first farm, was moving ewes from one paddock to another when he noticed one hanging back. It was looking weak and hungry, '

and was standing on the edge of a bank. The young fanner decided to carry the poor animal to the fresh pasture in the next paddock. He went to grab it, but at that moment the ewe lunged down the bank, taking the farmer with her. The two fell three metres, landing in a big gorse bush which not only punctured the farmer’s backside, but wounded his pride. Boring! ENGLAND’S first club for bores has been opened with 50 members. The golden rule for members is that they must never say or do anything which is not a complete bore. Anybody, or anything, interesting is taboo. On its opening night, members went to nearby Rochdale’s only nightclub to tell the manager they were not going to enter — it might interest them. Instead, they sat in their club listening to boring readings of obscure, and boring, Russian authors. There is a list of club do’s and dont’s. For example, a member should watch television in the afternoons when it is a bore, and not in the evenings when it might be entertaining.

■Nannie Thatcher? BRITAIN’S “Iron Lady,” Mrs Margaret 'Thatcher, Iceejjs'a strong grip on her. male underlings in Cabinet, says a report from London. An artful reason for this has been put forward •in a best-sell-ing book, “The Rise and Fall of . the British Nanny,” by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy. “A high proportion of this Government’s Ministers come from the upper middle class,” he says. “As small boys, growing up between the . wars, they would have been given into the charge of nannies. These ladies became the dominant figures of their childhood. I believe that, sub-con-sciously, they respond to the Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, as occupying that role.” ‘ Grave matter AN APPLICATION from one of- those new “no« frills” funeral parlours to a council in a suburb of Sydney for. planning per- - mission to-set up a bus:-' ness in the council’s areawas described in the council as being a business intended for “quick turnover,” ;