Reporter’s diary

Press, 28 January 1988, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Questions for a

champion “THE Press” has saved face in the eyes of the Soviet chess playing world. Michael Rocks, the writer of this paper’s fortnightly chess column, has come up with five questions to ask Garri Kasparov, in response to the Soviet Embassy’s offer printed in this column. Michael asks, for instance: “Now that you are free from title defences for another three years, do you have any thoughts pertaining to marriage?” and “Since the release of the Batsford Chess Openings there has been considerable controversy as to the extent to which you provided original analysis. Would you care to comment on this controversy?” These and three other questions have been sent to the Wellington office and from there presumably relayed to the world master. We await his move with interest. Paint restraint THE owners of the Joe and Bill Ace hardware store in Brooklyn, New

York, will no doubt be hearing from the Men’s Liberation movement. They have put up a sign in their shop which reads, “No color paint will be mixed for any man without a note from his wife.” Chic Chirac a copy? REMEMBER the chic outfit worn by Bernadette Chirac when her husband Jacques was chosen as the Gaullist Party’s candidate for President in the next French elections (picture printed in “The Press” on Tuesday)? The picture struck a chord in the memory of a local reader, who turned to the family photo album. Sure enough, there was a striking resemblance between Mrs Chirac’s votegathering fashion and his great-great-grandmother’s 1850 s dress. The Victorian lady was Louisa Parsons, wife of Captain John Parsons, the Lyttelton Harbourmaster from 1850. Milk charges ONE supermarket chain in Christchurch jumped the gun by charging the

new price for carton milk, which does not come into effect until February 1. A spokesman for the group said it was an error that happened because of confusion over the introduction of the two-litre plastic pack, but all stores should now be charging the correct price. A spokesperson for the Canterbury Dairy Farmers Milk Station in Christchurch, which supplies the carton milk, said consumers should beware any other outlets making similar naughty mistakes before February, when the price will rise to $1 for a one litre carton and $2 for a two litre pack. Rock round the clock HEAVY rock music “has a very strong narcotic effect,” claims Dr G. A. Aminev of Bashkiria University in the Soviet Union. Rock fans who do not get a regular fix of heavy music develop the characteristic withdrawal symptoms of drug addiction. Some who were tested could not last even three days without their... er... music be-

fore the symptoms appeared. “If you completely isolate them for a week from such music,” says the Soviet psychologist, “they feel worse, their irritability rises, their hands start to tremble and their pulse is unstable.” And there’s the strange thing: people who dislike heavy rock find much the same symptoms appearing when they hear the stuff. Disappointing 3-D TWO 11-year-old girls from St Martins are made of stern stuff. Having stood in a queue for 15 minutes to get their 3-D glasses for the recent movie, Kathryn Andrews and Shelly Hollis thought the whole deal was “a ripoff. A few old people said that it had been on 30 years ago,” they grumbled. Not content with their own opinions, they conducted a minisurvey of shoppers in a suburban mall, triumphantly emerging with the statistics that “two out of 22 people said they liked it” and, for proof, they sent their survey form to the TVNZ manager when

they wrote him a blistering critique of the film. And if they are told that no-one else seemed to mind, they have their answer ready: “The reason why nobody is writing is because you have filled our heads with garbage.” Strong stuff, that. Let us spray GOOD news for those who fear that the Church is out of touch with modern life: A New York firm specialising in religious accessories is finding a lucrative market for canned Communion wine and aerosol incense. Not in family Mr Bob Gunn, chairman of N.Z. Forest Products and of its subsidiaries, Rada and Prorada, and his fellow directors have been under stern criticism from an Auckland accountant and N.Z.F.P. shareholder, Mr Max Gunn. For yesterday’s front-page readers who missed the fact recorded last week on our business news pages, we repeat that Mr Max Gunn and Mr Bob Gunn are not relatives. —Jenny Feltham.