Strangers' Britain
Cops 'too busy' to nab shop raiders
Two raiders escaped because police were "too busy" to catch them, it was claimed. The men broke into a menswear shop 600 yards from a police station at Middleton, Greater Manchester.Police were alerted by a security firm after a "silent" electronic alarm was set off in the early-morning raid.
But 25 minutes later, as shop owner Richard Newgrosh arrived to see the thieves escaping with £1,000-worth of trousers, police had still not turned up. Mr Newgrosh said: "An officer at the police station told me they had been too busy to respond to the alarm. "He said two officers had prisoners at the station and the rest of the men were on their break."
Police are investigating the incident.
Star tells how to score against racism
Soccer star John Fashanu gave this advice to victims of racism: ignore it. "Racism is part of life and it's going to get worse," said Millwall's black striker. "But getting upset about it only encourages the racist. If they get no reaction they'll soon stop."Fashanu appears with children of different ethnic origins on anti-racial posters produced by Southwark Council, South London. He will visit local schools to meet the youngsters. Community worker Colin Hunte, who thought up the idea, expected Fashanu to call on white Millwall fans to stop shouting abuse at rival black players. He had noticed that they never directed their racist remarks at the home hero.
But the footballer insisted that he had always expected his share of racial abuse and 'monkey grunts' from rival fans. "They pick on any outstanding feature of any player - if I was bald, they'd have something to say about that.
He added: "I know I had to work harder to get where I am because of my colour, but that's the way it is.
"I tried to explain this to a nine-year-old boy who wrote to me claiming he was the only black player in his team and no one even passed him the ball.
"I wrote back and said it wasn't because he was black. I told the lad he would have to look for another reason why he was being left out."
Homing in again
A homesick couple paid an extra £10,000 to buy back their old house because they missed the neighbours.Director Alan Nash and wife, Maureen, regretted buying a new bungalow two miles away the day they moved in.
After sticking it out for nearly two years they went to an estate agent - and bumped into the couple who bought their house.
They did a deal on the spot. "There is no price for happiness," Alan said finally back in their four-bedroomed house at Midsomer Norton, near Bristol.
Her honour quits over 'sex bias'
A woman judge has quit claiming she has been a victim of sexual discrimination. Nancy Wilkins, 52, said: "In the legal profession women have to work three times as hard as a man just to survive, let alone get on. The lack of women in top positions proves this."Miss Wilkins, who is divorced and has four grown-up children, was appointed a Crown Court Recorder in 1978 after 24 years as a barrister, specialising in matrimonial cases.
She sat at courts in Lincoln, Leicester, Grimsby, Derby and Sheffield, most frequently at Lincoln County Court.
But she said that if she had been a man, she would probably have been made a circuit judge six years ago. "From this Midlands circuit only one woman has been made a High Court judge and there is not a single female circuit judge," Miss Wilkins said.
She felt that her own prospects were limited and, as a result, her resignation had been "brewing for some time".
Miss Wilkins, who lives in a converted farmhouse in Loughborough, Leics, and has chambers in Nottingham, added that she was leaving with a great deal of regret.
£20,000 burned
A woman was so overcome with guilt after stealing £42,000 from her bosses that she eventually burned almost half of it.Ex-cashier, Minnie Mann, 52, turned thief when her husband was made redundant.
Every Monday night when her family was out, she took £250 from her cache and burned it in the fireplace at her home in Braintree, Essex. Mrs Mann was eventually arrested in December, 1984, she was jailed for 18 months and a criminal bankruptcy order was made against her. When she appeared at the London bankruptcy court, she said: "I took the money to spend on my family."
999! Get me out the bath
Brunette Teresa Hudson tried to hide her blushes after sharing her bathtime with six firemen.Teresa, 26, was locked in the bathroom for three hours because a door-catch broke. Her boyfriend, architect Roger Kingdon, 34, heard her screaming for help when he called at her basement flat in St. Andrew's Bristol.
Roger phoned the fire brigade. They broke into the flat, then into the bathroom and found Teresa wrapped only in a towel. She said: "It was one of those things you have nightmares about. I felt a right Charlie when the firemen burst in. "I bet they thought it was Christmas all over again."
A brigade spokesman said: "We had to use bolt-cutters and crowbars to break into the house. "But the crew thought it was worthwhile in the end."
Cash and carry
Have you noticed how these days you never hear of anyone being broke - they always have a cashflow problem?I suppose the thinking behind this grandiose jargon is that if you are going to be skint you may as well carry it off in style.
But only in the Royal Borough of Earl's Court would you get a wino - as one lurching up to passers-by lurched up to me the other day with the supplication: "Hey, Jimmy, could you spare twenty pee to get me over a cashflow problem?"
Wedding bells
Speaking unto that man that shall be married, the Minister shall say:Wilt thou, John McEnroe, have this woman to be thy wedded wife? Wilt thou love her, comfort her honour and keep her in sickness and in health, so long as ye both shall live?
And the man shall answer: You cannot be serious!
Keith Waterhouse, in The Daily Mirror
