HAPPY New Year folks. I ve been on holiday for the last ten days, and my return journey through the channel tunnel seems to have transported me to a strange parallel universe, one where League One Leeds United are capable of beating Manchester United at O

HAPPY New Year folks.

I've been on holiday for the last ten days, and my return journey through the channel tunnel seems to have transported me to a strange parallel universe, one where League One Leeds United are capable of beating Manchester United at Old Trafford, the BBC have deemed it appropriate to make the awful, squawking, Colin Murray the new face of the BDO world darts championships, and where the UK is still in the grip of a second ice age.

This last circumstance is particularly strange given that it snowed a lot before Christmas, and in this country we usually only get one bout of wintry weather a year these days.

And this latest cold spell is sure to provoke a lot of whining and gnashing of teeth as more pavements and roads go ungritted with every new frost or snowfall.

The local authorities have already come in for a lot of stick on this issue, but on this occasion I have to stick up for them.

While the conditions are no doubt very dangerous in a lot of areas of Crow Country, the problem is we get snow and ice so rarely that it is hardly worth the County Council investing a lot of money in pre-emptive measures. They can hardly keep a massive stock of grit, or an army of lorries and snow ploughs, in reserve when they are only going to be used on a handful of occasions each year. Given the usual warm and wet weather we're usually served up, it would be a horrendous waste of money, and detract from other services which they have to provide from their budget.

Don't get me wrong, in an ideal world I would like to see all the roads made as safe as possible when the ice and snow hits, but in the world that's never going to be possible, so instead of complaining people just need to make sure they stay as safe as possible in the circumstances.

Controversial dating website BeautifulPeople.com has axed 5,000 members for gaining weight.

The dating site, which only accepts new subscribers voted good looking enough by existing members, acted after the people concerned posted photos showing that they had gained weight over the holiday period.

"Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded," said the site's founder, Robert Hintze.

Sounds like a charming individual doesn't he? Personally I don't think I'd ever want to date someone conceited enough to put themselves forward for such a website, and if I was one of those ousted I certainly wouldn't be losing any sleep about being kicked out by such a shallow enterprise.