Midweek madness

Daff’d
Today’s papers are full of madness!  Did you see the ‘Family threatened with arrest for picking daffodils’ story in all the papers?  We’re treated to a heart-rending story about six and ten year old sisters whose parents were threatened with arrest because the kids were picking daffodils in a Poole park.
Well, yes – that much is true … but it seems the parents were encouraging the girls to pick the flowers and had collected 70 and 80 bunches between them when they were cautioned.  OTT?  Hardly.  Read this from blogger Guy Walters: “The one-sided reporting of the story has also arisen because Ms Errington and her family look Midsomer-friendly. Had the daffodil pickers been a group of non-white teenage hoodies, then I doubt that the story would have been reported in the same way. (It’s also debatable that they would have got away with mere ticking off, but that’s another issue.)”  You’ll find his blog here.

Mp jiggery-pokery
My friends at Motorcycle News have tested the new Kawasaki W800 against the Triumph Bonneville and the Moto Guzzi V7 Classic and it’s a great comparison.  The bikes all have very similar specifications and get good, realistic write-ups.  So far, so good.  But, once again, MCN readers are let down - no mention was made of the bikes' fuel consumption figures.  Yes, everyone knows that road testers don’t pay for their own petrol … but surely it’s as important to mention a bike’s fuel economy as it is to show power and torque figures in a detailed graph? No point writing to MCN on this – they never test economy and won’t publish critical letters and emails on the subject.
I am also interested in the side-by-side specifications panel.  How is it that the Guzzi is by some way the lightest at 436 lbs?  That’s almost 40 lbs less than the Kawasaki and a staggering 70lbs LESS than the Bonnie which is revealed in all its lardiness.
The Guzzi’s simple push-rod construction should give a weight advantage, but not to this extent.  Any ideas, anyone?

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