Skipper all aTwitter

THE touring West Indies cricketers may be a sad and forlorn lot after their disastrous start to this Australian series but if their captain, Chris Gayle, has any say in it at least they'll maintain their sense of humour. In a rare insight into the life of a globetrotting sportsman, the flamboyant batsman with the film-star looks has been using the public communication forum Twitter to keep his fans abreast with what has been happening in his life since he touched down on our shores, in particular his untimely return home to be with his mother, Heazlyn Gilroy, who was admitted to hospital in Kingston a week before the first Test with a heart problem. Mercy dashes to ill mums are never a laughing matter, of course, but as Gayle proved when he arrived back in Brisbane, looking more like a rock star than a cricketer, and vowing to score a century (which, sadly, he failed to do) in honour of his "mom" her quick recovery at least enabled him to stay buoyant during the ordeal €” and show just how much he cares for her. As for that sense of humour €” well, there was one bit in particular that took our fancy, his reference to taking a commercial flight back to Australia, rather than his personal jet (yeah, he wishes!), because "the pilot was too drunk ... and of course I fired him". It's at this point we say LOL (that's "laugh out loud" for the uninitiated: hey, even "oldies" like us know that!).

Politicians should stop banning our fun

I've been pondering the national inquiry into fat kids, booze-hounds and nicotine freaks - otherwise known as the Preventative Health Task Force. While waiting for my "butter pride" T-shirt to arrive, I started to wonder why politics has to be so humourless.