BEFORE YOU GO
RETAIL RANDOMS
t i r a e b d n Grin a The ‘gay cake’ row that has kept lawyers in lavish lifestyles for the past seven years has ended with the European Court of Human Rights ruling against gay rights activist Gareth Lee. Lee started legal proceedings way back in 2014 after Ashers, a Belfast bakery, refused to bake him a cake with a “Support Gay Marriage” message on it. We’re not about to get into the rights and wrongs of the case but spare a thought for the couple at the centre of the row. No, not Amy and Daniel McArthur, the owners of the Ashers who said the cake was “at odds” with their Christian beliefs, but Bert and Ernie, the Sesame Street characters who featured in the design. Not only have their image rights been trampled on, but the latest ruling once again thrusts the hapless duo’s sexuality into the spotlight. There has long been speculation that Bert and Ernie are a gay couple. This despite them sleeping in separate beds – unlike Morecambe and Wise, and Laurel and Hardy. Lee should have stayed closer to home when researching potentially gay puppets. In the long-running ITV children’s show which just happened to be called Rainbow, not only did George and Zippy bunk down in the same bed, but they shared it with Bungle. And, according to Bungle’s Grindr profile, he’s a bear.
GIVE CHEESE A CHANCE
The Scandinavian country took
it’s sold as ‘Ski Queen’ in the US.
over the UN Security Council’s presi-
Now, TWIR isn’t suggesting for
dency at the start of January and, as
a minute that Ski Queen is going to
custom dictates, presented a sym-
reduce tensions in eastern Europe.
What with North Korea conducting
bolic gift to the other member states.
However, it’s well known that Kim
ballistic missile tests, Russian troops
This consisted of some Gubrands-
Jong-Un picked up a fondness for
massing on its border with Ukraine,
dalsost – a traditional Norwegian
Emmental during his schooldays in
and Serbia set to declare war on Aus-
brown caramel cheese. And, thought-
Switzerland. Perhaps a block or two
tralia over a tennis player, Norway
fully, a cheese slicer.
of brown caramel cheese would be
has entered the world stage offering
Gubrandsdalsost translates as
enough to persuade the notoriously
what probably won’t be known as
“the cheese that comes from Gud-
sweet-toothed dictator to stop lobbing
“brown cheese diplomacy”.
brands Valley” so it’s little wonder
flying bombs into the atmosphere.
WEDNESDAY 12TH JANUARY 2022 / ISSUE 87 / SLRMAG.CO.UK / 55
