PHONE-hacking.

You may have come across this subject in the last couple of weeks.

Amidst all the surreal carnage - the resignations, the polite denials, the parliamentary inquiries, the ceaseless flood of revelations – one hitherto obscure issue has clearly been troubling reader George Anderson, of Leith.

“I’m wondering,” he writes, “if PC Murdoch is going to have to resign over his links with the Sunday Post?”

Sir Paul Stephenson. John Yates. Now PC Murdoch. Can we ever trust our police again?

Cinema scope

WATCHING a film in a cinema with the lights left on low, the sound turned down, and customers free to roam and make noise, is most film-lovers’ idea of hell. Either that, or being forced to sit through a Steven Seagal double-bill.

But such things will be encouraged on August 11, when Jim Carrey’s latest comedy, Mr Popper’s Penguins, is screened at the Springfield Quay Odeon.

The screening is designed to be accessible to people with autism or learning disabilities. Quarriers, which backs the move, says kids with autism often find cinema-going “extremely challenging” as they try to cope with louder sounds and low light-levels in cinemas. Should be an interesting experience.

Hostage to misfortune

“HELLO, darling,” the email begins – a promising start, though tempered by the fact that it comes from a complete stranger rather than, say, one of the Diary’s colleagues or editors.

Anyway, the (female) writer goes on, “my happiness hobbies include reading, music, watching movies and playing basketball, and I will like to discuss important issues with you, as well as build lasting relationships with you.”

Shifting uneasily in its seat, its heart beating a little faster and a blush forming on its manly features, the Diary reads on.

“Your color, race or religion is not my problem is that it counts as true love. In addition, please, please contact me directly to my e-mail waiting to hear from you next.”

The name of the writer is Miss Fortune. Is that a sly allusion to ‘misfortune? Should the Diary respond? What on earth is the etiquette concerning unsolicited emails that touch one’s rusting heart-strings?

Diverse attractions

THERE’S a full month to go before Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park stages Gay 5k, believed to be the first such race for gay people anywhere in the world.

But it has already come to the attention of comedian and TV host Paul O’Grady, whom some of us still remember as Lily Savage.

O’Grady’s people have been in touch with the race, saying he’d heard of the event “with pleasure” and enclosing a signed photograph and a copy of his latest book, The Devil Rides Out.

Given that the race is all about promoting sexual diversity, O’Grady has fittingly inscribed his book with the words, “There’s plenty of diversity inside ...”

The race is on August 19.