Mike DeWolfe : The Daily Edition

Rather than put out a top 10 list, this year the BBC put out 100 things discovered this year: 1. Coach travel is the safest form of road transport in the country. More details 2. Saddam Hussein's codename while in US custody in 2004/5 was "Victor". More details 3. Adding milk to tea negates the health-giving effects of a hot brew. More details 4. The word "jaywalking" came from the US slang "jay", a term popular in the early 20th Century meaning a rustic newcomer unfamiliar with city ways. More details 5. Cloudy apple juice is healthier than clear, containing almost double the antioxidants which protect against heart disease and cancer. More details 6. Dishcloths are purged of 99% of their bacteria during two minutes in a microwave. More details 7. A haddock's mating call starts as a slow knocking sound, before turning into a quicker hum similar to a small motorcycle revving its engine. More details 8. Newcastle is the noisiest

The Victoria Hallmark Society is at work to stymie another step of progress. Rogers' Chocolates on Government Street has had the same store design for 90 YEARS . They want an update to their retail space but this watchdog society is blocking that. What does Rogers' want to do? Put in an automat or a teleportation pad or some other futuristic doodad? No: the renovation will include structural and safety upgrades. Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe is the project's architect so the council numbers will be diminished when Councillor Pam Madoff takes up the fight against a local merchant on behalf of people locked into the past. Maybe Rogers shoud give up on the space and do as Clara Beatrice Kramer does. Leave it to rot like the Janion. That's the core problem with an organization like the Hallmark Society and its sycophants on city council: if they spent more time reversing decay and less time stopping progress, our city wouldn't be a haven to crack addicts and riff-raff. A