A legal battle over an orthographic squiggle has ended in victory for a couple granted the right to write their infant son’s Breton first name as Fañch instead of Fanch.
It’s always a terrible shame
If you can’t give a child the right name
But French courts say it’s fine
To use a squiggly line
Without breaking the rules of the game
John Moynes
AFP
North Korean leader Kin Jong-un at Mount Paektu, North Korea is planning a ‘great operation… to strike world with wonder’
It looks like our friend Kim Jong-un
Is about to have himself some fun
Will he join the race
To put people in space
Or unveil a new supergun?
John Moynes
Korean Central news Agency
The American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ‘ignored’ signs of life on Mars in 1970s, according to a former senior scientist at the agency
Evidence of life in space
Should bring tears to a scientist’s face
So to choose to ignore
It and not look for more
Seems like a shocking disgrace
John Moynes
Pic: NASA
Dublin City councillors want to bring the remains of James Joyce and his wife Nora Barnacle back to Ireland from Flunturn cemetery Zurich, Switzerland.
There once was an author, James Joyce
Possessed of a singular voice
His death overseas
Is causing unease
As a Dublin grave was his choice
John Moynes
Tea drinkers have fewer levels of firmicutes which are microbes linked to inflammation, obesity and even diabetes, experts say
The morning, most people agree,
Should start with a nice cup of tea
And it’s good for your gut
Which now seems clear cut
Which is science we all like to see
John Moynes
Pic: Allstock
Bovine experts believe painting a cow to look like a zebra may reduce fly bites
The gadfly’s the bane of the cow
But boffins have found a fix now
Some stripes, black and white
Will ward off the bite
But nobody’s really sure how
John Moynes
Pic: Plos One
Londis, 49 Grafton Street, Dublin 2 was served with a closure order last month after a dead rat was founder under its deli counter
You don’t want a dead rat by your feet
When you’re going for something to eat
So delis like those
Are now forced to close
Until they’re clean, tidy and neat
John Moynes
Pic: Google Maps
A no-deal Brexit could prevent County Antrim’s Down Royal (above) from hosting its showpiece festival of racing in November
Some horses that just want to race
Have a new set of hurdles to face
Outside the EU
No one’s sure what to do
To get the beasts to the right place
John Moynes
Pics: Down Royal
Cattle in Northern Ireland may face mass culling if new higher tariffs are applied to British milk in the event of a no-deal Brexit
Though nobody is quite sure how
It seems No-Deal’s coming soon now
And they’ve started to mull
Over a massive cull
I’m glad I’m not a northern cow
John Moynes
French President Emmanuel Macron (right), with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at the Élysée Palace, Paris, last April, has given Britain until Friday to ‘revise’ its Brexit plans
There are people in London who feel
They’re now getting close to a deal
But Macron had the cheek
To give them a week
To rethink their plans and get real
John Moynes
EPA
