Friday Funday: Still the one

Friday Funday: the lighter side of local government

Shania Twain's You're still the one may not have been a hit for a while, but it still tops the polls of most popular songs played at Cumbrian registry office weddings. See the full top ten - and some of the stranger choices of brides and grooms. Who walks down the aisle to the theme to Jaws?

In other terms of endearment, Newcastle officers have been warned against it.

Colloquialisms such as "pet" and "hinny" have fallen foul of Newcastle city council's policy on equality and diversity.

And onto the business of love... if you think you have the odd dispute over planning. One Chinese local government is facing quite a quandry over the restoration of an...ahem...historic building.

Ancient, decrepit brothel arouses debate in China.

A local government in Jinggang, a town in central Hunan province, must decide whether to restore crumbling Hongtaifang, a brothel established in 1733, and face the ire of residents who see it as debauched, Xinhua news agency said.

One the one hand:

"The brothel was a place where women were humiliated in the old society," Xinhua quoted Xiao Yisheng, a retired university professor, as saying.

But on the other hand:

Tan Feng, a student from Xiao's former alma mater, begged to differ, saying the site was bound to prompt different reactions in different people. "When I entered the brothel, it reminded me that it was a place where the ancients indulged in sensual pleasures," Tan said.

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