Last week was ...

A Good Week for hedgehogs, as Safeway stores launched "The Spikes Dinner" a tinned food for hedgehogs. It is made of chicken carcass, designed to supplement their natural diet of beetles, worms, slugs and snails.

A Bad Week for gauchos, as an Argentinian was told that he could not attend his graduation in traditional baggy trousers, medallioned belt and bandanna. Walter Scibilia, 26, insisted that he always dressed that way back home on the cattle ranch. He was given his diploma in the dean's office of Buenos Aires University instead of at the formal ceremony.

A Discouraging Week for drunks, as the council of Marikina City, a suburb of Manila, outlawed vomiting in public. Offenders will have to pay a fine and clear up the mess. The ban does not extend to those who throw up through sickness or food poisoning.

A Promising Week for a long shot, as William Hills quoted odds of 250 to 1 against any current member of the Spice Girls being elected a member of parliament at the forthcoming general election.