Everyone loves a smart ass  Stop, please, the presses. We have
no need of further newspapers. This week yielded the year's best
story, and there is really no call to bury this beautiful and
uplifting jewel beneath another 12 months' worth of misery and
despair. Let it shine brightly forth instead, the news that
villagers in Chalford, Gloucestershire, are planning to buy a
communal donkey from the local sanctuary to carry their shopping
up the steep hill to their homes, which are largely inaccessible
to vehicles.  I have spent hours now trying to spot a flaw in
this plan, and can find none. I believe the good men and women
of the Severn Vale have stumbled across the solution to all
life's problems; a donkey in every village is the antidote to
all of modern life's besetting sins.  1) It is an all but
incorruptible scheme. It is unlikely that Unilever or ICI has
secretly annexed the nation's donkey resources. Tesco has almost
certainly overlooked the need for mule-banking. However much
they try, junior French ba