Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Now, Crippled Monkey will freely admit that the scurrilous gossip of the weekly newsletter is a bit of a guilty pleasure in the Ouch office (in other words, don't tell anybody that I'm reading it on work time, OK?), but occasionally they do get a sneaky bit of disability-related gossip in there.

This week, a Popbitch reader reported a sighting of David Blunkett (yep, we were wondering where he'd got to) at an exclusive London eaterie. It seems, however, that the Blunkmeister's ever faithful furry mobility aid, Sadie, didn't quite realise what kind of posh nosh place she was in:

"David Blunkett was having lunch with Rebekah Wade [editor of The Sun], Trevor Kavanagh and another man from The Sun. During lunch Rebekah got up to go to the toilet, which prompted the other three men to start whispering together. So no-one realised that at that moment Blunkett's guide dog popped up and ate Ms Wade's Yorkshire Pudding from her plate."

Aw, but c'mon! Crippled Monkey says: let's be fair to Sadie. It could just have been that she was finding the conversation round the table really, really boring.

Oh, and elsewhere, Popbitch reports the following fascinating fact-ette:

"Half of American presidents from 1789 to 1974 suffered from a mental illness at some point in life."

Really? Is this true? Any knowledgeable Ouch readers out there care to hunker down with an encyclopedia for the afternoon to confirm or deny this? I'd be fascinated to know more . . .