Happy valet
Police Scotland dropped what they said was a randomly generated codeword — ‘Bunter’ — for the security operation when Boris Johnson visited Scotland. While the name invited comparisons between the PM and Billy Bunter, the overweight public schoolboy in the Greyfriars stories, there is another Bunter in fiction. Mervyn Bunter was the immaculate and well-organised manservant to private detective Lord Peter Wimsey in Dorothy L. Sayers’ crime stories. This Bunter’s defining characteristics were knowledge, accuracy and loyalty — and he was always on hand to correct Wimsey before he committed any social faux pas.
Making a run for it
Belarussian athlete Krystina Timanovskaya was offered asylum by Poland after criticising her coach at the Olympic Games and an apparent attempt by Belarussian authorities to remove her from Japan. There is nothing new about Olympians claiming asylum:
— After London 2012, 82 athletes and their support staff claimed asylum. They included a sprinter from Guinea, a judo fighter from Congo, and a wrestling coach from the Ivory Coast.
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