Mistake? Orf with his head

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), June 19, 2009

FLOGGING is too good for some of my colleagues.

Instead of giving them a decent horsewhipping, they should be carted off to the Tower.

Orf with his head, I sometimes feel like crying as I discover yet another blunder, especially when it affects those ennobled by the monarch.

Such was the case when we covered the Queen's Birthday Honours.

A member of our staff, who shall be known only as Jon to spare his blushes, got it all wrong.

Instead of awarding people MBEs he made them CBEs.

Genuine apologies folks for that and especially to the following, Eric Alwyn Green, Pamela Lawrence and Keda Norman, Raymond Foster Anderson, Shelagh Margaret Forbes, William James Graham, Robert MacLeod, Bernard McGill, Neil McNally, Charles John Parker, David Peacock and Eric Turner who we gave the wrong honour to.

And congratulations on your MBEs. .

PRAISE, not something usually associated with us, is heaped on our bowed heads.

Ruth Goldsmith of Drug- Scope, the drug information and policy charity, has been in touch, She wrote: "I just wanted to drop you a line to compliment you on your excellent recent piece, 'Man beat heroin demons and regained his life' (8 June 2009).

"I really thought your piece was very good. It gave your readers the chance to see that heroin users are people too and that they often have experienced a number of other difficulties in their lives." Shucks, thanks for that Ruth. .

WE recently told of dodgy - aren't they all? - cigarettes being seized along with some snide clothing on Tyneside.

We said "homes on Station Road and Elvistone Gardens" in Walker were searched.

My thanks therefore go to a resident of Station Road, where only three houses are occupied, and none of them were searched.

Indeed, it was a commercial property, and not a home, which was searched on Station Road, apologies for that one. .

AND finally, apologies also go to Marion, who was in touch to complain: "What's happened to your column? It used to be quite funny, but it's not now." Ouch, sorry about that, I will try better, promise!