Scooters dodging driver ban

BANNED drivers are exploiting a loophole in the road rules by buying electric scooters which do not have to be officially registered. NSW traffic commander Superintendent John Hartley has called for an urgent review, fearing a tragedy unless laws excluding low wattage models from registration are overhauled.His call came after banned Brighton-Le-Sands motorist Arthur Athanasopoulos was acquitted of three traffic charges for riding an unregistered pedal scooter on the road because of a loophole in the Traffic Act.Under the law, scooters with pedals and maximum power of 200W do not have to be registered.Another three similar cases are due to be heard by magistrates next month.

Mr Athanasopoulos, 29, was acquitted of driving while disqualified, using an unregistered motor vehicle and riding a bike without a helmet after he was spotted riding a pedal-scooter at Brighton-Le-Sands on June 14, 2006.

9/11 Reigns Over Film

Reign Over Me, the new drama-comedy starring Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler, is the first major studio release from Hollywood to treat 9/11 as an incidental plot element. Supposedly. Cheadle plays Manhattanite dentist Alan Johnson, who is experiencing typical husband malaise - the suits at work are breathing down his neck, and though he loves his kids, the fact that the most exciting thing he and his wife (Jada Pinkett Smith) do every night is work on a jigsaw puzzle has got him down in the dumps.

He readily offers to take his daughter over to a friend's house at odd hours just so he can get some time out of the unbearable domestic confines of his plush Upper West Side apartment. One day he comes across his old roommate from dental school, Charlie Fineman (Sandler), who looks like a mess and doesn't recognize Alan.

Book Review: Eating Up Italy by Mathew Fort

What a great concept! Let's take a slightly overweight, definitely middle aged and slightly balding Brit. Put him on a 50cc Vesper scooter and let him amble from the very southern tip to the northernmost parts of Italy, while he enjoys the food, drinks, sights and smells. I think his publicist summed it up well in an email she sent to me “I thought you would like this book, and to be honest I am slightly envious of Mathew". Well I am more that slightly envious, I am green with envy.

I want to know how I can get a job like this! Matthew Fort has produced a fascinating book, part travelogue, part cookery book, and part discussion about the state of the human culture. This is all done using the wonderfully dry humor that only the English have. Being a ‘Displaced Brit' myself, I was hooked on this book from the very first page.

Nation briefs

A Russian rocket carrying a Microsoft Word billionaire roared into the skies Saturday, sending Charles Simonyi and two cosmonauts on a two-day journey to the international space station. Among those bidding farewell was Simonyi's friend Martha Stewart. Simonyi, 58, paid $25 million for the 13-day trip.