Superman can fly, Batman has a great car

We all want to be recognised for our unique individual qualities, whether they be our singing voices (you, I suspect) or our flawless driving skills (me, without a doubt.) Comparisons can be odious when they take into account how seldom we have won Wimbledon or become lottery millionaires.

One 'serious' journal not long ago even tried to compare 'modern catastrophes.' They asked their readers to grade them in ascending order, beginning with Chernobyl, which certainly ascended. I think we could all go at least one step further than that now.

Annoyed by the jeers of Dr Johnson against his country, a Scotsman once asked him, "Do you not realise that God made Scotland?" To which Johnson replied, "Yes, sir, but remember he made it for Scotsmen." Nicola Sturgeon would probably agree with that.

All that glitters is not gold, as we are reminded in The Merchant Of Venice, but diamonds are forever, so Shirley Bassey claims in the film of the same name. Who to believe, Billy Shakespeare or Cubby Broccoli, it's a close-run thing.

And so it has gone with pandemics and vaccines. We were only too delighted initially to be served up our first vaccine on a platelet, but once others arrived, the inevitable competition began, as the merits of the various types were debated.

Was old-school Oxford preferable to redbrick Moderna, barely out of the cellophane? Why was Pfizer kept in freezers?

(And why isn't it now?) Were two helpings of one vaccine really better than one helping of a second one, or the other way round? I began to wish I had studied

Orihuela Approves Coexistence Project

The Orihuela council has approved the Citizen Coexistence Ordinance project, which serves as a tool for Local Police officers in resolving citizen conflicts.

A period is now open for the municipal groups to present amendments.

The Ordinance contemplates issues such as attacks against a person’s dignity, the placement of posters in unauthorised places degrading the environment, unauthorised street commerce, improper use of public space, the consumption of alcoholic beverages and begging.

Murcia Leaders in Cybercrime

The Region of Murcia is the Spanish community in which cybercrime grew the most between January and September 2022, with an increase of 163.5% compared to the same period in 2019.

The Region was the autonomy in which the State Security Forces and Bodies investigated a greater number of crimes committed through the Internet, followed by Extremadura (+144.2%), Cantabria (+132.7%), Asturias (128.7%), La Rioja (127.1%) and Castilla y León (+111.1%).

arithmetic at university after all. And by the way, can you come down with the Delta variant if you live high in the mountains, far from the mouth of a river? It might be diplomatic to avoid serenading an inamorata with the song "Delta Lady," from now on, even if her balcony window is open.

Comparisons may be odious, but they aren't always easy. I don't really know anything about women, for example, so I have nothing to compare them with.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" wouldn't really be much of a compliment in Manchester, a.k.a. the "Rainy City." And to those who say that beauty is only skin deep, I would retort that fortunately vaccination goes deeper than that, and my Anthem to Vaccine would be, "I've Got You Under My Skin..." But I'm not known for my singing voice, although it's probably better than my driving skills nowadays. And my tennis serve. We all have our heroes, of course, and we don't like them being compared unfavourably with those of other people. I leave the last word on that subject to grandson A, describing his comic book collection to grandson B, with the withering comment, "My superheroes are better than your superheroes." And you can't say fairer than that, can you? Although grandson B did issue a stinging rebuttal: "No, they're not!"

Arcade Fraudsters Arrested

Officers from the National Police have arrested two men in Elche for defrauding the owner of several gaming rooms out of 169,000 euro in cash. The detainees, both aged 23, were workers in the arcades, and took advantage of their positions to carry out their scam in which, for months, they made duplicate cash refund receipts enabling them to withdraw from the cash vending machines the same amount of money that the clients had withdrawn.

Food bank charity denied site by Torrevieja Council

The NGO Adenis has an agreement with the Alicante Food Bank to distribute 3,200 kilos of monthly aid to 50 beneficiaries, all families, however it is unable to meet the growing demand following the refusal of social assistance from the City Council to provide it with a support location.

Adenis currently distributes non-perishable food from its headquarters: a small holiday home in the San Luis urbanization, far from the town centre, which is inaccessible for many beneficiaries due to the distance and the cost of transportation.