Two examples of bare-faced cheek today, one which amused me and one which amazed me.

The one which amazed me was Tottenham Hotspurs’ reaction to being given a bye to the last 16 of the UEFA cup. The story is that they were to play Feyenoord, but Feyenoord got into some trouble over crowd violence, so UEFA booted them out of the cup and Spurs get to progress to the next round.

So how do Spurs react? They talk about making a claim for compensation for missing out on gate receipts and TV money for the game they will not have to play. That takes some front doesn’t it?

The amusing example is from the letters page of the Crawley News. I think this could be more chutzpah than bare-faced cheek, but the letter reads as follows:

Further to the article in the News on January 10 about shops closing in Crawley’s parades, we would like to inform readers that frizzy’s Indian takeaway in Furnace Green is still very much open for business.

It is written by Mohammed Shuaib, owner, Frizzy’s, Furnace Green Parade… fair play to the bloke. he is a businessman and knows the value of publicity. There are dozens of shops still open in the parades, and any one of them could have written a similar letter – but he is the one who thought to do it. You can’t blame him for writing it, and the decision to print such a blatant plug was made by the Crawley News.

But thats not what amused me. What amused me was that the News opted to illustrate this letter with a photograph of Frizzy’s. There is not a single person around, and the shop has all its metal shutters down and locked. I think they are having a bit of a laugh, and I’m glad they decided to share it with us.