Quidditch for Muggles - from the Guardian Books Blog

Don't be intimidated - they're wizards after all

Just when you think you've seen enough of JK Rowling, here she comes again. If she isn't being honoured by her adopted home city or baling out hard-luck cases, then she's inspiring the kids of America to come up with a brand-new sport. Apparently, die-hard fans now have almost 200 teams registered around the US in a quidditch league founded only last year. The thing that cheered me up the most on this miserable Monday morning was reading a few of the rules:
"Each player must keep a broom, held with one hand, between his or her legs at all times. The human snitch, a cross-country runner representing the little golden ball, is set free to run the campus."
And then seeing them in action.
Amazingly, not everyone thinks this is a brilliant idea, and a Facebook group, Middlebury Quidditch Must Be Stopped, has formed. Kill joys.

They should take their lead from the fun-loving folk at Allerdale council who have produced a comic-book version of their corporate improvement plan: Harriet Potty and the Council Chamber of No Secrets. According to the Times and Star, it "stars members of the senior management team … as green house-elves … who visit Harriet Potty in her sleep to talk about how the public are confused about Pigwarts Council's objectives and how they tie in with the other organisations of West Kumbria".
A lovely idea. I give it about 24 hours before they get a call from JK Rowling's lawyers.