The Dalai Lama is a force for good in the world and, from what I've seen and heard on television interviews, he also has a great sense of humour. That's why I'm sure he wouldn't mind me greeting the news that he's coming to Brisbane next year with the observation that he seems to be a big fan of the Broncos, our rugby league team. He's almost always wearing their colours.

I'm more than a little concerned to read that Whale Rider and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith star Keisha Castle-Hughes is pregnant at the age of just 16. The Oscar nominee, who (ironically?) plays the Virgin Mary in her latest film, The Nativity Story, is expecting to her 19-year-old boyfriend, Bradley Hull, with whom she has been for three years. It seems to me that there are many other things a person of her talent and priveleged position could be doing at this stage of her life. Particularly worrying is the comment that "Castle-Hughes' accelerated life experience has reportedly given her a maturity beyond her years".

You could write what I know about fashion on the back of a postage stamp. That's obvious to me when I look at what's on offer at the "ready to wear" parades in Europe and wonder why it is that I never see anybody in the street actually wearing these clothes that expose young women's breasts and other private parts and offer no protection at all from the elements.