A Mars a day should keep Bazzer away

In the few months before the 2006 World Cup, Sinn Fein's spokesman on national culture, Barry McElduff, decided in the interests of equality World Cup Charts (the type issued by the tabloids where you can keep personal track of the results) should not be displayed in workplaces of Northern Ireland. His problem wasn't with the World Cup, per se, just the fact that England had qualified and thus their team and flag would appear prominently in most of the charts. I can't honestly remember the outcome of his complaint, perhaps the fact that the Ivory Coast also featured on the posters (check out their flag) may have mollified him somewhat; I do however distinctly remember him also berating, tongue in cheek (although with Barry you can never be too sure), the local media for overdosing on such minutiae as the latest Beckham barnet.

Anyway....roll 4 years on and here we are again, England alone amongst the Home Countries have qualified and someone should drop Barry the word that the silly season has just started once more:

A company selling "Anyone but England" T-shirts for this year's World Cup has rejected suggestions it is racist after police in Aberdeen visited its store.

Police warned Slanj, which also has stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh, that a window display featuring the shirt could cause offence.

Grampian officers advised a store worker to consider whether the display was appropriate and should be removed.

Oh, and guess what's just been banned from the Stormont tuck-shop?:

MARS have become the first big firm to torment Scots with England World Cup goodies -three months before the tournament kicks off.

They have already started placing the Three Lions crest on their famous chocolate bar ahead of this summer's campaign in South Africa.

And today, they unveil a gushing TV advert backing Wayne Rooney's side.

Angry Scotland supporters, like many fans in Northern Ireland and Wales, are finding the Britain-wide campaign hard to swallow.

Hamish Husband, spokesman for the Association of Tartan Army Clubs, said: "They are treating the UK as if it's England.

"Any Scots with any thoughts of supporting England are completely fed-up by the time the England team eventually take to the pitch. It's overkill."

No, it's not, it's called "marketing" and you've just given their campaign a big helping hand.

A Mars spokesman said: "In some instances, it appears retailers outside of England have chosen to stock the Three Lions bar which have, in turn, been bought by people in those areas.

"While we are delighted it has been embraced so widely, there is absolutely no offence intended to our non-English consumers."

Don't believe you, it's quite obviously a deliberate provocation.