Buxom barmaids... Ann Summers... Wild cats...

Shocking news from Brussels this month. Buxom barmaids could be forced to cover up under a proposal from the European Union, which wants to protect workers from harmful sunlight. It is primarily aimed at businesses like construction firms - but it was feared it could apply to barmaids in beer gardens too.

The move was slammed by Manchester brewer JW Lees, which also hit out at home-grown political correctness this month by sticking paper bags on the heads of the women used in its beer ads. The ads - which use the tag-line 'We'd never use a pretty face to sell our beer' - are a swipe at concerns about the use of sex to sell booze.

On a similar theme (sorry, Portman), sexy underwear firm Ann Summers decided to advertise its products exclusively on pub TV screens - because the ads are too risque for mainstream television. The commercials, which are run in 150 venues that use Avanti Screen Media's in-pub TV screens, use the slogan: 'Ann Summers. The Bean Flicking Experts.'

From foxy ladies to a feisty cat, with savage moggy Spot becoming the first feline to be banned from pubs in and around his native Hertford. The 12-year-old used to sit on his owner's shoulders but would lash out when he felt his master was being threatened. 'If a dog behaves badly then a licensee can decide if he is banned. It's a similar story with the cat,' said Hertford Pubwatch chairman John Barber.

Alan 'Howling Laud' Hope, the licensee leader of the Official Monster Raving Looney Party, hit the headlines again. He offered his services as a 'pub sitter' after he was forced to leave his Hampshire pub when his franchise agreement ran out. Because he holds a personal licence, Hope is able to run a pub, for a fee, while the licensee is ill or on holiday. The eccentric Laud also revealed he had bought a motor home to act as Party HQ. His pub, the Dog & Partridge in Yateley, filled that role for five years.