YOU can take the boy out of York, but not York out of the boy. Actor Greg Wise has long since flown our city walls but he obviously retains memories of our notorious transport problems.

Greg is featuring in the BBC1 comedy According To Bex. As part of the publicity for the show, he was quizzed about what he would do if he ruled the world.

Asked who would he would banish, he didn't hesitate: "Traffic wardens."

Why? "They haven't got anything to do with car parking any more, it's just a tax. Wardens are everywhere. They seem to roam in packs, so the public are like antelopes on the African plains, surrounded by cheetahs."

Don't tell his old school chums at St Peter's School, but it turns out that our Greg is something of a Leftie.

Revealing his wish to be a "benevolent dictator", he said: "Democracy doesn't work, so I'd need to put my foot down. I think communism is the best of all systems, but it's never been practised properly, even in Russia.

"But I believe that if everyone worked for everyone else and tried to be nice to each other, everything would be OK."

He was also asked to name a law he would abolish, and this answer may have fellow Old Peterites choking on their Scotch, too. "The illegality of smoking cannabis, and I'd make it harder to buy booze."

Emma Thompson's husband goes on to reveal that he admires David Blunkett and would put his neighbour's cat in the stocks because "it does its business everywhere".

Greg's choice of new law certainly gets the Diary's vote.

"I would make it illegal for the making or receiving of mobile telephone calls within earshot of anyone else.

"When somebody else's phone goes off, you then have to listen to their conversation. When mine rings, I make sure I leave the room and do my chatting in private."

CLEARLY Greg will not be making any purchases at the Cats Protection League shop in York. So he'll have missed the chance to buy the copy of the Karma Sutra which was in the window last week.

The book's no good to the Diary, though. Our two cats had the snip long ago.

MUSICAL memories of Rowntree's come flooding in from Keith Chapman, of Custance Walk, York.

Following last week's item about the women in the enrobing room singing along to music while they worked, Keith danced down memory lane.

"I worked in the cream packing department in the Sixties and the music was the most important part of keeping production levels at an all-time high. You named the artist and they could play it."

Sister FER Jewitt in the medical department would carry out spot inspections of staff's hands and nails "and she could not understand why, when she left the department, she would hear the record I Wanna Hold Your Hand by the Beatles in the corridor.

"This was the signal for many that 'personal care' and manicuring had been done. If you had not met the standards you were in big trouble with your overlooker."

The slot where requested records were played over the in-factory Tannoy was called Mixed Bag, Keith tells us.

TWO political anagrams.

Steve Galloway = Towel Savagely

Anne Macintosh = Not Maniac's Hen

Testily Rich (aka Chris Titley)

Updated: 09:20 Tuesday, January 25, 2005