"TOO often, in the last couple of years, the York council has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons."

So wrote Coun Steve Galloway in the foreword to the Liberal Democrat election manifesto, before the May 2003 ballot propelled him to power.

Since then the Lib Dems have proved themselves even more adept at making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Even on the other side of the world.

"Better Wed Than Red" was the witty effort by sub-editors on the Melbourne Herald Sun.

"Ann Reid used the five-car wedding convoy to help test a new traffic light system designed to help emergency vehicles respond to calls faster in York, northern England," the Aussie paper reported yesterday.

"Mother Bends The Rules For Daughter's Wedding," was the more prosaic heading in the Independent, South Africa.

The Irish Independent, meanwhile, plumped for "Council Sees Red Over 999 Green Light For Wedding".

And that's in addition to the reports in several of Fleet Street's finest organs, and on the BBC, all following up Saturday's story in the Evening Press.

What headlines will the council be making next? With this zany gang in charge, we won't have to wait long to find out.

GREAT fun, once it finally starts. That's the verdict of those who have been to see Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.

Two families have reported back to the Diary with the same message, having watched two different York screenings: why do they take so long to start the movie?

You expect a few adverts and trailers at the cinema but there are fully 40 minutes of guff, including a short film, before Wallace and Gromit gear up for action.

That leads to a lot of restless young children and unhappy parents.

We say: cut the preliminaries and bring on the Plasticine pair, pronto.

ANOTHER star of the film is the Stinking Bishop. This is not a character, but a cheese.

In the movie, Wallace tucks into a slice of the stuff, and thanks to the power of Hollywood there is now a national Stinking Bishop shortage.

The cheese is bathed in perry, a cider made from the variety of pear with the same name. It is the creation of one man, Charles Martell, at his Gloucestershire smallholding.

The cheese has long been a favourite among customers at the York Beer And Wine Shop in Sandringham Street. Owner Jim Helsby usually travels to Mr Martell's dairy every three weeks or so to pick up supplies.

But Jim has been sent a letter from the cheese maker to say he needs extra notice due to unprecedented demand for Stinking Bishop from Wallace fans. As for bumper Christmas orders - don't ask.

Jim hopes to have the cheese in stock again next month. So what's it like?

"It doesn't take any prisoners," he said. "The cheese does stink and it's very popular with bishops. Probably."

"IF York is a northern suburb of London and can host an Olympic training camp, as Francesca Wood of Sport England claimed in the Press last week," muses the occasional Diary contributor known as Whip, "then surely Calais is a southern suburb of Wimbledon.

"Even Paris is only 30 minutes longer in travel time from London than is York, so it should be able to host the whole of the London Olympics."

Updated: 10:38 Wednesday, October 19, 2005