Scottish council bosses are staging a free pole-dancing class in a library in an attempt to persuade more people to use the service.
Midlothian Council believes it is the first local authority in Scotland to hold such an event.
It will run the session at Mayfield Library in Dalkeith on February 2, which is Love Your Library Day.
Other activities in the council’s libraries include “booky table tennis” in which players use books instead of bats. (PA)
Crafty lemurs warming up
A group of lemurs have found a crafty way to cope with the current British cold snap.
Staff at Tropiquaria Zoo, in Somerset, were worried how a new group of lemurs might cope with the cold weather but in the last couple of days the lemurs discovered a way to climb up the cage so they can drape themselves over the heater.
The zoo director had set the heater at a comfortable temperature for the lemurs but he noticed that the heating had been turned up to maximum. He turned it down but the following day it was up to maximum again.
After watching them discretely he discovered that on the cooler nights the lemurs were reaching in to where the heater was contained and turning the thermostat to max. (PA)
Absent-minded surgeons?
Surgeons left up to 16 objects in a man’s body after an operation for prostate cancer, a lawyer in Germany has said.
Annette Corinth said doctors removed a needle, compresses and surgical strips from banker Helmut Brecht after his wounds failed to heal properly following surgery in 2009.
The 77-year-old ex-banker died last year and his family is seeking €80,000 damages for his suffering, plus costs, from the Henriettenstift hospital in Hannover.
A spokesman for the organisation which runs the hospital rejected the claims, saying the equipment mentioned was not in use at the hospital. (PA)
Rodent cull on two islands
Rats will be killed on two islands in the Isles of Scilly as part of a 25-year project to help protect seabirds.
Home to breeding populations of 14 species and approximately 20,000 birds, one of the islands’ major threats is predation of eggs and chicks by rats.
Conservationists hope by clearing St Agnes and Gugh, the seabird population will be significantly restored. (PA)