Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
You don’t know me; I know you, I know what’s being said about you.
I’m the ‘whisperer’. I am socially mobile: Arab, Brit, Indian, Pakistani, American and the rest, they all invite me and share their world with me. Not much gets past me but if you
think it may have done, email me on . . .
Chocolate worries
Recent worries concerning the rennet used to produce chocolate have resulted in a ban from the Ministry. It seems, I am reliably informed, that until a written guarantee has been produced that all the rennet is from halal slaughtered cattle, no chocolate will be imported. The Whisperer strongly urges all chocoholics to panic buy!
Some of the UK's best-selling chocolate bars, such as Mars and Twix, will also no longer be suitable for vegetarians. Also affecting brands such as Snickers and Maltesers, owner Masterfoods said it had started to use animal product rennet to make its chocolate products.
Masterfoods said the change was due to it switching the sourcing of its ingredients and the admission was a "principled decision" on its part.
The Vegetarian Society said the company's move was "incomprehensible".
Masterfoods said it had started using rennet this month. Rennet, a chemical sourced from calves' stomachs, is used in the production of whey.
It will now also be found in Bounty, Minstrels and Milky Way products as well as the icecream versions of all Masterfoods' bars.
Beach volleyball
Rumours are reaching me about the recent beach volleyball competition held at the BIC (apparently the sand was especially transported here for the occasion) and the issue of gender...
As we all know, beach volleyball is an essentially spectator sport. I am always surprised by the number of spectators, particularly for the women's matches - unfortunately, the timing was a bit awkward; the women's competition was held at midnight. It seems that it was to enable the ladies to play in cooler conditions. The men's competition was held during the day.
The men's competition attracted hardly any spectators, whilst the ladies' competition was well attended... perhaps the (mostly male) spectators found that the temperature at midnight was more suitable for cooling their ardour?
Tree of life
I have been informed that the famous Tree of Life doesn't receive its magical water supply from particularly mysterious sources... can anyone confirm that a water lorry appears periodically and pours gallons upon the aged tree? It seems that it appears under cover of darkness, in a feeble attempt to preserve the myth!
