More annoying than a mobile phone ringing?

More annoying than sitting within earshot of someone listening to music?

More annoying than sitting next to someone eating?

Not to Mr Pendle it isn't – but then again, the survey was carried out by the manufacturers of traditional cough remedies, so perhaps the results weren't that too surprising.


IN his letter the other week, reader Derek Mann wedges his tongue firmly in his cheek (at least I think he does!) when he says Mr Pendle is correct with his comments on politicians of all creeds and colours.

Originally, he signed his letter with the pseudonym I.M. Socrates and invited Mr Pendle to muse on why he had chosen such a name.

Now the ancient Greek philosopher was a complex character, as a look at the Wikipedia pages about him reveal.

So Mr Pendle has had to taken a stab in the dark at what Mr Mann was hinting at, choosing what appear – to him at any rate – to be an appropriate few paragraphs.

Socrates had been described by the Oracle at Delphi as the wisest man of all, but did not believe that and consulted people he felt were wiser than himself.

The pages go on: "Socrates came to the conclusion that, while each man thought he knew a great deal and was very wise, they in fact knew very little and were not really wise at all.

"Socrates realised the Oracle was correct, in that while so-called wise men thought themselves wise and yet were not, he himself knew he was not wise at all which, paradoxically, made him the wiser one since he was the only person aware of his own ignorance.

"Socrates's paradoxical wisdom made the prominent Athenians he publicly questioned look foolish, turning them against him and leading to accusations of wrongdoing."

Is Mr Mann suggesting Mr Pendle is not aware of his ignorance in certain matters?

Or is he claiming to be the 21st Century equivalent of Socrates – that is, the wisest man in Pendle?


JUST a thought to sign off with ... when the new sports pavilion in Victory Park, Barnoldswick was opened recently, why wasn't the Mayor of Pendle invited to cut the ribbon?

With no disrespect to Couns Margaret Bell and David Whipp, who did the job, surely it would have been more fitting for the Mayor, as a representative of the whole of Pendle, to perform a ceremony at a facility which is available for use by all Pendle residents?