We have to confess that we knew very little about Barbie: when our "giddy" aunt offered to buy us one as a birthday present (6th) our mother refused to let her. They compomised on a Sindy for which our parents never bought a thing, thereby encouraging us to save our pocket money to buy the various accessories we wanted. (Note our mother would only buy our brother the one Action Man not to come with a gun--the mountain resue one with a more than passing resemblance to our uncle. J had to buy any toy guns for either himself or Action Man out of his pocket money. We weren't allowed to watched ITV either, because of all the pernicious advertising.) We rather envied our friends thait collections of Pippa dolls. So we have certain amount of sympathy with this (Torygraph, again).

We like the idea of a My Little Attorney doll. My Little Rocket Scientist would be good. (Our various Sindies (they never lasted long) spent their time borrowing Action Man's parachute and landrover and surviving in post-holocaust isolation, building a shelter, hunting for food.....)

We caught the Secret Spells Barbie ad for the first time on TV yesterday. We'll leave it to Mark Morford to comment. Actually we think it's cute (and about as dangerous as Sabrina the Teenage Witch)--Looby Loo hasn't, however, changed her request to get the Swan Lake Barbie with wings!

Now, could she whip up a quick potion to cure the persistent cold?

The picture accompanying this might amuse pickledginger: Suicide bomber refuses to blow himself up.