"Ha ha ha, hee hee hee,..."

"...I'm a laughing naked gnome and you can't catch have me...."

At least, not if the council have anything to say about it. And it seems they do:

The grandmother has been forced to put clothes on the ornaments after a neighbour complained to Bromsgrove District Council and an officer phoned her.

I have to say, I find it hard to see what council regulation she might have broken. But then, we are talking about the West Midlands.

The offended neighbour confirmed she had made the complaint. The woman, who did not wish to be named, said she thought the gnomes were "pathetic".

"I don't think they should be in a garden with my young kids running around nearby," she said.

"They are childish and I think it pathetic that they are in a front garden in full view of everyone."

So, let's recap:

Tacky garden ornaments in someone else's garden that you don't care for? 'Childish', 'pathetic' and (somehow) a threat to your children's wellbeing.

Dobbing in your neighbour to the local gauleiter for unapproved garden statuary? Just tickety-boo...

I say again - anyone wondering why the emigration figures are going up. And up. And up....?