IT WAS a delight to be able to use the excuse “the dog ate it” this week.

We had a catalogue put through the letterbox a few days ago while we were out, and returned to see the remains of it strewn across the hallway, with our dog cowering in the corner, clearly guilt-ridden about his act of destruction.

It was one of those catalogues that people deliver, then come back a few days later to collect it, and to take orders if anything piqued our interest.

The catalogues are often worth a flick through if only to laugh at the ridiculousness of the products. Quilt clips, microwave egg poachers – they don’t work, I’ve tried one – an egg dehumidifier, presumably for humid eggs, ear vacuums and waistband extenders are just some of the items on sale.

But when the lady returned to collect her catalogue, I had to inform her that our dog had destroyed it.

She cast a suspicious eye, turned on her heel (she presumably wasn’t using the heel grips offered in the catalogue) and walked away, leaving me to feel like the bad guy.

Why did she want the catalogue back anyway? If you wanted it back so much you shouldn’t have put it through my door. Do pizza shop owners do the same?

The dog, for all his failings, was doing us a favour. If he can find a way to dispose of all the junk mail that comes through our letterbox, I’d be a lot happier.

The Northern Echo: Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, whose new shop opens in Battersea next month

AFTER disappearing from the public consciousness for a while following his battle against shoddy school dinners, Jamie Oliver is back to his campaigning best as he launches a crusade against all things sugary.

Oliver is lobbying for a sugar tax. Initially, I was all for it because I assumed he was referring to the star of The Apprentice, Alan Sugar, but apparently not. No, he wants restaurants to impose a surcharge on sugary drinks to convince customers to select a healthier choice, taking any money raised by the surcharge and putting it into a fund designed to educate children on the risks of eating sugary food.

To be fair to him, he has come up with some good ideas. But, if you stick 20 five-year-olds in a room with a box of crayons, there’s a chance one of them or all of them will produce a piece of art worth hanging on your wall.

What I’m trying to say is that it’s not rocket science. I could ask 100 people in the street if they thought sugar was bad for them and I’m sure they’d all agree.

Jamie Oliver has a point and good luck to him. But I can’t help feeling awkward when being dictated to by a television chef who, in all my years of watching his TV shows, has never held back on the sugar.

I went to one of his chain of restaurants earlier this summer and had a meal that contained my whole calories for the day. I was half-expecting him to pop out from under the table to warn me of the risk of obesity, but, after seeing his latest crusade, he obviously had bigger fish to fry.