WAS it aliens - no, it was Defra landing at the Great Yorkshire Show.

Civil servants from the ministry arrived at the showground last week in something resembling a UFO, or a set from science-fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Dressed in black, the environment, food and rural affairs officials perched themselves on designer stools and tinkered with trendy laptop computers.

Their spaceship-like capsule was predominantly white, with high-tech silver, chrome and black fittings. Spotlights were positioned on scaffolding and the departmental message, "Working for Essentials in Life", was boldly displayed.

Staff who were not logged on to computers were attached to their mobile telephones and for an hour or two, fashionable plants were the only other life-forms to be seen.

The spotless spaceship initially had rather few visitors.

A pair of elderly women looked puzzled and thought the stall was a mobile phone shop or gas showroom. They headed for the food hall.

However, one or two brave earthlings gradually climbed up into the console - those who had been mucking-out beforehand were particularly careful where they stepped and sat. Then both sides made even braver steps, when they attempted to communicate.

Thankfully, despite the rather sterile and alien surroundings , the officials and farmers began communicating. Perhaps each group's suspicion, that the other was from a different planet and spoke gobbledygook, was unfounded. Or maybe the farmers just wanted to make a phone call?

Laugh-a-minute

The affairs of local authorities do not often provide the material for comedy and last week's meeting of Sowerby Council faced tough competition as it met in Thirsk Town Hall.

One of the town festival's featured events was in full swing downstairs. By our reporter's account, comedian Mike Craig's routine could be clearly heard in the council chamber.

Apparently it was laugh-a-minute stuff. The councillors found it hard to compete.