WHAT'S in a name?

Quite a lot as it turns out, especially if you are Diary fan and York pensioner Dale Minks, who has written in to supply us with his own addition to The Press Top Of The Tots competition - a photo, of himself aged two years and two months.

Fashion is a fickle thing and there's nothing stranger than the fashion for baby names.

Mr Minks picked up on the fact that changing fashions have meant there was no baby called Dale in the competition - following a letter from Phil and Ena Fowler who flagged up the fact that there were no babies called Phil, Ena, Dale or Oscar.

Mr Minks' valiant effort is an attempt to redress the balance and ensure that there is a Dale in the running for our beautiful baby competition and also point out that there actually is an Oscar in the running.

He points out: "To compensate for the omission of a Yorkshire Dale' may I humbly submit an entry in the five to 100-year-old category? If it is not permissible to vote for oneself, my vote goes to little Oscar - No 0824."

Sounds like a bad Ikea to us

THERE are plenty of lucrative perks available in some jobs: Christmas and annual bonuses, bountiful pension pots, generous expenses, company car, double-time, sabbaticals and extra holidays.

While The Diary can only dream of acquiring some (or any) of these sweeteners, it seems other workers are being treated to even more wonderful benefits by their bosses.

An advert spotted by an eagle-eyed Diary reader in The Press's job section adds a more unusual twist to workplace bonuses.

The ad for a graphic designer to work in a "small but busy internationally focused York agency" lists pluses as including "air con offices, modern equipment" and, astoundingly, "Ikea furniture".

Now The Diary doesn't wish to cast aspersions, but if trendily-designed Swedish furniture really is the greatest perk on offer, they'll be waiting a long time for our call.