A SPIRITED attempt by York University students to engineer a fuss has been scuppered, the Diary can reveal.

Campus newspaper Nouse tried to publish "the most controversial feature. Ever". This involved reproducing the rudest word in the English language in three-and-a-half inch high letters on the front page of its Muse supplement.

The feature inside examined in explicit detail the role of the four-letter expletive, for which James Blunt is the only appropriate rhyming slang.

It is "the word of the moment", the article insisted. This questionable premise was based on its appearance in Vogue magazine and the writer's belated discovery that it once formed part of a York street name. (Many residents have long known of Grape Lane's notorious former title, derived from its location at the heart of the medieval red light district.)

That aside, it's an interesting read. Nan Flory argues that the word should be rehabilitated and a non-sexual insult put in its place. To which the Diary can only respond - fancy someone's Nan knowing so much filth.

The brazen attempt to court scandal by so prominently displaying the word in question was foiled because Nouse is printed on the same presses which disgorge this newspaper. After taking legal advice, senior Evening Press journalists ensured the cover was emblazoned with a giant C-word.

Censored.

The article inside, meanwhile, resembled an explosion at an asterisk factory.

A solitary uncensored version of the word somehow managed to slip through, though.

Those students, they're a right bunch of... tinkers.

LAST year Nouse claimed the best newspaper title at the National Student Journalism Awards. But what would one of its former contributors, university chancellor Greg Dyke, make of this piece of sensationalism?

Not much, perhaps. When Dyke was a student at York in the Seventies the Evening Press reported that he was responsible for obscenities which prevented the publication of Nouse. He was so outraged by this suggestion that he sued - and won.

DO you know your neighbour? The most likely answer is yes. Nearly eight of ten York residents regularly chat to the folks next door, according to a new survey.

But it's not just their company we're interested in. "Experts believe that nosiness is behind the trend, however, as a whopping 80 per cent admit to coveting their neighbours' homes, interiors, furniture and even pets and partners," according to Channel 4 magazine 4homes, which did the survey.

It goes on to reveal that 48 per cent of York residents could not live without a washing machine at home. And 21 per cent of us are most envious of our neighbour's French windows.

What a boring bunch we are. Except for a lively two per cent, who have the gumption to be covetous of their neighbour's partner.

WELL done to the Rose & Crown pub in Selby, which has managed to get its number listed in the phone book twice, once in the classified directory and again in the business listings.

All the more shame that the pub phone doesn't accept incoming calls.

Updated: 09:18 Wednesday, March 15, 2006