WEIRD WORLD

GAS PANIC: Shocked customers of a major energy company have received an apology after malfunctioning smart meters said they would be charged up to £33,000 for one day’s power. Big Six provider SSE said it had launched an urgent investigation into the errant devices, one of which warned a customer they had bust their daily budget by nearly three million per cent. One account holder tweeted SSE with a photo that said they had used £33,183 of gas in one day, 2,765,175% over budget. The following day the meter said the bill would be £27,022 for the day.

MOUSE ON BOARD:

A little mouse made for a big delay on a British Airways flight from London to San Francisco. The passengers were buckled up and ready to go when the crew told them that a mouse-spotting meant they could not take off. The crew joked that the mouse could not enter US airspace without a passport, and told everyone they needed a new plane. That meant a four-hour delay. They told reporters after the flight arrived on Wednesday that despite the delay most passengers were happy to be on a mouse-free aircraft, especially since they would be eating on the flight.

GIRL-FIELD?:

Garfield’s gender has become the subject of an internet debate. The Washington Post reported Wikipedia locked changes on the animated cat’s page after the site’s volunteer editors battled over whether the animated cat is male or not. The controversy bubbled up two years after Garfield creator Jim Davis told viral content site Mental Floss that as a cat, Garfield is “not really male or female”. Mr Davis sought to clear up the controversy this week, telling the Post that “Garfield is male” and has a girlfriend named Arlene.