Humour on HolocaustIs the Holocaust a fit subject for humour? Can we laugh in the context of one of the century's greatest crimes - the industrialised slaughter of millions of Jews, gypsies, other minorities and Slavs? Cinema audiences in Europe are being given two opportunities in rapid succession to decide for themselves. This week sees the release in France of Train de Vie, a comedy in which the Jews of a Romanian shtetl build a false ``deportation train'' and head into Russia to escape the German extermination squads. It will be followed by La Vita e bella (Life is Beautiful), Roberto Benigni's comedy, which won the Grand Jury prize at the Cannes film festival. Romanian-born Radu Mihaileanu said he got the idea for Train de Vie after seeing the Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. Couch-potatoes to culture vulturesThe United States is becoming a country of culture vultures, with more people than ever going to the theatre or opera, reading books and drinkingwine and cappuccino, the National Endowment for the Arts said in a study on cultural trends. The study goes against the stereotype of uncouth rednecks wolfing down Big Macs in front of the television. It finds that Americans are buying serious books in huge numbers and the percentage of people enjoying the peforming arts is rising dramatically. The study notes a proliferation of theatre companies, orchestras and radio stations broadcasting a blend of classical music and news. Almost 27 million people attended theatrical shows during the 1997-1998 season - almost 60 per cent of them outside New York - raking in a record $1.3 billion in ticket sales. The number of professional theatre companies has grown to more than 800, compared to fewer than 60 in 1965. More than 110 American regional orchestras, including the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans, have been founded since 1980. Americans bought 430 million more books in 1995 than in 1982, when 1.7 billion volumes were sold.Queen at teaIt hadbeen billed as an opportunity for the Queen to rid herself of a stuffy image and become more accessible. At the start of a three-day royal visit, the Queen Elizabeth and the Sultan of Brunei greeted each other with a limp handshake it is considered bad manners in Brunei to use a firm grip. They later adjourned to Audience Room Number One. There, perched on thrones, they did what old friends do everywhere: settled down to a nice cup of tea. But already the trip has proved eventful. Even before she had landed, the spin doctors were chastising reporters for stories they considered off message. Mentions of his majesty's air-conditioned stables and fleet of Rolls-Royces were also given a short shrift. The first crack appeared when rumours circulated that a BBC TV crew had been arrested as they tried to film a hotel being built by the construction company run by exiled Prince Jefri. The two cameramen were held by Ghurkas until the pair had made frantic phone calls to prove their identity. Then the Duke ofEdinburgh made one of his gaffes. Prince Philip stood and chatted to the Sultan's wife and pointed to the sky with his index finger. Pointing is considered the height of impoliteness by Bruneians.Pete in VietnamUS Ambassador Pete Peterson said there was virtually no chance of any surviving US prisoners of war still living in Vietnam. ``I never say never, but I would say it is very, very, very unlikely that you would expect to see any live Americans discovered in Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos,'' Peterson said. He said of the 121 reports of live sightings, every investigation resulted in a ``zero outcome, not even a trace''. However, he said that ``half truths'' based on ``multiple conspiratorial theories'' spaw-ned after US troops withdrew in 1973 refuse to go away. He blamed the US government for not being ``forthcoming'' and creating an environment where rumours ran rampant.
