There is a Yorkshire expression, that many people are fond of quoting, to account for strange behaviour: “There's nowt so queer as folk”. Some folk, always other folk and never oneself, are more queer than others (and many Englishmen would claim that Yorkshire folk are stranger than most, but that's another story).

The expression came to mind when I read a column in Icaro, the magazine of Varig, the Brazilian airline. I am not fond of flying at the st of times and finding a magazine called Icaro in the seat pocket of a fully-laden jet increased my anxiety. Icaro, presumably, is Portuguese for that legendary character Icarus who, in attempting to escape from Crete, flew so high that the sun melted the wax that held his wings on with the consequence that he fell in the sea. A stranger title for an airline magazine would be hard to find.