In case you haven’t caught up with it yet, there’s a hilarious response to this story from Cumbria’s Westmorland Gazette published back in January. The comments thread takes on a life of its own, but first the news:

Chair destroyed
By Andrew Daniels
Read Comments (74)

AN OFFICE chair was destroyed after it was set on fire on the grassy area, off Maude Street, Kendal, this afternoon (Friday).

Fire crews from Kendal attended along with police.

A spokesman for the fire and rescue service said: “A delinquent set fire to an office chair in the middle of a grassy area and it was extinguished using one hose jet.”

The 74 comments really are priceless…

The chair knew the risks. Gang Warfare in Kendal is rife, and when you choose a side, you gotta be down with the risks.

I think it high time the Westmorland Gazette had something newsworthy to print: perhaps a drowned shopping trolley in the Kent or a discarded piece of mint cake found on the cobbled streets of Kendal.

This story has upset me so much I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep tonight – I work with office chairs very closely on a daily basis and they’ve always treated me well and to hear stories like this makes me sick to my stomach.

If your government continues to hold our agents of freedom illegally in detention camps, other chairs will meet the same fate as this one.

Ergonomic disasters of this magnitude were last seen during the fall of Rome.

Last laugh to the editor though:

This has been our most-viewed story for nearly a week now. Three chairs for local news!

Mike Glover
Editor/Publisher