It’s been a while since we were able to bring you some Friday funnies, so either you’ve all been too busy soaking up the sun to send us any, or the newspaper world has tightened up its act a bit.

No matter, here’s some more to tide us over till our inbox is full-to-bursting again. All contributions gratefully received at [email protected].

First stop this week is the Leicester Mercury. While this is not a press funny in the, er, technical sense of the term, we think you’d have to agree it’s one of the funniest local press stories – and surely one of the greatest headlines – to appear in ages.

Next, two entries from the Southport Visiter. It seems from the last par of this story that the local council in Sefton has been employing some rather unusual traffic calming measures.

Also from the Visiter, it seems that one local firm is already getting ready for Christmas…

In the week the government unveiled the biggest cuts to public spending in modern history, it’s good to see the Harrogate Advertiser isn’t afraid to ask the big questions.

And finally, in a similar sort of vein, we hope the Peterborough Evening Telegraph’s intrepid hacks have finally been able to solve a mystery that’s been baffling road users and newspaper readers alike.