OFF THE VINE: All publicity is good publicity guv'nor, honest

<p>Oh dear. Vine has just received a rather stroppy letter from one of </p><p>our subjects, referring to our item back in January in which we </p><p>mentioned a new book called Hardship Posting. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The author, one 'Colonel Ken', has called our competition - guess which </p><p>one of the three people on the cover is ex-adman Stuart Lloyd - as </p><p>"ill-conceived". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The irony is this," he writes. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"NONE of the pouting beauties on the laminated wash-clean cover is that </p><p>reformed advertising wanker Stuart Lloyd. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"It is indeed The Colonel (i.e. moi!) that is front and centre, flanked </p><p>by my rather comely (and I use that word advisedly) Thai assistants, Oo </p><p>and Aa. So you have posed a trick question to your readers. I don't </p><p>think Lloyd could manage to grow such proud and prolific facial fungus </p><p>as mine in two lifetimes." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Colonel Ken also took a potshot at fellow author Jim Aitchison, whom he </p><p>described as a "part-timer, compared to my 30 illustrious years in </p><p>Asia". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"What battalion was he stationed with in Vietnam anyway?" the Colonel </p><p>demanded to know. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Still, not all was vitriol. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Colonel Ken has grandly put up signed copies of Hardship Posting as </p><p>prizes for the Vine competition, courtesy of his "miserable </p><p>publishers". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>So what's holding you all back? </p><p><BR><BR> </p>