Having a right Beano WHO would make the better Minnie the Minx - Cilla Black or Zoe Ball?

And whose good looks compare to the not-so-handsome Plug - Brad Pitt or Ricky Martin, perhaps?

Visitors to the Beano's website are being asked to decide which celebrities remind them most of the comic's characters.

The results of the poll will be used to decide who is invited to join in the comic's celebrations for its 3,000th issue, due out on January 15.

Votes must be in by January 10 and everyone who takes part will have the chance of winning a Sega Dreamcast and Toy Commander game.

The Beano website also features games, a chat forum and Beano trivia from its first issue in 1938 to the present day.

http://www.beano.co.uk Lessons for parents A NEW government website is designed to help parents get involved in their children's education.

The site aims to take parents from the first step in their children's education - choosing a school - to understanding the National Curriculum.

It also gives parents who are nervous of talking to teachers ideas about what they might ask at parents' evenings.

It is hoped the site might answer many common queries parents have about education, and therefore reduce the burden on teachers.

http://www.parents.dfee.gov.uk Blair sees the light PRIME Minister Tony Blair has admitted he was "virtually phobic" about the internet before taking a computer course earlier this year. But he said he wants to learn more because technology was becoming increasingly important.

He told GMTV this week: "Once you begin it and get over the first stages, then you start to realise this thing has got fantastic possibilities and it just opens up new horizons."

He said he had visited the Newcastle United homepage - but "not during office hours". e-mail goes mobile IMAGINE being able to fit the internet into your pocket.

From January users of Freeserve (http://www.freeserve.net) will be able to - or at least e-mail.

The service, a joint effort by Freeserve and BT Cellnet's internet business Genie Internet (http://www.genie.co.uk) will allow users to access e-mail through their mobile phones.

Initially the first 140 characters of an e-mail message will be able to be transmitted to mobile phone screens.

In the future the two companies plan to launch sport, entertainment and financial information services for mobile users.

As technology progresses, it will be possible to transmit more information.

Basic information services are already available to Genie's 300,000 registered customers, but this agreement will see similar services made available to Freeserve's 1.5 million active subscribers.

Chief executive John Pluthero said: "A little over 50 per cent of our current users have mobile phones.

"That means we have a big population which is ready to use this service right now."

He said Freeserve had yet to work out precise charges for the mobile internet services. Spice of life EX-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell has her own official website.

http://www.geri-halliwell.com Keeping an eye out for bargains SUPERMARKETS UK claims to list the best bargains from supermarkets and high street stores around the country, whether it be cut-price frozen prawns or cheap electrical goods.

http://www.supermarketsuk.co.uk Quiz is a hit THE monthly quiz on our own website, This is Lancashire, is really taking off.

In November there were more than 130 entries from as far afield as Australia and the USA.

The theme for December's quiz is Lancashire Through the Century - so why not test your knowledge?

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.