The Framley Examiner started life as an online parody/facsimile of an English local newspaper, painstakingly recreated by a team of comic writers. This book was the eventual spin-off. To anyone not familiar with the sort of regional newspapers which are being spoofed, both book and website (which is still in existence and is regularly updated) will be incomprehensible, but to those in on the joke, it's a total delight. Its charm for me lies in the fact that everything - adverts, editorial, letters page, lonely-hearts columns - looks exactly like the real thing, yet inhabits a surreal parallel universe, complete with placenames that teeter on the verge of being believable (just look at any map of the English countryside to see what I mean). A lovingly-created, wickedly-funny treat. ( )