BEING bored and bemused by Brexit has inspired me to create a virtual board game called Scramble.

I grew up with Scrabble and even became a minor school champion.

I know, for example, that there is a word "Greenbelt" which is worth 12 points.

Truth and honesty, however, don't add up to much.

In my Scramble everyone scores points off each other - a politically correct past time where you use as many cliched campaign words as possible.

It would be an ideal research tool for our councillors to brush up on their campaign cliches.

Some politicians actually understand the words they use. Others simply mouth them parrot fashion and - pardon the cliche - drop them like a ton of bricks once the polling booths close.

I developed rampant apathy perusing the promises and sound bytes now being made by the respective local parties scrambling for local authority power.

I scanned the respective summaries in the Globe from our local democracy reporter.

The various parties are all planning a whole new era should they get into office.

I was struck by the words that kept popping up.

Here's a quick re-count:

Labour: investing; prioritising and improving. Conservatives: fighting; protecting and supporting. Lib Dems: co-operating; demanding and safeguarding.

Greens: engaging; maximising and abandoning. Independents/ others: accountability, meaningfullness and change. No matter how much I looked I could not find the words "transparency" and "consultation."

And that dreaded coupling "zero tolerance" received nil points.

On May 2 there is one word that will win my annual Scramble game hands down. Only three letters long but with the power to shape life on Wirral for the better.

That word is priceless not pointless.

It's ... you.

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MY favourite tea mug became even more collectable this week.

This quaint china keepsake was given to me when I first worked in Wirral - emblazoned with the following words and phrases: stone walls; whispering sea grass; church bells, fish and chips on the prom; children’s laughter; quirky shops; wide horizons and double rainbows.

A potted, poetic description of West Kirby.

The images aptly chronicled on my cup summed up the appeal of one of Wirral’s attractive assets - salty West Kirby.

Alas, it is no longer my own best kept secret - we will now have to share it.

The Sunday Times research team praised it by making it number 10 in their top places to live in the North West survey.

This is a major accolade.

After all is said and done it's not often Wirral gets positive national coverage and it follows on from the timely praise heaped on born-again New Brighton in The Guardian.

It’s encouraging to see positive headlines at last as opposed to the ongoing council controversies from litter enforcement to the exclusive Globe leaks on the Greenbelt (that 12-point word again).

So well done West Kirby. I'd now like to see the following ST quotes on peninsular wide billboards: "Scones, seaside and the cream on top."

And how about T-shirts with the inviting slogan: "West Kirby - Tearoom Country."

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SUPERNATURAL author Tom Slemen's weekly Globe column proves that tales of the unexplained are as popular as ever ..

Now BBC1's Ghosts from the Horrible Histories team is a high-spirited Monday night comedy series which features a collection of spooks who do not want a couple to move into their house.

Nothing new there, but if is the first time I have seen a pre-historic caveman ghost.

The timing is spooky.

One story currently causing spine-tingling interest in the American press is a spectre haunting a supermarket in Massachusetts.

It is a woman from the Victorian era in her nightgown who has been seen by the frozen peas.

Chilling indeed ... and no laughing matter, but it has seen an increase in shoppers using the express check-out till.

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TOMMY Smith was here.

I remember being shown the very desk where the soccer legend sat for five years in the 1950s at Cardinal Godfrey High School in Anfield.

Our teachers were proud to say that with Smithy's inspiration, we too, could follow in his boot steps.

Years later I met him at a sportsman's dinner.

He had retired from football and become a journalist.

We shared memories of being consistently caned by the Christian Brothers.

Maybe, we agreed, such experiences shaped his tough persona.

I told Tommy that my brother Michael had a themed kitchen with pictures of soccer legends and asked him if he would sign a beer mat for the mini-museum.

He insisted on writing "To our Michael - You’ll Never Walk Alone, Tommy Smith, LFC.

"That way it won’t end up in a car boot sale," he said with a Charles Bronson smile.

The modest, unique late great Anfield Iron is alive and kicking on my brother’s wall.

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And finally ...

Merseyside public relations guru Joel Jelon has broken his vow not to talk politics.

Joel has revealed smile-inducing relief for the forthcoming local elections.

He suggests voters should try poking a shirt or blouse out from behind the booth curtain and then asking the polling staff: "Have you got this in a medium size?"

Peter Grant