FERRARI MAY have won its first Formula One constructors' title in 16 years, but there was little joy in Italy on Monday.

THE BRITISH soprano Victoria Sladen, who sang with Sadler's Wells Opera (now English National Opera) and Covent Garden Opera (now the Royal Opera) in the 1940s and 1950s, excelled in roles such as Tosca, in which her outstanding good looks as well as her fine voice were displayed to best advantage.

MORE GOVERNMENT money to fight speeding motorists is the latest call from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), members of which are meeting transport ministers in London today specifically to discuss speed limits.

With its V8 engine and complete redesign, the Lotus Esprit no longer resembles a `doorstop on wheels'. Will our readers approve?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a super-fast French supercar. But what do our readers think of it? By Michael Booth

YESTERDAY was also Maundy Thursday, when the Queen hands out alms to the poor and silk to the barristers.

ONE CAN only imagine how many times Gareth Hemmings had gazed almost lustfully at the sleek, sporty lines of the Ferrari he was supposed to be watching over in his job as a showroom security guard.

Ferrari's last world champion is helping his sons to follow in his Formula One footsteps.

EVEN TRADERS have families, though if they live anywhere but London, there's rarely time to visit them. My mother thinks London is a frightful place, even for a visit, with a population that consists entirely of muggers and people in a hurry. "And everyone's so rude," she says, wide-eyed, as if 30 Women's Institute members waiting right in front of the ticket barriers at Tottenham Court Road Underground station while one of their number buys peppermints doesn't count as provocation.

Your sitting-room may end up looking like a small branch of Dixons, but if you're a sensorama sound freak, who cares? By Philip Kerr

It handled atrociously - well, it was six cars glued together

ONE OF THE group of city traders known as the "Flaming Ferraris" resigned yesterday, amid allegations of improper dealing. Adrian Ezra, 31, one of the group's leading figures, was suspended from his job last week, with another senior executive, David Crasanti, and James Archer, the son of Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare. The men all work for Credit Suisse First Boston.

The Temp

AT LAST, fetish comes to the ski slopes. Visitors to the small Alpine village of Vars will notice that the place is teeming with brightly coloured rubber-clad not-quite-human beings. This is because Vars is a mecca for speed skiers, who gather here to compete at zooming down near- vertical, ice-covered slopes. Not for the fainthearted, their sport is to plunge off a snowy plateau some 3,000m high. Ideal conditions are no wind and as hard a slope as possible, which must be scraped smooth: the tiniest bump can mean a wipe-out.