Brian Rogers Rogers Rabbits www.sunlive.co.nz

Happy New Year and welcome to the start of another 50-odd weeks of The Sun. Some of them will be particularly odd.

The summer break is all about family and alert readers will have noticed that some households celebrate their diverse make up, with stick people families on the back windscreen of their cars. Here at RR headquarters, we have launched an immediate investigation into this latest fad.

It is well reported that any sort of windscreen adornment reduces road safety and this column has campaigned often against unnecessary clutter and distractions to driving safely. Worst offenders, in our view, are stupid things dangling from the rear view mirror. Now, we have the entire family impairing vision across the back window.

Sensible countries make it illegal to stick rubbish all over the windows of your car. Not here. You can have your entire stamp collection plastered on the glass and half your wardrobe hanging off the mirror… and still drive legally.

It appears the stick people are taking over the back windows in a relentless march of anorexic and artistically-challenged naffness.

Our research shows that stick people families have become necessary because, apparently, it is absolutely vital that following traffic know exactly the demographics of the vehicle in front. Right down to the individual leisure pursuits of said family members, plus the cat and the odd horse.

Really, how did we manage before? We had to guess the number, gender, size, occupation and sporting interests of the occupants. How nineties is that.

There is a serious side to all this. Why give away any details of your family situation, interests or hobbies to the wider public? Surely it is advertising to potential criminals that your family may have desirable goodies or weaknesses to be exploited: Fishing gear, iPads, iPods, iWhatevers, computers, bikes etc. And also details about your personal life that may identify you as an easy target for a burglar or intruder. Such as being single or not having a watchdog.

We've also been alerted to some funny send-ups of the 'my family” stickers, including the one with mum and the kids on one side looking not very happy, and on the other side, dad skipping away with the scantily-clad secretary.

Here are some questions:

We wonder how a weight watchers family would portray themselves as stick figures. Would they have really wide sticks? Do stick insects draw pictures of themselves with people bodies?

Would my dog fetch a stick person?

We'll leave it to you to imagine what sort of stick family pictures these people have:
Tiger Woods, David Bain, Mark Lundy, The naked cyclist, The Invisible Man. I guess only his cat would be seen. Unless he also has The Invisible Cat.

Meanwhile Statistics NZ tells us there's about seven weeks to go before census day. On March 5, everyone in the country is expected to fill out the census form. Census collectors will visit about 1.8 million homes, delivering 6.4 million census forms (4.6 million individual and 1.8 million dwelling forms), and Internet Access Codes. Collectors will be encouraging people to complete their forms online.

Why are they bothering to ask? They should just count the stick people on the back windows of our cars.

Parting thought, sent in by astute reader, Lynne: