INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day in the capital was marked by protesters targeting property developer and construction giant Geocon.

UnionsACT Women’s Committee rallied at the “Tryst” site in Civic insisting that the day was “about the struggle of working women, not about sexism selling property developments”. The protestors say they are “insulted” over what they describe as sexualised images of women in advertising, naked gold models at property events and promotional videos for the “Tryst” apartment block that feature, they say, very young women looking “semi-unconscious”.

BOTH extremes of the capital’s property market are now on open display in the city. To exacerbate Geocon’s public relations headache, a tent city is being erected by the homeless at the entrance to Glebe Park, just metres from its Bunda Street sales centre.

MLA Yvette Berry has ventured outside the square of political promotion to explain why “Labor is making renting fairer by giving tenants the right to have pets in their home”. Berry letterboxed her Ginninderra electorate with a postcard, complete with a pawprint postage stamp, featuring her daughter, a chook and a collie dog. Ms Berry says: “I’ve been lucky to raise my family here in West Belconnen. And I couldn’t imagine doing it without our dog Cassie and our chooks”.

IT’S amazing what a win can do to improve one’s image, especially if you are tennis “bad boy” Nick Kyrgios. Success at the Mexican Open catapulted the 23-year-old Canberran back into the top 30 ATP rankings and also garnered a swathe of positive and gushing headlines.

Gone are the “arrogant”, “meltdown” and “tanking” banners, to be replaced with “uber talented”, “peerless” and “pure tennis box office”. “Forbes” magazine rated Kyrgios as “the most fun tennis player in the world to watch, but not the easiest to watch”. Ben Rosenberg of the “New York Times” was the most poetic in his praise, but added a caveat; “Kyrgios played free, fun and focused ball. Who knows if it will last, but enjoy it while it’s here”.

LOCAL talkback radio titan Tim Shaw issued a stern pre-season warning to Canberra Raiders’ players in the wake of the NRL sex tapes scandal. The former TV kitchen utensil salesman said he didn’t “want to see Raiders players featured on the front pages” for filming sex acts with women and sharing them without knowledge and consent. On his 2CC breakfast show, Shaw thundered: “If you’re going to send a video you wouldn’t want your mother to see, don’t bloody send it”.

SO far the Green Machine remains untarnished by the sex scandal that  league insiders lament is widespread within the NRL and has derailed yet another season launch of the code. Apart from the Jack Wighton affair last year, the Raiders have enjoyed a welcome respite from off-field misbehaviour. Bewilderingly, it’s almost a decade since a Mad Monday celebration resulted in Joel Monaghan being punted after a picture of a lewd act with a dog went viral. The code seems to be slow to learn.

THE March edition of the Barr government’s “Our CBR” flyer tells us that “March is the perfect time to hop on to a dockless bike”. The government says an evaluation of the six-month trial revealed the Airbike bikes were hired more than 8000 times in designated areas that included the ANU, Civic and the inner north. Exactly how this one got to Fyshwick markets is a mystery. But on a positive note – so far as we know – none of the bikes finished up in the lake.

Ordinarily, “Seven Days” doesn’t do lost dog announcements but we couldn’t resist this one. Canberra “hairdresser to the stars” Charles Oliver posted this hilarious encounter with a doggie on his Facebook account: “Saw a cheeky Jack Russell wandering aimlessly around the Ducks Nuts. I became concerned and gave the dog a pat and checked his collar”. Charles was about to call the number on the tag when he turned it over and read: “F#$k off, I’m not lost”.