Used President: The image of former President...

Used President: The image of former President Richard Nixon is helping sell used Volkswagens in England. Parade magazine editor-at-large Lloyd Shearer reports that a full-page ad in the Observer newspaper features a photograph of an unnamed, unshaven Nixon with the headline: “Would you buy a used car from this man?” The answer provided is: “(Depends on the car.)”

Strip Comic: Mort Walker, creator of the “Beetle Bailey” comic strip, which was once banned from the Army’s newspaper, received an Army civilian award Thursday in Washington, D.C. “This plaque proves that as hard as it is to find anything in the Pentagon, they finally found their sense of humor,” Walker said. One of the 1,800-plus newspapers the strip appears in is the Army’s Stars and Stripes.

Punished Royally: A spanking that Princess Diana gave one of her sons evoked comment from London papers. Diana punished William, 7, during his school’s sports day in London Wednesday after he defied her by dashing off to cavort with other boys. The Daily Mirror called it the “slap that could change the world,” saying too many parents think any kind of punishment is wrong.

Song’s Mirror: Barbara Bush, speaking Wednesday at what she called “one of the most illustrious high schools in the country,” exhorted black graduates to remember their most important role model “is the man or the woman in the mirror . . . . If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change,” the First Lady said, quoting lines from a Michael Jackson song at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C.