www.howletts.net

How often have you taken your kids to the zoo, only to find that the tigers are asleep, the star gorilla is on paternity leave, and the elephants are away being groomed for a TV appearance?

Perhaps to make up for such disappoint-ments , Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent has installed six webcams, giving website visitors the chance to spy on the inmates night and day.

The site uses the latest webcam technology which allows users to pan the camera through 360 degrees, then zoom in on the prey.

A great idea, only slightly marred by the realisation that if someone else is looking at the same tiger you have to wait your turn. Patience is rewarded by views of railings, grass - and then, by God, it’s a tiger, just discernible in the afternoon gloom.

Metropolitan Police

http:www.met.police.uk

London’s police have taken to cyberspace with alacrity. The result is this size 12 boot of a website which combines New Scotland Yard’s finest PR practice with lots of information and an imaginative education section.

If you live in London, you can pay a virtual visit to your local police station and check the crime statistics in your vicinity. There’s a news service chronicling, in classic constabulary reporting style, the capital’s daily crop of crimes. And, in the education area, the chance to spend a virtual night in the nick, as well as an illustrated history of the force, and advice on how to stay out of troublenot get robbed.

Bill Hicks

www.tes.co.uk