DW offers bribe for ideas on rigging

Go on, just one free-pitch. The silliest idea for a new use for Shell’s defunct Brent Spar oil rig sent to Design Week wins a free drink. Shell is considering schemes suggesting its use as a marine safety training centre or in coastal defence schemes. DW’s creative gurus have other ideas: With the clever use of helium and some red paint, Richard Branson could attempt to fly around the world in it. It would probably fly as well as his balloons, and garner even more cheap publicity. Cutting the top off the rig could form a giant, floating motorcycle wall of death for bored designers to ride their Ducatis and Vespas around. A Conran restaurant for the homeless could be floated off the South Coast; a James Bond villain could live in it, or Peter Stringfellow could open a nightclub in it. He could then continue his habit of living above the shop. Suggestions to the usual address please.