  We investigate the point-parity and mirror-parity handedness of the large
angle anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In particular we
consider whether the observed low CMB quadrupole could more generally signal
odd point-parity, i.e. suppression of even multipoles. Even though this feature
is ``visually'' present in most renditions of the WMAP dataset we find that it
never supports parity preference beyond the meagre 95% confidence level. This
is fortunate as point parity handedness implies almost certainly a high level
of galactic contamination. Mirror reflection parity, on the contrary, is
related to the emergence of a preferred axis, defining the symmetry plane. We
use this technique to make contact with recent claims for an anisotropic
Universe, showing that the detected preferred axis is associated with positive
(even) mirror parity. This feature may be an important clue in identifying the
culprit for this unexpected signal.
