Monthly Archives: August 2010

Total perspective vortex

Posted on August 31, 2010 by

Apparently the Nanny State (boo, hiss) has ‘outlawed’ (gasp) a child’s trampoline (omfg i am WEEPING). Or not. Instead, a local housing association (not the State) has asked that a trampoline on its property be taken down so it can … Continue reading →

Posted in Elf 'n' safety, Express, Media, Total perspective vortex | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Matt Lucas takes the Mail to court

Posted on August 27, 2010 by

In May, the Star paid damages to Matt Lucas of Little Britain fame after the death of his partner for alleging that Lucas had been put on suicide watch and that he had met a new boyfriend and chosen to … Continue reading →

Posted in Damages, Mail | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Spot the difference at the Guardian

Posted on August 27, 2010 by

Via Paul Bradshaw and Fleet Street Blues comes an unhappy example of churnalism at the Guardian. It was published a couple of weeks ago, but this article, attributed to Denis Campbell, is near-identical to the press release sent out by … Continue reading →

Posted in Churnalism, Guardian, Health, Media | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Mangling migration at the Mail

Posted on August 26, 2010 by

Update: Read 5CC. The population density figures that put England on a par with the Netherlands don’t take into account that nearly 20% of the Netherlands is covered by water. Sometimes I think I’m becoming immune to these things. When … Continue reading →

Posted in Immigration, Mail, Media | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Baroness Ashton and the £8 million-a-year office

Posted on August 26, 2010 by

Some newspapers really don’t like the EU, to the point where they’ll misinterpret, make things up, and generally do an appalling job of informing people about anything at all. So Baroness Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and … Continue reading →

Posted in EU, Express, Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Keeping tabs on British tabloids

Posted on August 23, 2010 by

This blog’s been a bit quiet lately, but hopefully you’ve not missed me too much because you’re following the others in the links to the right. While you’re waiting, here’s a excerpt from an article I wrote for the European … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Shameless plugging | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Any excuse? (NSFW)

Posted on August 19, 2010 by

It’s always important to use an appropriate picture for a news story. But the Sun’s really stooped with this one. Sexual assault? Get ‘em out, love, let’s see what he was after. Absolutely vile.

Posted in Media, Sun | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Tongue twisting

Posted on August 15, 2010 by

Yesterday the Express reported on the number of children in Manchester who don’t speak English as a first language. Here’s how it starts: FEWER than a third of schoolchildren in one of Britain’s largest cities speak English as their first … Continue reading →

Posted in Express, Immigration, Media, MigrationWatch | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

A lack of inquiry

Posted on August 10, 2010 by

Despite what it might look like, I don’t just read newspaper websites to pick up stories to sneer at on here. I also read them for, well, news. But it really annoys me when I read a story, take it … Continue reading →

Posted in Churnalism, Corrections, Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The apocowlypse and the power of prayer

Posted on August 7, 2010 by

The death cows are coming! Mooooooo! Alright, so if you’ve been keeping up to date with the latest scare story to come out of the front page of the Mail (others reported it a little less dramatically), you’ll know that … Continue reading →

Posted in Express, Health, Mail, Media, Science, We're all going to die | Tagged , , | 7 Comments