In an amusing twist, a poll on the Daily Mail homepage appears to show 84% of visitors to the site support the today’s industrial action. This is in stark contrast to the Mail‘s vehemently anti-strike frontpage this morning.
It also provides an odd counterpoint to their lead story, quoting David Cameron’s description of the two-million-worker walkout as “a damp squib”.
Whilst the rest of the internet was announcing Amanda Knox had been cleared of murder, the Daily Mail clearly had different ideas.
In the excitement of the news breaking, it seems someone at the newspaper’s offices has pressed the wrong button, and posted the wrong pre-prepared version. The erroneous story was quickly taken down but Scrapbook has a full archived copy here.
Some poor subeditor will be treated to a private viewing of Paul Dacre’s very own “Vagina Monologues” tomorrow morning.
The Daily Mail have exploited the tragic accidental death of a child to attack teachers taking industrial action. In what is apparently a freak accident, 13 year-old Sophie Howard was struck by a large branch as she sat on a park bench in Peterborough. But this did not stop the paper laying the blame for the incident with teachers:
“The 13-year-old, named locally as Sophie Howard, was out with friends as her school was closed because of industrial action.”
The link was also made, with varying degrees of sensationalism, by other newspapers including the Telegraph and Daily Mirror. By way of contrast, however, even the foamingly anti-union Sun resists the temptation to score cheap points: its article is titled simply Teen dies after park branch fall and omits quotes such as “she should have been safe at school”.
While the incident is not being treated as suspicious by the police, the Health and Safety Executive are to investigate the maintenance of the 50ft tall poplar tree, which was reportedly attended to by tree surgeons last Autumn due to concerns about its safety. Ownership (and responsibility for the upkeep) of the tree lies not with teachers but the local Yaxley Parish Council.
“Girl crushed to death by council’s tree despite safety concerns” did not fit with the desired desired political narrative.
Yesterday afternoon saw the Daily Mail run particularly lurid speculation, even by its own base standards, about the “suicidal” state of former US senator John Edwards. The quote features a quote from “a close friend” who, naturally, cannot be named because they are almost certainly invented:
Disgraced politician John Edwards is said to be deeply depressed – to the point of being suicidal – over the prospect of a criminal trial that could end with him being jailed if found guilty. The 57-year-old former Presidential candidate reportedly told a close friend: “I won’t go to jail. I’d kill myself first!”
Those wondering what the mail was playing at got their answer in the next sentence: “He has lost 20lb in the last year and is a ‘broken spirit,’ reports the National Enquirer.” That’s the same National Enquirer that produced headlines such as:
While the Enquirer did scoop the story of Edwards’ affair with a film maker and their love child back in 2008, the supermarket tabloid is infamous for its somewhat slippery purchase on the truth.
Just like the Daily Mail then.
Having championed the ageism case of Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly and excoriating the BBC for a “slapdash approach to recruitment”, the Daily Mail has been forced to amend the wording of one of its own job vacancies.
An advert in the Media Guardian inviting applications for a year-long course at the Mail’s own trainee reporters scheme originally read:
“We are looking for bright, sharp, intelligent young writers”
However this was amended to, y’know, comply with the law and stuff:
“We are looking for bright, sharp, intelligent writers”
The Mail has previously appealed for individuals featured in finance case study features to be ”preferably female and in their 20s”.
Few will be surprised by the Daily Mail today, supporting the right of business owners to discriminate against gay couples after a court ruled in favour of civil partners Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy, who were denied a bed in a B&B by the owners. Many won’t even be surprised by the Orwell-referencing headline of: “Now some people are more equal than others”.
Even so, Scrapbook can’t quite believe the cartoon today:
No, it’s not that they’re depicting the gay couple as big scary bikers. It’s that the couple are tattooed with swastikas:
Now, as open-minded as we are, even we can understand why you might feel uneasy about Nazis staying in your B&B. But now, with this ruling you’ll have to let in every big, scary, angry, probably violent, neo-Nazi, biker gay couple who turn up up on your doorstep demanding a room.
No wonder this country’s going to the dogs, eh?
Hat-tip: Avid Daily Mail reader Seph Brown.
One would assume the issue of road pricing would be far from the minds of journalists covering the murder of Joanna Yeates. Not the Mail’s Liz Jones, however, who uses the horrific murder and abduction of the Bristol architect as a platform for a cheap attack on the toll for Clifton Suspension Bridge, suggesting that the killer used another route because “he also wanted to avoid the 50p toll”:
Leaving Jo’s flat, I return to my car. My satnav takes me to the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The theory is the killer took the long route from the flat to where he dumped the body to avoid the CCTV cameras. Perhaps he also wanted to avoid the 50p toll. I don’t have 50p and try tossing 30p and a White Company button into the bucket. It doesn’t work.
There is now an angry queue behind me. Isn’t it interesting that you can snatch a young woman’s life away from her in the most violent, painful, frightening way possible, take away her future children, her future Christmases, take away everything she loves, and yet there are elaborate systems in place to ensure you do not cross a bridge for only 30 pence?
Words fail this blogger.
Please forgive the delay in highlighting this cock-up from the intrepid truth seekers at the Daily Mail. Writing on the so-called “ruthless discipline” imposed on the 2010 intake by Conservative Party whips this week, Andrew Pierce cited the example of Tracey Crouch’s abstention on tuition fees:
Crouch, born to a single mother and brought up on a council estate in Carlisle, would never have been able to go to university if the fees regime had been in place when she left school.
This familial absenteeism came as something of a surprise to Crouch’s father, whose also found his Kent home relocated 385 miles up the road to, erm, Cumbria:
This (now revised) piece led Scrapbook to recall a similar (still uncorrected) face-palm moment from November. Richard Kay was reputably one of the only journalists trusted by Princess Diana. One assumes this admiration did not stem from his research skills.
Speculating as to the contents of Jack Straw’s memoirs, Kay writes:
Straw, who backed Ed Miliband for the Labour leadership, will not pull his punches …
Perhaps Straw’s tome will also explain how he “backed Ed Miliband” while not actually voting for him (even with a preference vote) and publicly supporting his brother?
The Daily Mail: making stuff up since 1896.
