Given The News of The World The World And Save Us From Dire Rivals
ONE of the joys of being me is that I can change my mind without shame. So while it is true I rarely ever had a good word to say about the late News of the World, I now say this: bring it back! I don’t make this plea because I think it was especially brilliant: its absence simply draws attention to the sheer awfulness of the survivors.
The Sunday Mirror is a thin soup of nothing-in-particular and lame commentary – who cares what the pompous teeth-bearing TV newsreader Mark Austin thinks about anything? Its TV supplement Celebs is printed on nasty cheap bog roll paper and makes theScrews‘ Fabulous look like Vogue. The People may still interest a few pre-internet thugs who use ITV Teletext to find last minute holiday bargains. TheSunday Express at least has a short story – amazing. The Mail on Sunday is no substitute: its market is quite different and lacks the essential celebrity smut the Screws served up with a side dish of moral nosegay.
No, bring it back. What I need is prurient eye-anchoring to fill the 20 minutes I dedicate to breakfast cereal and two black coffees on a Sunday morning. If the Murdochs think the brand irreparably toxic then retitle the paper as part of the exorcism. The World might work. Yes, call it The World. Most of the staff could be brought back, even Carole Malone from her rhetorical hells, and saved a fate in Finland or wherever. Its return need not stop Twitter’s @exnotwjourno2 from writing her Hackgate play.
I’m astonished James Murdoch didn’t think of this himself. How much is he on?
Posted: 3rd, August 2011 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
