Broadsheets Category
Top news from The Times, Daily Telegraph, The Indepedent and The Guardian newspapers
Boris Johnson: The Man Who Mistook His Hat For The War On Terror
THIS week London mayor Boris Johnson talks about his hat:
I hitched my rucksack, tucked my right trouser leg into my sock and was about to clamber aboard the King of the Road when I realised there was something terribly wrong with my appearance. I clapped my head. My helmet! I’d forgotten to wear the symbol of my new deference to correct thinking… the chinstrap of social obedience.
Lest readers mistake this for filler and evince that you ne London mayor and a columnist, Johnson ties his hatless head to the war on terror and 42 days detention:
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Posted: 17th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians | Comments (3)
Jim White On How Journalism Works
SAYS Jim White in the Telegraph:
As time-wasting opportunities go, no one in history has come up with anything to match YouTube. Every day starts the same: switch on the computer, check the email inbox, then follow the links to YouTube that have been sent by various correspondents eager to share their discoveries.
And that’s how newspapers are made…
Posted: 16th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comment (1)
Peter Wilby On The Death Of Newspaper Columnists
DO newspaper columnists know anything more than an expert? Anorak is called the Anorak for a reason – we know nothign but can learn:
Is it possible that British readers – or, rather, editors, who take great pride in their columnists and sometimes pay them extravagant sums – will soon tire of all this opinion? Speaking last week at a panel on the future of journalism, the Guardian columnist Ben Goldacre suggested readers want to hear more from “people who actually know about stuff”. Instead of star writers giving their opinions, he said, journalism needed “more editors helping … experts in their field to produce something that is understandable”.
Source – get this – Peter Wilby
Posted: 16th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Tabloids | Comment
Chanting A Weak Farewell To George Bush
PRESIDENT George Bush “will bid Britain farewell today and then fly home after a frantic final tour of Europe where he secured vague assurances of support, but little tangible progress, for what remains of his foreign policy,” writes the Times.
Caption the picture.
Bush is pictured meeting with the Queen (FT and Times’ front pages) and Gordon Brown (Telegraph).
But the Guardian features not the star but his opponents. A clue to the paper’s seinsibilities can be sensed in its leader column: “World leaders have legacies. Global disasters have aftermaths.”
The front page headline trills: “What do we want? George Bush. What do we get? A no-show.”
Crowds often turn out in Britain for the farewell tours of famous American names and yesterday was no exception. Some 2,500 had gathered in Parliament Square hours before the big event was due to start, and there plenty of T-shirts and memorabilia on sale.But despite non-stop chants of his name, the star of the show made no appearance in front of the crowds.
The Guardian is the papers that ignores the big American star on the red carpet and looks at the fans. It says Bush is not there, which may means the paper was in the wrong place? It seems surprised that chanting someone’s name fails to conjure them up. Still, no news can still be news:
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Posted: 16th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians | Comments (10)
Madeleine McCann: EastEnders Reacts, Evil GP And Relocated
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
The newspapers’ hunt for Madeleine McCann has passed. The missing child now serves as a point of reference for anyone looking to add realism to a work of fiction:
PEOPLE: “I’m having a BLAST in EastEnders – EXCLUSIVE As evil GP Mad May is back to terrorise Walford actress Amanda Drew lifts lid on her return”
Eastenders’ “Mad May” is one of the most sinister psychos to grace Walford. The evil GP vanished last year after trying to steal her love rival’s baby.
A female doctor, like Kate McCann?
In an exclusive chat with The People, Amanda, 38, talks about being single, her friendship with Catherine Tate and why she was relieved when scriptwriters changed her storylines at the time Madeleine McCann went missing.
Firth things first:
Q When you left last year your storylines were rewritten because it was too similar to the Madeleine McCann disappearance.
How did you feel about it?
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Posted: 16th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (273)
Some Justice For Stephen Lawrence And Duwayne Brooks
ANORAK once had reason to ask a barrister for advice, and met with one who had encounteredDavid Norris, Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt, Like Knight and Gary Dobson. He described them as “unlovely”. Others would call them much worse:
Four suspects in the murder of Stephen Lawrence have been ordered to pay damages to Lawrence’s close friend Duwayne Brooks, who was with him when he died and was attacked by the same gang.
A judge at Central London county court has made an order that David Norris, Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt and Gary Dobson, along with 10 others involved in racist attacks, should pay nominal damages of £100 each to Brooks for assault, conspiracy and false imprisonment.
Brooks sued the defendants in their own capacity and as representatives of one or more racist gangs in south-east London, particularly those known locally as the NTOs (Nutty or Nazi Turnout) in Thamesmead and the Krays in Eltham.
It is the first court ruling against the suspects in the murder case. A private prosecution against three of the suspects in April 1996 collapsed and police have never charged anyone with the murder.
Brooks deserves our praise and our support…
Posted: 14th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comments (4)
Soaking Up Spain’s Global Warming Expo
GLOBAL warming is making Spain as dry as, well, Spain in the summer.
On the BBC website, on May 13, 2008, David Shukman writes:
In a year that so far ranks as Spain’s driest since records began 60 years ago, the reservoir is currently holding as little as 18% of its capacity – at a time of year when winter rains would usually have provided an essential boost by now.
We are lost. Spain is lost:
But they may buy time for a highly controversial pipeline to be completed by the end of the year…. And it may also remind people of the forecasts from climate scientists of still drier conditions to come in the approaching decades.
As the newswires say:
The Spanish government said Friday it has cancelled a 180-million-euro (280-million-dollar) scheme to channel water from the river Ebro to the Barcelona region, after heavy rains eased drought fears. Deputy premier Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the government decided the scheme was “no longer necessary.”
What happened? The Guardian knows:
After months of the worst drought for 60 years, Spain has experienced the wettest May since 1971; it rained on 18 days of the month.
At Expo2008 in Zaragoza, Spain:
And there’s water, water everywhere: dripping, splashing, trickling and hammering, cascading down the side of Europe’s biggest freshwater aquarium, meandering through the cathedral-like gloom of the Aragon pavilion and surrounding the Spanish pavilion like a moat.
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Posted: 14th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comment (1)
Newspaper Reaction To David Davis
HOW the newspapers view David Davis’ stance on 42 days, by The Croydonian:
The Sun – “HAS David Davis gone stark raving mad? How else can we explain his silly act of self-styled martyrdom?…This was no noble cause. It was a shabby act of treachery. Mr Davis, a second-rate but ferociously ambitious politician, has not forgiven his rival for thrashing him in the Tory leadership race two years ago“. So the hotline from No 10 to Nws Group still works.
The Mirror – “This brave gamble by a popular politician from a humble background will make him a hero to many and establish him as rival for the Tory crown“. They must really hate / fear Cameron.
Express – No leader comment that I can find. Doubtless there are some micro celebrities in need of attention
Mail – No leader comment that I can find. Quentin Letts likes DD though.
Guardian – “He is right on ID cards, but only on the basis of an excessively sweeping mistrust of the state. The liberty he is concerned with is, almost exclusively, liberty from official interference. There is little place in this conception for freedom from destitution, for example, which only the state can provide“. (C sticks his tongue into his lower lip and makes ‘stupid’ noises)
Independent – “we agree wholeheartedly with the trenchant opposition of the MP for Haltemprice and Howden to “the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms” that has taken place in recent years“. Crikey.
Times – No leader comment. A dull item by Riddell I could not face.
Telegraph – Mixed, but finishes ‘Mr Davis’s resignation may have been reckless, misguided and highly disconcerting for the political establishment – but, driven by principle, it is none the less laudable for that’. If they had got it wrong I would be cancelling it today.
FT.com – “On the substance of these issues Mr Davis has right on his side. Pre-charge detention of up to 42 days remains unjustified: this was apparent all over again in Wednesday’s debate. Similarly, the case for curtailing personal freedoms to introduce ID cards has simply not been made. Too many civil liberties have already been taken away“.
David Davis – at last someone is doing something interesting in politics…
Posted: 14th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians, Tabloids | Comments (2)
Those Newspaper Freebies Unwrapped
REASONS why you should buy a newspaper: No. 1 – because they give you “free” things you really want:
A look at today’s offers:
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “FREE INSIDE – How To Photograph Absolutely Everything”
Take photos of the Loch Ness Monster, Osama bin Laden and the dark side of the moon – guaranteed!
DAILY MAIL: “FREE INSIDE – Michael Caine DVD.” It’s the Whistle Blower. Heard of it? for those of you that haven’t, a look at the imdb tells us:
Some time ago I bought this movie for just 3 euro’s. This low price was probably already a secret sign saying: ‘Don’t buy this one boy…!!’ But still, Michael Caine starred in it..a respectable actor…I gave it a try.
I put it in the DVD player and pushed the play button…This movie has no story, no goal, no suspense , no action, just nothing. Just meaningless dialogues and strange people. Now I am a nice and positive guy but this film really has to be one of the lousiest movies EVER made.
A FREE JAM JAR COASTER FOR EVERY READER
DAILY EXPRESS: “FREE 10 Pack Of Summer Bedding Plants” and “FREE 10 CC”
A syringe of heroin made from your poppy bedding plants?
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Posted: 14th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Tabloids | Comments (3)
Madeleine McCann: Why Gordon Brown Did It
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
The Madeleine McCann case is not making much news. But you can still find the missing child being used as a point of reference for lazy hacks looking for context:
DAILY MIRROR: “If I hadn’t been found I would have had a different life –
EXCLUSIVE 20 YEARS ON ..KIDNAP BABY NATALIE”
When she was cruelly snatched aged five months by a woman posing as a store detective, Natalie became Britain’s most famous baby.
That’s Natalie Horrell, in case you’ve forgotten.
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Posted: 12th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Politicians, Tabloids | Comments (207)
Lee McQueen Dodges The Apprentice Bullet
LEE McQueen is the winner of this year’s Apprentice challenge. To him the spoils of an office job in Brentwood.
The Scotsman’s front page says the “bookies are not the only ones who made a mistake” and Alan Sugar erred when she passed over “feisty” Claire Young.
Someone should tell the Scotsman’s writers that bookies don’t make mistakes when the favourite loses and that when an outsider wins they make money. They should also tell the Scotsman that no bets were taken on The Apprentice because the show is recorded in advance and therefore open to cheating.
But under pressure, the Scotsman’s trainee hacks begin to gab, saying that “Claire’s vicious boardroom attack on Simon the arrogant bank manager after the photography task may have been unpleasant, but a lot of what she said was right on the money”.
That would be Simon the satellite installation engineer by day and, one assumes, bank manager by night?
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Posted: 12th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, TV & Radio | Comments (7)
Robert Dee Says He Is Not World’s Worst Tennis Player
NOT all British sportsmen are happy to be hapless losers. Eddie The Eagle does not play tennis:
Lawyers representing a British tennis player yesterday began libel proceedings against three media organisations following the publication of stories claiming that the 21-year-old was the world’s worst professional in his sport.
Libel writs have been lodged at London’s high court against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers, news agency Reuters and Independent News and Media, owner of the Independent titles.
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Posted: 11th, June 2008 | In: Back pages, Broadsheets, Tabloids | Comment (1)
Madeleine McCann: Email Hoaxes and TV Thrillers
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
THE GUARDIAN: “Beware of the hoax”
Emails that warn of preying rapists and ruthless carjackers are currently doing the rounds, but how seriously should we take them? Viv Groskop reports…
Emails?
Other warnings are born out of the fear generated by a real crime. Shortly after the Madeleine McCann case hit the headlines last year I received a “watch out” email from a friend of a friend about a local mother who claimed the police had told her a “paedophile ring” was operating in the area, after her child was almost snatched from her car. I talked to the police about this and they confirmed that there was a grain of truth in it: a local mother had reported that she had seen two men standing near her car. The police hadn’t been able to ascertain any criminal intent though, and they definitely didn’t mention anything about paedophiles. The story had simply spiralled.
Spreading the fear…
STUFF (NZ): “TV review: Thriller ripples with creepy menace”
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Posted: 11th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann | Comments (333)
Hair He Comes: How Scottish Is Donald Trump?
DONALD Trump, he of the tsunami hair, the self-styled “ultimate definition of the American success story” (source: Trump’s CV), the man who budding entrepreneurs can smell like with a spritz off his Obviously, Donald Trump: The Fragrance, is in Scotland.
Trump is in Aberdeen now to argue the case for a £1bn golf resort and housing project. But before there, he stopped off in Stornoway, birthplace of his mother Mary Anne MacLeod,
Was it a cynical stunt? The Telegraph manages to unearth a disgruntled local, one Angus Nicolson, to tell us: “He is tartan-ing up his Scottish roots to get planning approval and that does not go down well.”
What chance Nicolson is right? “Zero.” says Trump. Psk! He’s here to meet his family. The Guardian sees Cases stamped Trump: How to get rich and Never give up being carried off his jet and loaded into the boot of the island’s only Porsche Cayenne 4×4.
How to get rich is now required reading on the island, and you can hear the locals greeting each other with commands to “Be Tenacious”; “Play Golf”; “Be Optimistic, but Always Be Prepared for the Worst”.
Trump presented the TV show The Apprentice in the US, and Stornoway is now Apprentice Island, a place full of no-shit takers leaning on gates while belting out phrases like “I stomp on the face of failure”; “I’d kill any one – ANYONE – to get to the top”; and “Only losers can spell loser”.
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Posted: 10th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Celebrities | Comments (15)
Making Jokes About The China Earthquake
WHEN can you start making jokes about disasters? When can the Chinese start making jokes about the Chinese earthquake?
In the UK, the topless stunna is the barometer of business as usual. But what in China?
In the Southern Metropolis Daily Wang Xiaoshan muses on “Sympathy in Disaster”. The same thing was tried in China, albeit done with a heavy hand.
He writes: “A few days ago I received a news item from the Mobile Paper (手机报) which reported the number of deaths in the Wenchuan Earthquake. But that issue of the paper also included the following test quiz and answers”:
An earthquake predicts how you will behave when you’re in love: when an earthquake hits, what is your first reaction?
A: Hide under a table;
B: Open the window;
C: Drop everything and run outside;
D: Immobilized with fright.Analysis: A individuals are guarded; if their love is exposed, they immediately become skittish. They are also particularly nervous about their partner’s infidelity.
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Posted: 9th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Strange But True | Comments (3)
Cif Watcher: Guardian Catches Anti-Semites
THE pages of Comment Is Free, the Guardian’s opinion blog, have been redesigned, and moderators will hold more sway over the often anti-semitic comments that get through.
The Telegraph is not impressed:
So our friends over at Guardian ‘Comment Is Free’ had their early June facelift, as promised. Former CIF Editor and founder Georgina Henry explained the changes to the massed ranks of Guardianistas:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/04/1
There were three announced substantive changes. First, threads will remain open for only two days (previously it was three). Second, clicking on the name of a commenter gives access to all their comments in the past. And third, the comments are now paginated in pages of 50, which does not help with the continuity of a thread since one has to keep paging backwards and forwards to see what was written and by whom.
CIF has a longstanding problem with antisemitism posted there. (It results from the unholy alliance between the unreconstructed ‘left’ and the Islamists). The pattern is that the Editors commission an article from one of their stable of one-sided anti-Israel commentators in the full knowledge that it will open the floodgates to antisemitic comments – it never fails. The Moderators have failed to even spot most of the antisemitic posts – indeed they admit that they rely on readers to do so.
A few weeks ago Matt Seaton (the new CIF Editor) was asked about the implication of the changes for the problem of antisemitism on CIF: “Will it mean that the Moderators pick up and delete more of the antisemitic instead of relying on the readers to do it? I hope so.”
His response: “the short answer is yes. I can’t promise you that antisemitic comments and other instances of hate speech will disappear from the site overnight, but (from early June) I think you will notice a progressive improvement.”
The result?
Several non-Zionophobes (I hesitate to say pro-Israel commenters, since they simply try to confront CIF’s resident colony of Israel haters and antisemites with the truth) are having their comments pre-moderated (perhaps the new technology allows this to be done, whereas the old one did not).
Newspaper envy, or something more?
Posted: 9th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comments (12)
What Kind Of Adulterer Are You? Smell Yo D*ick
“WHAT kind of adulterer are you?” asks the Independent.
Readers may blush that the newspaper should consider each of them a love cheat. But Independent is as independent does.
The headline is based on the work of American therapist Mira Kirshenbaum, clinical director of the Chestnut Hill Institute, in Boston, Massachusetts. She claims affairs can be good.
The Times is also thinking of affairs, and from a pew tells readers in an article on how Big Brother is like modern day Christianity:
Then a young woman stood up and declared loudly: “I have committed adultery.” The rest of us were still recovering from the shock when she pointed dramatically across the church and announced: “With that man over there.” She was indicating a young father with a baby on his knee, who was turning a slow purple. Then she added, “In thought,” and sat down again. It struck me later that this might have been an unusually ingenious sort of come-on.
Of course there is way to check if your man is having an affair. Take it away – and, no, this is not safe for work)…
Posted: 9th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comment
Big Brother 9: Bring On The Christians
BIG Brother 9 Watch: Anorak’s looks at Big Brother news in the media…
THE TIMES: “Why Big Brother represents a return to early Christianity”
Feeding the idiots to the lions?
For all its screeching abuse and sexual antics under the blanket, Big Brother really represents a return to early Christianity. In the early days of the church, confession was a public affair. Rather than whisper sheepishly through a grille to a priest who was probably asleep, or engaged in some secret sinful practice himself, people used to proclaim their sins in public.
Posted: 9th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, TV & Radio | Comments (3)
Beyond Parody: Camilla Long Invents Davinia Taylor
“KATE MOSS, SADIE, SIENNA And ME,” trails the front page of the Sunday Times.
The headline “ME” is a Sunday Times everyman, a nominal person who will place the three women in context and add historical perspective. She’s given the unlikely name Davinia Taylor, a moniker that blends the deliberately extraordinary with the plebeian
“Davinia Taylor: Secrets of the Primrose Hill set,” says the paper, in what proves to be skilful parody on modern life, and newspaper reporting.
“Davinia Taylor is at the heart of the group, which includes Sadie Frost and Kate Moss. She has never spoken, until now.”
A mute celebrity friend is surely what they all crave. No kiss and tells with a dumb person. But now Davinia is given a voice.
Davinia Taylor is in her downstairs loo. “That’s Kate and me just after we left Disneyland,” she says, pointing out photos. “And there she is in the country, washing the car with Lila. Oh, look, the Duch!” – the Duchess of York, on a night out with Princess Eugenie. Here is Davinia with her new baby, the now 11-month-old Grey, and her husband, David Gardner, the footballer turned agent and David Beckham’s best friend.
Were this not a clear parody, it would be beyond parody, and Anorak would hang up its coat and retire.
Then a snap of Jake Chapman’s daughter in a highchair, the word ‘F***’ artistically picked out in raisins in front of her. “She didn’t do that herself, obviously.”
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Posted: 8th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Celebrities | Comments (3)
Madeleine McCann: Fact Checking The Truth About Maddie McCann And Ben Affleck’s Fiction As Fact
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
Ben Affleck has a new panic film – Gone Baby Gone – in which the lead child is blonde enough to remind all reviewers of Madeleine McCann. The film – a work of fiction – cannot be mentioned without also making mention of missing Madeleine.
It is the 12th Rule of Journalism.
THE OBSERVER: “The cruellest crime of all -Delayed by the McCann case, Ben Affleck’s intense and gripping thriller is well worth the wait”
Crimes involving children touch on our deepest emotions and though we’ve seen numerous films about infant abduction over the past 50 years, ranging in tone from Seance on a Wet Afternoon to Murder on the Orient Express, the subject is peculiarly affecting at the moment in the light of the publicity given to the cases of Shannon Matthews in Dewsbury and Madeleine McCann in Portugal… To add to the anxiety, there is an uncanny physical resemblance between Madeleine McCann and the film’s four-year-old Amanda McCready.
It’s tabloid bingo, in the broadsheet Observer! Can anyone mention Fritzl and get the prize?
IRISH INDEPENDENT: “It’s a film that examines the media hysteria and prurience that happens when children are abducted — especially pertinent themes in our post-Madeleine post-Austrian crazies times.”
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Posted: 8th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (164)
Big Brother Watch: Freak 16 And This Summer’s News
BIG Brother 9 Watch: Anorak’s looks at Big Brother news in the media…
DAILY MIRROR (front page): “BB AFRAID.. BB VERY AFRAID.”
Is this an in-house memo to Mirror hacks, notice that their jobs are threatened by the Big Brother housemates, who write their own news?
“THE BIG BROTHER WANNABES ARE BACK”
And they’re kicking off their media career by appearing on the front page of a national newspaper. That’s not too shabby. The Mirror’s front page is usually given over to tales of Gordon Brown successes and football. So thank f*** then for Big Brother.
THE SUN: (front page): “BB FREAK S16”
The Sun has the 16 housemates in details. They are, in no special order:
ALBINO, BLIND, SEX-MAD, SWOT, TREE-HUGGER, DOZY, BEAKY, MICK, PADDY, PRODDY, TORY, HORNY, HONKY and a few more…
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Posted: 6th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Tabloids, TV & Radio | Comments (3)
Madeleine McCann: Holidays, Médecins Sans Frontières And Media Wars
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY MAIL (front page): “McCanns first holiday since Maddie vanished”
This is the first time the story has featured on a tabloid front page since May 11.
The parents of Madeleine McCann are to take their first holiday since her disappearance 13 months ago. Gerry and Kate McCann, both 40, refused to say where they were going. But they confirmed it would not be Portugal.
Any more facts in this story, now 14-months old?
The McCanns are “both doctors”. Indeed.
Says McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell: ‘It will be incredibly painful to contemplate going away without Madeleine, but this is the reality they are faced with. Nothing has been booked yet. But one thing’s certain – they won’t be going to Portugal.”
Although it might be ruse, and tabloid editors looking to detail staff to cover the McCanns’ trip should not discount any resort just yet.
DAILY TELEGRAPH (Aus): “Parents of missing Madeleine McCann to go on first holiday.”
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Posted: 5th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (547)
Madeleine McCann: Blame It On Portugal And Announcing A Holiday
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Madeleine McCann’s family to go on holiday a year after disappearance”
Somewhere nice?
Says the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “It will be incredibly painful to contemplate going away without Madeleine but this is the reality they are faced with.
“Nothing has been booked yet, but one thing’s certain – they won’t be going to Portugal.”
Obviously. Well, who would?
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Posted: 4th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (199)
UN Banquet: They Come To Eat Mugabe Not To Bury Him
THE 40 heads of government taking part in the UN food summit are investigating food at a table in Villa Madam, a palace on the lower slopes of Monte Mario, Rome.
The Telegraph says the menu is a secret but thought to be “rigorously Italian”.
Dinner follows a light lunch of vol au vents with sweetcorn and mozzarella, paté of crevettes and pumpkin, veal with cherry tomatoes, spinach and a fruit salad.
Not in attendance is Robert Mugabe, who is uninvited to the fact–finding eatathon hosted by Silvio Berlusconi and Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general.
The Zimbabwean leader dines alone in the five-star Hotel Ambasciatori Palace, served by his cadre of loyal African chefs and waiters lest a local Roman plate wallah render unto the Zimbabwean Caesar what Caligula and Tiberius once dined their last upon.
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Posted: 4th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians | Comments (2)
Fan Meizhong, Runner Fan’s Earthquake Confessional
“IN matters of life and death, it’s every man for himself,” says Chinese teacher, Fan Meizhong.
Earthquake!
“I ran towards the stairs so fast that I stumbled and fell as I went. When I reached the center of the football pitch, I found I was the first to escape. None of my pupils was with me,” said the Meizhong, known as ‘Runner Fan.’
Later, when some of his students who managed to escape asked him how he could have left them behind, he replied: “I have a very strong sense of self-preservation … I have never been a brave man and I’m only really concerned about myself.”
Notes the Telegraph: “While newspapers have largely followed instructions to concentrate on uplifting tales of rescue work since the earthquake, the internet has seen a wild variety of tales emerge.”
And the internet is where the Telegraph gets its news from.
“I didn’t cause the earthquake, so I have no reason to feel guilty,” he said in an interview. “When I got back to the classroom, the students were all fine.”
He’s in interview after the jump:
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Posted: 3rd, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Strange But True | Comments (8)
