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Top news from The Times, Daily Telegraph, The Indepedent and The Guardian newspapers

Gordon Brown Visits US On Same Days As Tony Blair’s Special Envoy

GORDON Brown is in the US. So too is the Pope, Tony Blair’s special envoy.

A coincidence? The Guardian says the Pope’s visit is “threatening to overshadow Brown’s trip.

There is a risk that Americans who didn’t know who Brown was before his visit will be none the wiser by the time he heads home.

In any case, Tony Blair’s the President of England, right? Roll the tape:

Posted: 16th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians | Comments (4)


Community Pigs In Bath

pigs-in-space.jpgPIGS in Bath. Says the Times:

A herd of more than 60 pig sculptures, above, appeared yesterday as part of a public art project. The King Bladud’s Pigs in Bath art initiative will eventually lead to 100 of the animals scattered across the city.

The white, life-sized sculptures will be painted and decorated on behalf of different communities and businesses across the region. Residents hope that the project will boost awareness of a 3,000-year-old legend, which tells how King Bladud founded Bath after discovering the healing powers of its hot spring waters while walking with his swine.

How long before some tabloid muppett calls a gurning loon and invites him to say how pigs are an affront to Islam, and that the pigeons he talks to in the precinct are so much pure?

Posted: 15th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Strange But True | Comments (6)


Mark Speight’s London Landmark, Legalise Drugs And Libby Purves

mark-speight.jpg“THE ROOF WHERE TV MARK KILLED HIMSELF,” announces the Star’s front-page headline.

The Star is excited to have found the “exact spot” where children’s TV presenter Mark Speight committed suicide.

And so it is that another London landmark is unveiled. And who would not want to visit the site, take pictures, perhaps paint a picture as Speight used to on the telly. Bring the kids and make a day out of it.

But the Star is not yet finished with Mr Speight RIP. Having told us that Mark chose to hang himself at Paddington “because it reminded him of romantic weekends away with fiancée Natasha Collins” (Michael Hutchence RIP) the paper talks of drugs.

The Star says that away from the TV studio Speight and Collins, who died scalded after taking vodka and cocaine, “indulged in a Kurt Cobain lifestyle” (Cobain was the Nirvana singer who shot himself.)

It’s a waste of life. Says the Star: “Now, hands up all of those who say we should legalise drugs.”

Well, hands up at Anorak Towers. But not hands up at the Times, where Libby Purves says:

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Posted: 15th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Celebrities, Tabloids | Comments (16)


Shannon Matthews: Benefit Fraud And Karen Matthews’ Life For Ten Lag’s Fags

karen-matthews-face.jpgSHANNON WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews

THE SUN: “Shannon mum’s claims shame”

Karen Matthews, 32 – accused over the abduction of her nine-year-old daughter – told officials she was looking after four of her seven children on her own.

But at the time that Shannon vanished for 24 days in February, she had been living for four years with her supermarket fishmonger boyfriend Craig Meehan, 22. He has been earning around £16,000 a year.

Meehan had bragged at the time of Shannon’s disappearance: “I earn the money. I put the food on the table.”

DAILY STAR: “PRICE ON HEAD OF SHANNON’S MUM – HANDFUL OF FAGS IS PRISON BOUNTY”
£16,000?

SHANNON Matthews’ mum was banged up on a prison’s isolation wing last night after lags put a bounty on her head – of 10 cigarettes.

The promise of the Lambert & Butler fags was enough to have most of the 442 queueing to attack Karen Matthews.

Which mega-bucks lag offered the reward?

DAILY MIRROR: “People of Shannon Matthews’ Dewsbury defend its reputation”

“It has become the town that dare not speak its name.”

Dewsburg.

People outside must shudder at the thought of living in or even visiting Dewsbury in West Yorkshire.

Dewston.

Cancel the summer holidays to Dewsbury, mother. We’ll have t’make do with Disneyland this year.

A barman said yesterday: “I’m ashamed to say I’m from Dewsbury. Now, I say I’m from Leeds instead.

It really is that bad.

Shannon Matthews: Where is she?

Posted: 12th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Reviews, Tabloids | Comments (50)


Naked Mickey Mouse Opera On Ruins Of World Trade Centre

A GERMAN production: “It will be a different, a provocative masked ball on the ruins of the World Trade Centre,” he told reporters before Saturday’s premiere. “The naked stand for people without means, the victims of capitalism, the underclass, who don’t have anything anymore.”

It features naked pensioners and Mickey Mouse masks, Hitler salutes and Elvis impersonators.

Does Prince Harry know about this party?

Posted: 12th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comment


Woman Denied Daughter’s Kidney Because State Owns Your Body

kidney_transplan1.gif“SICK MUM IS DENIED DAUGHTER’S KIDNEY.”

Not sick in the pejorative sense but in the way of Rachel Leake being ill.

Before Laura Ashworth, 21, died from an asthma attack she told family and friends she wanted to donate one of her kidneys to her mother.
Mrs Leake had a kidney transplant five years ago, but the donated organ failed last year. Now she needs dialysis in hospital three times a week to stay alive.

As the Telegraph reports, Laura’s oranges gave Rachel a “perfect match”.

But Laura had not begun the “formal process” of becoming a “living donor”. The State disapproves. Her mother could not have organs.

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Posted: 12th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Tabloids | Comments (6)


Lindsay Lohan 18th Century Hooker

LINDSAY Lohan could be Nancy:

I came across the same phenomenon when researching an article on Sienna Miller: the 18th-century idea that young actresses are little different to common prostitutes is alive and thriving through 21st-century technology.

Posted: 10th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Celebrities | Comment


Karen Matthews: Mum’s Gone to Matalan, Off With Her Head And Kids Go Free

karen-matthews-face.jpgSHANNON WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews

THE SUN: “PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER 1”

No, it’s not Osama bin Laden. It’s Karen Matthews.

Metal plates covered doors and windows at the empty home of Shannon Matthews’s mother last night amid fears of attacks by vigilantes.

Says Richard Verity, 42, a joiner: “If she is found guilty I’d like to rip her head off. We’re all feeling very bitter.”

No, it really isn’t not Osama bin Laden, nor one of his henchman. It’s a joiner from Dewsbury.

And what of Karen Matthews? How did she look?

Matthews, wearing cut-price clothes specially bought for her from a branch of Matalan, was also charged with “wilfully neglecting or abandoning” the child in a manner likely to cause “unnecessary suffering or injury to her health”.

Mum’s Gone To Matalan – (note to copywriters – call me)

“Yes, yes, yes,” comes the cry from the public gallery.

DAILY MIRROR (front page): “STOP THE MOB”

“Police warn against vigilantes as Shannon mum is refused bail”

Fears for Kate Matthews that people who love kids might hurt mum-of-seven.

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Posted: 10th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (17)


Karen Matthews: Red-Brown Hair, The Ducking Stool And Jailed

karen-matthews-handcuffs.jpgSHANNON WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews

DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Shannon Matthews’s mother accused of perverting the course of justice”

The mother of nine year old Shannon Matthews has been remanded in custody for her own safety after appearing in court in connection with her alleged kidnap. Neighbours of Karen Matthews packed into the public gallery to see her in the dock during a 13-minute hearing.

To the ducking stool.

What of the facts?

The charge against her are: On a day between Feb 18 and March 15 she wilfully neglected or abandoned Shannon in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering to her or injury to her health.

That between Feb 18 and March 15, with intent to pervert the course of public justice, did a series of acts which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice by repeatedly concealing information in relation to the whereabouts of Shannon in interviews and other contacts with police and claiming to have no knowledge of her whereabouts.

And:

Miss Matthews, who has seven children to five men, was arrested on Sunday evening and underwent two days of questioning by detectives.

How did she look?

Throughout the hearing her face was shielded from the public by her long red-brown hair, but briefly glanced over at that point looking tearful.

DAILY MIRROR: “Shannon Matthews’ mum Karen remanded in custody after court appearance”

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Posted: 9th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (23)


Shannon Matthews: Karen Matthews Arrested, Sentenced To Life In Jail And Counting The Kids

karen-matthews-jail.jpgMADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews

DAILY EXPRESS: “SHANNON: NOW HER MOTHER IS CHARGED WITH CHILD NEGLECT”

The mother of kidnapped schoolgirl Shannon Matthews was charged last night with perverting the course of justice and child neglect. Karen Matthews, 32, was dramatically charged after two days of questioning by detectives.

She will appear before Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court this morning. If found guilty, the mother-of-seven could face a maximum penalty of life behind bars.

Life?

DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Shannon Matthews’s mother charged by police”

The most serious charge of perverting the course of justice carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, although 10 years is the largest sentence passed in the last 100 years.

100 years?

THE TIMES: “Mother of Shannon Matthews charged with neglect”

Ms Matthews was criticised yesterday by her sister, Julie Poskitt, for apparently not knowing how many children she had. “When Shannon first went missing, Karen told everyone that she had six children,” Mrs Poskitt said. “It took her days to remember she had seven. I remember screaming at the telly, because even though I’m not their mother, I knew she had seven.”

THE SUN: “Estate is like a nastier Beirut”

One resident on Moorside Road, where Karen Matthews lived, told how cops who raided his home uncovered a stash of adult porn.

He said: “There’s nowt wrong with that. We’ve all got porn. Tell me a man who hasn’t porn in his house.”

Shannon’s far better in care

Anila Baig, the Sun’s sometimes-woman –in-a-hajib, is looking at the matter:

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Posted: 9th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (18)


Professor Hails The Great British Hoodie

hoodie1.jpgTHE Telegraph’s Laura Clout brings us: “’Hoodies’ were the scourge of Medieval London.’”

Ms Clout’s name should resonate with Telegraph readers who hanker for the days when Great Britain was great and you could walk down the great British road and give teenagers a great British clout about the head.

Hoodies, we learn, “are the symbol of today’s disaffected youth”. That’s not much of symbol for such a vibrant part of the UK’s social scene. What about a wagging finger, a pit bull terrier with fur dyed and shaved to resemble Burberry check, or a fat joint holding its pregnant tum-tum with one open club-stamped hand dangling the keys to a new council house and the other clutching an OAP’s scalp.

Clout says the “hoodie-wearing yob is not just a modern problem”.

Indeed. This item should come with a trendy historian alert. Listen up, kidz. That hood you’re wearing is soooo old fashioned, it’s positively Medieval.

Professor Robert Bartlett, “an expert on the Middle Ages” on account of his being 900 years old, says hooded tops were also the “garment of choice for 12th-century juvenile delinquents”. Yeah, not jeans or spandex G-strings. Who knew?

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Posted: 8th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comment


Shannon Matthews: The McCanns, A Shameless Scam And Paul Donovan

karen-matthews-arrested.jpgMADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews

THE STAR: “SHANNON SNATCH ‘SCAM’”

A scam? Who would have thought it?

The mum of Shannon Matthews has allegedy confessed that her daughter’s abduction was just a Shameless scam.

Sobbing Karen Matthews, 32, was arrested on suspicion of perverting justice after reportedly telling a woman detective she had known where Shannon was all along.

Shameless? Ashamed?

In an episode of the Channel 4 comedy drama Shameless, screened just four weeks before Shannon vanished, family head Frank Gallagher’s teenage daughter Debbie staged the fake kidnap of her younger brother Liam in a bid to pocket a £500,000 ransom.

“Missing” Liam – played by Johnny Bennett, nine, – was hidden by Debbie (Rebecca Ryan, 16) at a pal’s home just down the road.

Missing children are a form of entertainment.

DAILY EXPRESS: “MUM: ‘I ALWAYS KNEW WHERE SHANNON WAS’”

The mother of kidnap girl Shannon Matthews has allegedly told police: “I knew where she was, right from day one.”

And the McCanns..?

A spokesman for the McCanns confirmed they had received approaches from “people purporting to be members of Shannon’s family” for donations from the Find Madeleine Fund, but said it had been decided not to get involved.

But the McCanns did get involved.

Gerry and Kate were “deeply concerned” at the plight of Shannon’s family. Kate, 39, said: “My heart goes out to them. We always hoped and prayed that no other family would have to suffer like we have.”

And singer Leona Lewis seized the moment to make an appeal.

THE SUN: “’Family’ beg from McCanns”

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Posted: 8th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comments (202)


Princess Diana, The Prototype David Beckham: ‘It Was Murder’

princess-diana-wedding-dress1.jpgIT’S 3873 AD (After Diana) and the papers carry news of the self-styled Princess of Hearts.

The Inquest into her death has closed. The ruling is that Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were unlawfully killed due to the “gross negligence” of driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi. Diana was killed because she did not use her seatbelt.

The snappers are pictured on the Times’ cover page. They and Paul are the “usual suspects”.

The Telegraph leads with “Let that be the end, say Princes”. Readers learn that William and Harry “hope unlawful killing verdict will bring to a close speculation over mother’s death”.

“Now let her rest in peace,” says the Scotsman on its cover.

So that’s it, then. Goodbye Diana. You came. Your shook hands. You were blonde. You went on holiday. You were a prototype David Beckham.

But the Metro newspaper, one of London’s top hundred free daily newspapers, wonders: “Diana: The final verdict. Or is it?” There is the “threat of a legal challenge”.

Is there? Even the Express leads with “DIANA WAS KILLED UNLAWFULLY”, accepting that she was not murdered by a combination of Prince Philip, Chicago neo-Nazis and a flash photography.

‘It Was Murder’  

A spokesman for Dodi Fayed’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed says: “We’re looking at all possibilities.” No, not that Dodi and Diana were killed by the Queen Mother and Mr princess-diana.jpgGrassy Knoll. Well, not only that. Fayed in said to be investigating the possibility of pursuing a private prosecution against the paparazzi in the French courts.

The Times hears Mr Fayed’s statement: “The most important thing is that it’s murder.” The verdict was “unlawful killing”. But that’s not important. What is important is: “It has been a long fight to uncover the truth. I am not the only person who says they were murdered.”

Indeed not. There’s Keith Allen, father to one-hit wonder Lily Allen, who the Scotsman says has made a documentary about the inquest into the deaths of Diana and hopes it’s a hit at Cannes. He says: “To this day I absolutely believe that this wasn’t an accident. I just know.”

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Posted: 8th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Royal Family, Tabloids | Comments (4)


Bloggers Blogging Themselves To Death

The Telegraph reacts to a NYT article about bloggers blogging themselves to death.

“Blogs are a curious phenomenon. Like modern poetry, they have more writers than readers…those who have lost their health in their determination to sate their readers’ interest are, after their fashion, martyrs to a worthy cause.”

Posted: 7th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comment


The Problem With Immigrants Is They Are Too Good

foreign-worker.jpg“PROOF that immigrants are taking British jobs,” says the Express which has a graph to prove it.

The line for “UK-born workers” is going down. It is black. The line for “foreign born workers” is going up. It is white.

“Should migrants be barred from taking British jobs?” asks the Express’s phone poll? The paper’s Tom Whitehead awaits your call. “Yes” and he stays. “No” and Sanjay Walesa becomes the paper’s Home Affairs Correspondent.

Meanwhile, over in the Telegraph, readers learn that “the percentage of working-age, UK-born Britons in work fell from a peak of 75.7 in 2003, the year before European Union enlargement, to 75.2 in 2007. Part of the fall could be attributed to employers directly replacing British workers with migrants, particularly in agriculture, factories and low-skilled service-sector jobs.”

Could be? Could be not? But the best line has to be from Prof Rowthorn, a Cambridge University professor who uncovered the findings. He says “the most likely victims were British-born school-leavers who had never had a job, having failed to find the kind of casual work they might have walked into a few years ago”.

The claim will fuel a political row over the prospects for a generation referred to as “Neets” (not in education, employment or training).

The professor said: “We are looking at the most vulnerable, least skilled and in some ways least motivated members of the local workforce. The problem that eastern European migrants pose is that they are good workers.”

That’s the problem with these foreign born workers – they are too ruddy good. What we need to is lower their productively and reduce their skills. We need to level the playing field.

We need to re-educate them…

Posted: 7th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Tabloids | Comments (10)


German Duke Franz Herzog von Bayern Is Rightful King Of England

german-royal-family.jpgGOD save Franz Herzog von Bayern new King of England and Scotland.

The Telegraph reports that should Gordon Brown repeal the 1701 Act of Settlement, something he is considering, the 74-year-old German will sit on the throne.

Brown sees the undoing of the Act as a way of “healing a historic injustice by ending the prohibition against Catholics taking the throne”.

No Act and Franz Herzog von Bayern, the current Duke of Bavaria, becomes the rightful heir to the British Crown under the Stuart line.

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Posted: 7th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians, Strange But True | Comments (35)


The Vink Tank: Arsenal, Liverpool And Football Corruption

vink.jpg“FOOTBALLER ‘fixed match to pay off gambling debt of £50,000’” announces the Independent.

Know that a footballer has admitted to fixing match. Who he is we are not told, only that he “has a Premiership club on his CV” and a gambling problem.

This narrows it down to around 4,500 footballers, although if we take in youth teams, youth team trialists and scratchcards, the figure rises to 321,987.

Other clues are that Player A ran up a 50,000 debt with a bookmaker and the bookmaker offered to write off the debt if the player got himself sent off and also persuaded three team-mates to get booked in an agreed game.

What the game was, how much the bookmaker profited by, who the bookmaker is or pretty much any other detail fails to make it into the paper’s “special investigation”.

Indy readers do learn that this is “a nightmare scenario for football’s authorities. It is confirmation that football in Britain is not immune to the corruption that has recently blighted other nations – including Italy, Germany and Poland…”

And the Netherlands. Or not the Netherlands.

In “I’M NO REFFIN’ CHEAT,” the Sun hears from Dutch official Pieter Vink, who officiated at Arsenal’s Champions’ League quarter-final game with Liverpool.

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Posted: 4th, April 2008 | In: Back pages, Broadsheets | Comments (10)


Reporting Shannon Matthews: The Guardian’s Masterclass

THE latest twist in the tale of alleged kidnap victim nine-year-old Yorkshire schoolgirl Shannon Matthews’s caused some media headaches. The arrest and subsequent charging of the child’s “stepfather” presented an interesting set of dilemmas for the printed and broadcast media.

First prize for correct legal niceties and coverage has to go to today’s Guardian which sums up the position in a masterly piece of reporting.

It is worth repeating. It is a brilliant summary of all which may be safely said:

The stepfather of Shannon Matthews, the nine-year-old schoolgirl who disappeared for 24 days, was last night charged with 10 counts of possessing child pornography.

Craig Meehan, 22, was arrested yesterday morning at the house in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, which he shares with Shannon’s mother, Karen Matthews, 32, and three of her seven children.

The supermarket fishmonger was driven away in an unmarked car and detectives later took boxes and bags from the redbrick semi and renewed a police guard which was lifted a week ago.

A West Yorkshire police spokesman said last night: “A 22-year-old man has been charged with 10 specimen offences of possession of indecent images of children.

“In relation to the welfare of the family’s children, it is being dealt with by social services. Police policy is we are not commenting on the welfare of the children.”

Karen Matthews was in the house as Meehan was taken in for questioning but later left with her children on a half-term day trip with other local families.

Shannon has not returned home since police discovered her in the drawer of a bed at a flat a mile from her home. The youngster has been in the care of social services since she was discovered at the flat in Batley Carr, on March 14.

Michael Donovan, a 39-year-old computer programmer from Dewsbury who is one of Meehan’s uncles, has been charged with abducting Shannon and holding her against her will. He faces trial at Leeds crown court on November 11.

Shannon is still being questioned by police and is being looked after by Kirklees council social services. No date has been set for her return to Dewsbury Moor, where residents had planned a party.

See? Not one word of speculation. Facts and nothing but the facts.

The Guardian story is by-lined Martin Wainwright and Sarah Knapton.

That shows the importance being shown to the correct way of doing things. Martin is the Guardian’s Northern Editor, based in Leeds, and Sarah is a freelance journalist on the Guardian.

She also works as a senior court reporter for Central News based at the Old Bailey and moved to London in 2005 from the North East where she was Chief District Reporter of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. It is difficult to imagine two safer pairs of hands.

Plus! Vetting and approval by the Guardian sub-editors’ desk…one of the best in the business.

By – AGW 

Posted: 3rd, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comments (12)


Paul Burrell And Heather Mills Tour Of Duty

burrell-mills-stage-show.pngSAYS Justice Scott Baker of Princess Diana’s “rock” Paul Burrell: “It was blindingly obvious, wasn’t it, that the evidence that he gave in this court was not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

“He had written books, one was into its second edition, and in a number of ways he had cashed in on his selfserved position as having been Diana’s rock. All in all, you may think Burrell’s behaviour has been pretty shabby.

“You may think that a thread running through his evidence was the impression that he thought he was giving and a consideration of the impact whatever he said might have on any of his future enterprises.

“I advise you to proceed with caution especially when and if you are left with the impression that he only told you what he wanted you to hear.”

The Mirror nots that the coroner is heard reminding the jury that the 49-year-old has been described as “quite a porous rock”, given the number of the princess’s secrets he has leaked.
Says the Sun: “Former flunky Paul Burrell was yesterday branded a shabby, bitter, money-grabbing liar by the Diana inquest coroner.”

“What now for Paul Burrell – a US tour with Heather Mills?” asks the Scotsman.

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Posted: 2nd, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Celebrities, Royal Family | Comments (4)


Magazines Banned From Airbrushing Celebrities

THE Telegraph reports that magazines could be banned from using airbrushed photographs of celebrities that make them look slimmer.

The fear is that these iamges are promoting unrealistic body images.

Says Tim: At the moment it’s actually a voluntary code of conduct that’s under discussion. And no, of course I don’t give two hoots about whether models are airbrushed or not.

But we do know that we have a government fond of the statement “if the voluntary option has failed we should look to legislation”….

The move follows criticisms by the Model Health Inquiry, which accused editors of acting irresponsibly and promoting a size-zero culture.

The report, released last September, urged the fashion industry to adopt a voluntary code on the use of computer technology to give models unrealistically perfect figures.

Thought everyone was getting cosmetic surgery?

Posted: 2nd, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Celebrities | Comment (1)


Al Gore’s Rage Against The Machine

al-gore-hates-machines.jpgAL Gore has a plan. Al Gore wants 10 million volunteers to force politicians to act on climate change. There will be adverts on American TV. Lots of them.

The target is a big number. The Guardian says it’s twice as many as the number who marched against the Vietnam war or in support of civil rights during the heyday of US activism in the 1960s.

“The resources are completely unprecedented in American politics,” says Philip Clapp, of the Pew Environment Group. The Alliance for Climate Protection “has already reached out to organisations as diverse as the Girl Scouts and the steelworkers union to try to broaden its appeal”.

Steelworkers and girl scouts. The green movement is throwing up some unlikely bedfellows. Cookies and pig iron. The former Vice President of the USA waging war on the machines, one of which caused so many hanging chads and lost him Florida and with it the White House.

Gore hates machines, just hates them.

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Posted: 1st, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians | Comment


Behold The Flying Penguins

YOU’LL believe a penguin can fly.

flying-penguins.jpg

The BBC series Miracles of Evolution features the flying penguins

Camera crews happened upon a colony of Adélie penguins on King George Island in the South Atlantic.

Isn’t a flying penguin called a puffin?

Posted: 1st, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Photojournalism, TV & Radio | Comments (7)


Green Power Sinks German Town

global-warming-religion.gifTO Staufen, in the Black Forest. And we’d best hurry because it’s sinking.

The German town is subsiding after authorities drilled underground to harness “green” energy as part of an innovative geothermal power plan.

The contractors drilled down 460ft. they would extract heat. But now large cracks have appeared in buildings. And the town centre has subsided about a third of an inch.

The baroque town hall, the main church, two schools and more than 64 other buildings in the historic centre were severely affected. Experts said buildings in the outer part of the town had risen by a similar amount.

Says Michael Benitz, the mayor: “Will the earth continue to sink? If it stops now, then we will have got away lightly. But if it continues, it could turn out to be quite bad.”

Posted: 31st, March 2008 | In: Broadsheets | Comment


Max Mosley’s Carry On Nazi Orgy

spanking-mosley.jpgSIR Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, would perhaps have approved of the footage of his son Max, enduring a “Nazi-style orgy” with five prostitutes, as is alleged by the News of the World.

Mr Mosely, president of the Federation Internationale de ‘l’Automobile, Formula One’s governing body, is pictured in a London “torture chamber” playing the role of concentration camp guard and inmate.

The Times says: “Speaking in German and brandishing a leather whip, he beat the women after allowing himself to be subjected to a humiliating inspection for lice and an interrogation in chains.”

Readers also learn that Mr Mosely is “understood to be pursuing legal action against the News of the World for breach of privacy”.

Taking the news in, it is hard to decipher what it is Mr Mosely has done wrong. His associate, bonzai-sized F1 supremo Benie Ecclestone says: “I’ve known him an awful long time. If somebody had told me this without the evidence I would have found it difficult to believe.

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Posted: 31st, March 2008 | In: Back pages, Broadsheets, Tabloids | Comments (4)


Everyone’s For Credit Crunch At The Middle Class Dinner Table

middle-class-bastards.jpgIN an article about how out of touch Gordon Brown is, credit crunch and how the economy is not what it was, Matthew d’Ancona writes:

Suddenly, the talk at middle-class tables is less about Poppy’s cello lessons and the simply divine Tuscan villa that Hugo has found: it is about bills, the credit crunch, banks collapsing, negative equity, repossessions, standing orders, school fees. The point is not that outright calamity has struck many people yet. It is that, for the first time in more than a decade, the chatterers fear it might.

The chattering classes have stopped talking about house prices to talk about house prices. It is an astute observation, and one that the Telegraph’s readerzzzzzz can chat about at will.

For us stood on the decking with our noses pressed to the patio doors, our ears tuned into the discordant noises of Timmy playing his oboe, the pop-pop-pop of lids being toppled from jars of medicines and Anthea practising her Thai on Monica the new Filipino maid, the middle class dining room is a vision on Hell.

Of course, no-one chatters about their kids and their stuff at the dinner table, at least no–one you would want to spend any time with, let alone listen to, unless you were researching a newspaper column or searching for an imaginaivce way to torture War On Terror detainees.

What the middle classes do is much like the rest of us do: they watch the telly.

If you want to see a sure sign that the housing boom is over, you can watch the demise of one of TV’s top dozen leading property hunting shows, Location Location Location, and catch up with hosts Phil and Katie as they lead middle class home owners around the country in Repossession, Repossession Repossession.

Pass the remote control…

Posted: 30th, March 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Money | Comments (3)