Reviews Category
We don’t just report off-beat news, breaking news and digest the best and worst of the news media analysis and commentary. We give an original take on what happened and why. We add lols, satire, news photos and original content.
Lexi Branson: What Says The Canine Pyschologist?
LEXI Branson: Wr don’t know why the dog attacked her, saving the four-year-old to death. The dog is also dead. Leicestershire Police are investigating. But this doesn’t mean an expert can prop up the news cycle. Meet “canine pyschologist” Nick Jones, who tells the Times:
“If the mother was on the bed as well and the dog had bonded with the mother, or if the dog had been allowed to sleep on the bed with the mother and then finds the child on it, then we have a potential recipe for an accident…”
He said that the girl may have tried to kiss the dog from the bed, prompting it to bite her.
Yeah, Maybe.
Lexi Branson: Ghoulish Media Feasts Off Killed Child With Misinformation And Spreads Fear Over Dogs
THE family’s pet dog killed Lexi Hudson at her home, a flat in Rowena Court in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire. Lexi was four. The dog is also now dead.
The Mirror says Lexi was killed by her “PET MASTIFF”. Not “pet dog”. The Mirror is specific.
Only, the dog in the picture is not the dog that killed her. The Mirror, in the race to be first with news and pictures – roll up, come see the dead kid! – gets the facts wrong.
It then adds:
Turner And Hooch? Sweet of the Mirror to merge fact and Hollywood fiction in the gruesome death of a child.
The Daily Mail then gets to work:
A pitbull is on the list of dangerous dogs.
Under the original 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act the list of banned breeds or so called dangerous breeds was quite short and is as follows:
Any Dog known as a Pitbull type
Japanese Tosa
Any dog known to be bred for fighting, or having the appearance of having been bred for fighting.
The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 was amended in August 1991 to include additional breeds of “dangerous dogs”. Under the amendment the following dog breeds were added:Dogo Argentino
Fila Brasileiro
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Banned Breeds List
Thus the full list of banned breeds under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 is as follows:Any dog known as a pitbull type (eg American Pitbulls, Blue Nose Pitbulls, Red Nose Pitbulls)
Japanese Tosa
Fila Brasileiro
Dogo Argentino
And any dog who in the opinion of the Secretary of State was bred for fighting, or has the appearance of a dog bred for fighting
But Leicestershire police say:
Investigations are continuing into the circumstances that led to a four-year-old girl being attacked and killed by the family dog.
Leicestershire Police is able to confirm, on behalf of the Coroner, that the girl’s name is Lexi Branson.
Tests are being carried out today to establish the exact breed of the dog but at this stage it is not believed to be a breed listed under Section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act.
The Times says the French Mastiff had been rescued by the family from an animal shelter just weeks previously.
The Times then calls the child Lexi Hudson:
Neighbours speak out:
Neighbour Mr Ryan says: “Jodi is absolutely distraught. She’s only had the dog for two months. She picked it up from the pound — it was a dog that had suffered abuse in the past but she said it had a very soft nature. Lexi was always playing with it. It’s obviously a huge dog and Lexi wouldn’t have stood a chance if it went for her — she’s such a small little girl…. Apparently it suddenly turned on Lexi for no reason. She was in bed sleeping with her mum and it came in and just went mental. It grabbed Lexi and wouldn’t let go. Jodi was screaming and trying to pull its head away but it wouldn’t give in. In the end she had to use a knife to release its jaw. It must have been absolutely terrifying.”
Neighbour, Glenn Shepphard adds:
“It was a very big dog — a type I have never seen before. I saw Jodie outside with blood and mud up her arm crying outside and mud all up her legs. She had obviously tried to wrestle with the dog. The girl was only about four or five years old — I think she had only just started primary school.”
Such are the facts when the voracious media races to be first with a story when the facts are still unclear.
Posted: 6th, November 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Rubberband Gate: Leicester Police Bully Schoolboy To Tears
“THEY knocked on the door at 7.05pm, asking for my 12-year-old son and asked him, ‘Do you know why we are here?’: says Angela Brightwell. “My son looked completely bemused and absolutely terrified.”
Police told the lad that flicking a rubber band at another child was “bullying” and “not acceptable”.”I am very angry,” she said. Angela adds:
“I cannot believe the police would investigate something like this. Even if the other boy had a mark I still can’t believe they would investigate. I want to know why the police were investigating a 12-year-old boy on a Saturday evening. I cannot get over it really. My son is not a bully. I’m really shocked.”
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Richmond Golf Club Rules 1940
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Posted: 6th, November 2013 | In: Flashback, Sports | Comment
Burglar Arrested After His Mother Calls The Mobile He Dropped At Crime Scene
Posted: 6th, November 2013 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Australian Mad Dog Fought Off Home Invaders Who ‘Hit Like A Girl’
AUSTRALIANS. Some of you still have the Aussie spirit. It’s not all juice bars, Factor 50 and vegetables. Mad Dog is the real deal. He’s Australian gentleman telling 7 News of how he fought off two modern males wielding swords and spritzing pepper-spray in an attack on his home in the Adelaide suburb of Morphett Vale.
Mad Dog used only his bare hands and sweat.
Chester University Students Dress As Burning Twin Towers For Halloween
AMBER Langford and Annie Collinge dressed as the burning Twin Towers for a Halloween costume contest in Chester.
They won the £150 star prize at Rosies nightclub.
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Cartoon: Justin Welby Goes To Wonga
MATT Buck’s cartoon on Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and payday loan company Wonga:
The talented Hack.
Progressive Party Posters Do Down The Municipal Reformers In These 1907 Posters
IN 1907, the Progressive Party campaigned for the London County Council Elections.
It was founded in 1888 by a group of Liberals and leaders of the labour movement. It was also supported by the Fabian Society, and Sidney Webb was one of its councillors. In the first elections of the London County Council (LCC) in January 1889 the Progressive Party won 70 of the 118 seats. It lost power in 1907 to the Municipal Reform Party (a Conservative organisation) under Richard Robinson.
The Westminster Gazette featured this advert from the Party. “Electors, beware of false names and Vote Progressive’,” declared the message.
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Posted: 5th, November 2013 | In: Flashback, Politicians | Comment
The Sun’s Online Sex Addict Is A Model And Actor
KELLYANN Thompson is the subject of the Sun’s “Online dating turned me from celibate to a sex addict”.
Jenny Francis reports on the 45-year-old single mum-of-four who “was celibate for three years – but internet dating caused her to become a SEX ADDICT.”
“Before I discovered online dating, I was a serial monogamist who’d never had a one-night stand.”
Adding:
“When I saw the amount of messages I was getting from men who wanted to sleep with me, I was shocked. It really boosted my confidence and turned me on. I became addicted to the high feeling I got and at first, I didn’t see the harm in having a bit of fun. I had no idea it would lead to an addiction that would take over my life.”
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Dubai Court Debates Meaning Of ‘F*ck Off’ Over ‘F*ck You’
“MY client is a Canadian citizen and f*ck off is not an insult in Canada… but f*ck you is a curse and an insult. F*ck off is commonly used when a person expresses themselves metaphorically and asks another person, who angered them, to walk away,” says Uday Al Kazwini of Dar Al Balagh Advocates and Legal Consultants. He’s representing a 43-year-old Canadian before the Dubai Misdemeanour Court.
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Posted: 5th, November 2013 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Madeleine McCann: Euclides Monteiro Goes Down
MADELEINE McCann: What news of the dead black immigrant Euclides Monteiro? The Express says it’s of front-page importance:
“NEW EVIDENCE PUTS SUSPECT AT SCENE OF CRIME”
The crime?
Phone records show suspect was nearby when Madeleine McCann vanished
Well, yes. All we know for certain is that she vanished. The single thread to the story remains unchanged.
Detectives in Portugal say the data shows that Euclides Monteiro, a convicted thief and heroin user, was close to or at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine was snatched in May 2007.
Smacked-out black man steals child whilst looking for iPod and cash in Portugal? He couldn’t have blended in more had he been wearing a burqa.
Officers are probing whether Monteiro may have taken her out of revenge after being sacked for stealing by the Algarve holiday club.
Was he sacked for stealing? A source says he was accused of stealing and then never turned up for work the next day. Was he sacked, or did he just move on?
The 6ft 2in father-of-two died aged 40 in a tractor accident in 2009. Relatives insist he was innocent and say they will work with police to clear his name.
That he should have to prove his innocence is a failure. But what about that headline placing him at the “scene of crime”?
Records of mobile phone signals obtained by Portuguese police are understood to show that he was in the vicinity of the Ocean Club on the night the three-year-old went missing.
Officers are trying to determine why this might be, as it was a year since he had been sacked and at that time he was living 15 minutes away.
Fetch the ouija board.
But Monteiro’s sister Paula last night claimed he may have sold the phone before Madeleine disappeared. Speaking from her home in Argozelo, northern Portugal, she said: “He was always swapping or selling his phones around that time. I consider myself lucky not to have been arrested because at the time I lent him a mobile which was still in my name. The phone isn’t proof that he was near Madeleine McCann’s apartment. I know he was not there.”
So. There is it: mobile phone of drug-taking black man who worked at Ocean Club was in Praia da Luz on the night the child vanished. Let’s dig him up and beat him with sticks.
Portuguese police continue to examine Monteiro, who emigrated to Portugal as a child from Cape Verde, off west Africa. They are investigating whether he may have been stealing from guests’ rooms at the Ocean Club to feed a heroin habit. Monteiro was convicted of theft in 1996 and served a jail sentence.
Send the man down (six feet)…
Posted: 5th, November 2013 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews | Comment
Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, Samantha Lewthwaite And The Inviolable Burqa
HOW did Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed escape? The man, so bad they named him twice, evaded the might of the British security services by wearing a burka. One other man, Ibrahim Magag, escaped by hailing a black cab.
Mr Mohamed went into the Annoor mosque in Acton, London, wearing Western-style clothes (a fleece and trousers) at about 10am. The 27-year-old , with alleged links with the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab then walked out wearing a burka.
The burka is inviolable.
Labour MP Chris Bryant asked Theresa May, the Home Secretary how this had occurred. May had stated that Mo-Mo posed “no direct threat to the public in the UK”. “What really worries me about your attitude is that you seem to think these two men came up with some phenomenally cunning plan,” said Bryant. “One of them jumped in a black cab and the other slipped on a burka! Surely you understand others will be laughing in your face?”
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Is Jane Austen Too Airbrushed On The New Banknote?
THE Bank of England decided that they needed to get some women involved on our currency. The hooters and sneerers pointed out that The Queen was pretty ubiquitous on our money, but everyone else acknowledged that it was a bit of a sausagefest and that we’re lucky enough to have some incredible achievements from womenfolk and that should be celebrated.
And so, we ended up with Jane Austen, and no-one could argue with her outstanding contribution to the English language.
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I’m Stressed About Making Love With Old Obese Men
ANORAK likes the idea of joined-up newspapers. As Jonathan Haynes puts it: “Presumably it was the fantasy about group sex with old men in the Guardian that led to the stress in the Telegraph?”
Spotter: @JonathanHaynes
What’s The Worst Part About Working At Google? The People Are Too Smart And Talented
WHAT’S the worst part about working at Google ? That question was posed to readers of Business Insider. Some answers err on the creepy side of Norman Bates’ slippers. A selection now follow:
Anonymous
When it’s standard to be awesome, and the work isn’t particularly tough to begin with, it’s hard to differentiate…
Some people end up losing their drive by working at Google. They get accustomed to not trying their hardest, but still having an awesome day-to-day life.
Some caveats: Many Googlers are clearly among the brightest in the world in their field, and they’re able to run full stride in their work. If you take your career into your own hands, you can find a role that challenges and stretches you as much as any other job in the world.
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Posted: 4th, November 2013 | In: Money, Reviews, Technology | Comment
Do We Want To Bring Back Morph?
IN a move that normally grates – as in, famous entity starting a Kickstarter campaign, which seems a bit unfair when not-famous folk are trying to get projects off the ground in the same way – Aardman Animations has launched a Kickstarter so they can bring back Morph for a new series.
Of course, you’ll know Aardman through the Wallace and Gromit films (and more), and they’re hoping to bring back their first creation for a brand new series of short films.
Morph first appeared on our radars all the way back in 1977 in Tony Hart’s show Take Hart. Alas, Morph has been off air since the ’90s which is why Aardman’s Peter Lord is seeking £75,000 to bring him back to life.
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Posted: 4th, November 2013 | In: Reviews, TV & Radio | Comment
How Much Would You Buy Someone’s Virginity For? Shatuniha Is Asking £17,000 (Photos)
VIRGINITY. A weird notion. A name given to something you haven’t done yet. Imagine if everything we hadn’t done had a special word. Is there a designated word for someone who hasn’t tried pickled onion Monster Munch yet? There should be because, when it comes down to it, someone’s virginity and pickled onion Monster Munch are about as important as each other (although the latter has more sustained and dependable pleasures).
Either way, people value virginities much more highly than things you can buy from the corner shop. While snacks cost under a quid, one Russian teenager has sold her virginity online for £17,000.
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Posted: 4th, November 2013 | In: Money, Reviews, Strange But True | Comments (4)
Lake Annecy: Is This An E-Fit Of The Killer’s Face?
WHO murdered the British family in the French Alps? Who killed Saad al Hilli, a 50-year-old British-Iraqi businessman, Sylvain Mollier, described by Sky News as “apparently an innocent bystander”.
Sky makes no mention of the other names of the killed. Why is the BBC so certain they they do not figure?
The BBC says that Iqbal al Hilli and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf were the other victims.
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Posted: 4th, November 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Pussy Riot Band Member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova Has Been Disappeared
PUSSY Riot band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has disappeared from view.
On October 21, Tolokonnikov was sent to Penal Colony#14 in Mordovia.
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