Saturday 12 July, 2014
Kim Sengupta sends further harrowing despatches from Gaza, drilling through the politics to get to the human cost of the war between Israel and Hamas. The Independent has been criticised for what is seen as its partisan approach to the conflict, but Israel is not short of supporters elsewhere. A child with a body full of shrapnel is a child who has been misused, whatever its background and these are the stories that are being told here.
The Lords are to discuss the possible legalisation of assisted dying next week and today's papers are parading two archbishops of Canterbury, past and present. George Carey writes in the Mail and Telegraph that he has changed his view and that he now supports the idea. Justin Welby writes equally forcefully in the Times that he believes assisted dying can never be regarded as compassionate. Welby's view may be seen as the more relevant as the present incumbent, but Carey's is the more newsworthy, given that it is the reverse of what might be expected.
The Times is also concerned with lowlier members of the Church - a bishop and priests accused of abusing choirboys. In this case the villain of the piece is not one of the clergy, but Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the retired High Court judge appointed to look into sex abuse allegations swirling round Westminster. Sean O'Neill reports that Lady Butler-Sloss had persuaded an alleged abuse not to name the bishop when giving evidence to a previous investigation "because the Press would love a bishop". She did, however, tell the Archbishop of Canterbury about the allegation. The story will add to pressure on the Government to find someone else to lead the Westminster inquiry; Lady Butler-Sloss has already been deemed unsuitable by some because her brother Lord Havers was Attorney-General at the time some of the alleged offences took place and because she is "too Establishment". She probably also knows more about family law than anyone else alive.
No one would dare call Elizabeth Butler-Sloss a token woman, but that seems to be what David Cameron is seeking in planning a government reshuffle next week. The Guardian uses that horrible word "female" in its clumsy splash heading. It's a perfectly good English word, but it always sounds so loaded and patronising when you see it in print. Patronising is, of course, what Cameron is being if he thinks a couple of women in the ranks will make his party more electable. Voters are not so shallow; they are more concerned with talent than gender and it's a bit late after four and a quarter years to realise that your administration is unbalanced.
The Star will be spluttering this morning to find the Sun stealing its two staples from under its nose. White Dee and Big Brother have kept the Star going for the past year - and there they are united in today's Sun splash. Much jollity in Wapping, no doubt.
The Mirror has the best splash headline by a mile - and for great reads, have a look at the Guardian's inside coverage of the Clooney v Mail skirmish; a good write-through on page 3 and some joy from Hadley Freeman further back. And, of course, there's also the SubScribe take on the whole shenanigans on this site.
Have a happy weekend everyone.
SubScribe Are papers playing fair with celebrities?
The Lords are to discuss the possible legalisation of assisted dying next week and today's papers are parading two archbishops of Canterbury, past and present. George Carey writes in the Mail and Telegraph that he has changed his view and that he now supports the idea. Justin Welby writes equally forcefully in the Times that he believes assisted dying can never be regarded as compassionate. Welby's view may be seen as the more relevant as the present incumbent, but Carey's is the more newsworthy, given that it is the reverse of what might be expected.
The Times is also concerned with lowlier members of the Church - a bishop and priests accused of abusing choirboys. In this case the villain of the piece is not one of the clergy, but Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the retired High Court judge appointed to look into sex abuse allegations swirling round Westminster. Sean O'Neill reports that Lady Butler-Sloss had persuaded an alleged abuse not to name the bishop when giving evidence to a previous investigation "because the Press would love a bishop". She did, however, tell the Archbishop of Canterbury about the allegation. The story will add to pressure on the Government to find someone else to lead the Westminster inquiry; Lady Butler-Sloss has already been deemed unsuitable by some because her brother Lord Havers was Attorney-General at the time some of the alleged offences took place and because she is "too Establishment". She probably also knows more about family law than anyone else alive.
No one would dare call Elizabeth Butler-Sloss a token woman, but that seems to be what David Cameron is seeking in planning a government reshuffle next week. The Guardian uses that horrible word "female" in its clumsy splash heading. It's a perfectly good English word, but it always sounds so loaded and patronising when you see it in print. Patronising is, of course, what Cameron is being if he thinks a couple of women in the ranks will make his party more electable. Voters are not so shallow; they are more concerned with talent than gender and it's a bit late after four and a quarter years to realise that your administration is unbalanced.
The Star will be spluttering this morning to find the Sun stealing its two staples from under its nose. White Dee and Big Brother have kept the Star going for the past year - and there they are united in today's Sun splash. Much jollity in Wapping, no doubt.
The Mirror has the best splash headline by a mile - and for great reads, have a look at the Guardian's inside coverage of the Clooney v Mail skirmish; a good write-through on page 3 and some joy from Hadley Freeman further back. And, of course, there's also the SubScribe take on the whole shenanigans on this site.
Have a happy weekend everyone.
SubScribe Are papers playing fair with celebrities?
Friday 11 July, 2014
A story that affects everyone or one that affects thousands? It's a 3-3 draw until the Telegraph weighs in with a front-page single column on free gastric surgery for fatties and relegates emergency legislation on monitoring phone and internet use to page 6 under the heading "Councils face snooping ban in terror crackdown". Who'd have thought it was the same story? The right-wingers might argue that Cameron is correct in saying that this is formalising the status quo - but even if people think it's right for all our telecomms to come under scrutiny, doesn't the phrase "emergency legislation" and the fact that it is to be enacted within a week ring alarm bells? Whenever I hear such phrases two words come to mind: dangerous dogs.
As for the surgery, there are some interesting interpretations around, and it's instructive to look at the three splash headings on the subject. The Mail is probably the most accurate; the Times isn't strictly true, because only those with or at risk of diabetes will qualify; the Express gets the "why" into its headline, but neglects to tell us the "who" or the fact that it's on the NHS. The Independent tells the story in a three-par nib and in that space manages to spell out the BMI benchmarks for treatment, which the Times fails to achieve in 800 words.
Editor's blog Do you believe in miracles?
As for the surgery, there are some interesting interpretations around, and it's instructive to look at the three splash headings on the subject. The Mail is probably the most accurate; the Times isn't strictly true, because only those with or at risk of diabetes will qualify; the Express gets the "why" into its headline, but neglects to tell us the "who" or the fact that it's on the NHS. The Independent tells the story in a three-par nib and in that space manages to spell out the BMI benchmarks for treatment, which the Times fails to achieve in 800 words.
Editor's blog Do you believe in miracles?
Thursday 10 July 2014
There's an air of ennui about today's papers. Nobody seems able to get too worked up about today's public sector strikes - if the Guardian's angle is Cameron promising a crackdown, we can sure its impact is expected to be limited. The Mirror, surprisingly, doesn't even make it the lead, preferring to copy out yesterday's Times splash and inflate the cost fivefold. The details of its 'exclusive' inside also seem remarkably similar to those in the Times yesterday, with the same names - Katie Melua, George Michael, Arctic Monkeys and Michael Caine - in the frame. The Mail has also picked up on the story, parking it on page 11. The Thunderer has now moved on to attacking the taxman instead of the dodgers. It reports that HMRC spent ten years on an investigation and failed to get its papers in on time, so 26 investors will be able to hang on to their sheltered money, even if the Revenue wins a court case and has the Liberty scheme declared illegal. SubScribe may be wrong, but isn't there a ruthless penalty system in place if taxpayers are late with their returns?
The most-read article of the day will be the panel headlined "George Clooney: A correction and an apology" at the foot of page 2 in the Daily Mail. The brush with Gorgeous George seems to have taken the wind out of the paper's sails. The puff is tortuous and tautologous (it's Jane and Bryony Gordon in case you were wondering), the euthanasia splash so-so, and there's no sign of the usual pizazz anywhere in the news pages. Cheer up folks.
SubScribe Are we playing fair with celebrities?
The most-read article of the day will be the panel headlined "George Clooney: A correction and an apology" at the foot of page 2 in the Daily Mail. The brush with Gorgeous George seems to have taken the wind out of the paper's sails. The puff is tortuous and tautologous (it's Jane and Bryony Gordon in case you were wondering), the euthanasia splash so-so, and there's no sign of the usual pizazz anywhere in the news pages. Cheer up folks.
SubScribe Are we playing fair with celebrities?
Wednesday 9 July, 2014
Not a good day for the celebs. The Times is back on its tax avoidance kick and this time it has Arctic Monkeys, George Michael and Katie Melua in its sights. The Mail, under fire from George Clooney this morning for publishing a 'dangerous made-up story' about his future mother-in-law, gives the top half of its front and a spread inside to photographs and video stills purportedly taken by a drug dealer while delivering supplies to Angelina Jolie. The original source of this piece is the National Enquirer. Looking at it, SubScribe has only one thought: Why?
The Star is downright irresponsible with its Miley Cyrus front, complemented by a further page inside. Any adult with half a brain will realise that this is a video or stunt - but how many of its buyers are minors? The headline is deceitful and the picture crass.
Even the Independent is on celeb duty with a photograph of a Lambchop album cover censored by a music website to meet the requirements of Google's advertising arm. For Guardian readers it's a case of celebs tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. Like the Times, it is on the trail of people who "hide" their money in offshore funds and it is promising to name names. Today we have political donors, but it says that in the coming days it will list celebrities, sport stars, judges, business tycoons and aristocrats.
Oh, and by the way, there isn't a global ban on mobile phones. Travellers just need to be able to switch them on to prove they're not bombs. We'll get used to it, just as we have not taking liquids in hand luggage. It's to keep us safe, not to cause inconvenience.
SubScribe Are we playing fair with celebrities?
The Star is downright irresponsible with its Miley Cyrus front, complemented by a further page inside. Any adult with half a brain will realise that this is a video or stunt - but how many of its buyers are minors? The headline is deceitful and the picture crass.
Even the Independent is on celeb duty with a photograph of a Lambchop album cover censored by a music website to meet the requirements of Google's advertising arm. For Guardian readers it's a case of celebs tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. Like the Times, it is on the trail of people who "hide" their money in offshore funds and it is promising to name names. Today we have political donors, but it says that in the coming days it will list celebrities, sport stars, judges, business tycoons and aristocrats.
Oh, and by the way, there isn't a global ban on mobile phones. Travellers just need to be able to switch them on to prove they're not bombs. We'll get used to it, just as we have not taking liquids in hand luggage. It's to keep us safe, not to cause inconvenience.
SubScribe Are we playing fair with celebrities?
Tuesday 8 July 2014
Theresa May retains the yellow jersey in the Tour de Westminster, gulping from the poisoned water bottle that is the Home Office and powering on reinvigorated where most of her predecessors have been been scattered by the roadside. Yesterday she ordered not one but two inquiries into suspected rape, child sex abuse and cover-ups involving MPs, peers and public officials. Even as she did so, more allegations were emerging, and the Mirror was demanding more of her. A Hillsborough style 'panel of experts' is to look into reports of abuse within public bodies and institutions including schools, hospitals and churches, and the NSPCC chairman Peter Wanless is to oversee an investigation into last year's investigation of the way the Home Office investigated historical claims of abuse. Are you keeping up? The Mirror would prefer to see a judge in charge of one, if not both, inquiries. The Mail meanwhile uses a Civil Service report on grants dispensed by the Home Office's Voluntary Services Unit during the 70s and 80s to renew its assault on Harriet Harman, Patricia Hewitt and Jack Dromey over the National Council for Civil Liberties' links to the Paedophile Information Exchange.
There's something in the day's events for everyone - apart from the Star, which has bikini bodies and live sex on TV to worry about, and the Telegraph, which has six stories on its front but no room for this scandal.
The Independent manages only a puff, having decided to splash on an interview in which the man in charge of the "No" campaign in the Scottish referendum says it would be a bad thing if the Scots voted for independence. Gosh. It also has a rather odd story about the Home Office having to pay £130,000 to a doctor and her family for failures that allowed a Canadian baddie into the country. He went on to terrorise the doctor's family, eventually setting their home on fire. They all survived.
But to be honest, the day really belongs to the Express. The eyes may glaze over at the sight of yet another Alzheimer's splash - the ninth this year - but this time it is in the company of the Telegraph, Times and Guardian in publishing a front-page report on research into a blood test that might help to predict whether someone is liable to develop the disease. Vindication?
Editor's Blog Sex scandals in Westminster, corruption at Scotland Yard - and we're the arch villains?
There's something in the day's events for everyone - apart from the Star, which has bikini bodies and live sex on TV to worry about, and the Telegraph, which has six stories on its front but no room for this scandal.
The Independent manages only a puff, having decided to splash on an interview in which the man in charge of the "No" campaign in the Scottish referendum says it would be a bad thing if the Scots voted for independence. Gosh. It also has a rather odd story about the Home Office having to pay £130,000 to a doctor and her family for failures that allowed a Canadian baddie into the country. He went on to terrorise the doctor's family, eventually setting their home on fire. They all survived.
But to be honest, the day really belongs to the Express. The eyes may glaze over at the sight of yet another Alzheimer's splash - the ninth this year - but this time it is in the company of the Telegraph, Times and Guardian in publishing a front-page report on research into a blood test that might help to predict whether someone is liable to develop the disease. Vindication?
Editor's Blog Sex scandals in Westminster, corruption at Scotland Yard - and we're the arch villains?
Monday 7 July 2014
There are now so many threads to the Westminster sex abuse scandal that it's hard to keep track - the Mirror has been on the trail of a Labour minister for some months, the Telegraph has tracked down the victim of a paedophile politician from years ago and Norman Tebbit has weighed in with an extraordinary column for the Telegraph, building on from his Andrew Marr interview that forms the basis of the Sun and Mail splashes. Tebbit writes about an Establishment cover-up culture at Westminster in which the crimes of individuals were hushed up to protect the reputation of the institution; he points to the same philosophy in the NHS and the BBC with Jimmy Savile. After a gentle meander through 20th century politics, including obligatory pops at Blair, multiculturalism and the EU, he concludes that the electorate's default position is now to damn all politicians as corrupt, self-serving sexual perverts and that the inquiry ordered by the Prime Minister must be resolutely carried through. Reputations will be trashed, he says, "but only a thorough purge of those who have brought the democratic system into disrepute can clear the way to rebuild anew".
The Star also has its mind on sex, but in Magaluf. The Guardian is again worrying about phone-call snoops and the Express is again celebrating the prospect of it being warm - or even hot - at the height of summer.
It's good to know that there are still some things that can be relied upon.
Editor's Blog Sex scandals in Westminster, corruption at Scotland Yard - and we're the arch villains?
The Star also has its mind on sex, but in Magaluf. The Guardian is again worrying about phone-call snoops and the Express is again celebrating the prospect of it being warm - or even hot - at the height of summer.
It's good to know that there are still some things that can be relied upon.
Editor's Blog Sex scandals in Westminster, corruption at Scotland Yard - and we're the arch villains?
Sunday 6 July, 2014
'Why are we wasting money on this when we could be spending it on that?' is a favourite argument of the partisan. It's usually spurious. But this collection of front pages does make you wonder how the Press came to be the arch-villains of the unholy trinity of politicians, police, Press. And that in turn prompts further questions about the extent and expense of the phone-hacking inquiry.
In the top row we have two peers (one Labour, one Conservative) under suspicion for rape, and the disappearance of 114 files from a 1983 dossier alleging that a number of public figures were involved in child sex abuse. At the bottom we have more allegations against Rolf Harris, who was jailed for sexual assault on Friday.
Putting Operation Yewtree and celebrity sex predators aside for a moment, let us remember that we also have the Cyril Smith allegations rumbling along in the background - thanks almost entirely to the Daily Mail.
Those with short memories might also be reminded of the MPs' expenses scandal and the men who drained moats, the women who declined to pay for their own bath plugs. We know about them thanks to the Daily Telegraph.
These are the people running our country; the people who decided that the law wasn't strong enough to keep the Press in line, that a £5m public inquiry followed by a royal charter to set new parameters of behaviour was required.
MPs accepted after the expenses scandal - without the benefit of a public inquiry - that they couldn't be trusted to police themselves, so an independent parliamentary standards authority was created. It's made a huge difference. In 2009, the year of the scandal, MPs' expenses totalled £95.4m. In the year to last September, the total was £98m.
The police, particularly the Metropolitan force, meanwhile remain mired in corruption allegations that any number of public inquiries and new brooms at the top have been unable to stamp out. They have failed properly to investigate murder, wholesale sexual abuse and assorted other crimes - including phone hacking at the News of the World. Stephen Lawrence's killers were finally brought to justice not through dogged detective work, but in large part because of the law-breaking bravery of Stuart Steven when editor of the Mail on Sunday
Eight out of ten of today's front pages are devoted to historic crimes and alleged crimes involving men in high places abusing vulnerable women and children; offences dating back to the 60s, 70s and 80s; crimes and alleged crimes that were widely known about, yet which troubled neither police nor politicians until very recently.
Police operations looking into old journalistic misdeeds are ongoing, and the Daniel Morgan inquiry is unlikely to do anything other than give sections of the Press an even worse name, but SubScribe has not so far heard any suggestion that journalists were involved in sex abuse rings or systematically defrauding the taxpayer.
Those who believe that the state should play any part in determining how the Press is regulated might care to show how police behaviour has improved since the establishment of the IPCC in 2004 and how MPs have curbed their excesses since IPSA was set up in 2009.
There are chancers and criminals in every walk of life, but they tend to gravitate mostly towards areas of power, influence and money. So a few police officers are corrupt, a few MPs are criminally greedy, a few celebrities are sex abusers, a few journalists are unethical. It's all a matter of proportion.
If the Press is allowed to do its job, if good people are attracted to public life, and if the law is allowed to function, we'll come out on the right side - eventually. Then we can work together to defeat the financial sharks who rob us all.
See last week's front pages and SubScribe's ascerbic reviews here
In the top row we have two peers (one Labour, one Conservative) under suspicion for rape, and the disappearance of 114 files from a 1983 dossier alleging that a number of public figures were involved in child sex abuse. At the bottom we have more allegations against Rolf Harris, who was jailed for sexual assault on Friday.
Putting Operation Yewtree and celebrity sex predators aside for a moment, let us remember that we also have the Cyril Smith allegations rumbling along in the background - thanks almost entirely to the Daily Mail.
Those with short memories might also be reminded of the MPs' expenses scandal and the men who drained moats, the women who declined to pay for their own bath plugs. We know about them thanks to the Daily Telegraph.
These are the people running our country; the people who decided that the law wasn't strong enough to keep the Press in line, that a £5m public inquiry followed by a royal charter to set new parameters of behaviour was required.
MPs accepted after the expenses scandal - without the benefit of a public inquiry - that they couldn't be trusted to police themselves, so an independent parliamentary standards authority was created. It's made a huge difference. In 2009, the year of the scandal, MPs' expenses totalled £95.4m. In the year to last September, the total was £98m.
The police, particularly the Metropolitan force, meanwhile remain mired in corruption allegations that any number of public inquiries and new brooms at the top have been unable to stamp out. They have failed properly to investigate murder, wholesale sexual abuse and assorted other crimes - including phone hacking at the News of the World. Stephen Lawrence's killers were finally brought to justice not through dogged detective work, but in large part because of the law-breaking bravery of Stuart Steven when editor of the Mail on Sunday
Eight out of ten of today's front pages are devoted to historic crimes and alleged crimes involving men in high places abusing vulnerable women and children; offences dating back to the 60s, 70s and 80s; crimes and alleged crimes that were widely known about, yet which troubled neither police nor politicians until very recently.
Police operations looking into old journalistic misdeeds are ongoing, and the Daniel Morgan inquiry is unlikely to do anything other than give sections of the Press an even worse name, but SubScribe has not so far heard any suggestion that journalists were involved in sex abuse rings or systematically defrauding the taxpayer.
Those who believe that the state should play any part in determining how the Press is regulated might care to show how police behaviour has improved since the establishment of the IPCC in 2004 and how MPs have curbed their excesses since IPSA was set up in 2009.
There are chancers and criminals in every walk of life, but they tend to gravitate mostly towards areas of power, influence and money. So a few police officers are corrupt, a few MPs are criminally greedy, a few celebrities are sex abusers, a few journalists are unethical. It's all a matter of proportion.
If the Press is allowed to do its job, if good people are attracted to public life, and if the law is allowed to function, we'll come out on the right side - eventually. Then we can work together to defeat the financial sharks who rob us all.
See last week's front pages and SubScribe's ascerbic reviews here
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