When you read the Sun, Daily Mail and the Express over a long-enough period of time, you start to notice a few things.

One thing that crops up regularly are hysterical ranting posts over a few small topics, including the following:

• It’s Political Correctness/‘Elf-and-Safety gawn maaaddd!!!;
• Scandal as the NHS refuses treatment!!!!!/New miracle cure for [insert scary medical condition here] – this is a particular favourite of the Mail which appears to be on a quest to categorise everything into either causing or curing cancer;
• Eurocrats are trying to control our way of life!!!!;
• Immigrants taking over and guess who’s paying?!!!!

We’ve noticed that a lot of these scare stories could be stopped by a little research, which we accept that pressed-for-time tabloid journalists, for whatever reason, are unable to do.

Therefore, in the spirit of co-operation, we’ve decided to help them out by listing great sources of information, thereby saving them valuable time:

• Health and Safety Executive – “Myth of the Month” – a useful site for any claims which are made about bizarre actions taken or prevented in the name of preventing accident;
• NHS Choices – Behind the Headlines – a very good site for any “miracle cure” stories;
• National Institute of Clinical Excellence – evidence-based guidelines on various health topics, which go a long way to help the NHS what medicines and treatments should and shouldn’t be funded by the taxpayer;
• News from the European Commission in the UK – news on how the Eurocrats aren’t necessarily trying to dictate how we live;

There are also a variety of websites which can be used for any “Bloody Foreigners! Coming over ‘ere! Takin’ our jobs! Takin’ our wimmin!” stories*:

• The Refugee Council – The Truth About Asylum;
• National Assembly Against Racism – Mythbusting Guide (PDF); and also
• Mediawise’s guide to the use of correct terminology.

There are also more general fact-checking sites**:

• Fullfact.org; and
• Channel 4’s FactCheck Blog

Of course, any and all of these lists could also be used by anyone else who wants to know more about the articles which the Sun, Daily Mail and/or the Express publish.

If anyone has any other suggestions as what other sources our tabloid journalists could use, just leave them in the comments.

* Thanks to Tabloid Watch for these particular links
** Thanks to Bloggerheads for these suggestions

What did Barnet Council say?  Um:

“Barnet council does not have a policy on mother-in-law jokes.

“There is no booklet and no ban on mother-in-law jokes.

“Our advice to staff is that they should be polite and avoid giving offence to any member of the public.”

What really happened is that an external training company gave handouts to 30 odd staff that went on one training course, which only advised against doing them in front of members of the public.

Hardly Political Correctness going mad is it?

Remember: when the Mail says something ridiculous has been banned, what it really means is that someting ridiculous hasn’t been banned.  At all.