I seem to remember the BNP making the same mistake in a photo op. Upside down union flag behind Nick Griffin. Did he have to apologise?

It's a shame Downing street hasn't the balls to say say "Oh fuck off, it's only a flag" when the Express ring them up, instead of "launching an investigation". That is what's wrong with this country.

Cue Noel Edmonds ......

Dunno if this is the right place to put this but this is pretty fucking insane on so many levels...

http://tinyurl.com/dduh72

and here's some blogs talking about it...

http://nosleeptilbrooklands.blogspot.com/

http://enemiesofreason.blogspot.com/200 ... press.html

That's utterly mental.

What do people want these teenagers to do? Have public breakdowns once a week?

"...so we thought we'd have a good old rubberneck."

oh my no, what they are meant to be are beacons of total perfection, to not drink, smoke, have tattoo's or listen to loud music, and have gotten high grades and good uni places.
this would offer the express one of the "trimuph over adversity" stories tabloids love so dearly, but have always personally left a bitter taste in my mouth, possibly as they seem to suggest that suffereing a massive psycological trauma should somehow make you into a happy and successful person.
you should cirtainly never be seen to emerge from something like this as a damaged one, and as this artical has proven, normal isn't anywhere near good enough either.

But they are blooming teenagers and young adults, what do you expect?

(note: i use the term 'blooming' in the 'blooming eck' sense, not the 'mmm, their all grown up now' sense)

Yeah, I suspect that they went looking for updates on these kids to find out if any of them were going to study neuroscience at Cambridge or dedicating themselves to charity work so they could do an uplifting fluff piece, and when they found only bog-standard teenage drinking photos, decided to take a somewhat different tack.

One thing that struck me on re-reading it is that it's entirely based on just two of the 16 kids that survived (15 were injured, one escaped unhurt). Either she couldn't find the others, or they didn't have enough juicy stuff on their pages.

or maybe some of them are still under 18? Perhaps we can look forward to regular updates on their lives as soon as each one turns 18 and therefore become fair game for the Mail...

It's almost as though The Express are bemoaning the fact that these two escaped death at all if they are now going to behave like obnoxiously normal teenage boys!

A follow-up to a blog by Chicken Yoghurt (http://www.chickyog.net/2009/03/09/paul ... -an-idiot/)

Sunday Express chief takes...er...no responsbility whatsoever:
http://torytroll.blogspot.com/2009/03/e ... blane.html

http://www.bloggerheads.com/archives/20 ... drinks.asp

That's a brilliant bit of blogging. I really want it stuck to her - it's the lowest of low in journalism. This is really gathering some pace now - many have linked that plus other sites through Twitter, and Graham Linehan's (yep, Father Ted writer) blog makes an excellent summary of the whole sorry mess that is the PCC.

The latest from Linehan is talk of an apology appear in the upcoming Sunday Express. He's not prepared to let it lie at that, mind. If successful, this campaign could have far-reaching ramifications for press standards.

The PCC should be a independent body of people, I've always said that, the press may lobby against it suggesting it's a Walter Lippmann style of management but in it's current form you surely can't have a respected democracy.

And ok not alot of people "buy" them, but think how many are left lying around on Buses, how many the coffee shops put about and so on. Then you have the free ones in London which are all of a particularly strand of political ideology, and when they make blantant lies up on a front page I really don't think it benefits regardless, repeat a lie for long enough and it becomes the truth.