The Daily Mail: False Flag

The Daily Mail's Richard Littlejohn was frothing at the mouth today about 'The Rainbow Warrior of Bury St Edmunds'
Who?
"The Chief Constable of Suffolk, Simon Ash, has hoisted a rainbow flag outside his headquarters to celebrate gay and lesbian history month.
"Why?"
"...No one would mind that much, I imagine, if Chief Constable Ash didn’t also ban the flying of the Union Flag outside ‘his’ police stations — presumably on the grounds that it’s ‘racist’."
Littlejohn's source for this is... a story in The Daily Mail!
'Police chiefs fly gay pride flag... but are forbidden to put up the Union Jack'
(There are some angry comments below the report from Mail readers pointing out it's the Union FLAG - classic).
Thanks to a great post in the blog Tabloid Watch we learn that the Mail's story was followed up by local TV news programme, Anglia Tonight.
Watch the segment here.
And guess what? The Mail was lying!
A police spokesperson is asked about the accusation that the Union Flag and the Cross of St George flag were not flying because they had been banned.
She replied; "This is not accurate. Both flags are flown from our headquarters."
Oops!
Tabloid Watch notes; "So Littlejohn was wrong about the 'ban', wrong about the 'grounds' for the 'ban', and wrong to say the Union Flag doesn't fly on the Queen's Birthday."
I trust he'll clear this up in his next column.
The Mail also claims flying the rainbow flag was met with "fierce criticism" - the Anglia Tonight reporter said "most residents we spoke to supported the decision".
This is backed up in the report with several vox pops.
The reporter signs off with the line; "Suffolk Police say if it gets people thinking about prejudice it's worth the odd criticism."
Let's hope so.

Flexisexuality: Full Shocking Story And Steamy Pics!

The Daily Mail has discovered a new word - flexisexual.
"First there was that infamous on-stage kiss between Madonna and Britney Spears.
"Then Katy Perry sang that she kissed a girl and she liked it.
"Now a new word has been coined for the growing number of straight women who flirt with bisexuality... flexisexual.
"It refers to people who have a sexual preference but refuse to be bound by it.
"And it seems heterosexual women in their 30s and 40s are leading the trend..."
Golly.
It's accompanied by the above titillating photo of Madonna and Britney getting it on.
In fact the whole piece is titillating, presumably intentionally.
It confirms a theory advanced by the excellent blog Tabloid Watch that while the Mail likes to come across as prudish, it's also extremely prurient, printing "shocking" sex stories in detail, and knowing that readers love this stuff and they bring a heck of a lot of traffic to the Mail's website.
Sad.

Fagburn: Last Week's So-Called News Today!

Before we get back to normal, there are a few very brief points Fagburn would like to make about the news from the week that passed us by due to ill-health.
You know, just for the record and that.

That William Hague Thing:
Funniest well of ink spilled on this one?
The Daily Mail's pet poove Andrew Pierce with his "Soulmates who were such easy targets for innuendo".
[Brief pause while Fagburn makes his sad boo-hoo face].
Seeing as this non-scandal seemed to centre on those hilariously Hello! magazine-style photos of Mr Hague and Mr Myers (above, obviously), well done to Mildred Mr Pierce for writing such a gushing Hello! style tribute to the lovely couple.*
Maybe it was a fit of guilt on the part of The Mail?
Lest we forget - and it usually is - the whispering campaign against William Hague and Christopher Myers first went public not on Guido Fawkes blog.
Guido Fawkes first mentioned Hague and Myers after their relationship had been broached by the Daily Mail on August 21st:
'Another Hague Special Adviser: And another of those baseball cap moments'.
For reasons best known to the Mail they accompanied the news article with not one, not two, but three photos from the paparazzi session above.
Then followed it up with a catty comment piece (plus photo of the two men) two days later.
See if you can detect any innuendo in that one.

Crispin Blunt MP:
You remember? He's the Conservative Prisons Minister who came out 10 days ago AS A BIG GAY!!!
Don't worry if you don't really remember.
In a handy piece of serendipity, everyone had forgotten all about it as soon as the Hague tsunami of tittle-tattle broke a few days later.
No homo story has emerged on Mr Blunt in the newspapers, but Fagburn was rather concerned at the temper and tone of The Daily Mail's earlier attacks on Blunt's "liberal" views on prisons and criminal justice.
This is the Mail's leader from July 22nd, 'An Insult Too Far'.
"The Tories have already given up on a long list of their manifesto commitments. But to renounce their historic role as the party of law and order may be an insult too far for many of their loyal supporters."
Many media mentioned the "prison parties" as Blunt's previous claim to ministerial fame before his coming out.
Is Fagburn alone in wondering if they might be related?

Gareth Williams Murder:
The Daily Mail's ever-madder Melanie Phillips has stuck her oar in.
The headline to her article asks; 'The dead MI6 spy was an unsung hero, so why are shadowy figures trying to blacken his name?'
After wibbling on for 1,000 or so meandering words, Phillips concludes brilliantly; "Perhaps. Who knows?"
Case closed!

And finally... "Morrissey Reignites Racism Row":
Her and her big mouth, eh?
Oops again, dear.

Right, let's get back to the present...

* William and Ffion