Gary Speed: Mystery

I wonder what the tabloids do know?

Daily Star: Phwoar!

The EDL-loving fun-loving Daily Star has just published "Britain's biggest ever sex survey."
And if you believe that you're probably so thick you believe the rest of the crap in Britain's worst newspaper.
The survey broke down readers by region and asked them about one-night stands, losing their virginity, safer sex, booze, and number of sexual partners.
Cor!
They do sound a boring bunch.
Though some of the blokes clearly have imaginations as vivid as the jerks that write for the Star.
And guess what type of sex they didn't ask about?
It's nice to have standards, don't you think?

The Footyball: Pointless Polls

"STEVEN Gerrard has scored again after being voted football’s top gay pin-up.
"Steven Gerrard, 31, pipped Chelsea striker Fernando Torres, 27, to become the most fancied player among homosexual football fans.
"And Gerrard did the double as he also bagged the Best Legs title.
"Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, 33, Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas, 24, and Liverpool’s Joe Cole, 29, completed the Top Five hottest Premier League aces.
"Manchester United was named sexiest side, followed by Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.
"But beanpole Spurs star Peter Crouch, 30, is the player gays would least like to play with, as he won just 2% of the vote in a survey for dating website Gaydar.
"And Wayne Rooney, 25, was voted as having the worst hair in the league.

This nonsense made it to all the tabloids - but this is from The Daily Star.
Here's the poll.
I like the idea of Gaydar being a "dating website", and not for random bumming and that.

Update: Footballers kissing.

The Daily Star: Who Needs Phone Hacking?

"CORONATION Street star Andrew Lancel agrees with critics the soap is too gay.
"The actor who plays factory boss Frank Foster said it was inconceivable so many homosexual men and women would live on one street.
Andrew, 40, said: “I believe there are too many gay people on Coronation Street.
"'If you walked down any street in Manchester you wouldn’t see so many. It is disproportional.'
Andrew, who played DI Manson in ITV1’s The Bill, spoke out while being quizzed by pupils at posh private school Stonyhurst College, Lancs, where he was a guest speaker..."

The Daily Star.

"Mmmm Just seen daily star. Well that seems considerably different to everything I've been saying recently and believe doesn't it. saddened."

Andrew Lancel, on Twitter.
Christ, the Star's hopeless.

• 'Police Raid Daily Star'. Oops!

Louis Walsh: Tragedy Turned Into Tabloid Gold

The Daily Star, The Daily Mirror and The Sun all give over their front pages to the Louis Walsh "gay sex attack" allegations.
Any X Factor story is always tabloid gold, but this one is actually (grimly) newsworthy.
Unfortunately there's not much substance to their stories today.
All had quotes from Louis saying much the same thing;
"I’m devastated by the completely unfounded and malicious allegations. Anyone who knows me knows this is all a pack of lies. It’s hurtful someone can do this and think they can get away with it," appeared in both the Mirror and the Sun, as did many others.
The Sun front page read; "Cowell: I back Louis 100%."
Inside we learnt Cowell said; "Like all of his close friends I will support him 100 per cent."
Thrillingly The Sun also told us; "Jedward refused to comment on the allegations yesterday as they attended a charity competition at a school in Dublin."
The Mirror, The Star and The Sun were all united in thinking Louis was innocent - so much so you began to wonder why the police were bothering to investigate.
One thing we didn't learn is what Louis Walsh's wife feels about all this.

Update: "LOUIS Walsh is “highly unlikely” to face any charges, according to Irish police sources.
"But because the young dad who accused him of sexual assault – which the X Factor judge categorically denies – is pursuing the complaint, officers will still have to interview Louis.
"Last night the Mirror learned that the “victim” changed his story when an analysis of CCTV revealed nothing..." Mirror Online.

Update 2: "POLICE last night said the probe into claims Louis Walsh indecently assaulted a man in a club toilet could take months..." The Sun, Saturday.

The Daily Star: On Not Going Gay

The actual story?
"RYAN Giggs’s sister-in-law lover has been driven into the arms of a gay drag queen by the cheating soccer star.
"Natasha Giggs, 28, flew to the Costa del Sol to help get over her split from Ryan Giggs and his brother Rhodri, 34.
"The dark-haired beauty, who went with a girl pal, hooked up with a popular gay drag queen and spent more than an hour locked in conversation in an open-air lounge..."
Yup, she has apparently been seen talking to someone who has worn drag.
Hopeless.
If you think you can hear the distinct sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped, please note the Star has run 14 consecutive front pages about Ryan Giggs already this month.

The Daily Star: Telling Lies For A Living

"It is an interesting quirk of the English legal system that you can't libel the dead. Very handy if you're a tabloid news editor, at say, the Sun, and you publish an article about 23-year-old Julian Brooker from Brighton becoming a 'human fireball' after touching a railway line while crawling around pretending to be Gollum from Lord of the Rings. The shop assistant was drunk, the red top behemoth informed its readers in 2005, because it was 23 October and Julian was obsessed with the number 23. A great tabloid exclusive. Were an iota of it true, that is.
"In the last 24 hours the Sun's subsequent apology to the late Julian ('His parents have asked us to make clear he was not turned into a fireball, was not obsessed with the number 23 and didn't go drinking on that date every month. We apologise for the distress this has caused Julian's family and friends') has resurfaced across the Twittersphere to howls of derision. Some unacquainted with the idiosyncrasies of Britain's newspaper industry have questioned whether the whole thing is in fact a hoax. Sadly, it's not. Far from being an exception, such cases stray dangerously close to being a rule.
"I make that claim with authority because during the two years I worked at the Daily Star I wrote similar, arguably worse, yarns. When Boyzone star Stephen Gately died in October 2009, I was dispatched to Mallorca to investigate. Beneath my byline in the days that followed were lurid revelations of heavy drinking, drugs he may have taken, and gay orgies he may have been part of.
"We tabloid reporters knew little, but under pressure to deliver much, the hotel bar soon swirled with speculation. Thoughts morphed into theories, theories shifted into fact. After all, you can't libel the dead.
"The same month Kevin McGee, former husband of Little Britain star Matt Lucas, committed suicide. At the Daily Star I picked up the phone to a reader who claimed he knew the couple and the story behind the tragedy. "How much is that worth?" He asked. I told him we needed to meet first. He replied that he was out of town.
"'Sod it, you can't libel the dead," someone proffered. That afternoon I wrote the story: "LUCAS EX BLEW £2 MILLION ON DRUGS AND BOOZE." The tabloid news cycle, unrelenting, waits for no man..."

Riichard Peppiatt, who resigned from The Daily Star earlier this month - writing a devastating J'accuse letter about its scummy editorial (non) standards - offers some more insight into the workings of the British tabloid press, from The Guardian's Comment Is Free.
Lucas won undisclosed damages and a public apology over the above and other stories the Star published after McGee's death.
Here's an example of Peppiatt's "sex and drugs" stories about Gately - which is still online.
Interesting to note that both the examples he cites involved recently bereaved gay men.
Charming.
Peppiatt calls himself a "whistleblower", but he was happy enough to collude in all this crap for several years, so he's hardly Bradley Manning.

The Only Way Is Essex: Harry's Game

Fucking hell! It's only Harry Derbidge from The Only Way Is Essex!
On the left.
The ITV2 promotional machine has gone into overdrive before the new series starts on Sunday.
He was only supposed to make a quick cameo in the last series but Harry and his string of hilarious catchphrases ("Shut up!!!" "Beautiful" "Shut that door!" etc etc) proved such a hit they're moving him centre-stage.
This bizzaro photo is from a shoot for Star magazine and has been picked up by the tabloids today - most of them drooling over the 16 year-old "camp star".
A sub at the Daily Star may be doing a bit more than drooling - they gave it the headline; 'Camp Harry Derbridge A Brit Of Alright'.
(The sub was clearly so excited they also spelt Harry's surname wrong).
Apparently he's going out with a pop star. Harry won't yet reveal who it is, but has said he's in a band.
It's probably the gay one in The Wanted then.
Harry told the Star; "I’m cool with being different. Paul O’Grady called me an inspiration to young gay guys as I was so out there with my sexuality. I like to feel I’m a role model."
And to prove it Harry's done an It Gets Better Today video for Stonewall.
Watch it here - it's really quite... something.
Adorable.
God, I feel old...

The Daily Star: Tabloid Exposé

Richard Peppiatt, a journalist on The Daily Star, announced his resignation this evening - saying he can no longer write for the paper because of its gutter-low journalistic standards, its Islamophobia and tacit endorsement of the English Defence League.
This is something Charlie Brooker attacked brilliantly and savagely in The Guardian last month.
You can read Peppiatt's J'Accuse resignation letter to owner Richard Desmond here.
Peppiatt tells us of such lows as being told to go out wearing a burkha in public for a story, and having to write a story about how the Daily Star had stopped some "tax-payer funded Muslim-only loos" - which had never existed outside of another Star journalist's imagination.
"Not that my involvement in stirring up a bit of light-hearted Islamophobia stopped there. Many a morning I've hit my speed dial button to Muslim rent-a-rant Anjem Choudary to see if he fancied pulling together a few lines about whipping drunks or stoning homosexuals."
This is how the Daily Star works; invent stories, incite homophobia, whip up Islamophobia, and fuck the consequences.
Peppiatt tells Desmond; "You may have heard the phrase, 'The flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil sets off a tornado in Texas.' Well, try this: The lies of a newspaper in London can get a bloke's head caved in down an alley in Bradford."

"Gay Free Zone" Posters In London: Is EDL Behind Them?

Being a thoroughly modern kinda guy I was chatting to people on Facebook last night.
A friend had posted about some anti-gay posters that have appeared in Hoxton, near the gay pub The George & Dragon;
"Loads of these posters have been seen around London. Who is behind them?"
There's been a lot of chatter about these "Gay Free Zone" posters this week.
They were first noted by blogger, Trial By Jeory, Extremists declare Tower Hamlets “gay free zone”, on February 2nd. A friend of his had seen some stickers [both posters and stickers have appeared] in Spitalfields, in East London.
On Thursday, The Daily Star picked up the story.
They're not usually known for getting angry about homophobia - but boy do they love any excuse to demonise Muslims.
FURY AS ISLAM FANATICS DECLARE GAY-FREE ZONE
"MUSLIM extremists have declared a “Gay Free Zone” by launching a hate campaign at homosexuals.
"They have plastered an inner-city area with posters warning gays they will be “severely punished” by Allah.
"Angry locals in Tower Hamlets, east London, say the messages have been placed near schools and are aimed at children.
"One resident, who helped take down 20 posters, said: “They are an incitement to violence, an incitement to kill gay people.
“To put them opposite a school is shocking. There were also kids in a playground in the park where I found one. It’s a campaign of hate.”
Hmmm...
On Monday, the great Charlie Brooker devoted his column in The Guardian to a much praised attack on The Daily Star, and its rampant Islamophobia;
'Q: When does a tabloid become crude propaganda? A: When it starts printing it'
"...the Daily Star is either grossly irresponsible in its sloppy representation of the facts, or engaging in overt anti-Muslim propaganda.
"Who can blame a reader who, after reading such a skewed version of events, is gripped with anti- Muslim fervour?
"On the same page was a phone poll: DO YOU AGREE WITH THE EDL POLICIES? 98% of the respondents did. If I read the Star every day, and believed it, I'd join the EDL too."
Do you know my first thought when I heard about the anti-gay stickers? It's what I posted on Facebook last night;
"I think it's probably the English Defence League doing this, in all seriousness."
My friend replied; "Yeah, i agree that this may not be what it first appears. I made that point a few days ago and think it's really important to establish who's behind it. Quite easily a far-right tactic to create tensions."
Several people commented that they had suspected the same thing.
The EDL is often banging on about homophobia and Islam - and appear keen to attract gay supporters; they even claimed in December to have dis-invited Koran-burning Pastor Terry Jones to adddress a rally, in part because of his homophobia.
Of course, there is a strong homophobic current among Islamists.
Last month five Muslim men were arrested in Derby for distributing a leaflet that called for the execution of gay men.
So we shouldn't be surprised if some hate-filled Islamic fuckwits have been plastering east London with these posters.
But equally I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out the EDL were behind it.
Here's how Charlie Brooker concluded his column on Monday;
"I believe this is a wonderful country. All of it. The people are inherently decent and fair-minded. All of them. We should resist crude attempts at division, wherever they come from. Because we deserve better. All of us."

Things We Learned Today: Banged Up

"Last year boys aged between 15 and 17 at a young offenders’ institute in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, were handed 1,728 free ­condoms and 75 sachets of lubricant.
"A Freedom of Information request ­revealed that the condoms cost £105.32 and the lube £15.60."

The Daily Star.

Gareth Williams' Death: In The Bag?

Here we go again...
The Sun says; 'Bag Spook Died in 'Houdini' Sex Game'.
"BODY-in-the-bag spy Gareth Williams suffocated after a kinky Houdini-style sex game went wrong, detectives said yesterday.
The naked MI6 codebreaker was a fan of claustrophilia - in which people get sexual pleasure from confined spaces.
"Cops believe the 31-year-old maths genius died accidentally from lack of oxygen after he agreed to be locked in the 32-inch-long sports holdall by another person.
They reckon the person who zipped up the bag discovered him dead and fled the flat.
They have ruled out foul play but are still trying to trace the other person..."
Any evidence, M Poirot?; "An examination of his two laptops showed he visited websites on claustrophilia.
He also had links to a bondage and sado-masochism website..."
The Sun have also helpfully published a photo [above] of a "bag like one Mr Williams died in."
Although their sister paper said the bag was red.
The Daily Star concurs - nay it's "Official" - with one extra detail.
"...police believe they have solved the mystery after finding links to weird torture websites on the M16 officer’s laptops.
"One called Torture Garden gives advice and tips on bizarre fetishes like claustrophilia."
Do they mean he visited the site for Torture Garden (Nothing else comes up after an albeit brief Google), an extremely mild (pun intended) fetish club many "norms" go to cause it's rather fun?
The Daily Mail is on top-form, devoting acres to dismissing various rumours about Williams - and neglecting to mention how The Mail started most of them.
It's worth noting all papers mentioned here have quietly dropped suggestions that Gareth Williams was gay.
At least the Mirror was honest; 'Tests on spy's body draw a blank.'