Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

Friday fun 31/7/09

I'm off in a bit, but you can have a look see at some of these, all right? It's a real bran tub today.

The Guardian have done a shoddy, as if to prove it's not just the Mail who blame 'editing errors' for things like saying someone's a rapist when they're not a rapist. Simon Jenkins, who as a former newspaper editor should surely have bloody well known better, accused Jacob Zuma of rape, bribery and corruption. Now his paper's had to say sorry. An 'editing error'? Really? I think they mean "We should have edited the libellous shit out, but we didn't".

Meanwhile, today's Graun looks at how disturbingly nutty qualifications are regarded as being as kosher. If you're taught that the Loch Ness monster not only exists but is a dinosaur, and that apartheid was actually a rather good thing, and you agree with that, then you can win a lovely qualification which is being taught at private schools in Britain. And a Government agency says that should be regarded as fair enough. I imagine if the far right had enough money to teach Holocaust denial, that would be OK too?

Septicisle looks at the right to die decision, which is a surprisingly liberal thing to happen under this Government but which is still skirting around the issue:

The terminally ill here that want to end their life shouldn't have to travel to Switzerland or anywhere else to do so; they should have the choice to do so in this country. The two things that are holding back a change in the law, which is still surely eventually inevitable, is that politicians are scared rigid of an issue which is both incredibly difficult and which there is no party political advantage to be gained from, quite possibly the opposite in fact.

Chicken Yoghurt: What they say about the Iraq Inquiry and what they mean.

Sarah Ditum on the 'Journalists are blacksmiths' meme. If we're looking at a profession to liken journalists to, I don't think it'd be blacksmiths. I'd go for an amalgam of graffiti artist, data entry clerk, call-centre worker and assembly-line drone, with a bit of Vivaldi thrown in.

No Sleep Til Brooklands on how the Mail takes credit for shit it doesn't have anything to do with:

I'd link you to the original Mail article, but in accordance with their Dicking Around With Our Stories After We've Published Them Because The Internet Is Like A Big Etch-A-Sketch policy, they've just inserted the 'embarrassing U-turn' bollocks into the story.

The Daily Quail: Outrage at people getting jobs:

The TaxPayers’ Alliance insta-quote machine seethed nonsensically: 'The public sector has failed to cut back in the recession...soft jobs like Social Workers or Home Carers would be indulgent even in good economic times, let alone in the current climate. When times are tough we have to make sure they are even tougher for the poor and the vulnerable.'

Cath Elliott on the difference between how the papers report murders:

Did you know for instance that on Friday last week (24th July) a woman in Ipswich was (allegedly) killed by her estranged husband in the stairwell of the block of flats where she lived? Does the name Malgorzarta Lipinska ring any bells with anyone?
I seriously doubt it. Because the only media that have picked up this story so far besides the BBC have been the local media, and even then, the BBC only started covering it in detail after the perpetrator topped himself in Norwich prison on Wednesday.

Chris Dillow on how inequality remains pretty constant, despite everything else:

what is striking is just how insensitive inequality is to either policy or to the economic “cycle.” Looking at this chart, you would struggle to identify either a change of government or any macroeconomic boom or recession

Army of Dave on the delights of Dale Arden from Flash Gordon. Ah, you're leaning against an open door with that one, though I'd probably say for me gawping at Kate Bush singing Babushka on Top of the Pops at the age of about 5 and thinking "I feel something rather strange about the nice lady and I don't know what it is" was what did for me.

Jack of Kent: Beware the Spinal Trap. Simon Singh's edited article about chiropractors is now everywhere, and deserves a reading.

A Very Public Sociologist on how the Tories don't understand blogs. I am surprised by the hostility towards blogging displayed by the Conservatives, who should know better, but clearly don't. But like the Tory hostility towards the likes of Esther Rantzen, who declared she'd stand as an independent MP, I think it's all anxiety about whether they'll stroll into a crushing election victory (despite getting nowhere near the majority of the popular vote, yet everyone somehow accepts that as being a massive mandate to rape the public sector and make thousands unemployed) or whether something will derail them. It's also a more familiar snobbery towards anyone who doesn't belong to their club, and in this Labour are often no better.

Uponnothing on the difference between Glenn Beck and Barack Obama, and how:

The Mail website isn't just home to British racists, it also holds great appeal to racists of other countries. The Mail online proudly lets commentators from across the globe write absolute rubbish which is welcomed onto the site by 'moderators' and voted up by other moronic readers. How else could you end up with Barack Obama being accused of 'hating whites' and Glenn Beck being labelled a 'libertarian'?

And finally Freemania has more of those pretty star pictures. I love them!

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