Skip to main content

Thelondonpaper Worse Than a Tabloid

On tuesday, I blogged about the two new free evening papers in London, telling how I thought thelondonpaper was better, in my view than London Lite.

It seems that the "bloodbath" is still going on on the streets of London. On Wednesday night I once again found myself on a bus to rehearsal with the Chorus and if anything there seem to be more people handing out free papers (both titles) than there were on Monday. A witness to this was the state of the upper of the bus home!

I dutyfully picked up a copy of each paper to see whether my observation of the other day were still holding. Just like a swallow doesn't make spring, an issue obviously does not make a newspaper. I have to say, London Lite did not disappoint. It is just as bad but then again, this is the result of years of experience. The recipe is tested and in no danger of dilution.

Tabloid: thelondonpaperI was not so pleased by what thelondonpaper was offering, however. Two days had been enough to turn it into a parody of its rival, it seems. It still looks classier but it seems that the editor has chosen the lowest common denomitator rather than try and raise the debate, however slightly. As a result, both papers carried the same picture on the front page (the cover of the latest Vanity Fair) highlighting (just like the Evening Standard) the highly newsworthy fact (!) that Tom Cruise's daughter does actually exist. That picture being the proof, apparently.

What really irked, however, was the impressive example of bad journalism and writing which shared the front page with the aforementioned picture.

"'Pervs' lurk in the square" shouted the title in bold capital letters. Followed an article so biased and of so little substance in its attempt to scare people that even the Sun would probably not have published it.

I could also mention something called "Hair apparent. Has Blair Been to the Bleach?"...

Then next day, still in thelondonpaper, we were treated to "Hi-tech Peeping Toms, 'upskirting' menace"... and 'My pants became web fodder’...

The cover story today is "London's 'Cocaine epidemic' by the same Hannah Summers.

Just pass me a book, will you?!



Tags: , , , , , .

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Short History of the Elephant and Castle and Its Name

Last night I attended a lecture by local historian Stephen Humphrey who discussed the general history of the Elephant & Castle, focussing more particularly on what he called its heyday (between 1850 and 1940). This is part of a week-long art project ( The Elephant Project ) hosted in an empty unit on the first floor of the infamous shopping centre, aiming to chart some of the changes currently happening to the area. When an historian starts talking about the Elephant and Castle, there is one subject he can not possibly avoid, even if he wanted to. Indeed my unsuspecting announcement on Facebook that I was attending such talk prompted a few people to ask the dreaded question: Where does the name of the area come from, for realz? Panoramic view of the Elephant and Castle around 1960/61. Those of us less badly informed than the rest have long discarded the theory that the name comes from the linguistic deformation of "Infanta de Castille", a name which would have become at

Review: Park Avenue Cat @ Arts Theatre

As we are steadily reminded throughout the hour and half hour of Park Avenue Cat , the new play by Frank Strausser, which had its "world premiere" this week-end at the Arts Theatre, time is money. Most of the play takes place in the office of a posh LA therapist who charges $200 per hour. So, having sat through the play, I am wondering why the author spent time writing it, why a production team spent time putting it up and why I and any audience member are asked to spent time (and money) watching it. The play, said to be "a triangle with four corners" (!), brings together a therapist (Tessa Peake-Jones), who is probably not enjoying her job all that much), Lily (Josefina Gabrielle - the eponymous Parc Avenue cat) as well as Philip (Gray O'Brien - aka Tony Gordon in Coronation Street) and Dorian (Daniel Weyman), Lily's lovers. In an interview on the play's dedicated website, Strausser (who was in the audience) explains that he thinks comedy comes out of a

pink sauce | life, with a pink seasoning

As of tonight, my blog Aimless Ramblings of Zefrog , that "place where I can vent my frustration, express ideas and generally open my big gob without bothering too many people" which will be 6 in a couple of months, becomes Pink Sauce . While the URLs zefrog.blogspot.com and www.zefrog.eu are still valid to access this page, the main URL now becomes www.pinksauce.co.uk. There is a vague plan to create a proper website for www.zefrog.eu to which the blog would be linked. Why Pink Sauce , you may ask. It is both simple and complicated. For several years, I have grown out of love for the name of the blog. It felt a bit cumbersome and clumsy. That said, I never really looked into changing it, seriously. Tonight, for dinner, I had pasta with a special pink sauce of my concoction ; single cream and ketchup. I know most people while feel nauseous at the very though of the mixture but trust me, it's gorgeous. Don't knock it till you've tried it. After having had my platte