Tag Archives: daily mirror

Mary Reid

How the Daily Mirror works

By Mary Reid | Mon 26th January 2015 - 2:53 pm

There was a curious story in the Daily Mirror over the weekend. It incorrectly refers to Chevening as ‘Nick Clegg’s estate’, and ‘the Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister’s land’ when it is, of course, a property owned by the Government. It is usually made available to the Foreign Secretary so s/he can entertain Foreign ministers in some privacy.

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 8 Comments
The Voice

“Nick Clegg is an idle f*****r says David Cameron”

By The Voice | Sun 24th November 2013 - 11:45 am

clegg-cameron_different_directionsThe Mirror’s headline promised Coalition discord and rancour. The reality was a lot less interesting – a joke by the Tory leader as his Lib Dem counterpart enjoyed dinner with his wife. Here is that racy anecdote in all its “foul-mouthed” glory:

The PM’s foul-mouthed remark came as he heard the Lib Dem leader and his wife were enjoying a meal out – while he was still busy working. He made the discovery after calling a horse-training pal who happened to be in the same restaurant as the Cleggs.

Mr Cameron

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
Iain Roberts

Opinion: Does the School Food Plan really ban packed lunches?

By Iain Roberts | Sat 13th July 2013 - 11:30 am

school mealsIf you’re an independent person involved in writing a report for Government, I offer some advice. Take a holiday for the week after the report’s published. Somewhere remote. Ideally without internet.

How else to avoid your blood-pressure shooting through the roof as the media – both social and traditional – ignore 99% of your work and misrepresent the rest?

For the latest example, look no further than the School Food Plan, a 149 page practical guide to improving the health and attainment of young people by improving their diet in …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

The welfare debate and the age of the trollemic

By Stephen Tall | Thu 4th April 2013 - 9:25 am

I decided to invent a new word yesterday:

It’s the welfare debate that’s prompted it, but it could be any other topic on a given week.

daily mail philpott front pageYesterday saw the Daily Mail publish a typically sensationalist front page blaming the welfare state for the tragedy of six children being killed by their parents. On Monday the Mirror shouted ‘Shameful’, with a cartoon showing Thatcher, Cameron, Osorne and Clegg banging in the final nail of a coffin marked ‘RIP Welfare’.

Each is exaggerating to make their own point. Both are gross over-statements: trollemics.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , , and | 26 Comments
Iain Roberts

A letter to the Daily Mirror regarding MPs whose former partners now work as prostitutes

By Iain Roberts | Sun 5th September 2010 - 9:40 am

Dear Will Payne at the Daily Mirror,

If you’re going to run a big exposé about how an MP’s wife is working as a prostitute, do you think it might be worth mentioning before the very last line of the article that the couple separated in February (before the MP in question had even entered Parliament)?

I realise that, had you made it clearer, it would have been obvious that you only ran the story in a cheap and rather sad  attack on the Tories, and to have the excuse to print pictures of the woman in question in her underwear.

I …

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Posted in Op-eds | 38 Comments
Mark Pack

Ooops! Mirror gets poll graph wrong and inflates Labour’s position

By Mark Pack | Wed 24th March 2010 - 11:03 pm

I blogged earlier today about how the Mirror bigged up a poll showing Tory support unchanged (within the margin of error) into a story of how their support was plunging.

But looking again at the story, I realise just how badly wrong their graph is.

The two key pieces of information about Labour’s rating in the poll are that:

(a) It was 30%

(b) It was 32% in the previous poll

Now look at the graph:

Mirror poll graph

See what’s happened? What should be a downward Labour line has become a flat …

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Posted in Polls | Also tagged | 20 Comments
Mark Pack

Those of a statistically nervous disposition should look away now

By Mark Pack | Wed 24th March 2010 - 9:44 am

A double triumph in the Mirror today: for Vince Cable and for British journalism.

For Vince Cable – congratulations on another poll putting you the most popular choice for Chancellor (32% versus 23% for Darling and 21% for Osborne).

For British journalism – take a bow at a story that uses phrases such as “plunges” and “it’s all the fault of George Osborne” when in fact the poll results are, er…, not statistically significantly different from the previous poll by that pollster. (The changes are all within the margin of error.)

Perhaps next time we’ll have a footnote, “Hey, the above …

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Posted in Polls | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Why David Cameron was right to claim for chocolate bars on expenses

By Mark Pack | Thu 3rd December 2009 - 4:41 pm

Given my love of chocolate, today’s Daily Mirror front page at first made me happy. Four big colour photos of bars of chocolate! And David Cameron in an expenses scandal!

But once I read the story, it quickly became clear David Cameron has done nothing wrong.

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

And the award for most desperate headline goes to…

By Stephen Tall | Wed 6th May 2009 - 2:25 pm

Kevin Maguire in the Mirror for this effort:

Lib Dem support for the Gurkhas will cost them seats

His rationale for this, erm, counter-intuitive view? Though crediting Nick Clegg’s campaigning on behalf of the Gurkhas as “principled”, Kevin then argues that his “cosying up in bed together will cost the Lib Dems seats”.

Hmmm. Quite apart from the idea that the Lib Dem leader could (even if he’d wanted to) refuse to stand on the same platform as his Tory counterpart as part of a non-partisan campaign, what’s the evidence for Kevin’s suggestion?

Well, on the one hand you have …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments
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