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Best headline in the history of newspapers? | Dangerous Minds

via dangerousminds.net

Teenagers 'killed by mephedrone' never actually took the drug

The Guardian reports that toxicology tests have now shown that the two teenagers whose deaths were "caused by mephedrone", and which led to a tabloid-fuelled moral panic resulting in a knee-jerk ban from the Labour government, never took the now-banned drug.

Maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen many tabloids correcting their earlier lies misreporting...

Oops…

via topcultured.com

Hung Parliament: The Facts | 38 Degrees

Over the past week, 38 Degrees members have been working together to make a factsheet that sets the story straight about what a hung parliament would mean.  Here it is:

38 Degrees Hung Parliament Factsheet

What’s this factsheet for?

There are a lot of scare stories in the press at the moment about what a hung parliament would mean. Nearly 90% of 38 Degrees members said last month that they thought it offered a real chance to change politics for the better. That’s why we’re working together to set the story straight.

Who made this factsheet?

38 Degees members from across the UK came together last week to make this factsheet to bust some of the the main myths and scare stories about a hung parliament.

What is a hung parliament?

A hung parliament means that no one political party wins the election outright. Instead, parties have to work together to get things done in a coalition government. Many people think that the name ‘hung parliament’ is too negative. A alternative name is “balanced parliament”.

Read the rest of this post »

The Election that Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

"The reaction of the right-wing press to briefly losing the ability to frame how politicians address the public has been a frenzied panic worthy of Basil Fawlty. They have "revealed" Clegg is a paedophile-cuddling, Gaddafi-licking foreigner and crook who wishes we had lost the Second World War. But now – for a change – people can test the smears against what they see and hear with their own eyes, unmediated, on TV."

Read Johann Hari's article here.

Primark stop selling 'padded bras' for girls 'as young as seven'

Primark have announced that they will no longer sell bikinis with padded bikini tops for girls, saying: 'Primark has taken note of the concern this morning regarding the sale of certain bikini tops for girls, a product line that sells in relatively small quantities. The company has stopped the sale of this product line with immediate effect. Primark will donate all the profits made from this product line to a children's charity, and apologises to customers for any offence caused.'

Of course if padded 'bras' for children didn't exist, rags like the Daily Mail and The Sun would have to invent them just so they can slaver over nonsense phrases like 'paedophile pound' and 'Paedo Bikini'.  And with a General Election in the offing, David Cameron couldn't stop himself exploiting the story for a bit of cheap publicity...

Here's some of the less-rabid reporting:

Newly agreed Blu-ray disc standards promise doubling of disc capacity

 

But you'll need a new player...  Read the Wired UK article.