Paper Monitor
10:50 UK time, Wednesday, 24 September 2008
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
As kisses go it's not Brief Encounter, but Gordon and Sarah Brown's meeting of lips on stage at the Labour Party conference is splashed across today's front pages. They embraced after she introduced her husband's keynote speech.
It was a "surprise" move, but it's gone down well in the papers - as well as with Gordon. "Hearts melted" as she spoke, according to the Times. Even her extremely sober outfit of black skirt and grey top was deemed "very fashion-forward" by the Mirror. Really? Who'd have thought a former PR guru would be able to work the media so well?
Not so good at their jobs are the number crunchers at some of the nationals. The speech "buzzword counts" that feature in most of the papers just don't add up with one another. None of them can agree when it comes to how many times Brown said words like fair, future, NHS, Cameron and tax in his speech.
The Sun and Mirror do agree on one word and that is Britain, mentioned 38 times by the prime minister. So why would the Guardian journalist in charge of the count put it at 25? Quick toilet break maybe, cappuccino?
Finally, a warning note. The Daily Mail is outraged and this time it's birthday cards. Columnist Allison Pearson went to buy her mum one and found her local shop full of cards so "offensive and obscene" she felt "ashamed of her country".
As with most things in the Mail's world, it can all be explained in a nutshell - binge-drinking. According to Ms Pearson, 85% of all greeting cards are purchased by women, hence the decline in standards of cards must be because of binge-drinking ladettes. Shame on you.
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