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Paper Monitor

12:26 UK time, Monday, 17 November 2008

A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.

Earlier this month, in the wake of "Manuelgate", ITV boss Michael Grade spoke out against the "unrestrained" use of the F-word in TV shows.

The Daily Mirror in particular fell on his comments, launching a "Stop the Swearing on Telly" campaign. With Gordon Ramsay uncharacteristically off-screen for the minute, its chosen whipping boy is another TV chef fond of salty language.

Announcing its campaign on 4 November, the paper blasted Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food show for using the F-word 23 times in 50 minutes. While Ramsay has since promised to tone it down, Oliver's boss at Channel 4 has said he won't allow "cultural conservatism" to dampen his star performer.

And so the gloves are off. "When an ex-teacher complained to Jamie Oliver about his swearing on TV, the reply was a foul-mouthed e-mail. MINISTRY OF RUDE," reads today's headline after an ill-advised message from one of Oliver's team.

But wait, this is St Jamie, whose latest campaign is to teach recipes to people who feed their kids takeaways. The Mirror LOVED him back in 2005 - "a £17m original Mr Nice Guy" - when he tackled school dinners, and threw its weight behind his healthy eating campaign.

Which is worse - chips with everything, or salads sprinkled with swear words? And is this a backlash against Jamie and his messiah complex, or a witch hunt against bad language?

Meanwhile, the red tops bid farewell to another cheeky chappie, Reg Varney of On The Buses.
"Reg, our favourite bus driver, is dead at 92" - Daily Mail
"I'll cremate you, Butler" - the Sun, playing with Inspector Blakey's catchphrase "I 'ate you Butler"
"I'll miss you, Butler" - the Mirror, adding Varney was the first man in Britain to use a cashpoint machine.

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