The Papers 05/10

Reading he papers is more than just a good habit for a journalism student to be in, when there aren't any in 20 years time we can annoy our kids and grand children about the good old days when everything wasn't online. Not that I'm planning to have grand children in 20 years time.

Anyway.

As well as reading two papers a day, whenever possible I'm going to grab all the papers together and compare their leads. Based on the front pages, which would I buy today?


The Independent - A lovely beach ball like picture of a stem cell and the story of how research is being 'driven out' of the UK. The left wing connotations of it being wrong and unfair are plain to see. Oh and Monty Python too, a bit of culture always sells well.

Daily Telegraph - Looking very blue today and not just the banner at the top. Boris Johnson has his comment 'I bet a fiver it wont be President Blair' and the main story is Cameron making promises. It's clear that almost everyone has accepted he'll be the next PM now, attacking benefit frauds is a nice safe bet, about the only people less defensible in the public eye are pedophiles. And lets face it, he doesn't want his name and pedophile in the same headline.

In an odd coincidence both the Daily Express and local Daily Echo are leading with breakthroughs in cancer research, albiet one in New York and the other at Southampton University. The Echo is celebrating Southampton FC's first big win of the season, if you're a fan then clearly this is the paper to get, which national would devote this much time to a fallen club? There are great niches that local papers can fill.

The Mirror wins the pun of the day award (by default!) with 'Fright Said Fred', the story being Gary Lineker and Freddie Flintoff being caught near a Taliban attack. Throw in some pictures of said celebrities in protective army gear and it's a winner. The Mirror is still keeping its celeb focus, I still haven't quite gotten over how many weeks in a row they managed to have Jordan on the front page.

But I think the best front page today has to be the Sun. They've managed to track down the mother of the child Elton John is trying to adopt and plastered a picture of her looking very much the victim with 'I wont let Elton take my baby!'. What a thief! What a villain! And that picture of him kissing the child is just creepy! Drama sells, celebrity drama doubly so.