The power of Twitter

A few weeks ago the Daily Mail ran a story about how it was being suggested that travellers should be treated quickly by local NHS services if they need it, because, being travellers, they would be moving on to somewhere else pretty soon and thus might not ever get the treatment they needed.

The Mail, obviously expecting an outbreak of indignation amongst its readers, then started an online poll: 'Should gypsies be allowed to queue-jump in the NHS?' or something along those not-at-all-loaded lines, But word got out on Twitter, and before you know it the poll was showing a magnificent 96% in favour of the proposition. Before it was pulled.

Two nations divided by a common newspaper

Hat-tip to Alex for this one. (Not Hilton, a different one). I'm pretty sure I've blogged on here before about my support for the HPV virus vaccination programme in schools. The Daily Mail wasn't happy, at least not in the UK. Looks like they were quite keen on it in their Irish edition, however, which is quite bizarre considering that I'd have thought there'd be far more resistance to such things (i.e. the notion of schoolgirls being sexually active) over there.

Daily Mail to blame for rise in unplanned pregnancies

Had a letter from a constituent recently, attributing the rise in teenage pregnancies to young women's desire to get a council house and lots of benefits. I pointed out to her that the stats actually related to a rise in teenage conception rates and in fact fewer babies are being born to teenage mothers, because more of them are choosing to have terminations. Separate debate to be had of course as to why teenage conception rates are going up, and here I reiterate a point I touched on in my 'women's issues' post - it takes two to make a baby, and we'd do well to pay a bit more attention to the boys, who play a not insignificant part in the process.

In yesterday's G2 Zoe Williams wrote of her shock at discovering she was 20 weeks pregnant. She'd assumed she was having an early menopause ("I'm 35, it does happen... I read it in the Daily Mail"). I also have a friend who discovered she was pregnant for the first time at the age of 38, and no she didn't do it accidentally on purpose. ("I believed the Daily Mail! I thought I was over the hill!") Thankfully her boyfriend was far less freaked out by it than she was, and it all worked out happily ever after.

Can I suggest that just as teenage magazines warn their readers that yes, you can get pregnant the first time you have sex, the Daily Mail has a duty to warn its readers that women over the age of 35 can and do have babies? Quite often, in fact. Even the 'career women' who 'forgot to have them' earlier?

That's right, blame the mother

Did her mother lock her in the cellar for 24 years, rape and abuse her repeatedly, impregnate her repeatedly, leave her with terrible internal injuries and permanent psychological damage? Not to mention the harm done to the children who were born down there as a result of incestuous rape. No, her mother was NOT 'the cause of her 24 year ordeal'.

And while we're on the subject - the article is fairly balanced, the headline is not.

Something's gone wrong again

Recess Monkey congratulates Sky News on its expert coverage of the war in South Ossetia. Almost as good as the Daily Mail's take on it. (Katie Melua is worried about her family out there. She should definitely have been in the Top Ten).

Juxtaposed with U (2)

By which I don't mean Juxtaposed with U2, which doesn't sound at all appealing.

I've just been looking at Sadie's Tavern, and she's talking about Femail too. Second day in a row, actually. But so far I don't think either Sadie or Michael White have mentioned bingo wings, so there is still a small spark of originality contained somewhere within my blog.

Have also just looked up inertia on Wikipedia. Not a good idea. (You have to see previous comments on Juxtaposed with U to know what I'm on about). Then I looked up the dictionary definition, which is this. Surely 'disinclination to motion, action, or change' includes 'can't be bothered to blog'?

On a completely unrelated point, I saw a shop in Southmead yesterday called 'Your Smak'. I assume it's a Polish word as the Polish delicatessen up Church Road is called 'Smakus'. Quite amusing I thought.

Typical girls

I have something of an unhealthy addiction to the Daily Mail website. I justify this on the grounds that I need to know its take on current burning political issues, although quite how this necessitates looking at blown-up pics of Posh's bunions or Anne Robinson's bingo wings, I'm not sure.

What's really fascinating is the fact that it's a paper aimed primarily at a female audience, and yet it doesn't seem to like women very much. The underlying political agenda is clear - they love stories about career women coming a cropper: leaving it too late to have babies; turning to drink; husbands leaving them for 23 year olds; or ideally, 'having a career left me fat, broke, infertile, friendless and alone, with only a cat for company'.

On the Femail pages, there's a very clear formula: one story about spotting someone's 'baby bump'; one story about how quickly someone has 'lost her baby weight'; and one story about how a new mother has 'let herself go' (Tamzin Outhwaite today, Ulrika earlier this week - which is usually followed up by an interview in which the new mother proclaims herself very happy with the situation indeed and has a bit of a dig at new mothers who think it's more important to get back into their Alaia and Manolos within seconds of giving birth).

Then there are the weight stories: someone's 'piling on the pounds', someone else is looking 'worringly thin', and someone else with a near-perfect figure has been photographed showing a bit of cellulite. And the age stories: doesn't the 60 year old Helen Mirren look great in her red bikini? But have you seen Lulu's knees? The rest of her may look fanastic, but they're a dead give-away, aren't they? And then of course there are the WAGs, and Sienna Miller's relationships, and fitness video stars (Jade Goody, Sonia from Eastenders) slipping back into their old, fat habits, and Kate Middleton just being Kate Middleton. Lastly, you have the young starlets going off the rails stories - falling drunk out of nightclubs, friends being 'worried' about alleged drug use, Amy Winehouse being Amy Winehouse, Lili Allen not shaving her armpits...

I wonder if the editorial team meetings actually acknowledge this formula. Well we've had Lulu's knees this week, can we get a close-up of Kate Moss' wrinkles for next? Do they have a birth chart on the wall, where they plot who's about to drop and a reminder to check out just how flabby they still are in a couple of weeks time? If they do cellulite one day, do they have to move onto bingo wings the next, and unsightly veins (see Madonna, Angelina, SJP, etc) the day after?

It's very rarely expressed as 'my God, doesn't she look a state'?! It's usually wrapped up in fake concern (friends are increasingly worried about.....), or faux compliments (she's great for her age, but shame about those tell-tale saggy bits which look really bad when you photograph them in bright sunlight) or, isn't it great that she doesn't care about being fat/ being caught without make-up/ dressing like a bag lady/ not having a husband?

Admittedly they do have the occasional picture of Jonathan Ross or Simon Cowell showing off a bit of belly in their swimming shorts, but I don't think women are particularly interested in that.

As ever, I'm not sure where I'm going with this post. I am probably just trying to justify having read all these stories by making a political point out of it. Which is.... That women are women's worst enemy? That this obsession with women's physical appearance and fertility is not 'a good thing'? That feminism still has battles left to fight? Possibly.