The Evening Standard
Even when Nick Cohen isn't in it, the Standard really is a dreadful newspaper. Today we get Liz Jones' "City Lives" column, which may or may not be a spoof, telling us that she can prove Londo is the most expensive city in the world because this week she spent £50 on a congestion charge fine, £275 on a lamp at the Conran Shop, £134 on an H&M Stella McCartney top, £175 on cosmetics at SpaceNK, £75 on dinner for two at a pub, £20 on a taxi, £80 on a back massage, and £45 on dry cleaning, because "london is so dirty", £40 on a window cleaner, and £195 on basic groceries. She also tells us she spent £20,000 on Babington House for her weddding, £300 a night on a weekend stay last week, and plans to spend £90 on a facial at the new Cowshed Spa in Holland Park. She concludes her column by asking "how do people with children or coke habits manage? How?"Allison Pearson's column is perhaps worse. Fitting into the role she was hired to play perfectly, she commends Abigail Witchalls for her 'grace', 'gravity', and 'sweetness', her 'strong, simple, Christian faith' and bemoans a society that has gone too far in self-gratification to follow Witchell's devout example. In the next piece she refers to the Prince of Wales and his wife as looking like 'two bewildered Saga holidaymakers', Camilla's evening frock as making her look like she had been 'lowered by crane into a Baked Alaska', and disaparagingly like Barbara Bush. Why? What is the point? What has Camilla done to deserve that?
Finally something worth reporting. Roy Jhuboo, of WC1, tells in a letter how the Police arrested him for photographing around Limehouse under the Terrorism Act. When he asked why, he was told that he "could be a terrorist on a reconnaissance mission planing to launch a rocket at Canary Wharf". He adds "I am of dark-skinned appearance".
Whether or not the two are related, we'll never know. Assuming the story is true the picture it gives of the Met's anti-terrorism training suggets one can only assume we will all be blown up soon.
posted by Matthew @ 11/15/2005 09:46:00 PM
Comments: 0
