Sometimes I am ashamed to be “a leftie” and the response to the Brass Eye programme is one such occasion. There’s a consensus building in this quarter that the programme was a valid, nay brilliant, satire “about the media hysteria surrounding paedophilia”.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/jul/31/childrensservices.comment1
Goran Ivanisevic thinks women bring bad luck – because his mother told him. Why, asks Ros Coward , do such superstitions live on?
For those who followed the whole of the Wimbledon tournament, the absence of Goran Ivanisevic’s girlfriend was a puzzle. While the other players’ wives were scrutinised for their fashion sense and set against one another in the beauty stakes, Goran’s beautiful partner remained notable for her absence even during the spectacular final. Yesterday, however, it emerged Goran had banned her from attending not because he wanted his freedom (as the tabloids unkindly concluded) but because of his superstitions. “I do not watch him play,” said Tatjiana Dragovic, “because he thinks women will bring him bad luck.”
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jul/12/gender.uk2
Yes, James Bulger’s mother is bitter. She has every right to be.
Perhaps the most distasteful aspect of the furore surrounding the release of James Bulger’s killers is the subtle but persistent vilification of the Bulger family in the liberal media. Sunday’s Panorama programme presented Ralph Bulger as “chilling” in his intention, stated last year but since withdrawn, to harm Venables and Thompson. Meanwhile, Denise Bulger (now Fergus) is under constant scrutiny for bitterness towards her son’s killers. Charlotte Raven’s description in this paper of her “pinched-lipped grief” was the most extreme, but others have also compared her unfavourably with more forgiving mothers.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/jul/03/bulger.comment