Paper Monitor
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Hmmmm, it's August isn't it. That means no real news doesn't it? But just as the silly season kicks in, one paper that regularly spins news out of very little is laughing. Actual news and the news agenda at the Express have collided, making its front page look relevant for once.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has revised its house price forecast, saying values will end the year on a slight high. Well that's how it's reported almost everywhere else, including the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian.
But this very cautious optimism translates into "HOUSE PRICE BOOM STARTS AGAIN" on the front page of the Express, in letters so big there's hardly room for anything else. It makes you wonder if there's any correlation between the relevence of news and letter size at the paper.
But while the Express is dizzy from house price forecasts, the Daily Mail is dizzy over something else - Konnie Huq's skirt.
Yesterday it devoted almost an entire page to the former Blue Peter presenter and her skirt lining - it rode up outside a party to reveal a fraction of her underwear. Today it actually devotes a whole page to the non-story again, this time her explanation of what happened.
"After that wardrobe malfunction, KONNIE HUQ says," reads the strapline. And what does she say? What startling revelation is worth an entire page? She usually wears jogging bottoms so isn't that used to wearing skirts. Can't wait for tomorrow's instalment of "knickergate".