The parallel universe of the Daily Mail

Oh Good Lord. I did think that it was only a matter of time before the mention of the word "cannabis" would cause the Daily Mail to jump out of its tree about the death of Stephen Gately, and, indeed, they have done so - with knobs on. One of those columnists they hire who has a picture above her column which looks as though it required about three months of airbrushing and make-up on-slapping, has had a go:

The ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see.

And what might that 'dangerous lifestyle' be, we ask ourselves? Having a few drinks and a spliff in a country where it is legal, and then putting on one's pyjamas to sleep on the sofa. Crikey that's really dangerous living isn't it? Real living on the edge. Nobody at the Daily Mail does anything remotely like that, do they?

She then tries to build up a massive thesis on this wafer-thin basis, even dragging in the quite separate circumstances of the tragic death of Matt Lucas's estranged partner:

Another real sadness (note the 'kerching' crocodile tears) about Gately's death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships.
Gay activists are always calling for tolerance and understanding about same-sex relationships, arguing that they are just the same as heterosexual.

You know, I've read this and the whole article several times. It is very hard not to come away with the conclusion that the author is actually suggesting that "heterosexual" relationships are "happy-ever-after" ones and that people in "heterosexual" relationships never die tragically after estrangement or drink a bit, smoke the odd spliff in a country where it is legal, indulge in the odd bit of bed-swopping and then suffer what has been described as "sudden adult death syndrome" (which kills about two people a day in the UK alone). Oh no, of course, those things never ever happen in "heterosexual" relationships, do they? Of course, not. Perish the thought.

I have complained to the Press Complaints Commission about this article and would urge others to do the same using these handy hints from Mark Pack.