Newspapers? Which one are you reading now?

Forget politics and actresses with well-paid PR companies to support them - honesty is still what we  want - and need. As I writer I try to read all the newspapers, but my favourites are The Times and the Daily Mail who present such opposing views that, between them, they amount to genuine entertainment. Today, while the Mail front page declares 'Nancy's masseur cleared of molesting 18 women,' the Times asks: 'Have Oxford scholars discovered the hand that baptised Christ?' And, as the former  proudly announces that Mail Online is the 'Number One choice for sharing news on Facebook' (my sister calls it Bookface - don't ask) the Times talks solemnly of  'Dawn raids on downloaders of child abuse.'

But, suddenly, an about turn. The Times devotes two pages to the fate of five-year-old children,  headed 'Obesity is the chief suspect as girls reach puberty at the age of 5,' while its rival tells us of the Christian GP who discussed faith with his patient.

In more familiar mode, the Mail shows us photos of Peaches Geldof with new baby Astala (a boy in case you didn't realise) with a succession of computer generated cartoon hairstyles.  The Times, on the other hand, tries to make a money-spinning artist out of a girl ages three...

Anyway, you get the gist.  When I was a child, men in bowler hats with umbrellas aloft walked along reading copies of The Times. And the sort that read the Daily Herald, sorry, I mean Mail, were more interested in who did what with who (or should I say whom?)

There is, at least, one good thing about newspapers today.  They offer a Father's Day meal for Two including main meal, side  dish, dessert and a bottle of wine for just £10.00.   Now I'm not sure which newspaper I found that in, but I can't stop now. I'm off to M&S for the bargain of the year...

www.timesonline.co.uk

www.dailymail.co.uk