Of all the nasty headlines that the Daily and Sunday Express have published about the Madeleine McCann mystery, none is quite as nasty - and blatantly inaccurate - at the one it ran on its front page today: McCANNS SPLIT BY AGONY OF MADDY.
There is nothing in the story to justify this disgraceful headline. The only split it mentions is that Kate McCann stays at home while her husband, Gerry, goes to work. Everything else in the article is speculation based on quotes from anonymous friends who say that the couple are continuing to go through agony.
Yet this is what the Sunday Express editor, Martin Townsend , has the bare-faced cheek to say in his column today: "At every level of our society, and in every area of our lives, fair play and common sense seem to have evaporated in the past decade."
He attributes those failings to "Labour rule" and accuses the prime minister of "spectacular, breathtaking hypocrisy."
Well, Martin, it takes one to know one. That headline is a cynical attempt to attract readers. It is, according to your own story, without foundation. I just hope the Press Complaints Commission decide that enough is enough on this matter and decide to take it up. For once, it might be justified to entertain a third party complaint. And here it is.
