Mail Editors - You’re Sick, Get Help

Not for the first time, today has brought the disturbing sight of a national newspaper indulging in the kind of creepy obsession that, were it coming from an individual with no power or influence, might already have resulted in a visit from the law enforcement agencies, together with the direct suggestion that the individual concerned occupy their time in some other way.

To no surprise at all, the newspaper (for some value of newspaper, given what it splashes on its front page today has Sweet Fanny Adams to do with the major anxieties of the people) is the Rothermere Daily Mail. And, also unsurprisingly, the subjects of the Mail’s creepy obsession are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Which illustrates the press’ Royal dichotomy.

“Royal Special One”, at the top of the page, tells “The image the world has been waiting to see: smiling Kate out walking with William”. Is it really Kate? It’s a bit of a blurry image. Still, on to “Royal Special Two”, with the Mail capitals out, meaning this is something telling readers what to think. “HARRY AND MEGHAN ARE DOWNGRADED BY PALACE”. Eh?

The alleged story, under the by-line of Rebecca English, who is claimed to be the paper’s “Royal Editor”, goes on “HARRY and Meghan were ‘downgraded’ on the official Buckingham Palace website last night … Despite acrimoniously stepping down [false premise] as senior working royals in January 2020, full profiles of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex separately had remained up alongside of the rest of the Royal Family until this morning”. Do go on.

“Tonight those pictures and biographies briefly vanished completely. Within half an hour they were replaced with a significantly smaller, joint biography at the very bottom of the page - below the Duke of York … The Sussexes' entry now reads that they have stepped back as working royals, with just a couple of short paragraphs on each of them”. Which tells us what, exactly?

It tells us that the Mail, under the less than benign leadership of its editor-in-chief, the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre, not only considers the Royal pecking order more important than anything else, but that the paper has someone poring over even a small change to the Buck House website.

Stop f***ing making it about me, c***

And then comes another false premise: “Despite growing public anger at the Sussexes' continued inclusion, Buckingham Palace has always side-stepped questions about why their details remained online”. Growing public anger? Isn’t the Mail getting confused here? “Public anger”, growing or otherwise, is not the same as Dacre getting radged at Haz suing the paper.

So the first discovery of the alleged “downgrade” may have been made elsewhere. But only the Mail has made it, and a blurry image of Wills and Kate, which is already arousing suspicion as to its authenticity, into a story covering the front page to the exclusion of any actual news.

It even puts former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, who arguably allowed his obsession with the Duchess of Sussex to get him the sack from ITV Good Morning Britain, in the shade. A couple who had an entry on a website still have an entry on that website, but the entry is now smaller than the one they had before. That beats cost of living crises, war in Ukraine, tens of thousands blown to bits in Gaza, and of course climate change.

Because the Mail titles are still prepared to give a hearing to those who deny that it’s happening. But not when they have their Sussex obsession to parade, while screaming to the world that they have no sense of self-awareness and reminding us at every turn of their iron rule “if our targets refuse to deal with us, then we will deal with them”.

That lack of self-awareness means no mention of broken infrastructure, not even a front page item defending the Government the Mail has been cheering on for the past fourteen years, or anything about all those refugees crossing the channel in small boats. Nothing on potholes, food banks, crumbling schools, the NHS on its back, and a population increasingly skint.

But the whole front page given over to a blurry Royal snap, and another obsessive attack on a couple who won’t be reading it. Sick indeed.

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