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It's about 8:30 on a weekday morning. I've just got on the train and I'm starting to think about the work day ahead and where my next cup of coffee's coming from. However, it soon dawns on me that I'm sitting on a Wessex Alphaline train and sooner or later, an attendant is going to walk through the carriage and hand out complimentary copies of the Daily Mail.

What is the correct way to respond when offered a free Daily Mail?

- Politely accept, stuff it down the side of the seat and act as if nothing happened?

- Politely refuse the kind offer?

- Refuse while communicating the extent to which i DO NOT wish to receive the Daily Hate Mail despite the offence this may cause to the attendant and my fellow passengers?

― robster (robster), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Take it a tear it into very tiny pieces to prevent anyone else from reading it.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Possibly whilst singing the Red Flag, Jerusalem, the Internazionale (in Russian), I'll sing you one oh (Red fly the banner's oh) or some other rousing lefty ditty.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:28 (twenty-one years ago)

y'know, most other newspapers are really bad, too.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I have had to restrain myself from leaping across tube seats when an otherwise normal looking person pulls out the Daily Mail. I have been this close.

I respect the fact that people have differing political beliefs to me, but for God's sake right-wingers, read the Telegraph (good writing, very well designed) or the Sun (a sense of humour).

― Anna (Anna), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:33 (twenty-one years ago)

i am always astounded by the amount of afo-caribbean people and women i see reading the daily mail on trains - i know the mail has targeted itself at women but can't they see it's not exactly looking out for their best interests. full disclosure - i actually worked there for a while when v skint but left on principle after a few weeks

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:33 (twenty-one years ago)

(In answer to Robster - I think I would like to say, very loudly: "No thank you. I have no desire to read about how not being very pregnant and sweetly married to a nice blonde boy from a neighbouring village will kill me. And by the way, they are only letting you give out free copies to add dubious bulk figures to their circulation. That is all.")

― Anna (Anna), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:36 (twenty-one years ago)

and very starngely it's the only newspaper i've ever worked on where the majority its staff accurately reflected its editorial policy (i did meet a couple of lovely folks there, too, but in the main they weren't very nice) - you can imagine, it wasn't exactly a laugh riot...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:37 (twenty-one years ago)

to answer the question, it would very much depend on how i felt that particular morning - not being a morning person, i'd generally opt for "i'd rather not read that evil rag, thank you very much"

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:39 (twenty-one years ago)

The telegraph is highly commendable if only for being the ONLY national daily to recognise the NUJ.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Anna that was a bit harsh, they never insisted the boys from the neighbouring villages HAD to be blonde

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:43 (twenty-one years ago)

surely they would be blond

― Ed (dali), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I like today's headline - 'SPANISH DOCTOR STOLE CHILD'S ORGANS' which you can't help but interpret as 'BLOODY DAGOS - FIRST THEY TAKE OUR FISHING WATERS NOW THEY'RE AFTER OUR YOUNG!'

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Well it's better than the 'Express', why doesn't somebody pull the plug on that one, it actually embarrasses me to see it on sale, I feel like asking the newagent 'have you no dignity'

― dave q, Friday, 5 September 2003 08:45 (twenty-one years ago)

the majority its staff accurately reflected its editorial policy

This gives me fear. I had hoped it was just a huge expensive joke, made to fuck with the heads of estate agents (Property prices to slump! No, really!).

― Anna (Anna), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:46 (twenty-one years ago)

stevem, you forgot the subheading

BLOODY DAGOS - FIRST THEY TAKE OUR FISHING WATERS NOW THEY'RE AFTER OUR YOUNG!

House prices unaffected!

― Ed (dali), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey Steve, you're quite fair haired. How about we get married and save ourselves from damnation?

(With apologies to my lovely dark haired boyfriend.)

― Anna (Anna), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:48 (twenty-one years ago)

surely they would be blond

i think the word you are all looking for is "aryan"...

This gives me fear.

you have every right to be afraid - it is the most universally vile place i have ever worked (which may give you an idea of how poor i was at the time) and that's not even thinking about paul dacre: a truly monstrous individual...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Could be worse, could have been Max Hastings.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:51 (twenty-one years ago)

also i just love the way every single piece details the kind of house people live in eg:

"ms anna fielding, *age*, who lives in a four-bedroomed georgian terrace in noth london worth £300,000."

or:

"stelfox, who lives alone in a seedy, one-bedroomed, rented flat in london's squalid east end"...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:53 (twenty-one years ago)

hastings is a way, way nicer guy than dacre - trust me, i have experience of both

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Give a cold cruel laugh before stopping abruptly and falling silent. Suddenly blanch, but make it convincing, like you have an offending piece of chicken gristle caught in your throat. Hack once and stare about wildly, confused. Begin to convulse violently and clutch at your throat. Start to loudly and disgustingly hawk and splutter, bring up some flem and dribble slightly, all the while tensing the muscles in your face to give the impression you are having a seizure. Finally start scrabbling frantically at the window with your hands and fearfully looking back towards the attendant brandishing his dirty literature. This should send out a clear and concise message, though if the attendant remains unable to read the signs, you should claw open the window and attempt to leap from the carriage.

― Alex K (Alex K), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i think the word you are all looking for is "aryan"...

We read The Guardian and so tiptoe around these concepts.

― Anna (Anna), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i hate the guardian almost as much as i hatre the daily mail - a vile place to work, too, but in a quite different way to the mail

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 08:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex K's suggestion is presumably how Daily Mail staff respond when you describe the concept of fun.

― robster (robster), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:01 (twenty-one years ago)

it's Simon Heffer I can't stand

dish the dirt on The Graniuad please Dave...

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Simon Heffer is so manifestly wrong about everything and such a sloppy thinker that he is more amusing than anything else.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:07 (twenty-one years ago)

''y'know, most other newspapers are really bad, too.''

that's pretty much it. I can't think of anything more wasteful than spending time reading papers.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw Simon Heffer doing What the Papers Say once. He looked quite uncomfortable and yet enormously arrogant at the same time.

― robster (robster), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:10 (twenty-one years ago)

wait a minute, there's someone called simon heffer?

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i loved it when private eye instituted "the simon heffer award for reasoned and rational argument"!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:12 (twenty-one years ago)

and stevenm, astute as you normally are, i think you are missing the mail's worst offenders who are... gasp... women! namely the singularly evil ann leslie and the thoroughly detestable melanie phillips

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:19 (twenty-one years ago)

melanie phillips

Spits, crosses self.

― Anna (Anna), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:20 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd probably take a copy, personally. my constant guardian/observer/independent diet tends to mean that i get wound up by, say, monbiot or pilger, and forget exactly how evil the mail is. it's good to be reminded of these things sometimes.

(also on the subject of judging people by the paper they're reading: i tend to do this, too, but i think one should be slightly wary of this eg i have friends who deliberately read several different papers every day, and i think there's a lot to be said for this (if you have the time).)

― toby (tsg20), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:21 (twenty-one years ago)

lynda lee potter is, surprisingly enough, wonderful to work with, tho

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Gah! Melanie Phillips, the woman who until recently was usually described as 'liberal thinker Melanie Phillips' whenever she appeared on radio 4 moral panic programs. Having read her columns in the Observer with mounting rage throughout the late 80s and 90s, I can testify that this should have won some sort of award for the most ridiculous description ever.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:26 (twenty-one years ago)

working in newspapers i actually read about 5 a day, even if only glossing over them. so if i ever get accosted by a crazy lady on the tube while grimacing over the daily mail i expect you to get your girlfriend to leave me alone toby!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:26 (twenty-one years ago)

so would now be a good time to confess that i have actually done some work for one of the people mentioned on this thread? (looks down at feet glumly)

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:28 (twenty-one years ago)

go on steve, who... i've worked with all of them!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:29 (twenty-one years ago)

heh, you'll find out in a month or so...

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:30 (twenty-one years ago)

If I was with other members of the London Bootleg Orchestra then I would accept the copy, whip out the biros and leave the Daily Mail and particularly its crossword 'modified' for a future train user.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:33 (twenty-one years ago)

i nearly started a thread about the matter, it would've been along the lines of 'If in need and offered, would you work for/with someone who has views you find dubious, offensive or just don't agree with?' which could've been interesting judging by the responses here. I would just like to point out that while I may reluctantly work on something that benefits certain opinion-columnists of certain political positions, rest assured we're not talking about BNP members or whatever.

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:35 (twenty-one years ago)

If I was with other members of the London Bootleg Orchestra then I would accept the copy, whip out the biros and leave the Daily Mail and particularly its crossword 'modified' for a future train user.

4 across - member of misunderstood far-right political organisation popular in Germany around the time of World War II (4)

6) across - _ mothers, cause of all the world's problems (6)

9) down - Margaret _, greatest ever British Prime Minister (8)

12) down - Illegal _, unwanted visitors flooding the nation (10)

15) down - Workshy millions scrounging off the state (10)

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Workshy millions scrounging off the state? Ah, the answer is GOBL MI TOOL.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:43 (twenty-one years ago)

mel p = one of the guardian's many crimes against readers everywhere

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:44 (twenty-one years ago)

i think 4 across might be CHER

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:45 (twenty-one years ago)

she's a fucking headcase - in much the same way as i genuinely believe ann leslie to be certifiably insane - but calling her mel p makes me think of her covered in tats and wearing a shellsuit = HOTT (in a really twisted kinda way) ;)

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Dave, you are a sick, sick man.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:48 (twenty-one years ago)

SNP SLAG RANCH

you'd have to fill in 'unweed' for 6

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:50 (twenty-one years ago)

and even i would never have thought abt "combining gardening with crime"...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 09:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 90 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Obviously you're not. A gay man would have better taste in trousers.

!!!!!!!

I think this proves beyond all reasonable doubt that the first thing you do is READ the Daily Mail whenever it is offered to you.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 5 September 2003 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

adrian thrills writes about music for the daily mail

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

and while the precise amount of arse i believe alexis petridis to suck is pretty well known round these here parts, i have to say i really do agree with anna - he doesn't work for the daily mail so it is all a bit off-topic...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 5 September 2003 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Adrian Thrills is pretty much The Thrills of music journalism, appropriately enough

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 5 September 2003 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

whats so bad about the guardian?
the news coverage i mean?
i don't read any paper cover to cover,although i do read a lot of the irish times,but the articles in the guardian on the events in the news that interest me (the david kelly thing,for example)usually seem to be quite good
do people have a problem with individual writers?(other than alexis petridis,i'm thinking of news writers more than anything i suppose)or editorial policy or what?
i mean,there are frequently things in the guardian that piss me off,but it seems to be the best of a bad lot
the irish times is in general good,although they have several really dreadful writers,but for more in depth coverage of foreign affairs i tend to turn to the guardian (as indeed does the irish times on occasion)

― robin (robin), Friday, 5 September 2003 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd look at it. It has Peanuts in it, after all.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 5 September 2003 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I notice that all Alexis Petridis articles in the Guardian have a little thing at the bottom saying "Read all of A. P.'s articles at [URL]".

In Private Eye this week there's a 'Sir Hitler Hastings' spoof which ends w/ the tag "If you would like to read more of Sir Maz Hasting's articles for the Daily Mail, you must be mad", made me LOL

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 5 September 2003 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to find Spencer Bright's "pop" music reviews in the Mail unwittingly hilarious. Especially his reference in the mid-90s to the new rather scary young person's genre called "bass'n'drum". My uncle who went to the Sex Pistols' Finsbury Park gig in 1996 was mightily pissed off with Bright's review, calling it "revenge" for all their old prejudices - and said uncle actually *reads* the bloody Mail and agrees with more of it than he'd let on (very contradictory man he is, though; he says he hated aristocrats as a young man, but was driven by his Thatcherite aggressive radicalism to vote Tory in 1983 when he was 20 - unfortunately the Tory MP he voted for was a Viscount ...)

Ah well, back to the point. I'd take the Mail, give it a cursory terrified inspection, remind myself of where many of my frustrations lead back to, and then do what Marcello said; take it home with me so as to ensure that nobody overtly gullible or impressionable read it. The urgent and key point though; Mr Stelfox, is the thing true about Paul Dacre being a loud, obnoxious inveterate (and completely hypocritical of course in the light of the paper's slant) user of swear words?

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Sunday, 7 September 2003 06:13 (twenty-one years ago)

he is very loud a complete snob, a bully and yes he uses expletives quite liberally. my favourite ever dacreism was when he tore a page of the dummy issue on the lectern, threw it across the newsroom and yelled: "who the fuck is responsible for this? it has to be the worst page in the entire fucking history of journalism." oh, did i say he is also prone to the odd exaggeration?

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Sunday, 7 September 2003 09:18 (twenty-one years ago)

ilx does not dissapoint when it comes to giving out hate.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 7 September 2003 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Irony: The Daily Mail on Friday was actually pretty reasonable.

The Spanish Doctors section was about a child who dies on holiday and the parent agreed over the phone that they could take stuff for transplants, bot realising that by Spanish Law, this meant they could just take anything they wanted. So the kid they got back had padding where her brain/liver/lungs/etc should be.

The article was terribly written, mind. It starts off saying "doctors stole organs", and then on the second page mentions that they did contact the parents about organ transplants, causing this reader to imagine that it's a big flap about nothing. Then on the last column they mention that there were non-transplant organs missing.

Also a lot of reasonably well-written "Okay, Mr Blair the gig is up stuff inside"

Though the next day it was back to queues of immigrants at Calais.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Sunday, 7 September 2003 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm American, so I've never read the Daily Mail (although it sounds quite horrible), but one good thing about getting free newspapers is that it gives you something else to put down on the floor for the dog.

Didn't anyone ever tell you how to do crossword puzzles on the train?

1: Fill it out very quickly in ink.
2: Tear entire puzzle out of the paper before anyone sees what you've written (complete nonsense, of course)
3: Say loudly, "I wish they would start printing something that's challenging!"
4: Throw puzzle out the window.

(Disclaimer: I stole this one from Mad Magazine)

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Sunday, 7 September 2003 22:22 (twenty-one years ago)

is Keith Waterhouse still writing for the Mail? his columns were always uncomfortably reminiscent of the Ageing Yorkshire Fogey character he mocked in "Billy Liar" - he also still thought Sharon and Tracey references were funny 10 years after everyone else had stopped laughing ...

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Monday, 8 September 2003 09:44 (twenty-one years ago)

oh he still is and he still uses same references

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Monday, 8 September 2003 11:47 (twenty-one years ago)

According to an article in today's Media Guardian, all UK daily papers have been experiencing declining circulations in the past year, except the Star.

To try to reverse this seemingly indefinite downward trend some owners and editors have decided to adopt the slogan: innovate or die. It's not guaranteed to work, of course, because innovation could just as easily cause death.

I look forward to exploding 'scratch 'n' snuff' pages, sachets of anthrax, razor-sharp mirrorball glitz embossing, 'Innovations' inserts with detailed instructions on how to make nail bombs and plant them near asylum camps, one-shots from the Surrey Gun Club, and the launch of a spicily poisonous new title called The Daily SARS, edited from a quarantined site in Docklands.

What I want to know is -- stupid question, really -- why on national airlines they never give you the liberal paper? Like on Air France, Liberation is the one paper mysteriously missing from their selection. And on British Airways they 'don't seem to have The Guardian, sorry.'

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Well I guess most business travellers are conservative.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Never mind that, why it is near impossible to buy the Guardian in ordinary (i.e. round the corner) newsagents in Scotland? When I was up for the August Bank Holiday, in one newsagent I was gruffly snarled at: "we dinnae have the Guardian - that's an ENGLISH paper," accompanied by a see-if-you-come-in-ma-shop-again glare. Never used to be a problem when I were a lad.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 8 September 2003 12:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I've had trouble buying the Guardian in Watford.

― Ed (dali), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:31 (twenty-one years ago)

re: the airline thing.it's often down to the bulk distribution deals. Airlines pretty much get there complimentary papers for nothing (well below cost), the liberal papers can less afford this largesse..

― Ed (dali), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I think its because the publishers have an agreement with the airlines, don't they? I mean, on Ryanair you can only get the Daily Fucking Express, which just about says it all.

(X-post with Ed)

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Watford newsagent response obv: "Sir, we do not stock the (spit) Guardian - that's a NORTHERN paper."

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 8 September 2003 12:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Marcello, you must have been in Glasgow. In Edinburgh it seems to be one of the most popular papers. As you said, it is English :-)

― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Surely the North starts at Watford?

― Ed (dali), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I have never had a problem, but then I live in central Glasgow. I can even buy the IoS and that only sells about three copies in the whole of Scotland.

I used to not be able to buy any broadsheet in several newsagents (well, maybe sweetshops with the odd paper) in Manchester and Sheffield side streets.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:41 (twenty-one years ago)

the three closest places to my flat, in glasgow, that sell newspapers, sell the guardian. I don't think there are so many around the centre of town that do not.

crosspost.

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Worst place for newspapers: the Outer Hebrides. No papers at all on Sundays - they don't arrive until Monday morning. Multi-section weekend papers usually have several bits missing, especially any glossy magazine sections.

― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:43 (twenty-one years ago)

can be awkward to get the Guardian here, obviously. Not as awkward as people making comments about why you might be reading an English paper. The Irish Times is good but has nothing on the Guardian in terms of criticism/lifestyle/global stuff.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah well...serves me right for being stuck out in Bothwell then (nearest Grauniad retailer: WH Smith in Hamilton).

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 8 September 2003 12:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Ronan, are the English papers still much cheaper than the Irish Times too?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:46 (twenty-one years ago)

In Ireland, is there a special rule about daily papers having to be the same price each day?

I ask because I've noticed that The Guardian is much more expensive on Saturdays in the UK; the Irish price is higher than the British one on weekdays but is the same every day of the week.

― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, considerably cheaper.

Guardian is 80 cent, and the Irish Times is 1.30 (I think, perhaps 1.35) and rising rising rising, despite massive increase in number of ads etc. The Irish Times has been in some degree of financial trouble recently.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Glossy magazines are sin, as is reading anything other than the Bible on Sundays.

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 8 September 2003 12:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Someone rang up from South Uist this morning wanting to get hold of the supplement on clans that appeared in yesterday's Sunday Herald. I informed the parish minister, obv.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

can be awkward to get the Guardian here, obviously.

? As I can buy the Guardian without hassle in the nearby shop on Fenian Street, I'm moved to ask what you're on about.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe you always get Ronan's copy.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

you live in the city centre you coffee swilling urbanite you

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Bastard's always done the crossword, too.

xpost: so where are you getting this grief? (= I'm embarrased that I've forgotten where you work)

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:06 (twenty-one years ago)

ronan speaks the truth. in some places (eg, stoneybatter, cabinteely) you have to get up very early on saturday to get one of the few copies on the guardian that are about. it is the paper that runs out quickest every saturday. i've never heard any cracks about reading english papers though.

― angela (angela), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:10 (twenty-one years ago)

It always sells out here first too. And it was the same in London. Particularly the Saturday one - get up at midday and you've missed it.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

(I think the Guardian's distribution policy is 'leave em wanting more')

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, okay, I was imagining actual lairiness rather than lack of supply.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I work in the city centre now, but I live in M*lahide where there were about 3 copies in the entire village (6 or 7 newsagents) on a given day. It was actually a case of texting a friend to tell him I'd got the last copy at times.

Though eventually I just asked them to save one for me.

The jibes were more at the bank than in this job, I guess cos the people here are mostly graduates. They ranged from "why are you reading an english paper" to "that's a very snobby paper isnt it". Which it is I suppose, those endless profiles of precocious teenagers etc, but still.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 September 2003 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

nine months pass...

Bosko Balaban Stats For Season

Name Bosko Balaban
Team Aston Villa
Total Appearances 0
Starts 0
Substituted 0
Total Minutes Played 0
Avg Minutes Played Per Start 0
Goals 0
Avg Goal Mins When Starting 0.0
Avg Mins Played/Goal Scored 0
Goals Scored As Sub 0
Number of Bookings 0
Total Booking Minutes 0
Avg Bookings Per Start 0
Number of Red Cards 0
Total Red Card Minutes 0
Avg Red Cards Per Start 0