Over the weekend the Sunday Mirror published pictures of Michael Gove engaging in a modest and momentary public display of affection in a restaurant. Their application for a Pulitzer Prize will have to wait…
Mikey Smith, the hack in question, hit ‘publish’. The SW1 reaction came in. Not from adoring fans or rival newsdesks begging for publication rights – but instead from everyone on X who saw no public interest and couldn’t have cared less. In fact, it was a total self-own from the Mirror, as the backlash was ferocious…
“This is not news“, said one punter. “You people are ghastly” said another. Owen Jones called it “trash” (proving a broken clock is right twice a day). Even – checks notes – Labour MP Shaun Davies asked the question the Sunday Mirror obviously didn’t: “Why does this matter?” Reach PLC is looking for further job cuts and hires who will do more with less – any of the online commenters over the weekend would have shown better judgement than their current crew…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”