Snuggled up here in the old cliff top mansion in front of a few blazing logs, bumper pack of bathroom tissue at the ready, I've been going through the Sunday papers.Ordinarily, of course, I wouldn't touch one of Mr Murdoch's publications with a very long barge pole, but they'd run out of proper newspapers at the Costcutter so I had to make do with the News of the Screws. Well, it might come in handy for those frequent trips to the smallest room in the mansion, I figured.
And blow me down if there wasn't a huge splash about Margate. Not the kind of arts regen and cafe culture story our beloved council would like to see, though. No, 'Street of Spongers' screams the headline. The NoW hacks have been knocking on doors in Dalby Square, politely inquiring what people do for a living. The answer to which appears, unsurprisingly, to be 'not much'. If they'd knocked on my door, I would have been minded to ask them whether they had nothing better to do for a living than knock on people's doors and ask them what they do for a living. But hey-ho, that's journalism for you.
It all sounds rather familiar. Does anyone recall erstwhile Gazunder hack Nick Dorman's story about Margate in The People last June? It created quite a stir. That was headlined 'Sun Scroungers' and detailed the surprising number of ne'er-do-anythings in, er, Margate. The town was even re-christened 'Sicknote-on-Sea' in true tabloid style.
However the similarity doesn't end there. I see the NoW story has been co-written by one Jennifer Wiley who is, yes you've guessed it, a former Gazunder hack. Oh how we used to titter over her 'Jen and Tonic' feature about the Isle's watering holes. Seems like she hasn't got a good word to write about the place these days!
Click here for News of the World story
