Two frankly bizarre pieces in today’s .Media (in the Indie).

Firstly, the Mail’s Melanie Phillips features in a lengthy interview, trying to convince us all she’s left-wing. The result is so strange that there’s really very little I can say, other than bringing together two quotes: “She backed the Iraq war… I insist upon things like truth and morality”. I can only recommend that you read it. And her blog has been added to my watch-list of things I might have to comment on in future.

Slightly less strange, but more outright amusing, is Kay Burley trying to convince us she’s a serious journo. Clearly, it’s important for a journalist to keep up to date with the news, and the leaders and comment pieces of the big papers. What papers does she read? “A distillation of The Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday and News of the World tends to cover it”. So she’s not big on the broadsheets. Then she’s asked about magazines. This is where I first actually laughed out loud: “I’d like to say Cosmo, Vanity Fair, but it’s Good Housekeeping.” Good to see that she has such a close relationship with the news weeklies, then. She could no more present the news authoritatively than give up lip gloss.