News of the World again.

Dear Blog,

Reference my ‘July 1^st ’ letter :- I didn’t realise what I was unleashing when I wrote to you about the News of the World on July 1^st. Eight days a week, as they say ... a lot can happen ... a lot has happened!! But that will teach them to mess with me. Following my sending you a copy of my photograph which appeared in the pages of the News of the World (refresh your memory of the event , I marked the envelope to you with the heading ‘News of the World’!!), amazing events have happened. The situation has changed rapidly, new facts are revealed by the hour. Someone must have leaked the photograph of my steeplechase jump to the authorities. It wasn’t you was it Blog? Naughty, naughty. The N.S.P.C.C  (The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Competitors) took up the cause of the steeplechase fiasco and approached the Governing Body. In turn, they pursued the matter with The News of the World and asked them to justify the publication of the picture with the accompanying derisory comments. The News of the World was asked to explain why the third photograph was edited out, why they denied the public knowledge of what happened when the rest of the field reached the water jump barrier and why was the result censored? Questions were asked at the time; was first aid available at the water jump? Were there enough water wings for each competitor? Did the Council warm the water before the event started? Were any goldfish in the water hurt by the athletes in the accident? The newspaper did not address any of these issues. No answers were forthcoming. Did they try to cover up of the facts to protect the prying photographer? Neither was there any mention of the race result in the newspaper’s sports pages. Was this a deliberate ploy on the part of the News of the World to suppress the facts? Did some athletes fail to finish and this was purposely kept from the readers of the News of the World? Was the time too slow for the press? No wonders Murdoch decided to close the paper. One thing for sure, the News of the World won’t be taking the Michael out of the steeplechasers again. No paper, no p**s, no joke!

Colin