Politicians out to smear other politicians – media outraged it was not involved

Across the country politicians are expressing outrage at the unprecedented revelation that members of one political party were planning a dirty tricks campaign against its rivals in a scandal that may damage the electorate’s faith in politicians forever.

"We have only had politics for a few months now and look, already it is being turned to crap," said a first time commenter in an internet discussion forum. "In the weeks that I have been following the news I have never once heard about politicians spreading rumours about each other – who do I complain to so this will be stopped?"

Several tabloid newspapers have joined in the outrage and have devoted what remains of their in-house journalism capabilities to cover what has been dubbed as "Downing-Street-email-address-used-to-discuss-spreading-rumours-and-innuendo-for-a-new-innuendo-and-rumour-website-gate"

"Never before in British political history has someone working for one party – Now Labour isn’t it? – tried to start rumours about someone from another party – they are the Conservatories? Yeah?" said the Daily Star’s celebrity correspondent Nikkister, drafted in to cover the outrage. "I can’t believe that people can behave like this after Jade Goody. Don’t they stop to think what Jade would do?"

Questions are also being asked about the role of the "blogger" after it transpired that the recipient of the email was a misleading, self-promoting, shouter on a Labour supporting blog whose emails were outed by a rival pseudo-anonymous, right-wing, mud-rakng blogger following several weeks of calling each other names. Rumours of hair-pulling are said to be unfounded.

"dis shows de power of the internet, how it lets ordinry ppl sit @ home n thump the keyb hard with there opinions," said an anonymous comment left on ignorantshoutytwats.com. "de media dont like it coz dey have 2 check facts and libel and speeling and stuff. But our community on dis site of real people with all made up userids and e-mail addys can call anyone a shirt-lifter."

The mainstream media has reacted to the rise of the bloggers. One unsigned opinion piece in the Daily SendThemAllBack claimed that: " … there is no place for journalism based solely upon spreading rumour, abuse and innuendo outside of Fleet Street. The rise of the citizen journalist will lead to amateurish and ineffectual mud-slinging diluting the results than can be achieved by a team of expert and professional journalists."

Hillary Billingsworth, professor of media studies at the Jeremy Kyle University has been monitoring the development of the unprecedented scandal and says that it has serious implications for the future of politics and journalism in the UK.

"This is the first time that any of us can remember anything in politics that could amount to spreading rumours about someone’s character," said the Professor. "For generations politicians have been selfless, upstanding citizens. Free from vice and corruption they are dedicated to creating a utopia for us all to live in. To think that their stock-in-trade might be a selfish and devious manipulation of people’s opinions – perhaps by horse trading favours and influence in exchange for power – will be a body blow to the reputation of politics."

Already the long-term ramifications for the nature of politics are being felt as the Oxford English Dictionary admits it is reviewing it’s definition of "politician" which currently reads:-

pol·i·ti·cian noun :- one who develops a property or second home to increase its value using funds obtained from their constituents by force.

Downing Street revealed that the Prime Minister had personally written to those that may have become victims of the smear campaign had the details become public knowledge, which they now have, but a spokesman would not confirm if the letters contained an apology.

"All I will say is that Gordon Brown has made it clear that these are unsubstantiated allegations that should not be repeated," said a spokesman for Number 10. "On that matter the Prime Minister has written directly to the nutter, the dirty stop-out, the transvestite and the one with itchy under-pants."

North Korean rocket successfully lands Dear Leader on Jupiter

This weekend the official news agency of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea announced that it had successfully launched a rocket deploying a satellite into orbit.

"The glorious rocket launch gloriously launched a satellite into orbit from where we are receiving patriotic signals and news that our glorious leader, Kim Jong-Il, is returning from having set foot on Jupiter," said a spokesman for the North Korean government. "The Dear Leader is returning to glorious North Korea having had a summit meeting with his father, the Great Leader, in the Great Red Spot of revolution on Jupiter and inspecting the people’s glorious new bouffant wig production facility on Io."

The United States and South Korea however dispute the success of the mission, claiming that the 5 year round trip to Jupiter was unlikely to have been completed in a weekend and that the rocket instead crashed into the Pacific Ocean. It also added that Kim Jong-il’s father, Kim Il-sung died in 1994.

"The glorious data from the glorious satellite contains our Dear Leader singing revolutionary songs as he rows the glorious symbol of glorious North Korean tractor based space technology across the skies and back to glorious North Korea," said a presenter on Korean Central Television. "This is another breakthrough for glorious North Korea and marks yet another glorious achievement following last week’s glorious news that last week Kim Jong-il had gloriously cured cancer and discovered the secret to eternal youth. All at the age of 29."

The news of North Korea’s rocket launch is believed to be a cover for missile tests and the latest step by the secretive communist country to develop long range ballistic capability in parallel to it’s nuclear programme. This despite widespread reports that the country has been suffering a famine for several years, something that was also denied by the regime in Pyongyang.

"The puppet regime in the South wishes to spread the lies of the obese, capitalist pigs of the United States," said a North Korean children’s television presenter. "However all children should join their parents in rejoicing at the news by gloriously going to bed without food to mark the hundredth glorious day of dieting."

North Korean officials said that the capsule containing Kim Jong-il would soon return to Earth. It would remain out of radio contact until it had descended through the clouds over the Cuckoo-land area of North Korea. It will then be met by a delegation consisting of Elvis Presley, Superman and Godzilla who would present him with a Golden Fleece and ceremonial diamond encrusted platform shoes donated by the orphans of Pyongyang.

MPs to be provided list of porn films they can claim for on expenses

An urgent review is being undertaken into the process for MPs expenses following the news that the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, claimed reimbursement for "Additional Features" on her Virgin Media bill that are a euphemism for adult movies.

"What could be worse for a feminist Labour politician than to be caught claiming expenses for blue movies?" said a party insider. "One of them is believed to be a video of Mrs Thatcher’s party conference speech of 1980."

With the ongoing furore over expenses becoming ever more ardent, Ms Smith is said to feel great relief from fellow cabinet members coming to hand and pledging to stand firm with her.

"I, like my fellow MPs, don’t know which pornography we can claim for and which we cannot," said Foreign Secretary David Miliband

"This is why we are having a review. The system needs to be more transparent so that we know what the taxpayer will pay on behalf of their upstanding members."

Friends say that Ms Smith was livid and that her husband - who was alone at the family home that she claims as her second home at the time that the films were viewed - had been given a really hard time after he came clean. They say she has no plans to give him a hard time at home in future and thus the cable TV subscription provides a firm business need.

"It was a genuine mistake, I thought I was signing a legal declaration for claiming legitimate expenses: such as my very nice new kitchen sink, my lovely new fireplace, some splendid coal to burn in it and my Internet connection," said Ms Smith. "You can get all sorts of high quality pornography through that for free."

Friends say that Ms Smith is still the head of her second home that she shares with her family, as opposed to her first home which she shares with her sister.

"When it comes to who wears the trousers, Jacqui is adamant it is her, since they are less frequently found around her ankles," said a close family friend. "She is very upset as not only did she not see the adult movies in question the public still think of her as a wanker over her expenses claims."

The Ombudsman is said to be investigating in detail all MPs’ itemised expenses claims and in particular the large expenditure on tissues.

Jade versus Diana - The popular posthumous Princesses

Reality TV character Jade Goody, who sadly died today, is now poised for an assault on the posthumous tabloid records held by the late Diana, Princess of Wales. As Goody’s team plans her challenge we look at the contenders and talk to the key members of their teams for the upcoming season.

Jade Goody "Essex Princess":-
The challenger and posthumously titled "Essex Princess" has had a much shorter career than her more established opponent. A meteoric rise to stardom found her representing Essex on the world stage. Having set new standards for the people of the county to aspire to she took the Essex way of life to a whole new market in India. Her widower, Jack Tweed also showed how to bring curfews and ankle tags from the south of East Angular to living rooms the world over. During a short career she has made the pages of Heat and OK! and shelves full of TV magazines her own, but will it be enough?

"People criticised our preparation for this fight, saying that our planning was wrong – that the tribute edition had gone too early – before she had actually died," said publicist Clifford Billingsworth. "But we have to stick with what we know – photos of her before she lost weight, after she put it back on again and wearing a headscarf, We think the funeral will be big for us."

The team acknowledges that the champion, who has defended her title successfully for a dozen years, has a huge advantage in what many believe is a two horse race.

"Diana is a true competitor, but you know maybe she is a bit past her prime – having died in 1997. We are younger and we think that we can make use of the web and mobile media to flog our filly," said Billingsworth.

Diana, Princess of Wales:-
The undisputed champion of the tabloids, and self styled Princess of Hearts, has been raking in column inches for decades. Such an ever present daily fixture it is difficult to believe that she has been dead for nearly 12 years - and indeed many people don’t. Her team, led by the Daily Express, knows that the "Essex Princess" could give them a run for their money and is not resting on its laurels.

"Goody is a stiff competitor but our girl isn’t dead and buried, according to conspiracy theories we haven’t printed. Yet. We think OK! may have gone early but not all of the stories about Diana being pregnant have been made up. Yet," said Express owner Richard Desmond. "It’s the People’s Princess’s title, and Goody has to wrench it from our cold, dead hands."

The Daily Express – the World’s Greatest newspaper set in 1950 – is so ebullient it is worried about collateral damage.

"If we launch a complete Diana bombardment we can carpet bomb the media," said Desmond. "However we are worried we won’t have space for our usual tirade of racism and kicking the McCanns."

Other players
Professional Wedding Attendee Elton John:-
Elton John was a friend of both Princesses. There has been no comment on rumours that John, famous for both weddings and funerals, will turn his hand to a singing career. Key to tabloid competition, John having headlined Diana’s funeral will mean Goody’s corner will be keen to get the gay stereotype in front of the cameras. Not dead.

Evil fiend Sir Fred Goodwin:-
Could act as a spoiler. Neither a princess, nor popular, he is the newly crowned face of the Credit Crunch and has landed the role of a soap opera villain as a shorthand for thirsty editors who don’t understand the financial crisis. Could rob the main contenders of valuable exposure. And the public of huge amounts of cash. Not dead, yet.

Newspaper condemns Dunblane shooting survivors for turning into normal teenagers

The nation is still trying to absorb the shocking revelation from the Sunday Express that the surviving schoolchildren from the Dunblane massacre in 1996 have grown up into annoying, foul-mouthed, lustful teenagers - just like millions of their peers.

"Their web pages, blogs and so on are filled with swearing, stories of drinking and even sex," said Harry Billingsworth former high-profile Donkey Porn star who has recently admitted to being a journalist at Express newspapers. "They are filled with things that you would not want your wife, or your servants, to read."

The Sunday Express – the World's Greatest Newspaper set in the 1950s – highlighted how several of the children have not spent every waking moment of the last thirteen years waking screaming from nightmares, pining for lost ones nor writing angst ridden poetry of the loss of their childhood friends. Indeed the newspaper's findings reveal that they are interested in the same things that every other teenager is – feeling each others bits, cheap cider and avoiding soap.

"How dare they grow up to be normal? They should be riddled with the tragedy that they lived through in the mid-90s, which should shape the rest of their lives," said the Express journalist. "Yet nowhere, on any of their MySpace pages, are there endless eulogies to the People's Princess of Hearts, Saint Diana of Wales, which is, of course, what Internet publishing is for."

The article highlights how the survivors of that tragic day have blossomed into young adults without paying any regard to others who may not have recovered so well from the days of the terrible shootings in Dunblane Primary School.

"Do these people have no memories of the hardworking journalists who door-stepped the local community at the time of the tragedy and adorned their stories with photos of tearful families? Who went to the trouble of making an entry on my calendar for a ‘now they are adults’ piece thirteen years in advance?" asked Billingsworth. "It is sickening to be confronted by this wanton display of normality when I have been struggling for years for an award winning human interest story and have only the wonderful memory of Diana to fill in the gaps between loan shark advertising and racist scaremongering?"

One Manchester United fan punched, several million waiting in trepidation

Police are investigating allegations that a fan of Manchester United football club was punched in the face by the manager of Inter Milan, Jose Mourinho, after the Italian club’s Champions’ League defeat.

"We can confirm we are investigating an incident involving between a fan and a visiting Portuguese gentleman that occurred in the vicinity of Old Trafford stadium," said a spokesman for Greater Manchester Police. "It is an investigation complicated by the fact that Manchester United fans have been ‘asking for it’ for quite some time."

The fan, who has not been identified but allegedly comes from Surrey, or Bristol or some other suburb of Manchester and is said to have supported the Red Devils since football began in 1992.

"United are a side likely to attract this level of animosity being the most successful team in the history of football," said Sterling Billingsworth, Sky Sports football historian. "They have won 10 of the 16 top flight titles since the game was invented in July 1991."

A look through the Sky Sports Football Almanac will confirm that Manchester United indeed hold a pre-eminent place in the statistics, since records began in August 1991.

"United have won both the FIFA Most Unspeakable Shit Award and UEFA Award for Despicable Cheating in 2008 and the Football Writers Award for Thuggery and Stamping on no fewer than five occasions since the football universe blinked into existence in that glorious summer of ‘91" said Billingsworth. "Indeed even the Players’ Diver of Year award has gone to men from United nine times in football history. No, wait, two of them were from somewhere called Newcastle."

Police say that such an assault on a Manchester United fan could happen anywhere in Britain as they are as likely to live in Milton Keynes or Orpington as anywhere else. However they stress that they are held with singular esteem by rival football fans.

"When there is a funeral of a United fan in places such as Eastbourne or Exeter, they are well attended," said the spokesman. "Often fans of local clubs will comment that Manchester United fans are alright, deep down."

Investigation into incident involving custard thrown into face of Lord Mandelson asks “Why not hammers?”

The police have launched an investigation into the incident in which green custard was thrown into the face of business secretary, Lord Mandelson.

"We are deeply concerned by this incident," said Detective Superintendent Hugh Billingsworth of the Metropolitan Police. "We want to know why only custard? Why not hammers, or a cat that has just been dunked into a bucket of water?"

The Metropolitan Police have been making inquiries amongst various pressure groups and known agitators to understand the reasoning behind the attack.

"The attack was of a very puerile and unsophisticated nature," said Billingsworth. "I mean what about a slinky made out of razor wire? Or a hot McDonald’s apple pie?"

Pressure groups have moved to distance themselves form the green custard attack, allegedly launched by environmental campaigner Leila Deen over the business secretary’s support for a third runaway at Heathrow airport.

"I would have gone for an angry badger myself. They can be vicious little bastards," said a spokesman for Greenpeace. "Of course they need to be protected, we wouldn’t want one of them to be bitten by Mandelson."

The police are also investigating the ease with which Ms Deen was able to avoid security and approach Lord Mandelson.

"She seems to have had plenty of time to enact her plan, which means she could have had an accomplice, " said Billingsworth. "If that is the case, why not throw a big tub of honey over him and a box of angry bees?"

Insiders in the New Labour Party are now debating as to whether this very public humiliation will in anyway damage his position within the cabinet. One senior party member who did not wish to be identified commented: "Well there is something of the shite about him."

Following news that Lord Mandelson has complained of "slight" facial irritation the Police are re-analysing the green custard itself.

"It turns out that the custard was made with whole milk," said Billingsworth. "We are hopeful that Lord Mandelson is lactose intolerant."

Marauding hordes of Scottish children to be given an extra four years of criminal learning

The age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is to be raised to 12 to bring it into line with other parts of the EU and give Scottish children extra years to improve their criminal behaviour and decide if they have a future in the crime industry.

"For too long now the wee scum of Scotland have had their collars felt at the age of 8, thus depriving them of several formative years as apprentice thieves and murderers," said Kenny McBillingsworth of the SNP. "Now they can have a few year’s extra practice looting and mugging before they are jailed for the first time – giving them a chance to develop their skills for later in life."

The move has been welcomed by tourism groups, who argue that it would improve Scotland’s culture and image around the world, with a consequential impact on employment in the region.

"After a life of cheap cider-fuelled crime and thuggery, the reputation for aggression enjoyed by your average Scotch child is of world renown making them in great demand as mercenaries and child soldiers," said a spokesman for Visit Scotland. "Certainly a Scottish 9 year old with the rage will make even a battle-hardened Taliban fighter run like a wee lassie."

The Scottish government said that the increase in the age of criminal responsibility was part of a package of measures aimed at bringing civilisation to Scotland.

"We are also introducing minimum prices for alcohol because at some point the English taxpayers are going to realise that paying for millions of unintelligible, hate-filled, drunken barbarians is not quite as endearing as they thought," said McBillingsworth. "They might question if it is really a cultural asset to be continually berated over representation whilst the UK political parties are stuffed with angry Scotsmen."

The raising of the age at which Scottish children can be caged as animals has brought condemnation from south of the border, particularly from neighbouring English councils that will now have to face the onslaught of gangs of marauding Scottish ten year olds who would otherwise have been locked up.

"We might have to rebuild Hadrian’s wall. And electrify it," said a councillor from deep within Berwick-upon-Tweed council’s emergency bunker. "Have you seen a Scottish playground? It’s like a scene from a zombie movie. I don’t know if the budget will stretch to machine gun outposts. Don’t open that can of Irn-Bru, it attracts them! Oh Jesus."

Sir Fred Goodwin furious his £16m piss-take has been made public

Friends and former colleagues of pin-stripe pirate Sir Fred "Frankly" Goodwin said today that the incompetent banker was furious that details of his £16m pension fund had been leaked into the public domain.

"Fred is livid, absolutely livid, that his enormous piss-take has been revealed to the public," said a friend. "He had hoped that it would be announced sometime around the new financial year. It is terrible to deprive a pensioner of the fun of this year’s April Fool’s day and taking the piss out of the British public."

Sir Fred complained that the details of his £650,000 a year pension, for life, from the bank in the worst shape of all due to the policies he was responsible for do not take into account how the pension fund has built up over the years.

"My pension has not really changed since the original piss-take I started in 1998 when I joined the group. That is a decade of taking the piss at RBS," said cash enthusiast Sir Fred. "Nor does it take into account my previous piss-taking employment before I pretended to know anything about banking.

"Who is really taking the piss? Me, or the people who failed to notice the impact that my taking early retirement would have on pre-existing pension arrangements, that already took the piss? Oh, me. Well they should have guessed when I nearly pissed myself laughing," joked the ruinous bank CEO with no banking experience or qualifications. "Ha, nearly pissed myself again! Well I am a pensioner now!"

Sir Fred was adamant that he should not forgo any of his pension after having already given up several piss-taking opportunities when conceding significant gestures towards the British taxpayer as they bailed him out with tens of billions of pounds to save RBS from his incompetence.

"All those piss-taking gestures I made seem to be overlooked," said Sir Fred as he gave a taxpayer shop assistant the finger. "For some reason they didn’t give me my 12 month notice period. Running RBS with the taxpayer as an underwriter would have been the biggest piss-take of all."

Sir Fred said that he would not let the utter humiliation of having masterminded the biggest collapse of a bank, the recording of the largest loss in British corporate history and having achieved a nationalisation programme that even Lenin would have been impressed with affect his attitude to business.

"You could call this rewarding failure. Staggeringly incompetent failure," laughed Sir Fred making obscenely large gestures to taxpayers out of his limousine window. "But I vow to keep living, to draw from my £16m piss-taking pension pot until no taxpayer has a pot to piss in."

Government to raise new bail-out funding from Somali Pirates

The government tonight announced a new plan to raise extra bail-out money without further burdening hard pressed taxpayers. The news came in response to requests from the financial services and car manufacturing industries for additional finance to shield them from the free-market capitalism that they no longer wish to take part in, once it transpired that they were rubbish at it.

"We have sunk billions of taxpayer’s gold into the banks, and now need help to break their blockade on lending, Hence we need an infusion of cash from people who have no trouble raising money, Somali Pirates," said the Chancellor of the Exchequer in a statement to the Commons. "This arrangement will reduce the burden on the taxpayer and improve the integrity and ethics of the financial system."

Mr Darling was quizzed by MPs whether it was prudent to do business with an untrustworthy group, driven by their own greed who had a disregard for the rule of law, and responded that he had realised it wasn’t and it was time to stop doing business with bankers.

"We have spent many years sailing in shark infested waters," said Alistair Darling MP. "Therefore it is time to leave the City and head for the safer seas of the Gulf of Aden. Unlike a banker, a Somali pirate may not wear a pin-stripe suit, but at least he has a good grasp of not only an AK-47 but how is own business model actually works."

A pirate leader, Shamun Billingsworthbur, said at a press conference that he was pleased to be doing business with the treasury and joked that his ancestors had a long relationship with Her Majesty’s Government.

"Many, many years ago, my forefather’s business was almost in ruin, due to the hard work and diligence of the Royal Navy on the Pirate Round," he said through his shoulder-based interpreter, Polly. "Generations later, how fitting it is that you should seek out the help of the cut-throats of the seas to rescue your economies now that the Pin-Striped Pirates have all your booty. However, I may be a murderous, condemned scourge, who has murdered the family members I have not sold, but I will not work with Andy Hornby. Even I have standards."

Bank maps out new bonus structure for bank project to review bank bonus structure

Bosses at Lloyds TSB responded to criticism of their intention to pay staff bonuses, following the announcement that the group has lost nearly £11bn, by announcing a comprehensive review focussing on staff remuneration.

"We have instigated a high priority project, Project Trough, which will outline a new pay scheme for our bank-staff, rewarding only those that have really screwed the maximum out of each customer," said Sir Leonard Billingsworth, CFO of Lloyds Banking Group. "I mean really screwed them. It is important we hold onto those people. When the project completes there will be big bonuses for all involved. Really huge ones if it should complete even remotely on-time!"

The wide ranging project will be structured to ensure that shareholders in the bank can clearly see exactly how salaries and bonuses are distributed.
"Right at the heart of Project Trough will be several 'Pay Investigation Groups' composed of staff from all levels," explained Billingsworth. "Our customers, who are also taxpayers that have been compelled to become shareholders in our incompetence, will see from the P.I.Gs sticking their noses right into the heart of the Trough exactly what they have got for their money."

Whilst the new project has met with appreciation from politicians of all persuasions who see it as focussing the spotlight of public scrutiny onto the pay of the banking community they are not sure it will work for everyone working in the public sector.

"Certainly bankers have squandered huge amounts of taxpayer's money and have a bonus system to fall back on," said a Labour peer. "There are hundreds of people that have wasted even more enormous sums who are not as fortunate. We in the Lords have to make do with creative use of the expenses scheme and the bulging envelopes we receive from lobbyists for helping to shape the nation's laws. So we welcome the bankers being the subject of this distraction of public scrutiny."

Arsene Wenger to watch live Arsenal matches on TV: “fed up not seeing incidents on pitch”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is to stop attending football matches after yet again being unable to view the action on the pitch. Previously Mr Wenger had complained about the visibility at Arsenal's Emirates stadium but has now vowed to watch all matches, home and away, from the comfort of his own sofa.

"I have been unable to see any of the action for years," said Wenger after Arsenal's goalless draw with London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. "The only action in the Spurs game was Emmanuel Eboue's sending off, and I couldn't see it because someone stood up in front of me."

The diminutive Mr Wenger, 6ft 4in, said he has long struggled to see games, often missing the key moments involving his player's lack of discipline and has repeatedly asked for a booster cushion, or perhaps a step-ladder, to be installed in the Arsenal dugout.

Arsenal said that they believed the long-standing issues of Mr Wenger being able to see anything that happens on the pitch had been solved by the design of the home dugout at their new Emirates stadium where, unlike Highbury, the manager’s seat faces the pitch. Although they conceded there was still the issue of the pillar that drops directly into Wenger’s eye line at the moment an Arsenal player pulls out a knife.

"Every game is the same, it is getting embarrassing having to admit in interviews that I didn't see an incident involving one of my players trying to take an opponent's head off," said Mr Wenger. "However just at the crucial moment someone always stands in front of me, or the bloke with the big hat returns to his seat."

Mr Wenger said that it had happened so many times that people simply do not believe him any more when he says he didn’t see an incident and that the away match at Spurs was the last game he would be attending live.

"People were barely hiding their laughter when I said that I hadn't seen the Eboue incident but it is true," said the Frenchman. "I couldn't believe it when the blimp landed on the touchline and the bloke with the big-afro hairdo got out and sat down in front of me. Again."

Teenagers complain of anti-social pensioners reading aloud

Teenagers up and down the country are bemoaning a new fad of reading out loud that seems to be sweeping through the senior citizen population. With half-term approaching it is feared that this behaviour could drive more and more teenagers from the buses and force them to walk all the way to the nearest Gregg’s pasty shop.

"It’s, like, so, like, rude. Innit?" said Chardonnay, 14 from Plumstead in South London. "We is like on the 96, right? Few of us girls. Innit? And we are trying to listen to Shabney’s music. She got the volume right up on her phone but we don’t hear, like, nothin’ ‘cos of, like, some old dear at the, back, reading aloud some rubbish about a bitches’ Detective Agency in Africa."

The phenomena is seen to be the latest step in anti-social behaviour on public transport and something else that delay-weary passengers must contend with.

"It really is quite terrible now," said one middle-aged commuter who didn’t want to be named

"When I have sloped off work early I often have to share my train with old and young people alike. A couple of years ago we would be whizzing through the country listening to the tinny screeching of Chris Brown, or Rhianna, from a mobile phone. Now it’s all people reading sections from ‘Captain Correlli’s Mandolin’ and bits from discarded copies of the Metro at the tops of their voices."

Many commuters find that middle-aged people have taken to the habit of playing audio books through their speakerphones.

"It’s like sitting in Stephen Fry’s living room sometimes," said a commuter. "I have to bring a dictionary with me now just to know if something is rude."

However some of the teenagers said that the disruption caused by older members of society wasn’t all bad as it gave them a rare insight into literature, something that would otherwise be unattainable to them.

"No one at my home can read nothing. Apart from maybe text messages, right?" said Derrington, 15 from Kidbrooke. "Although if one is totally honest one would prefer less about ‘Come Dancing’ and more contemporary cultural references and insights into the human condition. Like."

British economy saved by teachers' mid-week shopping

Today the CBI commended members of the teaching profession for single-handedly turning around the ailing retail economy leading to one of the best start to February in recent years.

"The keenness with which thousands of Head Teachers up and down the land are able to seek out a snowflake and the speed with which they can close a school has brought a welcome boost to the Shopping Centres of the nation," said Sir Digby Billingsworth of the CBI. "Their dedication to leisure is a great boon to hard pressed retailers whose shops are now full of teachers."

"You can’t move for teachers at the moment," said a Starbucks employee at one of their outlets in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. "They are sitting here with travel brochures out planning what to do with their ten weeks holiday."

The National Union of Teacher’s defended its members’ decisions to close schools saying that no one took them lightly, but that it was in the best interests to close the schools immediately after the weekend.

"The schools are closed for safety reasons, why risk children’s health on slippery playgrounds? By keeping them out of school they can throw ice at each other and toboggan down motorway sliproads instead," said a spokesman for the Union. "Of course this causes problems for childcare for which our members get grief, but it is a no-win situation. If we don’t close the schools the head teachers get it in the neck from their spouses unable to get to Ikea whilst it’s quiet."

Many teachers said that the closures had played havoc with their own plans for the week but they were confident that the disruption could be absorbed in the rest of the schedule.

"I am hopeful that my Sky Plus box will record the rest of ‘Loose Women’, because I hadn’t seen it before and it was quite good," said a teacher from Eltham, South London. "And that Jeremy Kyle programme is crazy!"

Staff at Watercliffe Meadow ‘Place for idiots to pretend to be teachers’ said that they were using the inclement weather as a teaching aid.

"Obviously we don’t call it snow, we tell the children it is ‘flakes of the sky’s inhospitableness’," said Linda Billingsworth, head teacher. "In science we are helping the children explore their feelings for winter,"

Geography teachers up and down the country, apart from Watercliffe Meadow where they are known as "Earth Mother Physiography Emotional Guides", now post regular snow reports to Twitter subject #cantBeArsedTodayIsItSnowingAnywhere.

Survey says “It’s, like, well harder being a kid now innit?”

The latest survey into childhood has concluded that it is a lot harder to be a child today than for previous generations, an experience echoed by a great number of children interviewed today, when they should have been at school.

"Like, in the olden days right, it was a lot easier. Space Invaders, yeah, how easy was that? It ain’t ‘Gears of War’, innit?" said Maria Billingsworth, Director of the Children’s society.

The report said that even though today’s children had better education, health and more possessions you really couldn’t tell from the way they behaved.

"Better education. What does that mean? Oh, I knew that. Well school is boring innit?" said, Calum, 12. "All the computers, right, they’re, like, well locked down so you can’t get to YouTube or nothing. No porn gets through either. We can’t learn nothing."

The Children’s Society said that the little darlings, whilst not having to work at an early age like many generations before, nor go hungry, want for clothes, or even a roof over their heads since the German bombing stopped nearly 70 years ago, have it harder now.

"If you is like a 15 year old girl now, you have to stay at home with your parents until you is given a council house at 18, right. Well that’s well bad if you have a baby. Innit," said the Director of the Children’s society.

The Children’s Society claimed that Britain’s children today live in squalor and deprivation that would make Charles Dickens blanch – some of Britain’s middle class children only have one games console and a year old mobile phone – and laid the blame squarely at the feet of working mothers.

"Many parents, right, they are working, yeah? Children need love and affection?" said Billingsworth. "If you is a working mum, who is going to be there to applaud when the kids want to show what they can do with their new knife?"

The outlook for today’s children is so bleak that a group of a dozen child soldiers in war torn Congo launched a deadly raid on a government stronghold with the aim to secure enough funds to ensure that every British child has a DVD player in their bedroom.

Nurse suspended after offering to get patient a witch-doctor

Nurse Caroline Billingsworth was suspended in December after a patient she was visiting objected to the offer of a prayer to aid in her recovery and having a local Shaman visit to boost her juju.

"She was very, very caring," said Belinda Worthing, 70, a patient from North Somerset. "But I really didn't fancy her offer of having a goat slaughtered and its entrails read on my kitchen table."

Nurse Billingsworth says she puts great faith in an otherworldly supreme presence that is doing amazing things in her life and she is keen to offer assistance to help patients with their recovery.

"Of course I normally start with a simple prayer," said Billingsworth. "However once you have opened Pandora's Mumbo-Jumbo box, then why stop at Christianity? Several of my patients welcome the attention of a West African witch-doctor and having their diagnosis confirmed by a throw of his Sheep Knuckles."

According to the complaint filed with the local NHS Trust, Billingsworth then asked if Mrs Worthing had been good during the year, because Father Christmas had been watching and may give her a present of being healthy again. However Billingsworth denied that this took place.

"Mrs Worthing is a lovely old dear, but you know she is 70," said the suspended nurse. "She was confused by which mystical overseer with a large beard who frightens people into good behaviour and deals in favours I was talking about. I was referring to the Maharishi."

North Somerset NHS Trust said that it suspended Nurse Billingsworth pending an investigation, but said that it was in not way trying to restrict the religious practices of any of its staff.

A spokesman for the NHS was sympathetic with the Nurse's predicament: "To be honest, what with MRSA, rat infestations and the like, a patient may as well start praying as coming to one of our hospitals."

Everyone in Britain to be turned into hate-filled, venom-spitting imbeciles by 2012

The government’s newly announced policy to ensure every home in the UK has access to broadband Internet services will hasten the day when the entire country is filled with screaming morons hell bent on abusing each other and themselves into frothy-mouthed oblivion.

"Britain already has a large number of abusive web-surfers that lead the world in swearing content creation," said Culture Secretary Andy Burnham in his statement to the commons. "We need an infrastructure capable of preparing Britain to compete with the multi-phobic insanity that will increasingly be served up by the international Internet community. How else can everything be blamed on the gays?"

The government is concerned that, whilst Britain’s online community can hold its own in the all-out self-abuse stakes, the future will be about spreading conspiracies by online video generation. This is an area in which the paranoia-fuelled xenophobia of US Internet users currently excels.

"We need lots of bandwidth, Britons should not be waiting to upload some badly researched movie to YouTube to tell the world that everything is under the control of Mossad. We all know there is nothing worse than having your porn suddenly pause mid-stream whilst you are right in the middle of the chimp impression." Mr Burnham told MPs.

The government also said that as the credit-crunch bites in the coming years the UK economy will increasingly become dependent upon buying and selling online as much as traditional economics.

"Without a world-leading digital infrastructure Britons risk have their bids "sniped" on Ebay with mere seconds to go," said the Culture Secretary. "For an economy based upon used dressing-gowns, ALF alarm clocks and Farrah Fawcettt posters, bandwidth will be vital to secure the next 10 pack of Whiskers cat food for the childrens’ lunches."

David Cameron, an innovative technology adopter who reaches out to the online electorate through his Webcameron video journals, disagreed that the government’s proposals amounted to anything new.

"Brown is a totally lame looser," the leader of the opposition wrote in his blog on conservatives.com. "FAIL!!!11! What a gay sweaty-sock fucktard."

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New medical condition known as “publicist’s balls” discovered

The British Medical Journal today published an article describing the newly identified condition known as "publicist’s balls". The news comes after the revelation that the medical condition called "cello scrotum" is in fact a hoax dating back to the 1970s.

"There are millions of sufferers of "publicist’s balls" in the UK, and the complaint is growing," explained Professor J. Scott Billingsworth, a maverick behavioural scientist currently serving 6 months in Broadmore. "The condition is spread mainly from marketing departments and is often carried in product advertisements masquerading as the publication of survey results."

Medical professionals say that some of the worst cases of the condition are in the beauty industry in which there is normally a fresh outbreak of "publicist’s balls" every week.

"It seems that the condition breeds rapidly within the warm, moist and unchallenging environment of women’s magazines," said Professor Billingsworth during moments of lucidity. "However it really thrives in the unsanitary conditions of the Internet."

"Publicist’s balls" has reached epidemic proportions within the pages of tabloid newspapers in between wars and on the websites of political parties at any time of day or night.

Despite the ease with which people in the 21st century can get access to information the area thought by many to be the seat of an early outbreak of "publicist’s balls" is still in a highly irritating state.

"The condition can be passed easily with word of mouth contact," explained Billingsworth. "Once a new outbreak of "publicist’s balls" occurs near a homeopathic remedy then it can be highly contagious and there is no known cure. You need a witch doctor."

Even the rational medical profession has come under attack, with dozens of cases of "publicist’s balls" being identified in the management offices of NHS trusts, government departments and changing rooms of golf-courses up-and-down the land.

"Despite the best efforts of the medical profession itself to remain infection free there are localised outbreaks occurring in medical journals," said the professor. "I myself have taken part in many deep cleans. Let me ask you - is milk good or bad for you? Don’t know? You are suffering from "publicist’s balls" too."

Radical broadcaster Sky News comes out of hiding - from behind Auntie’s skirts

The world’s leading source of news from Rupert Murdoch today slipped a press release out from under the BBC’s protective skirts and admitted that it wasn’t prepared to show the Gaza appeal for humanitarian aid either.

"Sky News has reviewed the DEC appeal and can confirm that there is nothing in it about Rupert Murdoch or his interests," said a spokesman for Sky News. "This is a question of being absolutely impartial in our output and we simply aren’t."

The announcement was met with headlines and opinion from other News Corporation sources, a selection are given below:-

• "Israeli attack on Gaza - undamaged Murdoch empire requires no aid" - The Times
• "Gaza residents - Free Sky Plus box with every dish installed on your rubble." – The Sun
• "BBC boobs reveals Sky’s tits" – News of the World

Sky took its decision like the responsible broadcaster it pretends to be by featuring reports on the BBC’s decision not to show the appeal and by loading Sky’s website stories with people’s outrage at the BBC.

"We aren’t expecting many people to demonstrate against our decision," said the spokesman, "Few Sky subscribers can get off their sofa on a January morning, and fewer still are capable of walking a few miles."

Sky News today held an impartial interactive survey asking it’s red-button thumping viewers "Is Sky News right to follow the BBC? – vote "Yes" or "No the BBC is wrong".

However one of the Sky News crack news reporters said that she did not understand why there was so much debate given the past record of the subject matter.

"I don’t understand the fuss," said lunchtime news anchor Kay Billingsworth. "I mean does Gazza really need the money so much, maybe he should just stop drinking."