House!
Tuesday, January 31, 2006

BBC News: UK soldier killed in Iraq blast
A British soldier has been killed in an explosion in southern Iraq - the 100th to die since the 2003 invasion.

Tomorrow's front pages will write themselves. No doubt some newspapers have had their 10 x 10 grids of the dead soldiers' faces (minus the final two, like a serial killer's bingo card) ready to go since November and are feverishly scrambling for the last pieces to this jigsaw of squandered lives.

So, a time for reflection, a time for lazy journalism. Let's hope there's some decent analysis among all the stuff about the glorious dead. (Will Blair dare mark the occasion with more than the usual passing reference at Prime Minister's Questions tomorrow?)

Let's see how many times the phrase "grim milestone" is used by soulless hacks straining for deathless prose.

Update: Marching in step, the demoralising herdthink. We have a melancholy milestone from George Galloway and a tragic milestone from Michael Moore, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary. The Glasgow Evening Star gives us the first grim milestone.

Update 1/2/06: Peter in the comments beat me to it.

The Independent went for the 10x10 grid (on page 2) and the "grim milestone". They weren't the only ones to go that extra mile in search of cliche. Daily Mail: "grim milestone". Telegraph: "grim milestone". Channel 4 News (written by the great Jon Snow no less): "grim milestone".


4 Comments:

On January 31, 2006 2:34 PM, Blogger Friendly Fire said...

Tragic I

"Last weekend Tony Blair witnessed the nation's innate passion for whales in the fate of heroic but ultimately tragic
efforts to save one single stranded whale in the Thames.

Tragic II

The alleged changes were made 14 hours before Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, was told that the dead man was the victim of a tragic case of mistaken identity. The surveillance team has reportedly denied changing the log and claims that elsewhere it makes clear that doubts had been raised about the identification.

Tragic III

Meanwhile the Independent focuses on another tragic story: "The life and death of an Iraq veteran who could take no more."

Tragic IV

"It is a tragedy when we lose any soldier but we have to understand why it's important to see it through."  


On January 31, 2006 10:06 PM, Blogger Laban said...

To BBC radio news it's a 'significant' milestone.

Stand by for lots of crocodile tears and 'remembrance vigils' by people who support their killers ...  


On January 31, 2006 10:22 PM, Blogger Justin said...

"...people who support their killers..."

Names please, Laban. Apart from Galloway and Tariq Ali.

Or are you being naughty as usual?  


On February 01, 2006 12:27 PM, Blogger Peter Gasston said...

Unfortunately, it was The Independent who won this game; the names on the front page, photo grid inside front cover, and 'grim milestone' in the opening paragraph.  


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