ManchesterConfidential's Sleuth column is quite rightly crowing over the way the media followed up its exclusive column by MP Graham Stringer claiming dyslexia was a "cruel fiction".
Sleuth notes: "Confidential got everywhere, the BBC TV news, BBC radio news, GMTV, The Times, The Independent, Reuters, The Sun, you name it."
But then turns on some of the journalists who followed up the story, claiming : "Weirdest call came from Deborah Summers of the Guardian who rang up the editor and asked if the story were genuine.
"What? As if Confidential would randomly write such a serious piece and then ascribe it to Graham Stringer and put his photo up there too. Somehow Sleuth thinks that sort of behaviour might land this Manchester magazine in court."
Sleuth said the question prompted an idea: "Let's make up lots of controversial headlines from famous people. So next week on Confidential: 'Abortion an option, argues the Pope,' 'Richard Dawkins isn’t real, says Jesus', 'Life on £120,000 a week is too hard, explains Ronaldo', 'Immanuel Kant was right, there is such a thing as the Categorical Imperative by Katie Price'."
Sleuth also dishes it out to Cassandra Jardine, who in her online column for the Daily Telegraph, wrote: ‘To judge by the responses to MP Graham Stringer's remarks there is indeed a severe problem with reading and writing in this country. Among the misspellings by furious responders to his article on ManchesterConfidential.com who argue that dyslexia is real, I picked out – and this is just a tiny sample – "inacurate", "bluf", "mater", "concentarte", "dyselxicx", and "macnhester". Among those who agree with him, there were considerably fewer mistakes.’
Sleuth's verdict: "Oh dear Cassandra. Those errors are nothing to do with dyslexia, darling, it’s just that people often can’t spell very well. Do you use the internet much? Honist."
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