PRINCESS DIANA, THE HOSPICE CASH CRISIS AND NEWS THAT MATTERS

15-07-2006

One of The Stirrer's boasts is that we bring you news that matters.

What's that then?

Well maybe we should start by outlining the “news” that we think doesn't matter.

How about all those ridiculous paper-filling stories about the WAGS (Shags?) of the England World Cup team for starters.

Or the mock outrage of the British tabloids on discovering that an Italian magazine is printing photos of Princess Diana as she lay dying after her fatal car crash in Paris.

The stench of hypocrisy is wafting all the way from Fleet Street to The Stirrer's home in Birmingham.

Tabloid editors weeping crocodile tears now were the first in the queue for paparazzi pictures when Diana was alive.

By encouraging the chasing pack of photographers they contributed to her death as surely as if they followed her into that tunnel themselves.

If they had reformed in the wake of that tragedy and kept their promises never to buy pap photos again, their fulminations today might carry some weight.

Yet day in day out, we see nosy parker snappers being rewarded for catching public figures in off-guard poses.

The gap between what is interesting to the public and what is truly in the public interest has never been wider.

So in the interests of good journalism, The Stirrer is happy to share some information which surely would have been close to Diana's heart - and which really is news that matters.

We've been told by well-placed sources that a £27 million cash pledge by the government to the hospice movement is in jeopardy.

Ministers promised the money in the wake of a petition (organised, in fairness, by The Sun newspaper).

Now though it seems the civil servants are shilly-shallying.

One senior hospice official told us there is a genuine chance they may not get the dosh at all.

We are happy to share this information with our other media colleagues in the hope that now they've got the whiff of a real story they will see it through.

In any event, The Stirrer is proud to to take up the campaign.

e'll keep you updated on developments and do our best to make sure these wonderful places get the help they need- and so richly deserve.

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