Paper Monitor
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
A rare treat for Paper Monitor today: a copy of the normally elusive Daily Star has landed in its lap. But excitement soon turns to disappointment with the realisation that Daily Express Weather© seems to have undergone a spot of in-house migration. The papers, which are stable mates, even seem to be sharing the same design team – with that giant flame-hued temperature figure, which graced the front of yesterday's Express, reappearing on the front of today's Star (see picture). As yesterday's Paper Monitor established, such stories tend to revolve around a fairly limited vocabulary of words and pictures – most of which are present and correct in today's Star. "Sweltering" – check. "Sizzling" – check. "Mercury soars" – check. "Bake" – check. Picture of young blondes in bikinis kicking water in a fountain – check.
Meanwhile, a day after the buy-out of Arthur Batchelor, it's like the Iran captives story never happened in the Mirror, which throws its weight behind the latest teenage stabbing tale on its front page. But Faye Turney was always the star of the show, and while the fall-out continues – most notably in the Daily Mail - about the Ministry of Defence's decision to allow some sailors to sell their stories, the Sun gives us Turney the devoted mother. It also sets out to prove that the leading seaman was no pushover, as she recounts how she "made tyrant Ahmadinejad squirm".
To the sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped, Turney also reveals she plans to keep the toy doll presented to her by the Iranian president prior to her release.
But just when you think this ordeal is over – prepare for tomorrow's Sun, when "Faye meets John Nichol".