Paper Monitor
10:15 UK time, Tuesday, 22 December 2009
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
I'm Dreaming of a While Christmas... when the snow lay round about deep and crisp and even... a beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland.
Snow. Isn't it just beautiful? As Christmas approaches, a fluffy 18-tog duvet has been laid across much of the country.
Let's turn to the newspapers to enjoy some of this seasonal cheer.
- the Guardian
- the Daily Telegraph
- the Times
- Daily Express (it almost sounds like the present continuous verb is being used here as a euphemism for a more hearty word)
Hmmm. Precious little Christmas spirit in evidence here.
While snow at Christmas - a highly unusual occurrence in some parts of the country - would fulfil the wishes of the child in us all, the truth is that snow and modern life - in much of Britain at least - just don't sit happily together.
It's a curious paradox indeed. Paper Monitor feels compelled to invoke the questioning instinct of pop supremo Prince by asking: what's this strange relationship all about?
Of course, the answer is simple - and the Daily Mail nails it on its front page? it wonders. Allow Paper Monitor to rephrase the question in even starker terms - why can't we have our cake and eat it?
Why indeed? The question is rhetorical - so don't turn to the Mail for an answer. All you will get instead is pictures of harassed looking commuters and travellers.
It's an all too familiar picture - a fact which Metro, to give it its due, is well aware of, preferring to give its front page picture slot over to .
"We were going to stick a photo of winter travel chaos on the front page but we figure our readers in commuter-land are pretty familiar with that already."
Now that really is the Christmas spirit.
The 
