(no subject)

[andrewducker]

Two days ago, Boxing legend Frank Bruno was taken away by mental health workers, having been found to be a danger to himself/others, to a mental health ward. Having been inside a few of these myself (visiting others, I should add), I felt a tinge of sadness and pity that someone was in a bad enough state to need this.

He being a huge star a few years ago, this made the front page of the tabloids. The Mirror and the Record both had fairly sympathetic headlines along the lines of "Depressed Bruno taken into Care". The Sun, on the other hand came out with "Bonkers Bruno Locked Up". As the Sun is the most-read newspaper in the UK, I felt suddenly ashamed to be living in a society that talked about people that need help and understanding in this way.

I was immensely cheered to discover I wasn't the only one, with the later editions of The Sun changing their headline to something much more sympathetic after hundreds of complaints rolled in and they received a savaging from various charities. Apparently people had even taken to ripping the offensive front pages off of the newspapers.

Which makes me slightly more proud of the people I share a country with.

Addendum: Today The Sun launched a fund to help mentally ill people, with £10k of their cash. Which just goes to show, I guess.

Comments

[biscuitware.livejournal.com]

i didn't like the way they phrased the fund launch.

"THE Sun today launches a fund to help people with mental health problems like boxing hero Frank Bruno. We have kicked it off with a £10,000 donation"

as though before Frank became ill it hadn't existed.

i don't like the sun.

[themongkey.livejournal.com]

Which just goes to show that they think they can cynically buy their way back into the Great British Public^TM's good books with the amount of money Murdoch probably earns in the time it takes him to have a dump?

Sad thing is, they're probably right.

[broin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but in fairness, he is a complete nutter.

[andrewducker]

Good point. String him up, that's what I say.

[minkboylove.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did love the U-turn from Bedlam to Brown Nose in something like thirty minutes. What can you expect though from the paper that brought you GOTCHA! when they sank the Belgrano?

It ain't called The Scum for nothing. It was especially fun because on the day they got hauled over the coals for calling poor Bruno bonkers, they were also slating Kennedy as a nutter. Does he get a charity appeal as well, since The Sun seem to view left-wing leanings as the worst form of insanity?