Was I the only person shocked and appalled at the regular announcement just preceding last night's news, of the forthcoming 'main' headlines in the proogramme?
The two stories which editorial decision deemed to be the most important of the day were (a) the tragic death of Sergeant Olaf Smith, a bomb disposal expert killed on the last day of his tour in Afghanistan, and (b) how much money will pictures of celebrity offspring Kai Rooney be worth? Did someone at ITV news seriously think these two stories should merit alongside each other in terms of their importance?
Considering the huge number of depressing stories currently in the news, I can undertand the thought that the upcoming news announcement shouldn't contain all the bad news, but I find it an insult to the memory of a man who died in the service of his country to have your main news presenter effectively annouce "bad news, another soldier died in Afghanistan - but never mind, Kai Wayne's worth a fortune!" And of course there is the argument that the impending birth of another celebrity offspring shouldn't be considered news in the first place (surprise event, was it?)
I would suggest that any money gleaned from OK! magazine for the first pictures of this child should be donated by the Rooneys to the family of a man who genuinely earned his money, and paid for his job with his life. But to be fair to them, they didn't decide to award equal billing to the story of the birth of their son - you did.
Yours,
Mike Holden