a couple of doozies from "the news of the world"

regarding the rugger world cup final:—

on percy montgomery: "you've got to be some rugby player to wear a new romantic hairstyle—and percy montgomery is some player."

on mark cueto's dis-allowed try: "an agonizing three-minute wait for the video ref ended with stuart dickinson sending a no-try verdict over the airwaves. (stuart dickinson is an aussie, by the way."

extraordinary stuff that.

it's the first time i've read "news of the world". easily the most infantile journalism—certainly the yellowest—i've ever seen. amazingly puerile. it's probably the closest thing extant to "the daily beast" from the evelyn waugh novel "scoop".* who, i wonder, reads this muck?

*a caveat. though i do love that paper's stated editorial policy: "the best stands for strong mutually antagonistic governments everywhere; self-sufficiency at home, self-assertion abroad". very funny.