Paper Monitor
12:39 UK time, Tuesday, 27 April 2010
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
With apologies to Martin Fry...
If you judge a paper by the wraparound cover
Then do you judge the inside pages by the quality of its display ads?
OK, it's not the sort of lyric you could build an 80s revival on, but the point is today's Daily Telegraph comes with an elaborate semi-opaque wraparound cover. It puts Paper Monitor in mind of its youth mis-spent idly tracing pictures of, well of pop stars in gold lamé suits with a liking for preposterous lyrical couplets.
The Daily Telegraph wrapper comes courtesy of HSBC bank - yes, this is how it chooses to lavish all the money it has made despite the recent global travails.
But given the outlay, it's a tad disappointing that the copy itself doesn't make any puns on the type of paper itself.
Inside the paper, there are several other ads for the bank. But it's not the red of the bank's logo that draws Paper Monitor's eye, rather it's the red of placards urging readers to vote for a Labour candidate.
Yes, Telegraph sketch writer Andrew Gimson has decided to go public with a little domestic difficulty - his wife, Sally, is standing for election for the Labour Party.
Not only that, but it turns out in the seat where she is standing, Leicestershire South, the Tory candidate, Andrew Robathan, is Gimson's second cousin.
Gimson, a "man of a Tory disposition", concedes he is torn in two by the situation, assuring us his wife has his "personal vote" although the "last thing" he wants to do is "undermine her reputation by agreeing with her political views".
However, he declares an interest in her campaign - frequently bringing her cups of tea - and even concedes a degree of pride on hearing a recording of Gordon Brown introduce Mrs Gimson as one of a "new generation of Labour candidates".
Paper Monitor applauds Gimson (that's a soft "G" by the way, Mr Brown) for his mature handling of this unorthodox domestic situation, and his entertaining reflections on what it's like to be at the centre of it.
Other candidates in Leicestershire South are Aladdin Ayesh (Liberal Democrat), Paul Preston (British National Party) and John Williams (UK Independence Party).
The 
