Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Telegraph and the Take Loads Of Drugs festival

The Telegraph reports the inquest into the death of Katie Jones:

Girl died after taking ecstasy at 'take a load of drugs' festival

The Take A Load Of Drugs Festival? I think I might have missed that one. But standfirst clarifies matters:
A family orientated girl died from an overdose of ecstasy at a music festival at which was billed in a promotional booklet as a place where people should "take a load of drugs".

Ah, so it wasn't a 'take load of drugs' festival, it was just a festival which was billed as for taking a load of drugs, was it?

You have to get quite a way through the story for the source of the eye-catching headline claim:
One of the bands performing at the festival appeared to encourage the use of drugs in a free festival booklet.

The band, Deathretri, wrote: "Don't just get pissed, take a load of drugs and miss the bands. Do all three."

So, yes, a silly thing for a band to say - but to imply, as the Telegraph appears to, that Kendal Calling, the festival in question, was some sort of substance-washed bacchanalia is equally silly. In fact, more silly, because the Telegraph are turning a court report into a tragic death into a sensationalised sideshow. The paper's report makes no attempt to connect a throwaway line in a corner of a promotional booklet and the very real death of a person; they might want to think about changing the headline.


2 comments:

Olive said...

Just as Simon Heffer's columns bear no resemblance to anything happening in this galaxy, it's not exactly unusual for Telegraph headlines to bear no relation to the stories they, er, headline.

Simon Heffer. What a beetroot faced shit-pile that man is.

Sorry Mr B, just had to get that off my chest.

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

Olive, any time you feel the need to vent about Simon Heffer, the floor here is always yours.

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