But their latest assault on Nick Clegg amuses me. Partly because it's utter bollocks. I could discuss the shameless dog-whistle politics, the buffoonish Little Englander nature of it, and much else besides, but others have analysed this far better than I could (be arsed to).
No, what amuses me - and it's a minor point, I freely concede - is their use of the term 'ironic' in this excerpt:
Mr Clegg, who has a Spanish wife, a Dutch mother and a Russian grandparent, began his career as a Brussels bureaucrat and moved to Westminster after a spell as a Euro MP.
Ironically, his mother was interned by the Japanese during the war.
In what sense was the internment of his Dutch mother by the Japanese 'ironic'?
If she had been interned by the Dutch - now, that would have been ironic.
Or if she had been Japanese and interned by the Japanese - that would have been ironic as well.
I can only conclude that to the Daily Mail, the thought of any foreigner being interned by any other foreigner is ironic because they're all basically interchangeable. Dutch, Japanese, German, Polish, Burmese, Peruvian, Congolese, Martian, they're all the bloody same.
On the other hand, if we want to talk about 'ironic', I can think of few better illustrations than Tory defence minister wannabe Liam Fox berating the Ministry of Defence's carelessness in allowing laptops to be stolen, thus endangering Our Boys, only to (carelessly) leave his own laptop in the back of his car - which was then stolen last night from outside his home...
Getting back to the Daily Heil's strange concept of 'ironic', in case those devious bastards there notice their error and correct it, here's a shot of the relevant page:
Perceptive readers may notice the gorgeous, pouting figure of Tory grandee Nicholas 'Grandson of Winston Churchill' Soames on the right, which I have included purely so that I can gratuitously wheel out this old anecdote...
Many moons ago, an old flame of Soames remarked that sex with him was like having a wardrobe topple over onto you with the key still in the lock.
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