Tuesday 19 March 2013

Not smoking is good for you, reveals Express

The front page of Tuesday's Express reveals '7 Easy Steps To A Longer Life':


Jo Willey's story explains what those '7 easy steps' are:

staying physically active, sticking to a healthy weight, eating a health diet, maintaining good cholesterol levels, keeping blood pressure down, controlling blood sugar levels and not smoking.

This is, the paper says, 'latest research':

Latest research has found that following the simple steps and making small changes to daily routine are the key to a long and healthy life.

These seven steps were devised by the American Heart Association in 2010 - this research confirms, not entirely unexpectedly, that doing these things are good for you.

However, it would be a surprise if any of this was news to most people. Express readers may think this all sounds a bit familiar. For example, on 3 August 2011:


The 'secret' was:

Not smoking, regular exercise, not being overweight and eating a Mediterranean-style diet could 'substantially reduce' the risk of early death.

Stunning stuff. And the sub-heads on both front pages begins: 'Experts find key...'

It does seem odd that the Express considers this front page news at all. There were two big news stories on Monday - the political deal on future regulation of the press, and the Cyprus bailout. For such a strongly anti-EU paper as the Express, it's curious that they decided not to lead on events in Cyprus, and chose this instead.

3 comments:

  1. Well, they're not really anti-EU are they? They don't like the social contract, workers' rights and statutory privacy implications of European membership, but they're delighted at the opportunity for its institutions to be hijacked by the wealthy and powerful. They're hardly going to bash the EU for doing exactly what they want.

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  2. What does Jo Willey have on the owner and editor of the Express? She makes a living writing these shoddy articles, which are usually just blowing tiny details out of proportion. I know that they aren't any worse that the equivalents in many other tabloids but these somehow get on the front page!

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  3. I do hope that readers of the Express (and Mail) don't vote. God help us if they do.

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