Paper Lies

Introduction: Mark Dempster said: "Some newspapers in the UK (and presumably elsewhere) seem to base their big stories on bought-in from ordinary people who have made national news for some reason, usually related to some form of personal tragedy. UK Freaks will probably recognise 'The Sun' as the most active publication in this area. They are always prepared to offer huge amounts of money (‘we can print our own money’) for the rights to the story, which is typically turned into a sort of mini-series which runs for a couple of weeks and attracts large sales figure.

"Often the printed story bears little resemblance to what the subject actually said, hence the line, 'when you look into the mirror, do you see a face you hardly recognise'. There are others which refer to this including: 'If you look into the sun too long, do the things you see begin to burn your eyes?', 'when you kill the truth you can make a killing’ and ‘when you look in the money, do you see a face you hardly recognise?'"

'Sun' and 'Mirror'
The Sun is a right-wing UK national tabloid-format newspaper. Its editorial policy is that if a nine year-old cannot read it, they won't print it. For forty years, until 2015, it featured topless models on page three and is well known for relegating important political stories to page fifteen or whatever in order not to annoy those who wish to read about 'DONKEY VICAR DRUGS SEX SCANDAL FOR FAMOUS FOOTBALLER'.

The Mirror is equally piss-poor and sensationalist, but purports to have a left-wing stance. Dreadful load of old pants. Piers Morgan was their editor during the period in which Brave was written and recorded, which tells you all you need to know.

'express', 'mail' and 'today'
Middle-brow national tabloid-format newspapers. All are aimed at the right although they share much in common with the sensationalism of the papers like the Sun and the Mirror. Eddy Shah's Today ceased publication in 1995, one year after the album came out.

'times'
A broadsheet newspaper, then actually slightly left wing (not so in 2021) and again owned by Sctotum-Face Murdoch. The Times is generally considered one of the better British Newspapers.

'The Money'
The Financial Times which is the UK rough equivalent of the Wall St Journal.

'Sailing close to the wind'
Originally a nautical term meaning to keep the vessel's prow as close to the quarter from which the wind blows whilst keeping the sails filled.

In order to generate forward motion, a sailing vessel must keep the sails at an angle to the wind. This means that it is impossible to sail directly into the wind. It is possible to sail a few compass points away from the wind direction and keep moving, but as one sails closer and closer, forward momentum becomes harder to maintain.

The phrase has the colloquial meaning of dubious behaviour that is deemed to be extremely close to the edge of legality.

'News of the World'
Or, as it was known by journalists, 'The News of the Screws', due to its seedy downmarket nature. The News of the World was another Murdoch sheet and was basically the Sunday version of the Sun. The NOTW was similar to the Sun but with even fewer news items in it. In its day, it was the largest-selling English language newspaper in the world. It closed in 2011 following revelations of endemic phone hacking, including that of the murdered school girl Milly Dowler. Its editor was jailed, as were several other senior members of staff.

Lyrics: Steve Hogarth & John Helmer

Song Listing

Songs with a link have explanations. Now Wash Your Hands is a separate link to Alone Again.