The Sun spectacularly miss the point on a story about Jens Lehmann, while Voldemort takes up residence on a Liverpool star’s neck, Raphael Varane is declared a flop and the triumphant return of the supercomputer sees it solve Man City’s Rodri problem for them. It is, and really could only be, Mediawatch. Follow the leder Mediawatch frequently expresses its anger and/or befuddlement at the popular tabloid pastime of capping up seemingly random words in headlines and intros, but it can be useful.
It can sometimes, for instance, let you know which element of a story they consider to be interesting or particularly noteworthy. And those choices are often entirely baffling. Take this intro, for instance, from The Sun .
Arsenal legend Jens Lehmann has been stopped for suspected drink-driving in LEDERHOSEN – after downing steins at Oktoberfest. That’s what people wear to Oktoberfest, lads. We’re pretty confident the drink-driving is the notable part of this particular tale, rather than the fact he was dressed like almost any other adult German male at Oktoberfest.
As well as some lovely second mentions (‘the huge Bavarian beer festival’, ‘the beer extravaganza’) the piece also contains some further details that seem at first glance to be more interesting than Lehmann’s entirely unremarkable attire. Breath tests had to be abandoned because the ex-Emirates ace was ‘no longer able to blow’ and instead was taken to a police station for further tests. LEDERHOSEN! I.