How "People Just Making Stuff Up" Conquered the World (Well Sort Of.) Part 1

It's always nice to see that Britain's most highly paid columnist is really doing all the top notch research that justifies every penny of his 6 figure salary. So its not nice to see that this aforementioned columnist (AKA Richard Littlejohn) is doing no research at all. That's why he had to issue a retraction after a headteacher contacted him to say his "elf n safety" story about her banning football, was out of line, due to the fact that she hadn't actually banned it. A small error then;

"SHOULD I STAND IN THE CORNER, MISS?

On Friday, I reported that parents of children at a primary school in Essex were angry that playground football had been banned during the World Cup.

I've since heard from Marion Smith, the head of Thomas Willingale Primary, in Debden, who tells me she has only ever suspended playground football for a week to punish bad behaviour.

She has asked parents to give children lightweight balls to prevent injury, but was devastated by claims that she had banned it completely.

Ofsted has commended the school for its outstanding commitment to all sports, including football.

My comments were based on emails from parents and a report in the local newspaper, but the responsibility is all mine. I owe Mrs Smith and her staff an unqualified apology."

You Reckon??!!

Now I'm not a multimillionaire columnist, but even I know that the simplest and best way to verify the veracity of this story, is to ask the person who issued the ban that wasn't. Rather than rely on a few iffy e-mails. Wouldn't want a head to have to placate a load of parents who take news paper reports at face value do we?

It has been speculated that Littlejohn is not that popular at Mail HQ. That may explain why the comments he gets on the site tend to be more hostile than normal. (Or it could be due to the fact that he writes crap as well) So we end up with some good ones like these getting through the stringent moderators. (that were in the red though. Christ he admitted to screwing up, and still comments lambasting him for sloppy writing get marked down. Jeez!!!!)

"My comments were based on emails from parents and a report in the local newspaper, but the responsibility is all mine. i owe Mrs smith and her staff an unqualified apology".

Having bored us all with pompous calls for politicos to step down for playing fast and loose with the truth over the years I reckon Littlejohn should do the decent thing and resign!"

"See, that's what happens when you don't bother to do basic research before slinging round your kneejerk criticisms: innocent people like Marion Smith who have done nothing wrong get hurt. I hope that this might lead you to doing a bit of work in future checking your facts."