Paper Monitor
10:43 UK time, Monday, 9 October 2006
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
"Have you been healed by Chris De Burgh? Give the Sun newsdesk a call on…" Yup, the Sun is on the case after the famous Irish balladeer told yesterday how he once cured someone in the West Indies who couldn't walk simply by laying his hands on him.
David Blunkett could do with a spot of such miracle working, judging by the build-up the Daily Mail gives to its serialisation of his diaries.
"Blunkett endured months of relentless media attention and harrowing emotional turmoil," notes the Mail, referring to the time when his personal life was splashed across the media a couple of years ago.
But in publishing "The Blunkett Tapes" – it was an audio diary – as the Mail brands the serialisation, the paper has entered into a curious compact with the former home secretary: not to name the woman at the centre of the story.
"Blunkett never names the woman involved, and steadfastly declines to discuss the details of their relationship… The private, he says, must remain private – and the Daily Mail has agreed to respect that wish in all that follows."
To which Paper Monitor, along with the reading world and his wayward wife, can't help but scream in unison: KIMBERLY QUINN!
Indeed, the paper itself mentions her by name three times on the front page (see picture, right), even carrying a picture of the pair, with the caption: "The lovers: David Blunkett and Kimberly Quinn during their affair."
Still, it’s heartening to hear of the Mail's new-found discretion in handling sensitive personal stories. So no chance of it reporting on how a certain married Russian billionaire, well known to English football fans, has allegedly been enjoying a "close friendship" with a "beautiful socialite 16 years his junior."
Hold on - what's this splashed across pg9 of today's Daily Mail...
The 
