Paper Monitor
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
It's looking like business as usual in some of the papers today. The summer guff that fills the column inches this time of year is back, after being squeezed out by other much bigger, more important events.
Say hello to the 23ft sunflower on page nine of the Daily Mail. The Eiffel Flower - get it? - could soon break the world record, which stands at 26ft 4ins. Grown by Eve Fielding in Margate, Kent, she claims to be doing nothing more than watering it every day. Although she does admit she has started talking to it ever since it started scaling such heights, telling it how well it is doing. See what a few words of encouragement can do?
Then there is news in the Daily Telegraph of the boss who is paddling a mile across a lake to get to work and beat a 55-mile road detour. Such dedication deserves a few column inches. Also, study results that reveal a wee nightcap is not good for getting you to sleep, it actually disturbs it. Boo.
And there are the topless pics you wished you had never seen in the Sun. Step forward Lord Sugar on page 8. He's been snapped stripping off after a bike ride. He's not quite topless, more bare chested, but the picture is still unnecessary. Please do not repeat.
But if there is any story guaranteed to break the blanket coverage of this summer's riots it has to big - really, really big. And in tabloid land it gets no bigger than the X Factor. Gary Barlow is replacing Simon Cowell this year and promises "no more Mr Nice Guy" in the Daily Mirror. Ohh, we're scared, really scared.