Gotcha - renegade Daily Star hack skewers Desmond and the tabloid world

I don't know if it should surprise anyone really but a Daily Star journalist called Richard Peppiatt has resigned from the Daily Star and sent a resignation letter where he makes various interesting remarks about British journalistic standards :

Daily Star favourite Kelly Brook recently said in an interview: "I do Google myself. Not that often, though, and the stories are always rubbish. "There was a story that I'd seen a hypnotherapist to help me cut down on the time I take to get ready to go out. Where do they get it from?"

Maybe I should answer that one. I made it up. Not that it was my choice; I was told to. At 6pm and staring at a blank page I simply plucked it from my arse. Not that it was all bad. I pocketed a £150 bonus. You may have read some of my other earth-shattering exclusives.

'Michael Jackson to attend Jade Goody's funeral'. (He didn't.) 'Robbie pops 'pill at heroes concert'. (He didn't either.) 'Matt Lucas on suicide watch'. (He wasn't.) 'Jordan turns to Buddha.' (She might have, but I doubt it.)

Great. Well I suppose if you read a paper like the Star you get what you pay for but isn't even it supposed to be under the scrutiny of the PCC ? It seems if no-one complains then our papers can print whatever they like.

Peppiatt is also ashamed of this part of his role at the Star :

I nearly walked out last summer when the Daily Star got all flushed about taxpayer-funded Muslim-only loos.

A newsworthy tale were said toilets Muslim-only. Or taxpayer-funded. Undeterred by the nuisance of truth, we omitted a few facts, plucked a couple of quotes, and suddenly anyone would think a Rochdale shopping centre had hired Osama Bin Laden to stand by the taps, handing out paper towels.
I was personally tasked with writing a gloating follow-up declaring our postmodern victory in "blocking" the non-existent Islamic cisterns of evil.

But there's two sides to this story and guess who else is involved :

Not that my involvement in stirring up a bit of light-hearted Islamaphobia stopped there. Many a morning I've hit my speed dial button to Muslim rent-a-rant Anjem Choudary to see if he fancied pulling together a few lines about whipping drunks or stoning homosexuals.

Anjem Choudhary eh ? Who would have thought it. Surely a devout Muslim like Mr Choudhary wouldn't want to be involved with a saucy rag like the Daily Star ?