The photographs of the terrifying earthquake and tsunami in Japan both on the front page and inside the newspaper were dramatic, bringing the scenario a bit too close for comfort. The reporters, miraculously close to the target zone, presented uncomfortably accurate details of the conditions and suffering of people. Further inside the paper, were on-going reports from the Arab countries. Matthew Parris gave sensible reasons why we should stay clear of Libya. Neat captions and diagrams illustrated these news items and the ‘story of the Arab Spring’ gave an excellent summary. Murad Ahmed gave a good overview of the new Nintendo 3-DS, and, on the leaderpage, Britain’s 400-year old theatre production record received well deserved approval. Amusingly the Sport section front page talked of a humbled England (referring to the cricket) just above an advert mentioning a bucket and sponge .
Away from the un-nerving world events the supplements gave me some solace, by giving a well balanced range of arts and cultural topics. Melanie Reid said she had to come to terms with personal tragedy: “…it’s better to be hurt doing something exciting than crossing a shopping center car park or tripping over your own slippers”.