The Evening Post, that great bastion of the Bristol media and the only evening paper to my knowledge to be published at 7 o’clock in the morning, has never let the checking of facts or the quality of English get in the way of a good story; and there’s a wonderful example in today’s edition of the Pest.
At first sight it’s an innocuous story allegedly penned by Simon Peevers about habitat management in the Avon Gorge. But read on… Is there a world exclusive here? Look closely at paragraph 10, which reads:
“The gorge was formed in the Jurassic period and contains plants growing today which date back to that prehistoric time.“
Am I reading this correctly? Does the Avon Gorge contain the oldest living plants in the world? Has anyone told the bristlecone pines – present holders of this accolade? Or is the more likely explanation merely that the Pest is performing to its usual low standards and doesn’t have either hacks or sub-editors that would even stand a chance of employment on a proper newspaper?
You decide.
NB: Such a sentence would never have got past yours truly unchallenged when he subbed the now-defunct Planet Easton!
