Thank you for thinking of me. The issue is that I was offered the opportunity to write something for The Sun. I have always wanted to turn the written word into a living, rather than a hobby.
The chance to attach my name to a piece of prose published nationally should be something I grab with both hands. However, I cannot go against my beliefs that The Sun newspaper is basically a massive bastard. A couple of months ago I went into my local Spar shop to buy some milk. Whilst waiting at the counter I noticed an offer on chocolate, and as a growing outward man I grabbed a couple of bars of that.
When I got to the till the very pleasant cashier asked me if I wanted a complimentary Sun newspaper.
I explained I did not, I despised everything it stood for, and I left the shop without my purchases. I went in the local garage instead, filled up with petrol whilst I was there and upon paying I was again offered a free copy of The Sun.
The entire time I was paying for my fuel I was recounting the reasons why I did not want that rag, even though we were short on paper to light the fire. Maybe it was the appalling vilification of Graham Taylor. Maybe it was the Hillsborough stories and the ineffective manner in which it tried to apologise. Real news is no longer shared in papers, but in The Sun it never was. It has built a following by masquerading as the voice of the people, when in fact it acted as a voice to the people, people manipulated by cheap holidays, cheesy gimmicks and subliminal hatred.
