Evening Standard Snorts at Cocaine Deaths?
You could be forgiven for thinking that the Evening Standard, sister paper of the Daily (our-country-is-going-down-the-drugs-pan) Mail, has just revealed a coded stance to the cocaine-snorting public.
Beside the doomful story 'Record numbers killed by 'dinner party' cocaine', it juxtaposed a small inset that highlights the increase in deaths from 'superbug' Clostridium Difficile. The contrast between the two is so stark, you couldn't make it up. You could argue that this was just a coincidence, but not many would be suitably high to believe you.
The drugs story tells of 196 Cocaine-related deaths in the UK last year - a 16 per cent rise on 2006. The Superbug story talks about 8,324 C. Diff related deaths last year, a 28 per cent rise over 2006. Putting one beside the other, invariably invites a comparison, not very typical of the Standard.
To see the story in readable size click here.
Newspapers don't usually leave things like this to chance, so either someone played a subtle trick, or missed the obvious. Either way, I don't think the editor would be pleased.