New York Story

‘TODAY is the day after the day when one year ago hell broke loose in New York. And the papers have replaced yesterday’s pictures of survivors and the killed with shots of their grieving relatives.

Public Enemy No.2

Page after page, the papers watch moments of private prayer, photographing mourners at Ground Zero and relatives of the British victims as they paid tribute to the dead in a service at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Not being able to find the words to frame the tragedy, the papers choose instead to speak at great length. But other news does puncture the front-page balloon of despair.

The Telegraph talks of changes to laws on hunting foxes; the Times says that Tony Blair’s initiative to cut down street crime is failing; and the Guardian says that George Bush is to address the General Assembly of the United Nations today to say how and why he wants to hunt down Saddam Hussein.

It seems no coincidence that what news there is beyond the New York story should be concerned with hunting down the enemy, whether it be a fox, a mugger or a despotic leader.

But the Guardian’s story requires the most attention because what George Bush says could trigger a new wave of war.

What George Bush says is so often the stuff of comedy. Only this could be the blackest comedy yet.

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Posted: 12th, September 2002 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink