The Daily Mail's Big Fail...hopefully

His body had barely reached his homeland, let alone the grave before Jan sets her sights on the 'unnatural cause of death'. Something which in itself is surprising considering that was the synopsis of the post-mortem, carried out by experts in forensic science. Granted, there are question marks about the last hours of Gately, but the cause of death has been specifically identified as not being down to his 'lifestyle'. A term Moir uses very ambiguously as if to suggest drugs and promiscuity are a part of the homosexual lifestyle. As she later claims "the circumstances surrounding his death are more than a little sleazy" and how Gately's civil union to Cowles and it's untimely end "strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships. . . Gay activists are always calling for tolerance and understanding about same-sex relationships, arguing that they are just the same as heterosexual marriages . . . in many cases this may be true. Yet the recent death of Kevin McGee, the former husband of Little Britain star Matt Lucas, and now the dubious events of Gately's last night raise troubling questions about what happened."

An absolutely astounding exhibition of generalisation, assumptions and ignorance. Bringing in another tragic, untimely and totally unrelated case (apart from being a civil union) seems to be heartless and a total lack of any sense of decorum. Not only are other civil partnerships brought into the debate, Moir also speculates about the potential stars with "dozens of household names out there with secret and not-so-secret troubles, or damaging habits both past and present" oh do tell us Jan, which of the icons to millions of people could die next?! "Robbie, Amy, Kate, Whitney, Britney; we all know who they are" oh yes that's right! Pick on more of the celebrities who have serious problems please Jan.

Astonishingly, the editor of the Mail online thought this article was a good idea and the budding readers would be pleased to read an article tarnished with an underlying theme of homophobia. I know the Daily Mail is conservative and traditionalist, but all Jan Moir appears to be doing here is 'gay-bashing' in its most acceptable form (to the Mail online anyway.) She is nice to him at one point, "in the cheerful environs of Boyzone, Gately was always charming, cute, polite and funny" before adding a needless additional insult about his singing ability, stating "he was the group's co-lead singer, even though he could barely carry a tune in a Louis Vuitton trunk". I was never fond of Boyzone, my sister's loved them far too much, but to bring this up shortly after his death seems an extra and unnecessary insult, purely to rub salt in the wounds. Now this may be a bit presumptuous myself but I seem to believe in the peak of Boyzone, Gately was marketed as the 'pin-up' (considering he hadn't pronounced his sexual orientation), interesting how she's most complimentary about a time where his sexuality was less of an issue... but maybe that's reading too much into it.

I realise this is beginning to turn into one of my longer blog entries, but as you can tell The Daily Mail in my opinion is one of the most manipulative and ignorant newspapers in the country, if not the World (using hyperbole). I think one of the comments that astounds me most is how she states Stephen Gately "was effectively smoked out of the closet, he has been hailed as a champion of gay rights..." ah, she's being complimentary and fair now "...albeit a reluctant one" ok, maybe not. Nothing like a testament to a dead man such as being a reluctant figurehead to a diverse and large section of the modern day community. Well done Jan.

Even people in defence of Jan with arguments about his tendency to drink and do drugs have no grounds. Firstly, he's just died. At least give the family and everyone involved time to grieve before denouncing their loved one as a careless waster. Secondly, an expert coroner has said his death was caused by an undiagnosed heart condition, something Jan appears to neglect as a legitimate reason of death, claiming: "healthy and fit 33-year-old men do not just climb into their pyjamas and go to sleep on the sofa, never to wake up again". Something Brooker addresses in his article with factual evidence to contradict this view, "according to the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (c-r-y.org.uk), "Twelve apparently fit and healthy young people die in the UK from undiagnosed heart conditions" every single week". It would appear SEEMINGLY healthy people can go to sleep and not wake up again, the fundamental thing being it was an UNKNOWN heart condition that was in his genes. Even if the supposed drug taking and Bulgarian stranger is 'suspicious' now is not the time to bring up such issues. For example, journalists waited a certain amount of time after say Jade Goody's death before portraying how much of an unfit father Jack Tweed was to their children.

So in summary, Jan Moir is an absolute idiot and the fact she has a job as a journalist can only be explained by my other grievance; the Daily Mail spews the most written bile in the national press and would be the only newspaper daft enough to hire someone so uninformed. Too harsh? Maybe, political correctness gone mad? Not at all in any way shape or form. I'm sure she won't lose any sleep though. After all being paid to write such a ridiculous article, filled with hurtful fallacies that can be so easily picked apart with medical evidence and even the remotest bit of common sense must be a tough life to lead. Judging by her remorseless response where she states that she has been victimised by "in what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones" I think I may unfortunately be right.