The Daily Telegraph still claims to be Britain’s highest-circulation, quality daily newspaper.
Its circulation is holding up. But what is happening to the quality?
These were the three most-read stories of the week in the Telegraph (a paper for which I used to work as a foreign correspondent), according to the paper’s website yesterday.
The most read story:
The rat, which weighed six pounds and had a 12-inch tail and one-inch-long teeth, was caught in a residential area of Fuzhou, a city of six million people on China’s south coast.
The ratcatcher, who was only named as Mr. Xian, said he swooped for the rodent after seeing a big crowd of people surrounding it on the street.
“I did it, I caught a rat the size of a cat!” he shouted, according to Chinese newspapers. Mr. Xian is believed to still be in possession of the animal.
And the second most read…
Buddhist temple built out of one million beer bottles
A temple has been built by monks in northeast Thailand who used over a million recycled beer bottles to make the walls and roof. The Buddhist monks began collecting bottles in 1984.
They encouraged the local authorities to send them more and they have now created a complex of around 20 buildings using beer bottles, comprising the main temple over a lake, crematorium, prayer rooms, a hall, water tower, tourist bathrooms and several small bungalows raised off the ground which serve as monks quarters.
The bottles do not lose their color, provide good lighting and are easy to clean, the monks say.
And the third most read…
Spaniards will soon be enjoying a diet of giant rabbit under plans to reintroduce the rare breed for human consumption.
The Valencia Agricultural Research Institute has launched a breeding program and hopes that the animals, which can grow as big as a lamb and produce 15lbs of meat, will prove popular as a healthy and cheap alternative to red meat. They are about the same size as the renowned German grey giant, but honey colored.
I wonder whether these days the Daily Telegraph sees its main competitor as The National Enquirer?