Oliver Laughland on the people and stories in the media spotlight in the last seven days
The story
Necker Island burns
It takes a big story for the Caribbean to make it into the tabloids. So what put a minute tropical island on the news pages this week? Some celebrities in a fire, of course! Lightning struck just once to burn down Richard Branson's grand mansion atop his privately owned Necker island. Among the escapees was Kate Winslet (right), who provided her own heroics by rescuing Branson's mother. The Virgin boss then reportedly declared some kind of non-materialist epiphany before announcing plans to rebuild the multimillion pound estate. Meanwhile, not far away, the government of Trinidad and Tobago declared a state of emergency following a drug-related crime epidemic, drawing notably less headlines than Branson's home fire.
The stat
86,821 people ...
? are locked up in England and Wales. Another record high in prison numbers as the population increases by approximately 1,300 following the riots. Unfortunately for certain former home secretaries, it is not known how many are trained in painting and decorating.
The quote
Nick Helm
"I needed a password eight characters long, so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." This was apparently the funniest joke of the Edinburgh fringe. While that might have you worrying about the quality of up-and-coming comedic talent, we should point out that the accolade was doled out by viewers of laddish repeats channel Dave.
The tweet
RT @[Insert name of student and gratifying GCSE results here]. With the former deputy PM clogging the feeds of his followers with an endless stream of retweeted gleeful teenagers, it seems that contacting uncle John with an update on your exam results has become as popular as an A grade itself.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/aug/27/our-pick-branson-winslet-fire
Ron Paul Colin Powell Vladimir Putin Muammar Qaddafi Condoleezza Rice
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