The Wardman Wire

Purely in the spirit of being a nasty, vindictive blogger targetting the Mainstream Media because nonsense is sometimes published about “bloggers”, I can report that in the 10 Editorial Days from 19 September 2008 to 30 September 2008 the corrections column of the Guardian contained no fewer than 41 separate items, which comes to around a thousand a year if you multiply it up.

I should note that:

• Some of these are gorgeous spelling errors or typos: “Ordnance Survey, not the Ordinance Survey“, “Mike Harding, not Mark Harding“, “A glotteral stop“.
• Some are funny (and the corrections correspondent has a sense of humour): “It’s not a hospital, but a school for boys, although it did once provide the venue for an episode of Casualty “.
• One looks actionable: “We apologise for unfairly failing to give her an adequate opportunity to respond and for making inaccurate personal references about her.”
• There are a couple of absolute howlers: “Margaret Thatcher was MP for Finchley, not Grantham. She was born and brought up in Grantham.”
• It can take days to publish a correction.
• I am using the Guardian purely because they make the information available in an easily accessible form.
• These corrections are - presumably - ones reported, and do not include columns or articles based on incorrect facts, a vivid imagination or gibberish.

Here they are

30/9/2008

In The woman who built financial ‘weapon of mass destruction’, page 5, September 20, we said that Blythe Masters of JP Morgan developed the credit derivatives which were at the heart of the current financial crisis. We apologise for unfairly failing to give her an adequate opportunity to respond and for making inaccurate personal references about her. The guide to which we referred was a general guide to credit derivatives and not just about those she created; she was 34, rather than 35, when she became chief financial officer of JP Morgan; and she was not working in hospital before having her baby but viewing financial data to pass the time.

Rock recently found in the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt is 250m, rather than 250,000, years older than any rocks known. The Acasta gneiss rocks, which were previously the oldest whole rocks found, came from Canada’s Northwest Territories, not Australia (4.28bn years: oldest rock on Earth found in Canada, page 22, September 26).

Ospreys had a 43-0 win over Ulster last weekend, not Munster, as we said (Henson back in groove, page 14, Sport, September 29). Munster played Leinster and won 18-0.

A reference to Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kent should have been to Gary Kemp (Conference diary, page 11, September 29).

29/9/2008

We published the wrong photograph with actor Celia Gregory’s obituary. The picture, from the popular 1983 TV mini-series Reilly: Ace of Spies, showed Sam Neill with Jeananne Crowley, not Celia Gregory (obituaries, page 47, September 26).

Margaret Thatcher was MP for Finchley, not Grantham. She was born and brought up in Grantham (What can they be thinking?, page 7, G2, September 26).

We put the wrong credit on the black-and-white photograph of Pete Burns and Wayne Hussey that accompanied an article with the headline: ‘We were the guinea pigs of punk’, page 27, G2, September 23. It was taken by Francesco Mellina.

We were wrong to say that Australian cricketer Don Bradman played his last innings nearly 70 years ago. His final innings was in the 1948 Test match against England, 60 years ago (Bradman bat fetches record £66,000 at auction, page 2, Sport, September 25).

The vivid reddish pink colour worn by Ruth Kelly at the Labour party conference was fuchsia, not fuschia, as we spelled it (Putting the family first, page 11, September 25)

27/9/2008

We should not have reported that a student gunman who killed 10 people at a college in Finland had been detained by police the day before because of a YouTube posting that showed him firing a handgun and threatening: “You will die next.” That particular video was posted on the day of the killings just before the shootings began. The gunman was detained the day before the shootings because of another video posted on YouTube, which showed him firing a gun (Gunman kills 10 at Finnish college before shooting himself in head, page 16, September 24).

In Finding Finance, page 1, Postgraduate Courses, September 20, we wrongly described prospects.ac.uk as a government-funded careers advice website in an article about funding for postgraduate courses. Graduate Prospects, the owner of prospects.ac.uk, is the UK’s official graduate careers support service, but it is the commercial, not-for-profit subsidiary of the registered charity, the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) and, as such, it is self-funding and independent of the government. In the listings on page 24 of the same supplement we gave the wrong email address for University of Chichester. The correct email address is admissions@chi.ac.uk.

26/9/2008

In a item giving Hari Kunzru’s views on the global financial crisis we misquoted him as saying; “A great financial economist and historian called Michael Hudson talks about how the US economy is basically fictitious, based on pretend earnings and pretend values.” Although Michael Hudson has talked about the fictitious economy, this is not what Hari Kunzru said. He said that Loren Goldner had elaborated on Marx’s concept of fictitious capital. He went on to say that Michael Hudson had described the use of debt as an instrument of global policy by the US government (Crunch time, page 6, G2, September 17).

A photograph of a hanged tiger that accompanied an article headed ‘There are many tiger widows here’, page 6, G2, September 25, was wrongly credited to John Vidal. The picture was sent to the Guardian anonymously from Bangladesh.

A report headed Scandals worsen Britain’s image in corruption league table, page 8, September 24, said that Britain’s ranking in a league table compiled by an anti-corruption group fell this year and that Ireland performed better than Britain. In fact the UK and Ireland share 16th place on Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index.

25/9/2008

In an article about underwater turbines we said 15GW was enough power for a million homes. We meant to say it was enough for 15m homes, in line with figures given elsewhere in the article that 12MW of power was enough for 12,000 homes (Underwater turbine device could provide power for million homes, page 13, September 5).

We confused the Economist’s circulation and readership in saying it had a global readership of more than 1.3 million. That is its worldwide circulation. It claims a global readership of 4 million (The new seriousness, page 1, Media, September 22).

It was Urban Outfitters, rather than American Apparel, that marketed the keffiyeh as an “anti-war woven scarf” but stopped selling it after protests (Chequered history, page 14, G2, September 22).

Formby is in Merseyside, not Lancashire (On red alert, page 9, Society, September 24). The Gloucestershire village is Brimscombe, not Brinscombe (They seek her here …, page 12, G2, September 16).

We referred to selling out the 60,000-seat Madison Square Garden thrice over. It seats about 20,000 so selling it out three times over would total 60,000 seats (Why Britain’s teens won’t fall for the Jonas Brothers’ charms, page 2, G2, September 15).

24/9/2008

A preview of the Liverpool Biennial said that it included work by Ellen Page Wilson and that an accompanying photo was of her work. We should have said that the biennial included work by David Altmejd and that the photograph was taken by Ellen Page Wilson. It showed The Giant, an installation by David Altmejd at last year’s Biennale (The Guide, page 37, September 20).

Our geology was awry in an article about Stonehenge. The bluestones at the site are spotted dolerite, a blue-grey igneous rock, not dolomite, which is a sedimentary rock resembling limestone (The magic of Stonehenge: new dig finds clues to power of bluestones, page 13, September 23).

A glotteral stop appeared twice in an article headed Is Miliband morphing into Blair? A voice coach writes … (page 2, G2, September 23). That should have been a glottal stop. The mistake was ours and not that of the voice coach.

Britain’s national mapping agency is the Ordnance Survey, not the Ordinance Survey as we had it in an editorial (In praise of … hills, page 38, September 20).

23/9/2008

A graphic showing key events in the credit crunch had the same entries for July 14 and September 7. The one for September 7 should have read: “The US government announces it will take Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae into temporary public ownership.” (The reckoning - domino effect that reshaped global economy, page 4, September 20)

An editing slip meant we located the Rosary chapel, which Matisse designed and decorated, in Venice. It is in Vence, southern France (‘I believe in nothing’, page 16, Review, September 20).

A photograph illustrating a preview for a radio programme about the Chicago bluesman Howlin’ Wolf was not of the man himself, as we said, but of his guitarist Hubert Sumlin (Pick of the day, page 79, the Guide, September 20).

We said in a report that Sally Clark, who was wrongly convicted for the murder of her two sons, died of natural causes. An inquest found that she died accidentally of acute alcohol intoxication (GMC revokes ban on shamed paediatrician, page 12, September 22).

Candacraig, the Raj “chummery” or guest house where British officers used to go on leave, is in Burma, not Sri Lanka as we said in a review of Paul Theroux’s latest book Ghost Train to the Eastern Star (The world with its trousers down, page 6, Review, September 13).

22/9/2008

Françoise Demulder’s obituary (page 40, September 18) mentioned a book by Alan Cowell in which a character, inspired by Demulder, shares her initials. The book is called A Walking Guide, rather than A Walking Tour.

In error we referred to Hamid Karzai as the Pakistan president. He is of course the president of Afghanistan (US wants $20bn to fund Afghanistan effort, page 28, September 19).

We were wrong to suggest in a review that Vaughan Williams’ Sea Songs are usually played at the Last Night of the Proms. The Sea Songs were played for the first time this year to mark the 50th anniversary of his death (Reviews, page 38, September 15).

Barcelona’s shirts bear Unicef’s logo, not Unesco’s as we said in an article about football sponsorship (Who’s next to lose their shirt?, page 12, G2, September 18).

The logo of Olympic airlines has six rings, not five as we said in an article headed Brussels ends 15-year wrangle as Olympic Airlines is told to pay back illicit state aid, page 30, September 18.

20/9/2008

An article about measures to help people who are struggling with gas and electricity bills was unclear (Am I eligible for any of the government’s latest insulation grants?, page 3, Money, September 13). Grants for insulation and heating improvement are available from power companies and from the government-funded Warm Front programme. We should have made clear that power companies will pay for cavity wall and loft insulation if you are 70 or over, or have an income of less than £15,460, or if you receive one of a number of benefits. Warm Front grants of up to £2,700 may be available if you receive one of a list of benefits and meet other conditions. For full details go to warmfront.co.uk.

In a diagram headed Where your money goes: the definitive atlas of UK government spending, page 24, September 13, the money attributed to the Wales and Scotland Offices should have been in millions, not billions, of pounds. The Scotland Office spent £7.8m and the Wales Office £6m.

We placed the town of Heywood some distance north of its actual position on a map accompanying an article about Lancashire and Yorkshire (Up hill and down dale, page 2, Travel September 13).

19/9/2008

The still from Richard E Grant’s film Wah-Wah published with John Matshikiza’s obituary (page 34, September 17) did not show John Matshikiza, as the caption said; it showed the actor Michael Richard, who played Tobias in the film. The caption on the picture supplied to us was incorrect. An appreciation of John Matshikiza and a photograph of the actor, poet and journalist is published on page 47 of today’s paper.

Mike Harding, not Mark Harding, is the presenter of an evening show on Radio 2 (Radio review, page 32, G2, September 18).

Greg Lynn, whose installation of furniture made from recycled children’s toys won an award at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, is not a New Zealand architect; he is American (Flesh in Venice, page 27, G2, September 16).

Visitors to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital in Bristol during last weekend’s Doors Open Day were unlikely to get an insight into the workings of an A&E department, as we suggested. It’s not a hospital, but a school for boys, although it did once provide the venue for an episode of Casualty (If I had the time…, page 8, Family, September 13).

The profile of KiOr on page 4 of the CleanTech100 supplement published on September 18 said that the joint venture company has only two employees. However, KiOr advises that it has a staff of 15, including employees in Houston, Texas.

Wrapping Up

If anybody wishes to do a study of the last 500 articles on this blog to make a comparison (even I’m not that big an anorak), then please do it this week as Political Advertisers pay more during Party Conferences…