On Tuesday morning there was a fatal crash on the M23 at 5:00am which closed the motorway for hours. By the time I left for work at 7:30 the traffic was already building up as commuters came off at Pease Pottage looking for alternative routes and it took nearly 15 minutes to get to work.

Lots of other people were not so lucky and there were loads of individual stories at my work and at Jayne’s of journeys that normally take less than 30 minutes stretching to a couple of hours. Unpleasant, but being stuck in a jam for an hour is still preferable to being in the car that crashed.

Lots of chaos for commuters of course, but I wonder if was any less chaotic in the offices of our local papers. They are both weeklies which hit the shops on Wednesday morning so their deadlines are normally something like mid-day on the Tuesday, and I am guessing that the front page is usually decided on and laid out well before then. But they both managed to get this on the front page, with the Observer having an inside story as well. Must have been a busy morning.

I wonder what their front pages were going to be?

I’m guessing the News were going to lead with the nightclub bouncer story. I don’t see how they were going to resist a story with a headline like “I had to pick my own ear up from the floor”. A real ‘Ronseal headline’ that one – it does exactly what it says on the tin.

I’m also guessing that the Observer were going to lead with their latest bit of Moffatt-bashing which got bumped to page 5. The other week they went to the MP’s house when she was quite seriously unwell, not only doorstepping her but then taking a photo of her looking like she felt to splash on the front page. Despicable behaviour really. At least they are not as culpable this week. They didn’t go out looking for trouble, they just waited for someone at the Ifield/West Green branch meeting to call them up and tell them what went on.

Not the first time that details of internal party matters relating to Ifield branch meetings have ended up in the local papers. Its the third time I can think of in the last few years. I hope someone in the Ifield party is proud of themselves.