Hell must have frozen over, albeit temporarily as The Daily Mail has admited that ‘Winterval’ , the oft quoted replacement for Xmas supposedly beloved of many UK local authorities, is a myth. Untrue.
Sadly this admission of guilt occurs in the Mail’s Clarifications and Corrections column which is mostly found by searching specifically on their website. Previous corrections are not archived and often a link back to the original story that needed correction is not provided. The column apparently has the blessing of the Press Complaints Commission.
Despite the admission though the articles featuring this misinformation remain on the website whilst the clarification dissolves into the ether as new clarifications replace it.
Predictably a notice below the column states ‘Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons‘.
A good dissection of the Winterval myth as quoted by Britain’s news media can be found here.
Corrections And Clarifications (Mail web site)
Third party compilation archive feed of corrections and clarifications
Winterval (Wikipedia with original Birmingham poster)
