- Tue May 26, 2026 3:29 pm
#111147
I know we've talked about this before, but I was reminded of it again in Sainsbury's this morning, when I saw another example of the phenomenon in action. By the newspaper rack, and an old-ish (about 67 at a guess) geezer swoops in to pick up a copy of both The Sun and The Daily Mail.
But he didn't just take the top copy off each paper's stack. Oh no - he very carefully picked out a copy of the Sun and a copy of the Mail that were second from the top of each stack. Anally retentive, or what ?
I'm interested in what this says about the psychology or mentality of the average Mail/Sun reader. The top copy in the stack would have been second from top, possibly only minutes or seconds before, so what's the fucking difference? He wasn't getting a better or cleaner copy by picking the one second from top, so why was he doing it?
I've observed this multiple times. I think it must be to do with some sort of feeling of grievance/FOMO common to all Mail/Sun readers - or Reform voters.
What does the Mailwatch panel think ?
"The opportunity to serve our country: that is all we ask.” John Smith, May 11, 1994.