[LAST week a Sun reporter was flushed out…]
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-11-10Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 4 →
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LAST week a Sun reporter was flushed out from the Greenham Common peace camp after the Guardian Diary revealed that a woman in her mid-30s had been sent in by the paper which supports our boys. In her rush to get away she unfortunately left behind her diary, which we now exclusively reproduce ...
Monday: Dear Diary, I've still got my job, but only just.
Editor called me in yesterday.
said I wasn't looking too well.
Had my personal file on his desk with date of birth ringed.
Kept talking about 'my time of life' and 'easier pastures' said 1 was happy where I was. He kept mopping his brow. Lost his temper. Said I was looking my age.
Accused me of having sagging breasts (that wasn't the word he used). Said reputation of paper would suffer if he was seen to be employing slags. 'We don't want this newsroom looking like a Greenham Common peace camp," he yelled.
I cried on his desk. Said I had given the best years of my life to his paper. Now he wanted to throw me over for a younger woman.
I know I looked older. It was the strain. But people trusted me more. I could be useful. There were things I could do a younger woman couldn't.
When I looked up he was smiling. Said he would give me one last chance. Opened another file on his desk, marked Operation 'Nuke the Slags'. I could hardly take in what he was saying.
If I pulled this one off I would be in for life. Jean Rook was mentioned. I was in a daze. The next thing I knew I was back in the newsroom clutching a map of Berkshire and a Sun feature from last year "20 ways to spot a Dyke."
The news editor gave me a bottle of whisky. Wished me luck. Called me a taxi. I looked back through my tears at the