Along with most other newspapers, it reported research findings that girls as young as 10 are being prescribed the contraceptive pill. The headlines added another bit of evidence to the media world view of shockingly early sexual behaviour of the young, abetted by irresponsible doctors.
Looking closer at the figures gives a rather different slant. The analysis of medical records of 35,000 girls was carried out in Scotland by the University of Aberdeen. It found there were 23 young women aged under 13 who had been given the pill by family planning clinics or GPs.
It is best not to draw too many conclusions about a trend if it is revealed by just 0.06571 per cent of your sample. You could argue it shouldn't be ignored. But let's not get it out of proportion either. The number of 10-year-old girls prescribed the pill, the ones who fuelled all those headlines, was - two.
An informed article in The Guardian pointed out that the pill is sometimes prescribed for reasons that are not to do with sexual activity. Heavy or erratic periods are not unknown at this age, and the pill is commonly used to treat this.
Then there is the matter of mistakes and inaccurate records. Confusion between two people with similar names could have been the explanation behind those dramatic headlines.
Of course, many young people are sexually active, and teenage pregnancy is a serious problem. That is why the research authors say their results "confirm that oral contraceptive pill use is relatively low". Which you wouldn't have thought if you'd only read the headlines or the first few paragraphs.
"Teenagers now are awful, I think". So said a Daily Telegraph writer who expounded her views under the headline, "Put the fear of God into these thugs".
She questioned herself. "When I am travelling on the top deck of the bus, for example, and gallumphing 15-year-olds are shrieking oaths, dropping litter, guzzling pungent kebabs and pushing one another about, do I stand up and demand that they sit down and behave like normal people?"
The answer was, "Of course I don't". Why not? She has "no confidence that any other adult on the bus would back me up". For some reason, she avoided the obvious conclusion of her argument. Adults now are awful, I think.
