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Brussels: Veteran freelance Chris White arrives at La Clé de Vert cafe by the station. Pinot, the barman, asks if he wants a brandy. It’s a joke.
King’s College Hospital: Sophie Hearsey, editor of that’s life! magazine, is 32 weeks pregnant and having a scan.
Husband Stuart sees her scribbling. It’s a coverline about a man trying to bribe his girlfriend to abort a Down’s baby: She chose the baby over the bloke – and he is the most beautiful little boy now.
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Sophie’s scan is fine.
Notting Hill: Agency writer Katie Evans trying to sign up a sperm donor who made both lesbian partners pregnant.
Overnight messages include a UFO which looks like car headlights, a British woman imprisoned in Abu Dhabi, an alleged sex tape of Pamela Anderson.
Congleton, Cheshire: Editor/MD Jeremy Condliffe, at home in his pyjamas after starting at 5am, is in touch with the Chronicle office.
He reads a new column from his ‘Mr Grumpy’. It’s about John Terry. Oh dear, no idea of libel, plagiarism or good taste!
Glasgow: Steven Stewart, Daily Record, calls press chief Mackenzie at Task Force Helmand.
He asks about a Black Watch regiment op against a bomb factory. Gets some details and starts writing a spread.
Helmand: Time for lunch for BBC’s Sommerville. He’s been up since four am.
Starving, he gets some British Army rations. The cold tuna pasta is greatly welcomed. Mitchelstown,
County Cork: It’s press day – and the 29th birthday – for Nicola-Marie O’Riordan, reporter on the Avondhu newspaper.
Her day is hectic. She writes about a slimathon, then takes a tea break. Tidies up kitchen and thinks she may have OCD.
She writes up a house fire, a musical and a few robberies.
Bermondsey: Agency boss Mark Solomons does a story saying Facebook is good you.
Bets it doesn’t do as well as his previous one, ‘Facebook is bad for you’.
Colchester: Staff at Soul & Spirit magazine pick angel cards before starting their daily work.
Katy Evans, editor, feels inspired by hers: “Pay attention to your ideas, as they are message of true divine guidance sent in answer to your prayers.”
Freelance Louise Baty PIC, below left, is 37 weeks pregnant. She has some coffee, toast, and looks at the papers online.
The TV is on for company. She’s addicted to Homes Under the Hammer.
She starts a feature on mums who lavish thousands on designer wardrobes for kids. She won’t be one of them.
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Take a Break: As staff chase stories, editor Rebecca Fleming still worrying over whether to pixellate a woman’s face. They grabbed it off Facebook.
It’s the woman’s profile picture and so visible. Does that make a difference?
Bristol: Features brainstorm at Medavia agency: possible stories – people getting depressed if they look in the mirror too long; underage girls having contraceptive implant without their mother’s consent; a girl of 11 hiding her pregnancy.
Worcester News: It’s heads down with just have four hours to finish the Evesham, Pershore and Cotswolds Journals.
Health reporter James Connell is praised on breakfast TV. Everyone congratulates him. He feels like a star.
County Donegal: Freelance Paddy Clancy sends out story he picked up last night about one in 10 homes in his town having dangerous levels of radon.
Bath: Paul Wiltshire, Chronicle deputy editor, pens a leader which combines dog poo, youth parliament and the council budget-setting meeting.
Pats his own back.
Kigali: Reuters’ Graham Holliday sits down at White Horse Cafe,Updates Twitter and kigaliwire.com. Slow days.
Cambridge: Crime reporter Raymond Brown stands in a church doorway where the body of homeless man was found, talks to shopkeepers, then to parents at nursery.
It is relentless. But he still has to cover visits by Michael Gove and Prince Charles.
Somerset: Oliver Hulme, Wells Journal reporter, investigates five bags of clinical waste dumped off high street.
South Africa: In the heat of the bush, Meera Dettani finishes travel piece – about France. Next it’s Berlin.
It doesn’t matter where she actually is. Work flows in over an excellent internet link.
Walthamstow: Internet terrible. Showbiz writer Nick Mcgrath feels cut off from the world.
JFK Airport, New York: Paparazzi mob Victoria Beckham arriving for NY Fashion Week.
Her daughter Harper is sick on her. Vomit worth weight in gold. Story sold to The Sun.
Hull: Jamie Macaskill, Hull Daily Mail’s assistant editor, grabs another coffee.
The paper has a new management team. He tells everyone: “We have a fantastic paper with a loyal readership so it’s well worth the fight.’”
Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand: Reporters shuffle into seats, flip open laptops and wait for Lord Justice Leveson to appear and start another session of the Leveson Inquiry.
Who’s in for a thrashing today?
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