A couple of days ago, the Sun ran a story – story being the operative word here – about a pub landlord being told by council ‘enforcement officers’ that he can’t wear a union flag jacket because it might be offensive.

Disappointingly – despite the story being completely untrue and just an excuse for the landlord of a scabby pub to drum up custom – the made-up story was covered by just about every other major news publication in the UK, from the Huffington Post to the Mirror and the Mail.

A quick check by any competent journalist would have ascertained the story isn’t true:

All becomes clear however, when we note the so-called journalist who broke the made-up story is Alastair Taylor – who was sacked by the Sun after becoming the only journalist to be nominated twice by mental health charity Mind for its decidedly uncoveted ‘Bigot of the Year’ awards.

Further proof – if any more were needed – of the dire state of UK journalism today, and also evidence that the Sun is going back to its bad old ways by reemploying disgraced hacks from its Hillsborough and Milly Dowler days.