The Daily Mail is a byword for right-wing evil. In their excellent satire on modern panel shows, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse offered a string of forgettable comedians uttering the immortal punchline “Oh my God, the Daily Mail” as if their audience should fall about at the very reference.

This image hasn’t come from nowhere. Richard Littlejohn isn’t going to get a gig at the Guardian anytime soon. Yet read some of MailOnline’s stories about gender issues, for example, and you could be forgiven for getting the sense, “Is this not a bit — right on?”

A report on a convicted attempted murderer cum trans activist who encouraged people to punch “TERFs”, for example, scrupulously uses she/her pronouns — not what someone might expect from a den of far right iniquity.

So keen is the Mail on using politically correct pronouns, in fact, that gender critical feminists who have written for the platform have complained that they have been imposed upon their work.

More vivid evidence comes in MailOnline’s obsessive coverage of Eddie Izzard. “Suzy”, as the Mail calls the transgender comedian, is always being followed by prurient paparazzi, and the Mail can’t get enough. 

“Suzy Eddie Izzard sports a floral dress and red lipstick as she enjoys a night out,” the Mail reported (if “reported” isn’t too noble a word) last month. “She” looked “blooming lovely” in the “floral flock”, the Mail gushed. The day before, Izzard “looked fab in a bright pink mini skirt teamed with a figure-hugging black top,” the Mail claimed. “She added mint green heels and a slick of red lipstick to even complete the glam look as she enjoyed dinner with friends.”

In yet another article, Izzard “puts on a leggy display in denim hotpants”. “Suzy appeared to be in great spirits as she enjoyed the sights of London in the sunshine”. It’s a wonder that being in great spirits was possible with the ever-present camera butting in.

What the hell is going on?

Well, we know the biggest motivator behind MailOnline: “here comes the moneeeey”. MailOnline would welcome clicks from the Workers’ Party of Korea if it would drive advertising revenue. Parliament Square has no wish to imply that its click-hungry celeb-hunting is good journalism, even when it doesn’t have the air of right-on virtue signalling.

That would be amoral, but at least it would be clever

It does have that air, though. Parliament Square couldn’t help wondering if this progressive tone represented an attempt to double dip: attracting clicks from woke Eddie Izzard fans and annoyed gender critical feminists. That would be amoral, but at least it would be clever.

Perhaps there is a more parsimonious explanation. Your idea of the average Mail journalist might be a leering, cigarette smoke-smelling middle-aged oddball drooling over a pint of beer. In fact, each of these articles about Eddie Izzard was written by a different female journalist with a background in entertainment media — past experience including Maximum Pop, HELLO! Magazine and The Mirror. 

Perhaps MailOnline doesn’t seem right-on by accident but because it is. That’s depressing for those of us who are evil right-wingers to contemplate, but it might be the case.

Oh my God, the Daily Mail.