Boobs making news.

One of the fascinating aspects of modern mass media is its ability to report news even when there isn't any. Another is its ability to deliver gossip when there's plenty of interesting, relevant, fascinating, and – appropriately – newsworthy things going on (i.e. presidential election in Palau last night, continued crisis in the Congo, Christian Science Monitor ceasing daily print publication, etc.).

For instance, readers of the local reactionary Journal learned today – as did readers of The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, New Zealand Herald, and Hindustan Times, to name a few – that British actress Kate Winslet appears nude in the December issue of Vanity Fair. (Don’t rush your newsagent’s, a simple Google reveals all.)

Even as gossip goes, this hardly qualifies as racy given Ms Winslet's proclivity for shunning parts that leave her clothing intact. If Ms Winslet appears in a movie, rest assured her boobs will too. This isn’t a complaint: in a world (cue Don LaFontaine again) ruled by teenage skanks exposing how little flesh they have left, the tasteful nudity of a mature middle-aged mother of two is indeed a welcome treat. But “news” only to those who've sleepwalked through decades of Vanity Fair issues.