Leading article: Man phones woman shock

We are not obsessed with hank, or even in pank, at this newspaper. We simply observe that Sven Goran Eriksson, the England football team manager, is unmarried. Or, rather, as the ethics of relationships have become more complicated, there are no children involved. Unfortunately, that only prompts the question: involved in what? At which point we go on to observe that our national obsession with the soap opera of the private lives of public figures, often scripted, directed and produced by Max Clifford, is regarded as a form of collective psychosis in many other European countries. Nevertheless, even after last week's dismal 4-1 loss to Denmark, we probably have to observe that it is all part of a very English pantomime.