“Babies for sale, sex slaves, bribery, mob killings, drug factories, organised crime ... now Romanian and Bulgarian mafias have Britain in their sights.”

Just another example of the calm measured tones the right-wing tabloids have been using to slur Romania and Bulgaria ahead of their accession to the EU next January.

Of course what makes this particular piece all the more galling is that it was in the Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News International.

In September I blogged about another News International newspaper, The News of the World, and how three of their journalists had actively sought out Bulgarian prostitutes willing to travel to the UK so they could pen another shock horror story about the EU’s two newest members.

So remember, come January, if any of these terrible things the Sun so gleefully promises us do turn up in the UK it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that journalists from News International have invited them here!