My dad's always bought it - and he's 81 now. I remember growing up reading it in the 70's/80's (he used to get the Sunday Express to - I used to think it a right pain to read when it was broadsheet) and even as a teenager getting wound up to fuck.
Anyway, he's a Labour supporter through & through, card-carrying member for most of his adult life (quit in about '99 after being profoundly disappointed in NuLabour - and me chirping in his ear slagging them off for selling out to big-business interests and the wealthy 'elite' probably didn't help)
I've given him grief for years about his Daily Mail reading, mostly in joke but sometimes really narked. When I'm visiting, I used to sometimes pick it up and scan through; there were times I couldn't last 2 minutes without hurling it down in anger as my BP soars - Melanie Phillips is the most hateful bitch in 'journalism' ever, with that puritanical shitstain Hitchens close behind. I rarely bother now, perhaps just look at the sport.
He assures me he only buys it for the crossword and the sport, and my mum likes the 'women' sections. He's remained at his core mostly impervious to the toxic garbage that the rag spews, but I do catch him repeating the odd snippet of bullshit he'll have picked up - generally something poisonous regarding migrants or the EU, and I feel it's a trigger to start a debate.
But he's a left-leaning, liberal-for-his-age, thoroughly nice and decent bloke.
His only fault is that he's a blue.
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