‘Read the headline as well as the copy’ is the age-old plea journalists make to readers, especially in our social media-driven, hyper-reactive age. There’s no such luck for the now former political editor of The Times Francis Elliott, the lead by-line behind one of the most famous headlines in the history of the internet: ‘Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks’. The story, co-reported with then economics editor Gary Duncan, was published on Saturday 3 January 2009 during the financi...