EVERY now and again, journalists get a wake-up call about what the game is all about.

Sometimes, it can make you rethink what you do for a living. Other times, it makes you want to cry and THEN rethink what you want to do with your life.

Two years ago, having worked really hard to get 'in' with a family who hadlost their 2-year-old in tragic, and as it turned out criminal, circumstances, I got a call from the newsdesk. "We need another story about the baby" I was told. I asked why the reply was: "Cos whenever his face is on the front page, it adds 2,000 to sales."

And there was me thinking that it was about exposing injustice and criminalnegligence! But now, thanks to the BBC (and the unique way it is funded) we can getthese lightning bolts every day. Just log on its news website and look at the 'most popular stories now'section, then click on the 'most emailed' bit.

It should be a good guide tothe stories which interest people, because you aren't going to email a boring one to a mate are you? So what do you reckon topped the most emailed list on Sunday - the day when Blair was refusing to back Brown, Richard Hammond's fans were raising £150k in his honour (more on that tomorrow), and a baby had been mauled to death in Leicester by a dog?

Well, it was none of those to start. It was: Beijing's penis emporium, followed by US Hypoallergenic cat goes on sale. Anyone know the way to the job centre?