Has the guardian of common sense gone on holiday?

The Guardian seems to be able to do the impossible. Steer reasonably clear of scandal, grow its online readership, support new technology, make news blogs interesting, and get people to actually pay for an iPhone app.

So why has it gone all Daily Express today and tried to warn me that my sofa is out to kill me?

The article itself is a summary of an important new study into toxic additives found in everyday things. And very informative and balanced it is too. It even contains the word 'perfluorooctane', without prefixing it with 'killer chemical' or 'death substance' like other papers might.

So I'm telling myself that the headline - and associated pic of a corpse on a sofa - was written by a sub on work experience, perhaps covering someone's holiday, and that everything will be OK again soon.