There’s a tricky duality as a journalist to slating other journalists and newspapers.

As a human being I despise The Sun for its lies, prejudice, snideness, cynical politics, nepotism and the way it glories in being a kind of dunce’s comic.

It’s become traditional, as the Sun has attempted to reposition itself as woman- and minority-friendly, to look on its excesses with the same indulgence afforded to a badly-behaved and particularly obnoxious and stupid child.

Truth is, it’s hard not to applaud the ingenuity of The Sun’s subs over the years. ‘Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious’ is a work of genius, and supposedly was kept in reserve for donkey’s years until an appropriate game came along.

And I feel a lot of sympathy for people who have to work at the paper who may not share The Sun’s nastiness.

But a lot of The Sun’s efforts are akin to the kind of mindless inanity involved in watching a beered-up idiot grope women in a bar, dance on tables and repeatedly smash his head against a wall as his mates cheer him on.

I’m often amused by childish and slapstick idiocy, but there’s generally a bit of dark side to edgy humour. There’s a fine line between funny and offensive, assuming they’re not one and the same.

As often as The Sun has scored with a funny header, it’s committed pretty disgraceful errors of judgment. In case you’re wondering which ones I’m referring to, there are a few below.

MINE FUHRER – Attempt to smear Scargill during miner’s strike sabotaged by printers

BONKERS BRUNO LOCKED UP – The Sun laughs at mental illness

THE TRUTH – Kelvin MacKenzie’s famous pack of despicable lies about Hillsborough

GOTCHA – The Sun celebrates the death of hundreds of Argentinian sailors

BEAM ME UP BOTTY – Unfunny reference to George Takei’s homosexuality. He likes anal sex, see?

SWAN BAKE – A lie about asylum-seekers eating swans

The Sun is pushing a selection of its supposedly funniest headlines over the years to celebrate 40 years of printing bullshit.

This fantastic video gives a slight spin on the congratulatory advert. It’s a valuable reminder that you don’t have to come from Liverpool to despise The Sun.

• There’s an attempt to get this trending on Twitter under the hashtag #dontbuythesun

• If you’re on Twitter you can get a relevant dontbuythesun Twibbon