THE SUN SUCCESSFULLY trolled all of the UK by publishing a picture of a topless model, days after reports that the newspaper had scrapped Page 3.

Today’s paper has a picture of a topless model under the headline ‘Clarifications and Corrections’, with the caption:

Further to recent reports in all other media outlets, we would like to clarify that this is Page 3 and this is a picture of Nicole, 22, from Bournemouth. We would like to apologise on behalf of the print and broadcast journalists who have spent the last two days talking about it.

All across the UK and Ireland, people are slapping hands to foreheads, groaning, and wondering what the hell is going on.

1. The Call For Balls seems even more pertinent now:

2. This accurate explanation of the ‘joke’

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3. This headline from US website Gawker, trying to make sense of it all:

4. This friendly tip for The Sun

5. The Sun, in one picture:

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6. This Twitter user who thought the model’s cheeky wink looked very familiar:

7. This much-overlooked point

8. And this vintage Yes, Prime Minister script that summarises the whole thing:

Read: It looks like The Sun’s Page 3 is back>