Whatever's happened to the Guardian?
We live in odd times. Over the last few weeks the supposedly radical Guardian has told us that the only things standing between us and a tyrannical government determined to ruin our public services and have us all locked up forever are the civil service and judiciary. In saner times these great institutions were rightly viewed and frequently ridiculed as the bastions of reaction that they unfortunately so often behave as though they were.
Today its leader writer confesses to "sounding like one of the Conservatives' 2005 general election posters" whilst writing about immigration control. Having conceded that "it is in the nature of illegal immigration that the numbers are hard to discover" (well doh!) the rant thunders on declaring that the situation "is not acceptable" but offering precious little in the way of workable solutions.
In common with a few noisy members of the Labour Party, the Guardian, and even more so the Independent, really don't know how to cope with a Labour government and the harsh realities of power. I bet they can't wait for the Tories to get back in; then their clever solutions to all our alleged ills won't face the risk of ever being put to the test. Herumph!
posted by Hughes Views @ 12:08 pm
4 comments
4 Comments:
Think you're being a bit unfair to the Grauniad which is just as confused as the rest of us by New Labour and sort of hopes it's not too different from the version of the party they hold dear. When all the other members of the Fleet St roll call are considered, which would you prefer? In my book it's still the best by a long chalk and even when I disagree with it, I know it's basic principles are sound and on the side of the angels.
Me, unfair? Heaven forfend etc! I love the Guardian but it does so often want to have its cake and eat it as the cliché goes. And wouldn't it be nice to have one newspaper that gave Labour in office the sort of slavish adoration that so many gave Mrs T when it was her turn? No of course it probably wouldn't but the odd acknowledgement that it ain't all that easy might be nice. And a bit of balance in, for example, reporting about the NHS would be good. Instead we have to witness such media horrors as dear old Jon Snow (who was leading the revolting students when I was at Liverpool University) becoming increasingly pompous as he describes another so-called 'crisis'. I still think they should put the potter's wheel back on telly when, as usual, there's no real UK news (they clearly won't consider putting any overseas news on - who wants to know about beastly foreigners?).
Isn't the Guardian just being sensible? Whatever your politics it is very hard to defend the Home Office particularly when it is led by monumentally incompetent people like Straw,Blunkett & Clarke
I'm starting to warm to the Independent a little more these days.As the Guardian ran it's latest "illegal immigrant found in crisp packet" type headline ,the Independent ran a very powerful 'no news today' front page focusing on poverty in the third world.
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