In the United Kingdom when a major political issue becomes newsworthy media outlets vie for comments from all the major political parties in order to give a supposedly fair and balanced view. In the last few years though a minor politician from a minor political party has become incredibly prominent appearing as a regular ‘rent a quote’ and given media coverage far beyond what her and her party deserve. This politician, Caroline Lucas, is in [...]
In the space of a little under two years Nick Clegg has gone from the immense popularity of ‘Cleggmania’, where at one point he was the most popular political leader in Britain since Winston Churchill, to being reviled by a substantial number of people, especially among the chattering classes. The cause of this dramatic change of fortune is the sense of betrayal felt by some that in 2010 after the General Election he took the [...]
In recent years there has been a significant trend in asking people in the public eye their opinions and ideas on a variety of topics no matter what their actual knowledge of the subject is or their life experience. The classic, but trivial example of this was last year when any and all celebrities interviewed by the British media were asked about the Royal Wedding, even though it was of little or no relevance to [...]
It has been a tough few weeks for the Lib Dems. Then again, when hasn’t it been tough for the Coalition’s junior partners? The departure of big-hitter Chris Huhne from the Cabinet and a devastating ‘Poll of Polls’ are the last things the party needs. Of course, it hasn’t really been easy going at any time since the General Election; what with last year’s devastating local election and AV Referendum results. As someone who grew [...]
Over the last week my belief in quality journalism and the free press, rather shaken by recent scandals, has been renewed. Not I might add by any measure taken by the Leveson Enquiry, which began as an exercise in self-flagellation and is now stuck in the rut of an endlessly circular debate. After all, true democracy can only be achieved by having a completely free press, yet the free press can equally undermine democracy through [...]
Reading the papers today I was struck by the quality of coverage on North Korea and the evil masterminds behind one of the most closed countries on earth. There was a lot of talk about how in a globalised world, North Korea and countries such as Cuba would be forced to change due to the tidal wave of democratisation unleashed by the Arab Spring. There was also a lot of naivety about Europe being a [...]
The people of Britain don’t half make me laugh sometimes! Wednesday night Jeremy Clarkson is on the One Show on the Beeb, and gives a typically Jezza performance saying that public sector workers who chose to strike should be ‘executed in front of their families’. Alright it’s very over the top, as he often is, but clearly he has no intention of actually killing anyone; he’s an entertainer and you could hear everyone in the studio [...]