The media just don't get it.
Monday 16 April 2012
It used to be the case that one took some note of leaders in the newspapers, but these days the offerings seem so trite that one just pops in occasionally to sneer and jeer.
So it is with the Failygraph of "Spitfire" fame, which is proving consistently worthy of its nickname, itscurrent leader on the water shortages being a model of superficiality. It shallowness competes with the reservoir it depicts. Not for this newspaper is there any thought that the current rainfall deficit is well within normal variation. Nor is there any talk of the fact that the population has increased since privatisation by a factor greater than the current water shortfall, without there having have been any increase in storage capacity. And the question of leakage rates is obviously far too complex for the leader writers, so there is no reminder that just one water company drains away more than the entire annual deficit for the whole country. Such matter have to be left to lowly blogs and the Booker column, unloved and unread by the self-important leader writers. Instead, ignoring all these things, ignoring the fact that we have been taken for a ride by the water companies who have been feathering their own nests while failing to invest in upgrading the infrastructure, the paper tells us that we can no longer take our water for granted. Instead of hosepipe bans, is suggests that "a better approach would be to let people pay extra for what they use", as well as compulsory metering. So, let's get this straight. After being robbed blind by largely foreign-owned water companies, which have taken their consumers for granted, the Failygraph says, out of the kindness of the water companies' hearts, presumably, we should be allowed to pay more actually to get some water from them. Is it any wonder that the media, alongside the politicians, are increasingly the subject of derision. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 16/04/2012 |
The politicians just don't get it
Monday 16 April 2012
The energy minister Greg Barker has been very much in the news over the last few days, not least for his attack on UKIP, lashing out at their "swivel-eyed" rhetoric.
However, not only has this not been a winning tactic in the past, coming from this "uber-modernising Cameroon lieutenant"it simply serves as confirmation that the Tory establishment is getting seriously rattled by the UKIP threat. Barker himself is doing the best he can to lose the Tory vote in the shires, with his push-me, pull-you policy on bird choppers, telling us all that there will be no more of these hated machines built onshore … except for the thousands that have already been approved and are in the pipeline. And it is by no means the effete south that is up in arms, and indeed it is not only Barker amongst politicians who are putting their foot in it. Ooop 'ere in the grim North, we have Bradford councilapproving an application to build a 200ft wind monitoring mast, which is expected to pave the way for a "devastating" wind farm of four 330ft turbines on Thornton Moor, Denholme. Councillors gave the scheme the green light despite huge opposition from campaigners and the Bronte Society, who said the structure would "deface" views across the "culturally and historically significant" moorland. Famous for its association with the Bronte sisters, local councillor Tony Maw, of Oxenhope Parish Council, pointed out the potential economic damage that the planned bird choppers could cause, stating that regeneration of the area, including using the moors as a tourist destination, was vital for the future of the area's rural economy. This time, though, it was the turn of the other side to display the contempt the political classes have for the plebs. Said Labour councillor Imdad Hussain from Heaton – one of the more grotty parts of Bradford - "I think we have got the situation here where members of the public are against something because it is in their back gardens". Mr Hussain's mailbag, we are told, has since been rather full of "foxtrot oscar" missives, his excretions merely underlining the sentiment that won Galloway his seat in West Bradford. The real problem we all have, though, is that the politicians just don't seem to get it. Barker is just as much in cloud-cuckoo land as the contemptible Mr Hussain, and just about as wildly off the mark if he thinks his utterances are going to have a positive effect on the electorate. The man may fool the kiddies (above), but he's going to have a harder job with the rest of us. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 16/04/2012 |
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