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DNA Database

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis rejected calls on Sunday for a national DNA database despite the fact that the existing database had helped to catch two high profile murderers - Mark Dixie and Steve Wright.

I found two writers who took completley different views on the subject.

Simon Carr of the Independent was against the idea, suggesting that the public would be giving control of their lives to the State, 'The more rights, access, opportunities, the state distributes, the more responsibilities it's allowed to impose. That's the way it works'. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/simon-carr/simon-carr-who-cares-about-private-life-any-more-786787.html

In the opposite corner, I found David Aaronovitch of the Times, who felt that giving away this small liberty would be worth capturing many more serious criminals, 'As to innocence, well most of us are innocent. But Lloyd's family never suspected him of rape, Wright's wife was sure he couldn't be a murderer, and Dixie's friends had not an inkling of his capacity for extreme sexual violence. There has never yet been a would-be bomber whose family didn't proclaim his normality'.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article3434198.ece

Aaronovitch was totally for the DNA database and, having read the comments of Carr just two minutes before, I found it interesting how two people could have such wildly differing views. In fact, having read both blogs, I found it hard to make up my own mind on the issue.

I also found it intersting that neither commentator took the opportunity to use the situation to attack any of the political parties.

Martin's Expenses

Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin has faced alot of criticism over the past few days after details of his list of expenses were leaked.

BBC journalist Nick Robinson used his blog to gather together a list of reasons and theories as to why he has been the victim of so much sniping.

It was reason number four though, that caught my eye the most, mainly because it is a suggestion I have heard in other quarters, not least in the Guardian's politicsblog, by Deborah Summers.

Robinson suggested that, 'Martin is the victim of class-based sneering by elitist journalists'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2008/02/theories_on_the.html

Deborah Summers quoted one Lib Dem MP as saying, 'I think a lot of it is snobby'. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/02/post.html

It remains to be seen weather or not Martin will be forced to re-sign as certain parts of the media (most notably the Mirror), would like, but for now, it seems that many journalists are treating him as though he has been wronged.

Agreement on Northern Rock

The decision by the Government to nationalise Northern Rock drew much criticism from the Tories with cries of, 'Labour's Black Wednesday', being heard, but many political bloggers have come out in support of Labour over the past few days.

Steve Richards of the Independent argued that the crisis will not have as big an impact on Gordon Brown and Alaistair Darling as many people had suggested it might. He said, 'The worst that can be said of Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling is that they spent too long seeking an alternative to state ownership'.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-richards/steve-richards-british-politics-will-never-be-the-same-again-783974.html

Another blogger, Paul Linford, who writes for the Newcastle Journal, voiced opinions along the same lines as Richards. He was of the opinion that the crisis at the Rock will not have a dramatic impact on Labour's chances of re-election.
http://linfordunlimited.blogspot.com/2008/02/not-labours-black-wednesday-yet.html

Also, Wyn Grant, in his blog, agreed with both Richards and Linford, citing a YouGov poll for the Economist which found that, 'only 5 per cent of voters blamed the government for the crisis at the bank, while almost two-thirds thought the Conservatives were playing politics by opposing its nationalisation'.
http://britpolanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/02/northern-rock-attack-misfires.html

What I found interesting about these blogs was the way in which the Tories were painted in a bad light, while the Labour Government only came in for a small amount of criticism. The whole Northern Rock crisis was played down despite the fact that in many newspapers it has been the main political story for months now.

I also found it interesting that, Richards and Linford in particular, were arguing that this was perhaps going to be a turning point in the history of 21st century British politics. Linford said, 'This week’s decision to nationalise may not be Labour’s Black Wednesday. But it may nevertheless still come to be seen as a watershed in 21st century political history'.
http://linfordunlimited.blogspot.com/2008/02/not-labours-black-wednesday-yet.html

This was an angle I had not seen from any media outlet before I read these blogs and it will be interesting to see if the forecasts made by the three bloggers actually turn out to be accurate.

Humphrys Put Out To Grass

An interesting misrepresentation of the truth has been filling the blog's of many political commentators in the UK today.

Both Nick Robinson of the BBC and Stephen Pollard of the Spectator defended Chancellor Alaistar Darling after he was criticised in an interview on the Today programme on
BBC Radio 4 by John Humphrys.

Darling was misquoted.

During a commons debate he had supposedley agreed with the comments made by a Labour MP that nationalising Northern Rock would, 'lead to a slow, lingering death for the jobs of the Northern Rock workers'. According to Robinson, it was Hansard (the official record of House of Commons business) that was responsible for the misquote.

Nick Robinson dismissed the mistake as just that, pointing to the fact that Alaistar Darling's team did not complain about the misquote (perhaps because they feel the less said about the whole issue the better).

Stephen Pollard on the other hand, used the fact that Humphrys had not checked the quote before using it to attack the Chancellor, as an opportunity to attack the widely respected veteran presenter, asking the question, 'When is Humphrys going to be put out to grass?

To me, it seemed that Robinson dealt with the issue in a more even manner, although I think it was correct of Pollard to point to Humphrys mistake, as someone in as high a position as he is shouldn't be making such mistakes (though it should be noted that other people made the same mistake).

Intro

Hi. My blog is all about the world of politics and how it is reported in the British media. I will look at political stories primarily from the U.K but I will also look at relevent stories from the US, Europe and the rest of the world.