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.