Challenging Nick
Today on Nick Robinson’s blog I have added a small challenge. It is not a simple challenge, nor one that many might feel worth meeting, but I think it is worth a go. Why have I issued a challenge? We are entering conference season soon and then will be getting back to the daily grind of the political mill. Best bets say that it will be the same old, same old. We can more or less predict the amount of sneering that will come from David Cameron and his team of professional sneerers. And we can work out how much instant fixes and generally avoiding the questions will come out of the Brown team. What we will not get is what we actually pay for – good government.
Or will we?
Have you noticed the country dissolving into anarchy recently? I mean properly going into rebellion, not the Daily Mirror version of events. How much evidence do you really see of the Tory’s Broken Society? Or do you go shopping without thinking about it? We all worry about education, but is it really going wrong? Politicians love to point out how many illiterate or near illiterate people come out of school – they don’t mention that it used to be far more.
So, if things are generally going okay, what is all the political fighting about?
The truth is that there are not the constant political battles going on minute after minute as the media would like you to believe. Most politicians are hard working, considerate, normal people. They get on with other people, even political opponents, perfectly all right. We have had glimpses of this in the friendship (probably a bit threatened now) between Menzes Campbell and Gordon Brown. And the media just hate it. It does not fit their portrayal of the “Westminster Village.”
Now, is all this a worry?
Yes, it is. Despite many wonderful words form politicians, voting numbers still decrease, people really don’t have the foggiest what they are voting for or not, or what they should or should not thing. I asked someone what they thought of their recent hospital stay. “It was very good! They treated me very well, made my stay as easy as possible and I am home and feeling so much better.” Will you be voting Labour? “You are joking! Have you seen what they have done to our hospitals?”
The Challenge:
Dear Mr Robinson (and the rest of the media pack)
Here is a challenge for you. Rather than blog about what is in the news already, how about starting to talk about the stuff NOT always in the news.
• Some of the committee issues.
• Foreign affairs that go on day to day without the headlines.
• Hard working politicians that we rarely hear about
• Local government initiatives that workBasically, all the stuff that makes this country tick.
The trouble with the big news, the Cameron -v- Brown type of news is that it might be vote catching (or often the reverse), but it doesn’t in reality run the country.
It is the “Yes Minister” scenario: The minister decides what sounds good and Sir Humphries does what actually works.
From time to time we will hear from someone of the like of Gwyneth Dunwoody. She, like many other MPs we never hear of, seems to look at issues rather than political parties and though I may not always agree with her, I feel I get a fair assessment from her.
If the media can promote more people like her into the spotlight and less of the Diane Abbots and George Galloways (whose personal agendas far outstrip their political duties) then there would be chance, a small chance, that us public might start to take politics seriously again.
Unfortunately, though, it is up to the media.
Although I do not believe that the media either do or should represent our opinions, they are the window onto the political landscape. If the media do not start to move away from the gossip and political intrigue, then we have no other way of finding out what is REALLY important.
As I said – a challenge for you Mr. Robinson!
The challenge will probably not be taken up. Something other bit of gossip or debate will turn up that will be much too tempting. That is the nature of the beast. But I still believe my point to be fair. If the media start reporting on the politics that the voters NEED to hear rather than the rubbish that is fun to hear, then there is a chance that politics will change in this country. But if the media stick to their present policy then no one else can do it. The media is now the ONLY way we can hear about politics – soap boxes have gone forever. It is the media taking the lead, or it is nothing.
It is as simple as that.
Nick Robinson’s wonderful blog is at (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/ )
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- Nick Robinson Twists Facts Live
- Why we shouldn’t have an Election
- A Very Brown Speech
- Good Sense Returns
- Murdoch upset over BBC Power
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