Sunday 7 May 2017

Catchup / my own views

I have not posted much recently but this is clearly a new phase in how Fleet street covers Europe. Part of my hesitation has been that my own bias may be too obvious for the reporting to be credible. So here is a bit of background.

I still think Brexit is a disaster for the UK. Policy may well change again and a new membership proposal could follow. But this will not happen till the damage is more obvious. I think Labour is right not to reject the referendum result. But the way the Lib Dems and some media have been pushing things has not had much benefit. some Labour voters have switched but no enough for there to be more LibDem MPs. Debate inside the Labour Party has not been reported and there has not been space for policy to be explained. The Guardian for example has lots of Remain opinion but impatience with Labour. I don't think there will be a challenge to Brexit unless there is an argument from the left that makes sense to most people.

More later on the Reading the Guardian blog. These posts are a bit all over the place but there will be catchup.

Obviously Corbyn is part of this. Some people seem so concerned to damage him that the case against Brexit is damaged incidentally. It will be interesting to see what happens on TV as he makes a case in his own words. YouTube clips may be more reliable than as selected on news channels. I notice on BBC Radio 4 Today that Laura Kuenssberg has twice claimed that some say Jeremy Corbyn is liked less the more he is known. My counter evidence is the Sky News lengthy discussion towards the end of the referendum and the Last Leg show. Claim that 7 out of 10 was unsupportive is refuted in context. Channel 4 refused permission for Corbyn to upload complete clip to his own YouTube Channel.

I am going back to previous posts, but may be worth repeating as the referendum history can maybe be checked in the conventions of an election. Labour is allowed to talk directly and Corbyn is in more control than previously.  

 

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