Saturday 28 December 2013

Seeing Red

Following several exchanges here and on Twitter in the last few days, I have some questions.

Why is there never any coverage of the opposition to European federalism that stretches from the staunchly Blairite John Rentoul, to the traditional Labour Right, to the Labour Left, to numerous political formations to the left of Labour, one of which the BBC felt the need to black out in the run-up to the last European Elections, while another it recently had to apologise for having declared defunct despite that party's having out-polled the BNP in the elections to the Scottish and Welsh devolved bodies?

The campaign against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership because it is a threat to the NHS is the subject of a truly scandalous level of determined media refusal to report.

Instead, all the concentration is on the collapsing UKIP sideshow, which is itself entirely a product of the media in general and of the BBC in particular, and on the gibberish surrounding some referendum at the End of Time. But the TTIP is happening now. You would never know it.

Why is there never any coverage of the continuing Labour and left-wing opposition to the weakening of the United Kingdom, especially in Wales, but also in Scotland, in each of which it is now the principal such force, the Conservatives having sold the pass years ago (devolution was their policy in the first place), and anything to the right of them being scarcely worth mentioning there?

And why is there never any coverage of the consistently considerable Labour vote to lower the time limit on abortion, which is allegedly Cameron's personal position, but which he refuses to bring to the floor of the House?

Or of the fact that the Labour MPs who take that view, as well as those who voted to uphold the traditional definition of marriage, are in general well to the left of what was the party line for a prolonged period until the recent past, in many cases remaining well to that left even in these happier times?

None of those people is any more "out of step" with their own party than are Conservatives who hold the same views. At least arguably, they are less so, on every single point. On most of those points, that is beyond dispute. But of any of this, one must never, ever speak.

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