Casting A Wider Net

Regular readers will know that on my 'respect-o-meter', the standard of journalism in Britain ranks quite low. It would seem that British journalism can now be joined by certain members of the American circle of journalism.

Writing in the Washington Post, Anthony Faiola states:

"David Cameron's 100-day-old ruling coalition is launching an effort to reduce the role of government, seeking to vest communities and individuals with fresh powers and peddling a new era of volunteerism to replace the state in running museums, parks and other public facilities. Supporters and opponents describe the campaign as the biggest assault on government here since the wave of privatizations by Conservative firebrand Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s"

and:

"For those in the United States who would like to see smaller government, you've got to believe that David Cameron is their kind of politician," said Tony Travers, a political analyst at the London School of Economics."

This is sloppy, badly-researched journalism of the highest order. No mention of the European Union, no mention of the constraints put on our politicians by the EU, no mention of our democracy being undermined by an undemocratic body, no mention of the re-moulding of principles by people who, days earlier, had been at each other's throats and no mention that the 'devolution of power' is but in name only, especially considering that certain choices of freedoms requested have been dismissed 'out of hand'. Of course, in line with the 'inaccuracies' of the article, we then get a statement from a 'rent-a- quote' source - the content of which is also rubbish!