Director’s Blog

If you can only bring yourself to read a few pages of Tony Blair’s memoir, then make it the introduction. In it he expresses perfectly how different he is to other political giants of the last few decades.

People always compare Blair to Thatcher, putting him a neo-liberal tradition. Or they accuse him of being an opportunistic, pragmatist seeking only power. But as he says in the book’s introduction, “I began as one type of leader; I end as another”. I suspect he was, literally, exceptional.

He does believe in something called New Labour and calls himself a Moderniser. These are real terms for him but they don’t quite describe the degree to which he was an exception within his own party and in British modern politics. He says he is not a ‘retrospective’ person and indeed, there is no sense of historical context. He says he was not part of the traditional right or left, but neither is he a classic centrist.

Cameron may have taken on his own party, but he is still much more comfortable with it than Blair ever was. Even the Milibands are far more comfortable referring to more conventional political metaphors and positions.

So why was Blair different? In the end of this introduction he makes one of the most intriguing claims in the book, which might just provide an answer:

“my soul is and always will be that of a rebel”

Milton - Pasteurised Lost

Milk Snatcher

Number 10′s decision to kill off the idea of taking free milk out of the mouths of poor children was as wise as it was quick.

What on earth possessed Anne Milton to try to emulate Mrs Thatcher’s ‘Milk Snatcher’ epithet?

In her letter she candidly admitted that this was cost-cutting measure and that it would hit the poorest and least well-nourished children. There is tons of evidence linking poor diet to all sorts of bad educational and developmental outcomes for low-income kids.

Perhaps it was all part of the ‘strategy’ of getting the bad news out of the way early in the parliament. There is always the temptation to float some really dodgy ideas so that you can appear moderate when you rein in errant ministers. But there is always a danger that you leave a sour taste in the mouths of voters. (more…)

Who would have thought that a lumbering performance by New Labour’s unloved Witchfinder General would trap the Golden Boy of British politics? I doubt that it was all a cunning ploy by Jack Straw, but today’s Prime Minister’s Questions witnessed a masterclass in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by Nick Clegg. (more…)

Polis Summer School

If people feel that mainstream media is ignoring alternative politics, then they can now create their own media. But how should traditional journalism respond? Should it change its ideas of impartiality to reflect the real diversity of contemporary politics? This is Polis Summer School student Steven Linett’s course paper that tackles this complex problem, citing media around the rise of US Militia movement.

How impartiality and objectivity in journalism changes in the New Media environment by Steven Linett

The new media environment has helped level the playing field for those outside the mainstream media to publish and disseminate their views to the world.  This environment appears to be a godsend for the participatory models of democracy, which “emphasize the importance of ‘real’ citizens’ participation and their more active involvement in democracy (Barber 1984).  As such, they criticize the radical separation of citizens from power, the elites and democratic institutions through representation” (Bailey, et al. 2008). (more…)

India Knight

Should politicians’ love lives be exposed in public? Times columnist India Knight doesn’t think that they should. So when Chris Huhne’s marriage break-up and new affair was made into headline news by a Sunday tabloid she expressed her disgust, in public, on Twitter:

“Poor Chris Huhne. In what conceivable universe is this anyone else’s business? God’s sake. Also, who gives a toss?”

I agree with her, as do many other people. Many of them said as much on Twitter.

Of course, the point about this is that by Tweeting about Huhne  we are drawing even more attention to the story and possibly increasing the discomfort for the Minister, his wife and probably the new lover, too. And this blog just adds to it all. (more…)

Salary The Size of Wales

The British Prime Minister has one of the toughest jobs in the world but is not particularly well-paid. To deploy another journalistic cliche, the salary is about the size of a football pitch when it should be the size of Wales.

Like those well-worn comparators of geographic size, the PM’s pay packet has now become an over-used measure of public rewards. In the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal we  are now turning our attention to well-paid civil servants. (more…)

The view from Bilbao

These are some notes on the British election, social media and mainstream journalism that I used for a presentation in Spain. It is an attempt to start understanding what happened in media terms during the campaign and what it tells us about the new political communications environment.

Much of the presentation was about graphs and video but here’s the gist of what I was talking about. (more…)

spin or split?

Does the new coalition government herald a new approach to political communications? Yes, but don’t think it is any less political.

The Nick ‘n’ Dave Garden press conference was a triumph because whenever they were challenged they responded honestly and positively. They were charming to each other, the media and the public.

Channel 4 News’ Gary Gibbon asked the first question and typically he put his finger on the real strategic issue that this love-in represented. We thought, said Gary, that this Lib-Con deal was going to be an ‘arrangement’ but it seems it is actually a ‘mission’. Are you serious about changing the landscape of politics? (more…)

My colleague Bart Cammaerts is a leading political communications analysis. He is also a Belgian who used to work at the heart of their rather complex and fraught party politics. His homeland is often cited as a warning against those in the UK who preach the virtues of ‘collaborative’ party politics and ‘balanced’ parliaments. But here he argues that we shouldn’t be so frightened of the example set by Belgium and other continental power-sharers. And he says that the media and political classes are failing to explain the real logic behind coalition government.

Hang The DJ by Dr Bart Cammaerts

Historical memories are notoriously short. It has been 35 years since the UK electoral system has produced what is called a hung parliament. The current political elites, most of the voters and most importantly most of the journalists, and there are many more of these then 35 years ago, have never known this situation. (more…)

What Do They Do Now?

The likelihood of a hung parliament raises all sorts of interesting procedural issues for journalists – especially the BBC and other Public Service Broadcasters. How do you report impartially and proportionately and how do you avoid getting bogged down in procedural detail? And how will our partisan press respond? (more…)