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That’s life!
No comments on That’s life!So Esther Rantzen’s bid to become the Member of Parliament for Luton South ended in 1,872 votes and a lost deposit. I said all along that she had no chance of winning. Yet, I am surprised at how badly she did. I was expecting her to get a slightly higher vote than the one she ended up with. The way media reported on her involvement in this election, the amount of attention they lavished on…
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Times article on Luton South ignores the Lib Dems
Another example of poor journalism in the reporting of the election in Luton South is the latest article from The Times; ‘Make this general election Independents’ Day, says Esther Rantzen‘. The article is essentially a puff piece for Esther Rantzen without any realistic discussion of her chances in the seat. It mentions the Labour and Tory candidates and even Stephen Rhodes, but doesn’t talk about the Liberal Democrats at all. I don’t expect The Times…
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Shock as the News of the World gets facts wrong
I’ve come across another example of appalling journalism in the reporting of the election in Luton South. This time from the ‘News of the World’ so I shouldn’t be that surprised, but is it too much to ask that they get the basic facts right? The article in question is here: ‘Battleground UK: Paul McNamara in Luton South’ I am only guessing here, but from the looks of it Mr McNamara, who is their ‘defence…
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Margaret Moran can’t work for her constituents but can write for Government Computing magazine
We all know that disgraced Labour MP for Luton South Margaret Moran has been officially “off sick” since the middle of last year. This has meant that she has not been seen around the constituency nor has she voted in Parliament during that period. We have discovered recently, thanks to the Channel 4 ‘Dispatches’ programme, that while she has been too ill to serve her constituents, she seems to have sufficiently recovered to attend interviews…
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Guardian’s regional election guides highlight Luton South
This weekend The Guardian have published a series of regional guides to the general election battlegrounds. While they are not bad at giving a broad overview for the non-politico, I found them superficial and with a rather negative take on the prospects for the Liberal Democrats. I also found the “Star of the future” element a little curious. Apparently achieving political “stardom” is to be equated with gaining ministerial office. This shows a very narrow…
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Times article on Esther Rantzen
This morning The Times has got another one of those puff pieces on Luton South independent candidate Esther Rantzen – “Esther Rantzen faces formidable obstacles to win over Luton“. It also includes a 2 minute video of Esther on the campaign trail. The article is not as annoying as the Telegraph article I wrote about last week. It has a more realistic view of Esther’s chances in the election, is only rude about Luton in…
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The standard of journalism I will just have to put up with
Last Saturday’s article in the Telegraph, ‘On the campaign trail with Esther Rantzen‘, looks to me to be a model of how I expect many journalists will cover the election campaign in Luton South. It has all the elements I’m afraid I am going to have to get used to: A concentration on Esther Rantzen to the exclusion of anything else The obligatory references to funny shaped vegetables The obligatory insults to Luton A superficial…
