I make no secret of the fact that I am a Labour supporter and that my political sympathies are, maybe, more leftish than New Labour was. As such I voted for Ed Milliband in the leadership election and supported his attempt to move the party back, a little way at least, to the left.
I believe strongly that politics should be something more than the practice of pragmatism and following the lead of the electorate. I think the role of politics is to prosecute an ideology, create a debate about political choices and persuade the electorate to a viewpoint.
What we have seen in the UK over the last few decades in the popular press, in my view, is a stifling of debate, an unwillingness to consider any merit of a different viewpoint and the monstering of any leader who even hints at a left-wing agenda.
This is bad for democracy and bad for the country. A free press is not just about the freedom to print what they will, it should be should be about a fair exchange and debate of ideas, not an automatic, hysterical gainsaying of anything coming from even a slightly socialist viewpoint.
I know I may have made my own somewhat hysterical points about right-wingers here, but this is not a newspaper and I am not a politician.
I believe strongly that politics should be something more than the practice of pragmatism and following the lead of the electorate. I think the role of politics is to prosecute an ideology, create a debate about political choices and persuade the electorate to a viewpoint.
What we have seen in the UK over the last few decades in the popular press, in my view, is a stifling of debate, an unwillingness to consider any merit of a different viewpoint and the monstering of any leader who even hints at a left-wing agenda.
This is bad for democracy and bad for the country. A free press is not just about the freedom to print what they will, it should be should be about a fair exchange and debate of ideas, not an automatic, hysterical gainsaying of anything coming from even a slightly socialist viewpoint.
I know I may have made my own somewhat hysterical points about right-wingers here, but this is not a newspaper and I am not a politician.