LOOK OVER THERE
by Alex Palmer
I
’m b ored - b ored pol i ti cal ly I mea n. S ec on d year i s a b i t prem atu re t o be reg retti n g my deg ree. T h ere was a t i me wh ere I stu ck B B C P arl i am ent o n i n th e b ack g rou n d an d g l eef u l ly wat ched a Ten-M i nute R u l e b i l l , b ut B rexi t , T ru mp, an d n ow th e pan dem i c yea rs h ave taken th ei r tol l , an d I n o l o nger h ave th e pati en c e f or th at sort o f t hi ng. I n stead, l i ke m ost oth er pol i ti ca l ly o bsessed peopl e, I spen d f ar too much t i me scrol l i n g th rou g h vari ou s n ews si t es t o try an d g et a b ri ef overv i ew. T hi s never, of c ou rse tel l s any th i n g cl ose t o a f u l l pi ctu re. S o h ow i n a worl d o f 24h ou r n ews cycl es an d c on stant po l i t i ca l g af f es, can we separate th e wh eat fro m th e ch af f ? A ny n ews mu st b e b i ased, by vi rt ue o f b ei n g w ri tten by a real hu m an bei ng, b ut al so by th e ci rcu m stan c es i n whi ch i t ari ses an d by wh at m edi a c ompa ni es ch oose to report on . L ast year huge “K i l l th e B i l l” protests were h el d over t he Pol i c e, C ri m e, S enten ci n g an d C o urt s B i l l , wh i ch al on g w i th oth er mea sures al l ows pol i c e to pl ac e b road restri ct i o ns on protests an d pu b l i c assemb l i es i n E n g l an d an d Wal es. T h i s i s an i mportant topi c w i th a l a rge i mpact on th e l ives of m any, especi a l ly i n th e l i g ht of rec ent pol i c e f ai li ngs, so i t i s of c ou rse ri g ht th at i t i s repo rt ed on to a l arg e extent. O th er i mpo rt a nt pol i ti cal g oi n g s- on are h owever lucky i f th ey rec eive h al f of th i s pres s at t enti on . You u su al ly n eed protests fo r t hat .
T hi s i s quite a n issue. L e g is lat io n c a n o f t e n a f f e c t a l arg e secti on of peopl e i n soci ety, b ut j u st ab out n o on e act ua l ly kn ows what any of it does . If yo u’r e at t e nt ive e n o ug h to k n ow th e E nv i ron m ent Act 20 21 exi sts, can you tel l m e what i t d oe s (other than rel ea s e s ewa g e int o r ive r s , t h at bi t was f ai rly wel l pu b l i ci sed to b e h on est) ? H ow ab out th e H ea lt h a n d So ci al C a re Levy Ac t ? W h e r e a r e yo ur t a xe s f r o m th at g oi n g exactly ?
Now, me dia in desperate n e e d o f r eve nue , m e e t Bo r is Joh n son an d h i s g overn m ent. T h ey ’ l l prov i de you w i th a ha ndy s t re am o f gaffes, sc a ndals , a n d hum o r o us in c id e nt s . S om e of th em w i l l u n dou b tedly b e events th e g overn m ent wo ul d r athe r ke ep quiet. Others s e e m a lit t le t o o o p p o r t un e . O n T hu r sday 6thJuly of la s t ye a r, t h e He a lt h a n d C are B i l l h ad i ts f i rst readi n g i n th e C om m on s. F or som e c o nt ext , o n t h at s ame day, the gove r n m e nt a n n o un c e d t h at it wou l d b e scrappi n g m ost of E n g l an d’s C OV I D restri cti on s o n t he 1 9 t h of t h at month. On 22n d Nove mbe r, t h at s a m e bill went to S ec on d R eadi n g ( th e f i rst m aj or deb ate on a b i l l ) . On t hat s a me d ay Johnson made h is f a m o us “ Pe p p a P ig Sp e e c h” to th e C on f ederati on of B ri ti sh I n du stry. T h i s b i l l m ay a l l ow mo r e p r ivate influenc e on t h e bo a r d s o f N HS t r us t s , an d h an ds m ore power to th e H ealth S ecretary. G u ess whi ch o ne g ot t he h e a dl ines. T h i s i s , t o put it mil dly, a bit o f a p r o ble m . How is t h e g overn m ent su pposed to b e h el d to ac c ou nt i f n o on e k n ows what i t’s act u ally up to? I t’s a bit o f a d e p r e s s in g c o n c lus io n. E i th er th e pu b l i c doesn’ t care, or th e m edi a doesn’ t th i n k we do .
G-YOU MAGAZINE// FEBRUARY 2022// 6
Un fo r t u nately for us, m e d ia c o mp a n ie s h ave p r o f it s to m ake too. T h ey pri m ari ly derive i n c om e f rom su b scr i pt i o ns, a dve r t i s i n g, a nd, if in pr int , p hys ic a l s a le s . To in c r e ase ci rcu l ati on , i t h el ps to h ave i nteresti n g or hu m orou s a rt i cl es a n d he ad lines to draw att e nt io n , a n d t o ke e p yo ur r e ader i nterested so th ey ’re m ore l i kely to ac c ess you r web si t e/ buy yo u r p ap e r/ ta ke out a sub s c r ip t io n . Re p o r t in g o n a r e l atively du l l B i l l passi n g th rou g h P arl i am ent i sn’ t u su al ly t he way t o do t hi s . Besides, unl es s it’s a t a x r is e , t h e p ublic u su al ly doesn’ t care any way, ri g ht?
