That was the news that was re:new takes a look at the month’s news as chewed up and spat out by Fleet Street’s finest
In the wake of one of the most devastating earthquakes on record, Peter Hallward, writing in the Guardian, blamed the United States’ colonial legacy – “perhaps the most brutal system of colonial exploitation in world history” – for exacerbating the impact of the natural disaster. The Daily Telegraph’s Janet Daley was more concerned with the politics of the relief effort, dismissing French claims that the US was occupying Haiti: “If ever there was a classic case of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t,’ this is it.” Several commentators, including Charlie Brooker and Time writer Amanda Ripley, accused the media of exaggerating reports of looting and violence in the country.
Blair at the Iraq Inquiry Tony Blair’s much-anticipated appearance at the Iraq inquiry left the Evening Standard’s Anne McElvoy frustrated: “He was annoying, consummate and as hard to nail down as a jellyfish – but then, he always was.” The Guardian was less impressed by the former prime minister, accusing him of living in a world where “certainties dissolve and falsehoods become truths.”
The Equality Bill
The press were generally in support of Harriet Harman’s efforts to remove mandatory retirement in the UK, with Victor Keegan arguing in the Guardian that “if a compulsory retirement age didn’t exist, no political party would dare to invent it.” However, the Daily Express’s Ross Clark lamented that such a move was merely a result of the fact that working later in life is becoming essential “because the cost of paying pensions is threatening to cripple the country.”
Edlington torture children
According to Simon Heffer in the Telegraph, responsibility for the torture in Edlington lies with the welfare system, which allows people “to abdicate their role as parents.” The Daily Mail’s Peter Hitchens went further, blaming “our cultural revolution” and calling for “the end of subsidies for fatherless homes, the reintroduction of hard discipline in schools, measures to make divorce difficult again, the freeing of the police from liberal codes of practice [and] the restoration of the powers of adults to discipline children.” The Guardian’s Marcel Berlins focused instead on the misunderstanding of the boys’ sentence, saying, “The problem with such indeterminate
Your views on the month’s news Margaret McCabe, 55, from Cardiff, on assisted suicide: “I might feel differently if I had somebody close to me, but I think it leaves way to opening the floodgates. Are we all playing God now?”
John Roper, 65, from Blackwood, on the Edlington torturers: “It’s the way families are brought up. People don’t know how to control their children. I was controlled, like lots of people; we knew the difference between right and wrong.”
Meurig Thomas, 68, from Cardiff, on Cadbury’s: “Cadbury is a British institution and it’s a shame. But I suppose if I owned a few thousand Cadbury shares, I’d say, ‘Yes, Kraft, come and get it, thank you very much.’”
Patricia True, 67, from Rhondda, watched Blair’s Iraq performance: “I think he’s a liar. Being in the profession he was in before, he knows how to work it; he knows how to play the camera. He’s a very clever man.”
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sentences, coupled with a minimum term, is that it is the minimum figure that sticks in people’s minds and makes them dissatisfied.”
Krafty takeover Opinion about Cadbury’s change of ownership was split at the Guardian. Andrew Clark insisted that Kraft will benefit from Cadbury’s “shrewd distribution strategy” in its attempts to grow internationally, while Felicity Lawrence warned that growth “has been achieved by taking on debt, closing factories, selling off assets, and eliminating direct employment.” The Sun’s Steve Hawkes pointed out that UK investors could have done more to support British firms, as nearly half of Cadbury’s shareholders are foreign. Right to die According to the Telegraph, Terry Pratchett’s position on assisted suicide is widely supported, with 80 per cent of the country saying that relatives should not be prosecuted if they help terminally ill loved ones to die. Nonetheless, wrote the newspaper’s George Pitcher, “We cannot allow the euthanasia lobby to ride roughshod over the democratic process... The country isn’t governed by an endless system of referendums.”
After the headlines
The story of Paul and Rachel Chandler hit the headlines in November when they were captured by Somali pirates but, since then, media coverage has all but dried up. Recent photos released by the pirates showed that the couple’s health had deteriorated significantly. A doctor from the pirates’ tribe said that Mrs Chandler in particular was suffering and deteriorating psychologically. The pair have been held in solitary confinement for over 100 days. Demands for a £4.5 million ransom have been refused by the Foreign Office, in keeping with government policy that substantive concessions will not be made to hostage takers. Do you support the Foreign Office’s position? Join the debate at: www.journalism.cf.ac.uk/renew
Photos: JG
Haiti aftermath