THE SUNDAY Herald’s hatred of the Labour Party is illustrated (again) this morning by this introductory paragraph in a story about the party’s ongoing election contest:
THE CIVIL war engulfing Labour about the powers of the Holyrood leader has opened a new front, with several MPs expressing total opposition to calls for more powers for the Scottish party.
Civil war, eh? Well, I expect there will be lots of “civil wars” in the next few weeks. There will be plenty of “civil wars” at each of the party conferences, including the SNP’s. There will be “civil wars” on the issues of the health service and education. There will probably be votes at the end of each “civil war”. And when parliament – as well as the Scottish Parliament – resumes, there will be lots of “civil wars” in the respective chambers.
The Sunday Herald would have been among the first to complain about the absence of a debate on the role and power of Labour’s leader at Holyrood. Now that we’re having that debate, they’re calling it a civil war. Is it because journalists who have never been involved in politics directly (other than offering support to their party of choice through their writing) just don’t understand? Do they genuinely believe that if there’s a debate within a party, then it has to be devisive? No, I didn’t think so.
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Sunday 10 August 2008 at 1:48 pm
Interesting stuff Tom. Like the blog – its good for an insider’s point of view.
I think what the Herald is pointing out is that there is a huge – public – gulf in opinion between the MSPs and Scottish MPs in the Labour party. And civil war certainly seems to cover it – its maybe a bad analogy given what’s going on in Georgia at the moment.
However, I think its even more interesting that your so quick to snipe at the Herald for your perception that they support the SNP. Its funny that we didn’t hear Labour representatives complain about the pro-Labour bias of certain tabloid press when they won in 1997 – and indeed before the election in May 2007 (Daily Record’s noose cover anyone?).
Come on Tom – the SNP overcame that bias. Surely its time you guys stopped sniping at the press and started presenting an effective opposition to the SNP in Scotland.
Sunday 10 August 2008 at 1:57 pm
Malc. Good comment. And maybe you have a point. I SAID MAYBE!…
Sunday 10 August 2008 at 3:29 pm
Just remember its your party that has allowed differences to take place between Scotland, Wales and England, with the NHS in particular . as with everything Labour it was not thought through properly or worse still the party is not bothered.
So I dont know why you keep going on about the SNP as Labour let the cat out of the bag with half baked develoution. Its about time Labour took personal responsibility for these problems instead of blaming everyone else.
Sunday 10 August 2008 at 7:25 pm
Tom, Don’t see any mentionof the bias shown to labour in most of the Scottish press and the BBC. It is only very recently that theHerald, and only the Sunday Herald started to give a balanced view of Scottish politics. Labour have hadit very easy for a long time and as per everything else start squealing when they are not getting their own way. Its long overdue that Labour was put under the spotlight.
Typical whinging from Labour.