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In a world full of mistrust, we need an awkward press, however imperfect In a world full of mistrust, we need an awkward press, however imperfect
(3 months later)
Sometimes random events break the rhythm of assumed normality. Sometimes you find yourself in a darker, more brutal place. And a succession of stories these past few days has done exactly that.Sometimes random events break the rhythm of assumed normality. Sometimes you find yourself in a darker, more brutal place. And a succession of stories these past few days has done exactly that.
Who could have supposed that the Care Quality Commission, pavilioned in dames and honoured practitioners, would not only fail to stop children dying quite heedlessly but try to bury the report that exposed its own gross frailties? Who could believed that the Metropolitan police, confronting the wreckage of Stephen Lawrence's murder, would attempt surveillance and infiltration in order to see if the Lawrence family could be discredited? Who could have dreamed that GCHQ Cheltenham has quietly turned itself into the fibre optic capital of global interception, feeding Obama's national security teams with whatever information they need?Who could have supposed that the Care Quality Commission, pavilioned in dames and honoured practitioners, would not only fail to stop children dying quite heedlessly but try to bury the report that exposed its own gross frailties? Who could believed that the Metropolitan police, confronting the wreckage of Stephen Lawrence's murder, would attempt surveillance and infiltration in order to see if the Lawrence family could be discredited? Who could have dreamed that GCHQ Cheltenham has quietly turned itself into the fibre optic capital of global interception, feeding Obama's national security teams with whatever information they need?
Take such questions one at a time. Maybe you're still not sitting up straight. Put them together though, so the watchdogs of the NHS and Scotland Yard's finest are caught in the mire together, just as William Hague goes through the motions of professing security probity, and there's a lousy bit of linkage. If we can't believe the ultimate care squad or the boys in blue, who can we believe? MPs who fiddled their expenses. Ministers concocting dodgy dossiers? Bankers?Take such questions one at a time. Maybe you're still not sitting up straight. Put them together though, so the watchdogs of the NHS and Scotland Yard's finest are caught in the mire together, just as William Hague goes through the motions of professing security probity, and there's a lousy bit of linkage. If we can't believe the ultimate care squad or the boys in blue, who can we believe? MPs who fiddled their expenses. Ministers concocting dodgy dossiers? Bankers?
The difficulty is that, on present form, no one can be taken at face value. The difficulty is that we need a probing, awkward press. The difficulty is that we need the Mail on deceitful commissions, the Guardian on undercover policing and Cheltenham, the Telegraph on parliamentary pay-outs, the Times on tax avoidance. All these papers, of course, get things wrong from time to time. None is perfect. But think where we'd be without them in some exalted post-Levesonian future where the great and the good decree what may reasonably be printed – and what may more reasonably be kept under wraps, old boy. Complacency is a killing disease.The difficulty is that, on present form, no one can be taken at face value. The difficulty is that we need a probing, awkward press. The difficulty is that we need the Mail on deceitful commissions, the Guardian on undercover policing and Cheltenham, the Telegraph on parliamentary pay-outs, the Times on tax avoidance. All these papers, of course, get things wrong from time to time. None is perfect. But think where we'd be without them in some exalted post-Levesonian future where the great and the good decree what may reasonably be printed – and what may more reasonably be kept under wraps, old boy. Complacency is a killing disease.
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