What I wrote at Lib Dem Voice

February 28, 2006

The Daily Politics... but without the politics

They call it The Daily Politics, but I'm not sure why.

I've just caught up with today's Lib Dem leadership special (cleverly timed to have bugger-all impact unless you're hand-delivering your postal ballot) - in which "Andrew and Jenny" obsessed over Chris Huhne's wealth, asking the most mind-numbingly banal questions imaginable. Chris handled it well, rebutting strongly and with humour.

The way in which politics programmes increasingly ignore politics - and fetishise gossip - is a disturbing one. The media now spends more time talking about betting odds, office furniture and MPs' spouses than it does about things that actually matter a damn.

It says a lot about journalists; and a whole lot more about us, the public.

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