As I noted in a previous blog article, the British media have finally turned seriously nasty with the Labour government. Why? Search me. Could it be that they (a) now believe that “New Labour” is running seriously out of steam and that, (b) knowing new Conservative Opposition Leader Ian Duncan Smith better than the rest of us yet do, they believe he’s got something going for him? (a) and (b) feeding off each other, of course. After all, if Labour’s now mountainous majority is seriously reduced at the next general election, then the Labour government that follows will be a lame duck, in the manner of the John Major regime. And if the next Labour government is going to be a lame duck, their threats and promises of advancement already, now, count for less than they used to, and Ian Duncan Smith’s threats and promises now count for somewhat more. In politics, perceptions of the future are facts in their own right. Therefore, the media are now switching their loyalties.
I think this may make sense of this bizarre “America snubs Britain“ stuff that Our Great Leader (the Owl Man I mean, not Tony Blair) has been complaining about. He’s right. I don’t feel snubbed either, and I don’t know anyone who does.
But, there could be a subtext, as they say in the theatre. Isn’t one of the implied messages of this America-snubs-Britain spiel that all Tony Blair’s recent World Statesman performances count for very little if he and his mates can’t get so much as a pair of handcuffs and a blindfold removed from one Al Qaedist in US custody, and that the Bush White House doesn’t give a damn what Tony and his Cronies think about this, that or anything else. Ergo Blair’s a twat. I’m not saying Blair’s a twat myself. I’m saying that the Daily Mail and the rest of them are saying it, in a slightly roundabout way.
Could that be part of what’s going on?
