I bow to no man in my love of The Guardian. Yet sometimes in its desire to do, and to be seen to be doing, the right thing, it can end up tying itself in exquisitely entertaining knots.
This week we’ve been treated to an impromptu mini-series, played out in the unlikely setting of the Guardian’s ‘Corrections and Clarifications’ section. This is where, every day, the Guardian takes great pains to set the record straight on any errors made in previous editions. A most praiseworthy concept in principle but sometimes – as happened this week – the media equivalent of continuing to dig when finding oneself in a deep hole.
Here is how this week’s delightful (unless your name happens to be Patience Wheatcroft, the newly-appointed editor-in-chief of Wall Street Journal Europe) sequence of events played out.
Guardian 16 November:
In a full page Media Guardian interview entitled 'It's very dangerous to go free', Patience Wheatcroft was described as...
‘A life-long supporter of the Conservative party, and married to a Tory councillor...’
Well that all seems pretty straightforward. But wait, what’s this...
Guardian 17 November - ‘Corrections and Clarifications’:
A piece about the new editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal Europe should have said that Patience Wheatcroft's husband was formerly married to a Conservative councillor – rather than currently ('It's very dangerous to go free', 16 November, page 5, Media).
Oh I see, they’re no longer actually married – what an embarrassing mistake. Bloody researchers. Oh well, at least Mr P has still got the Tory councillor gig to keep him occupied.
Hang about though, whatever now...
Guardian 17 November - ‘Corrections and Clarifications’:
A piece about Patience Wheatcroft, the new editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal Europe, should have said that her husband was formerly a Tory councillor – not currently. That is also what our correction in this column yesterday should have said, rather than portraying the marriage as a thing of the past. We were misinformed (17 November, page 30).
Right so let’s make sure I’ve got this right. Marriage on, Tory councillorship off. Okay think I’ve got it now.
To be fair, the only mildly disappointing aspect of what has been a thoroughly entertaining diversion that's had me gripped all week, was that uncharacteristically churlish ‘we were misinformed’ note on which the Guardian ended today’s installment. Surely it flies in the face of the whole mea culpa principle of ‘Corrections and Clarifications’ to then go and casually pass the buck.
Right time for a stiff drink and a good lie down before checking in for tomorrow’s developments.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Monday, 16 November 2009
Turnip Taliban was never Normal for Norfolk
"Sorry, no, I have never said I'm anti-women. I have got absolutely nothing against women.
"Who cooks my lunch? Who cooks my dinner? How did my wonderful three children appear? Women, you can't do without them. My god, take my wife."
A Bernard Manning joke without a punchline? A second rate Les Dawson sketch from the 1970’s? No, this is a direct quote from Sir Jeremy Bagge, leader of the group of South Norfolk Conservative Party’s rebels which, dubbed the ‘Turnip Taliban’, has narrowly failed in its campaign to force the de-selection of Elizabeth Truss as parliamentary candidate.
For the past few weeks, the rest of the UK has, once again, been treated to a great laugh at Norfolk’s expense. And who can blame them? I’m sure I’d be having a good chuckle myself were I not a 20 year-plus Norfolk resident who has seen for himself the huge, and almost entirely positive, changes that have taken place in the county since I first arrived here in the late 1980s. Changes which form the core theme running through the current ‘Normal for Norfolk’ marketing campaign, which seeks to dispel, once and for all, the many myths and the misconceptions about the county.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Liz Truss’s past love life, and even taking into account the clear communications cock-up between Tory Central Office and the local party, this whole affair should, and perhaps would, have amounted to no more than ‘a little local difficulty’. All very embarrassing no doubt for a Tory Party determined to spruce up its image and present itself in a more modern, inclusive light. Yet probably no more than a one-week-wonder from a media point of view.
But that was to underestimate the determination of Sir Jeremy and his acolytes to grab their 15 minutes of fame. The national media has, instead, been mesmerised by the spectacle of this stereotypical Woodehousian Sir Peregrine Bufton-Tufton character bumbling into the limelight. And to be fair, in his determination to enjoy one last hurrah by giving those impertinent young whipper-snappers at Tory Central Office a bloody nose, Bufty-Tufty managed, at least temporarily, to set external perceptions of Norfolk back by several decades.
How reassuring then that sanity prevailed earlier this evening and the Turnips have been sent back to their estates with a very clear message…
Normal for the 8th baronet of the 1200-acre Stradsett Estate? Certainly. Normal for South West Norfolk Conservative Association? Nearly, but not quite. Normal for Norfolk? Not a chance.
"Who cooks my lunch? Who cooks my dinner? How did my wonderful three children appear? Women, you can't do without them. My god, take my wife."
A Bernard Manning joke without a punchline? A second rate Les Dawson sketch from the 1970’s? No, this is a direct quote from Sir Jeremy Bagge, leader of the group of South Norfolk Conservative Party’s rebels which, dubbed the ‘Turnip Taliban’, has narrowly failed in its campaign to force the de-selection of Elizabeth Truss as parliamentary candidate.
For the past few weeks, the rest of the UK has, once again, been treated to a great laugh at Norfolk’s expense. And who can blame them? I’m sure I’d be having a good chuckle myself were I not a 20 year-plus Norfolk resident who has seen for himself the huge, and almost entirely positive, changes that have taken place in the county since I first arrived here in the late 1980s. Changes which form the core theme running through the current ‘Normal for Norfolk’ marketing campaign, which seeks to dispel, once and for all, the many myths and the misconceptions about the county.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Liz Truss’s past love life, and even taking into account the clear communications cock-up between Tory Central Office and the local party, this whole affair should, and perhaps would, have amounted to no more than ‘a little local difficulty’. All very embarrassing no doubt for a Tory Party determined to spruce up its image and present itself in a more modern, inclusive light. Yet probably no more than a one-week-wonder from a media point of view.
But that was to underestimate the determination of Sir Jeremy and his acolytes to grab their 15 minutes of fame. The national media has, instead, been mesmerised by the spectacle of this stereotypical Woodehousian Sir Peregrine Bufton-Tufton character bumbling into the limelight. And to be fair, in his determination to enjoy one last hurrah by giving those impertinent young whipper-snappers at Tory Central Office a bloody nose, Bufty-Tufty managed, at least temporarily, to set external perceptions of Norfolk back by several decades.
How reassuring then that sanity prevailed earlier this evening and the Turnips have been sent back to their estates with a very clear message…
Normal for the 8th baronet of the 1200-acre Stradsett Estate? Certainly. Normal for South West Norfolk Conservative Association? Nearly, but not quite. Normal for Norfolk? Not a chance.
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