Saturday 28 January 2006

Disgusted of Scotland

The Times this morning wrote the article about Simon's Hughes cmapaign launch yesterday in Manchester.

However, while the online copy has the headline Lib Dems Must Aim for '1906' Landslide all very positive. However, in the 1st Scottish print edition which I had delivered this morning the headline is Brazen Hughes Evokes the Spirits of Churchill. Firstly calling Hughes brazen when he was heroically facing down attacks from the Times's News International stable mate the Super Boreaway Sun, including for a second time in this morning's edition, is callous.

However, half way down the article they also say

His main rival, Sir Menzies Campbell, implied that Mr Hughes had mishandled the row over his private life, while emphasising that sexuality should not be a bar to any public office.

"Simon Hughes has obviously found this a difficult issue to deal with. He has explained why it was in the past he had not been quite as forthcoming as people might have expected but now we want to focus on this election campaign," Sir Menzies said on a visit to Dunfermline and West Fife.


I think the implication is all on the Times's political correspondent Greg Hurst's part. Ming said he wanted to now focus on the election campaign and the issues while it is the press that are continuing to direct attention away from just that. Nowhere in the statement that Sir Menzies made and was quoted do I see any implication of mishandling the statement that Simon made earlier this week.

So the men and women of the press who I know will be reading this at some point can you please start reporting on what the Liberal Democrats actually say without trying to invent implications from nothing. If you start to do so I might just start to consider you again as the gentlemen and ladies of the press.

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