Do you remember last November when Emily Maitlis interrupted the Guardian's Afua Hirsch to ask the staggering question/make the staggering point:
I'm going to say something really unpopular, which is that we keep on talking about, you know, the problem with democracy and the problem with the deficit, but at what point you to say, actually, democracy is not as important as the future economy and stability and prosperity of the country right now?
Well, she was pursuing that very point again with Lord Sacks on last night's Newsnight:
This is seriously disturbing stuff from a BBC interviewer.Lord Sacks: Don't forget Churchill won the Nobel prize for literature, not for peace. The great statespeople have a hinterland. They care about bigger things than politics, and that makes them great politicians, because it makes them able to relate to people of all different kinds, whatever their political views.Emily Maitlis: Do you believe that democracy should trump everything else? That the delivery of Brexit, even if it's economically and socially damaging, is the most important thing of all?Lord Sacks: Democracy is one of the most profound political ideas ever, because it says everyone of us counts. Every one of us has a voice. You lose that, you lose everything, because it then becomes a game for the rich and powerful, which is great for them and bad for the poor and the powerless.Emily Maitlis: So, delivering democracy, even if it results in national economic damage is imperative?Lord Sacks: I think being a parent means trusting your children even if you're sure they are getting it wrong. Believing in politics means believing in democracy even if you're sure the electorate is getting it wrong. You have to empower the electorate. That is what democratic faith is about.
Disturbing,indeed, but her thoughts fit in perfectly with John Simpson's views on "balance," which may be paraphrased as, "If the side we disagree with looks like winning, we should abandon 'balance' at once."
ReplyDeletePlodding on from false premise to insistent stupidity, the BBC presenter of a politics programme requires instruction in the meaning of democracy.
ReplyDeleteTell me, mister, who in a democracy counts as parents and who as children. And who decides that.
Matlis was the journalist living round the corner from Grenfell tower, one of those who gained salary parity. When did she ever do a programme about dinner ladies and equal pay or tenants in high rise? If you are in the chauffeur driven bubble you dont need democracy.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find incredible is that she feels safe and comfortable in posing that question. Such is the culture within the BBC, democracy doesn’t trump everything, only when it reinforces the social liberal worldview.
ReplyDeleteI suppose she had done us some sort of service because Maitlis has let the cat out of the bag. That’s what the MSM, establishment and ruling elite truly believe and at least she said it.
They would overturn the result on that basis.
Where do they think that sort of precedent would lead to?