Tuesday 23 February 2010

Brooke Not

If BBC Four's depiction of Heather Brooke is even halfway accurate, then it confirms every suspicion about one of those (for some reason, usually female) Americans in Britain who just cannot believe that things in Britain are not exactly as they are in America, or at least as they imagine things to be in what is in fact their highly secretive, hugely corrupt, intensely bureaucratic, profoundly oligarchic, dynastic and caste-based country.

Yes, MPs' expenses needed and need cleaning up. But not by the likes of that. Any more than our undoubtedly deficient and defective libel law should be reformed merely because there are American legislators, journalists and others who just cannot believe that anywhere on earth dares to have any sort of law different from that in the United States.

The poster of Woodward and Bernstein was a nice touch. But then, Watergate would not be a story these days, and in many ways it is a wonder that it was much of a story even at the time. Most people, on both sides of the Atlantic, would simply assume that this sort of thing went on, on both sides of the Atlantic. Didn't they then? If not, why not?

5 comments:

  1. Oh, but the mask has slipped right off today. Praising both Bob Wareing the enemy of stem cell research and Peter Kilfoyle the hammer of Militant.

    Taking the full Vatican line on "Natural Family Planning" and the Very Old Labour line on LEAs, grammar schools, immigration, Ireland, church schools, abortion, divorce, drinking, gambling, Sunday trading, patriarchy, the Falklands, the Commonwealth and the Constitution.

    And now sowing doubt about the motivations of those who either want transparency in Parliament or might want more equitable libel laws. Once a County Durham right-wing Labour machinist, always a County Durham right-wing Labour machinist.

    No wonder you launch mafia hits against defenceless students who dare to question you in print. Some of us have been fighting against politicians like you for 40 years.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heather Brooke is a dual citizen from birth, as her parents were British. She was born in the US only because her folks had jobs here.

    So she's not just some nosy American lady, and who asked her? She's one of you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am all in favour of reversing the present burden of proof in libel actions as the price of giving statutory effect to the present judge-made law of privacy.

    And all in favour of very considerable reforms to Parliament.

    As I said, if BBC Four's depiction of her was even halfway accurate...

    ReplyDelete
  4. You just don t like 'pushy' women do you?

    ReplyDelete