A Day is a Long Time......

Who would have thought it possible that consensus would break out amongst our politicians, and on a subject other than their own terms and conditions? But such has been the sudden shift in the power balance between Parliamentarians and the press that almost incredibly we will see them all troupe through the same division lobby later today in order to 'put the boot' into the previously feared Rupert Murdoch.

Ok the cynical might say that the politicians might only be doing it in order to seek revenge for their mauling over the expenses scandal, but it doesn't really matter what the motive might be. I think this re-balancing of power within our democracy can only be good news for politics and ultimately for future social policy. If you think about it, successive governments have been heavily influenced by the power of the press in being able to whip up very unhelpful public opinion on issues ranging from drug policy to treatment of paedophiles.

Tony Blair felt driven to embark on his whole 'tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime' agenda in order to pander to the tabloid press. Serious discussions about many aspects of social policy and criminal justice policy have become mired over recent years because of constant consideration not to be perceived as being 'soft' on crime. It was happening right up until very recently with the tabloid press always keen to whip up bogus outrage of some sort or another. Politicians felt obliged to take notice because basically they were scared witless of being branded or worse, 'outed' in some way or another. 

Well things are never going to be the same again and I believe one result is going to be a more healthy and reasoned debate on a whole range of things. If consensus can break out between political parties on this issue it can happen on other issues. There has long been evidence that the public dislikes the often manufactured charade in the House of Commons that supposedly passes for debate and that they would prefer some consensus. This has never been in newspapers interests of course as it probably wouldn't sell many papers, but it just might be in the country's interest.

I think in the coming weeks we can look forward to hearing politicians talking sense on a whole range of topics from drug policy to treatment of offenders. They've started speaking out on the evils of a corrupt press and just might find it becomes a habit to speak their mind on other issues too.