Government by tabloid
Commenting on the U-turn over the proposals for prison reform by Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke, veteran journalist Simon Jenkins said this
‘As long as politicians pander to media-fed paranoia rather than calmly publicise facts, and as long as they delegate policy to the worst recesses of the press, money will be wasted. Families will be destroyed, drugs will proliferate and penal policy atrophy. Cameron can shout “consultation is good,” but the crushing of Clarke was not consultation, it was panic. There is only one lesson to be drawn from this sad saga. Those who live by the tabloids, die by them.’
Sadly this has been the story of British politics for decades. Its politicians are followers not leaders. This bears out what it says about democracy in Plato’s Republic, which is that democracy leads to tyranny.
Perhaps democracy is not the ultimate value. And what does this episode mean for LVT?