David C
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Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 234
Location: Southampton
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 Post subject: Cuts: letter in the Sunday Times on 26 Sep 2010 |
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Printed in the Sunday Times business section on 26 September, 2010:
Andrew Davidson’s interview [hidden behind a pay wall] with Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the TUC, was unbalanced and omitted important points.
Davidson wrote: "Yet where is the public support for the TUC's position? For every opponent of cuts, there are just as many who argue that the deficit must be reduced as soon as possible."
Where is the evidence to back this? A recent YouGov opinion poll found that 74% of the population would support a one-off 20% tax on the richest 6m people. This would pay off the national debt at a stroke and dramatically reduce the deficit.
The interview was peppered with pejorative phrases about "militants", "threats", Barber's "careful delivery masking a degree of calculation", and the prospect of "industrial chaos".
The most egregious example was scaremongering over the TUC's "plan for organised protest" which could "play into the hands of those who hijack legitimate demonstrations for their own violent ends".
Would The Sunday Times report the "threat" of state "violence" to public services and people's livelihoods and well-being, with the savage cuts falling disproportionately on the poor?
Please give us journalism that is responsible, fair and balanced.
David Cromwell |
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