September 15, 2010

The Guardian: mouthpiece of The Real IRA?

I’m getting slightly worried by The Guardian’s obsession with the wickedness of bankers. Now I know they are fat. And that they hoard money in the boot of Bentleys and in those small lockers on board their yachts in Cannes. And I accept that they must be depicted as feline and slimey in all the funniest cartoons. It’s a fair cop boys (and the odd girl). You are rich. Ergo people hate you. Get over it.

But when a (respected?) national newspaper leads with the headline “Real IRA says it will target UK bankers” you have to worry about all the editorial “told you so” and “they deserve it” that sits behind the prominence of this article.

At least I worry. It feels very much like encouragement. And, given that The Real IRA represents absolutely nobody that votes (or buys a newspaper), I am wondering about the agenda of the editor who put this article in the paper at all.

But maybe I am an Old Fashioned Liberal, rather than a True Guardian Reader?