I've been thinking lately that the culture of reflexive anti-left bias in the British media is not just a problem because it silences a legitimate current of opinion, but because it actually prevents journalists doing their jobs properly (1/?)

Thinking about the major political events of the last 20 years: the left challenged the pretext for invading Iraq, it opposed austerity as a response to the financial crisis, and now the main voices criticising the government's pandemic strategy are coming from the left.

In all these cases, the kneejerk response from political journalists has been to oppose the left. And it has felt that it's not simply because those journalists wanted to be consistent with the status quo, but also because they were compelled to oppose the left for the sake of it

And so, they've taken positions that history has damned. They've refused to look into government decisions that have led to massive damage and unnecessary loss of life, and that later on became subject to a consensus that these decisions were self-serving and wrong.

One thing I hope comes out of this pandemic is that political journalists become more willing to ask tough questions, even if that puts them on the same side of the left. The ST splash did that, but the left was saying the same stuff stuff weeks ago, before it was too late.

I got thinking about this following a tweet from @huwlemmey yesterday, so thank you Huw