Gordon Brown V The Sun

[poliphilo]

Which is the most disgusting- Gordon Brown or the Sun? That's a tough one. And I guess there's only one way to find out..... FIIIIIGHT!

But surprisingly when it happened it was no contest. The Sun won hands down. Its exploitation of a bereaved mother's anger for political gain was sick-making. And in the process it managed to expose Brown's rarely seen human side. So he takes the trouble to sit down and write  letters of condolence in his own hand? How decent and old-fashioned of him. And he makes mistakes- well don't we all? Or did he? His handwriting is so atrocious (again an endearing trait) that it's very hard to tell.

Gordon Brown will be gone soon. We won't miss him. But the Sun will continue to pollute the national discourse with its hypocrisy,  jingoism and cynical populism for God knows how long.....

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

That story made Spanish news and I felt so sorry for Brown as he really did do a very decent thing and was obviously so sincere. The Sun makes me want to vomit.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's always a pleasure to see the Sun shoot itself in the foot.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

I saw that... The Sun staffers should be drawn and quartered.

And the mother... The man takes the time to call her and she spends the whole time (fifteen minutes?) screaming at him because he has poor handwriting. I wonder if her son would be proud?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The Sun is a mean-spirited rag- a Murdoch paper.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

You are familiar with the old song: "...It's the same the whole world over..."
Very true. The media is, well, the media. We have lived long enough to see mainline newspapers become yellow journals, while TV newscasters resemble gossips hanging over the back fence smacking their lips over the latest juicy morsel.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The Sun has always been a foul paper.

[silverhawkdruid.livejournal.com]

The whole thing sickened me. Hard as it is to believe, I actually feel sorry for Gordon... something I never thought would happen. That mother should be ashamed of herself. I just pray it was the grief driving her, and that once she calms down she'll realise the truth and apologise.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The mother came across as shrill and ungracious. It was cruel of the Sun- and the other media- to allow her to expose herself in that way.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

Kelvin McKenzie may not have been the most evil man of the last century but looking at the Sun I do sometimes wonder.

As someone with sloppy handwriting I do feel for Brown on this one. Goodness knows he's probably had to write too many of these things.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Does anyone have good handwriting these days?

It's not needed, is it? At least not normally. I doubt if I've written a letter in my own hand for a decade or more.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure who was exploiting who. There was a stench of "lets make media capital" emanating from all parties.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Politicians go in fear of the Murdoch press. I'm not sure they need to. The Sun makes big claims for itself- but does its support actually tip elections? The response to its handling of this latest misjudged campaign showed that its readers can be properly critical of it.