BIRD FLU UPDATE

With Tony Blair at the helm and Alistair Campbell in charge of the office, British politics entered a new era of spin and news manipulation; when Campbell left, the situation didn’t improve, if anything it got worse. When Blair had been questioned by the police earlier this year about the “cash for honours” claims, I remember lying in bed thinking what he needs to take the heat of him is an outbreak of bird flu (yes, I know I should get out more or at least read in bed!) Would you believe it, the next day Bernard Matthews obliged and Tony dropped from the news headlines. For the next ten days, turkeys and bird flu dominated the news headlines, with Tony way down the list. Whilst I don’t think for one moment that Blair arranged the outbreak, his various departments were certainly capable of feeding the media frenzy which developed around Mr “Bootiful” and his farms.

If any further proof on this issue were needed, compare the media reaction to the outbreak of bird flu in Wales. Did you say what outbreak? And well you might, because this time round there has been little scaremongering and virtually no coverage, and why, because Blair doesn’t need it. With the Tamiflu vaccine being administered to 142 people and with at least one person having contracted the H7N2 (less aggressive) virus, the story was only good enough to hit page nine of the “Telegraph”. Clearly Gordon has missed a trick here, he could have “stacked” the story till the CPS have decided who to prosecute from the plethora of Labour bigwigs who are named as selling honours for cash. What better story to knock the scandal of the front page than a threat to the complete population’s wellbeing?