Scottish regional morning, the Press and Journal, today comments that most of the disclosures in the Daily Telegraph – about how Lib Dems truly feel about the Coalition Government and their Tory colleagues at Westminster – are not newsworthy but, instead, the product of the 'silly season'.
In its leader column, the paper points out: “The days leading up to Christmas, and, indeed, any holiday period, are known as ‘the silly season’ in media circles for good reason. Many of the main sources of news – government departments and schools, to name but two – shut down and journalists have to work that little bit harder to fill the pages of their newspapers or the allotted minutes of their TV and radio bulletins.
“It is against this reality that the continuing revelations about the unguarded comments of certain Lib Dem MPs to undercover journalists posing as constituents need to be considered.
“Leaving aside the foolhardiness of Business Secretary, Vince Cable, whose boasting of his ability to bring down the government in which he serves was a serious misdemeanour because of the position of power he occupies, there is little of substance in the remaining disclosures.
“The fact that certain Lib Dems serving as junior ministers expressed reservations about the trustworthiness of the prime minister or their dislike for the chancellor is hardly earth-shattering. After all, if Lib Dems supported everything the Tories did and said, there would be no need for a separate political party. As far as newsworthiness goes, this is now on a par with the celebrated ‘Small earthquake in Peru: No one hurt’.”
