Comic Book Journalism
I don't have much time for the Sun newspaper, or the Mail for that matter, but I hadn't noticed - until recently - that the Mirror has also descended into comic book journalism.
Check out this ridiculous piece from Kevin McGuire, the Mirror's political editor who - if I recall correctly - stood and failed to be selected as a parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party - not that that is not perfectly obvious from the way Kevin writes.
To my mind what's going on in Grangemouth is not a bigger issue that what's happening in South Lanarkshire Council - where thousands of women and men are involved in a long running fight for equal pay.
In recent weeks it has become clear that the Council has imposed big cuts in the pay of traditional male jobs - refuse workers, gardeners, janitors and so on - with the men being threatened with the sack if they didn't sign up to their new and inferior terms.
And this has happened right under the noses of Unite which is kicking up a huge fuss, of course, about events in Grangemouth - but is strangely silent when it comes to what has been happening in Labour run South Lanarkshire.
Nor has this Mirror or - its sister newspaper in Scotland - the Daily Record, so I think it's fair to say that Kevin McGuire's opinion piece is the kind of thing that gives serious journalism a bad name.
Energy firm fatcats have their staff over a barrel - and ConDem ministers are conniving with them
As we see over electricity bills, this Government intervenes on the side of the powerful against workers and households
ConDem ministers face tough questions about how far they are conniving with an energy billionaire accused of holding workers to ransom.
Jim Ratcliffe, likened by Labour MP Michael Connarty in Parliament to a “Russian oligarch”, shut down Scotland’s biggest oil refinery to blackmail 1,300 staff into accepting worse pay and pensions.
Ineos, the company of which Ratcliffe is the biggest shareholder and which runs Grangemouth, moved its HQ three years ago from Britain to Switzerland which is, of course, a tax haven.
Ratcliffe is ranked number 84 on the 2013 Rich List, the compilers noting that he bought the Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest, and spent £30million transforming the place into a luxurious gaff where pampered guests do yoga on the roof in a herb garden.
The firm insists sprawling, industrial Grangemouth, which processes about 200,000 barrels a day, will not reopen until the union Unite agrees to drop strike threats.
And it says it will only invest another £300million if the workers agree to inferior terms and conditions at the plant on the Firth of Forth.
Company claims that it is losing shedloads of money are disputed by Unite, with the union bringing in its own accountant to go through the books. Grangemouth is crucial to the British economy, supplying most of Scotland’s fuel, so it is inconceivable that ministers aren’t heavily involved behind the scenes.
Campaigning Labour MP Tom Watson recalled how, as a Cabinet Office minister, he had weekly updates on the security of energy supplies and strategic industries.
“I cannot believe a company of such strategic importance,” Watson told me, “would not brief the Government on a decision of such monumental proportions.”
Gordon Brown, when Prime Minister, intervened in the tanker drivers’ disputes, trying to broker deals.
Grangemouth bosses are smarting that Unite defeated previous attempts to cut pensions.
If workers are locked out, or petrol pumps run dry, ministers cannot wash their hands of responsibility. This Government does intervene in energy, as it does in the economy generally.
But as we see over electricity bills, it intervenes on the side of the powerful against workers and households.
David Cameron's Tory Toff Top Tips for keeping warm in winter:
1. Retreat to your Caribbean tax haven like Richard Branson.
2. Turn up the Aga as far as it will go.
3. Enjoy an invigorating cross-country gallop on your hunter-chaser (slaughtering any stray foxes on the way).
4. Start a bracing row with police officers about access to the gates of your Chipping Norton estate.
5. Relax, put your feet up in front of a roaring log fire and watch Downton while the butler pours a lovely hot toddy.
