(not satire – it’s the UK press!)
The Guardian supported the Liberal Democrats at the last general election.
And today we saw another example of the Guardian’s pro-Lib Dem bias.
In a breathtaking example of factual manipulation, the Guardian’s headline in their popular online version today was this:
Of course, if someone didn’t just glance at the headline but actually went so far as to read the article, they would discover that in fact only 2 Lib Dem MPs out of 56 voted against the bedroom tax.
Which surely means the headline should have been “Lib Dem MPs SUPPORT bedroom tax“.
Which also surely means the Guardian’s headline was …. oh what is that technical word journalists use for this?
Oh, yes, I remember now.
A LIE.
.
Please feel free to comment.
PS – the Guardian’s Political Editor, Patrick Wintour, who wrote the Guardian piece, explained his bizarre headline on Twitter by saying he was “not really a headline person”:
Patrick.
You can also see Patrick continuing his (unconvincing) defence in the comments below.
Pride's Purge 
Reblogged this on Johnsono ne'Blog'as.
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But even a very small rebellion by only two LibDems is more significant than the herd of obedient sheep traipsing through the Aye lobby.
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The two rebels are obviously in the wrong party.
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I also thought that the “guardian” was the guardian of the people not the establishment.
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realise you are cross, and can see why. I obviously don’t see headlines until later, and the headline writer rather literally followed my bald copy, That is not his or her fault, but I should have asked for it to be changed later in the evening since the headline is accurate but gives a misleading impression.
Three additional points.
I don’t think anyone expected more than max 5 Lib Dems to rebel, with some more abstaining. You might think that is wrong of them, but that is the reality. Lib Dems believe the deficit has to be cut at the pace it is being cut, and they think welfare has to take a hit. (see Clegg speech today).
I did think it is interesting Tim Farron the party President rebelled.
There is no conspiracy at the paper to lie over this, as part of some plot to save the Lib Dems.
I also think lie is a big word to use, and without being precious about it, I would use the word more sparingly. Personally, and not that it matters, I think the bedroom tax is turing out to be a mistaken policy even on its own terms.
best
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Patrick – the real news here is that the Lib Dems voted with the government in defiance of their own membership.
As for the headline – well you could blame the sub-editor if you were just a common hack I suppose – but as political editor of the newspaper you should take responsibility for such a clear and blatant ‘mistake’ in headlining
And as for my use of the word ‘lie’. The headline is the opposite of the truth – the exact opposite of it. Lib Dem MPs voted in support of the bedroom tax – not to oppose it.
If I can’t use the word ‘lie’ when someone states the exact opposite of the truth – then please tell me when I am allowed to use it?
By the way – haven’t you noticed that Tim Farron always ‘rebels’?
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how did charles Kennedy vote i cant see any record of him.
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The opposite of the truth is not always a lie. Otherwise the words mistake or error would not have been invented. I am taking responsibility, or why would I be bothering with this correspondence.
Tim Farron does not always rebel. ( carbon target) . LD policy is not to scrap the bedroom tax. It is to hold a review etc.
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Quite a few MPs did not bother to turn up. I live in Norwich and neither one of the city’s two MPs (Tory Chloe ‘Useless’ Smith and LibDem Simon Wright) showed up. I wouldn’t have expected our Chloe to vote any way but with the government but I had no idea what Wright would do. As it turns out, he did nothing at all, and this entire city lacked any representation at the debate. It’s possible Charles Kennedy also copped out – quite a few did, including I believe Iain Duncan Smith.
It’s pretty shameful stuff.
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The Guardian has been going down the pan for years. There is no lucid left-wing paper in the mainstream. Polly’s mood-swing rantings from her ivory tower have been examples of this over the years. This lie, perpetrated by the Guardian, is just one in a long line of problematics. There’s no wonder it lack credibility and people question their role in the NSA/Snowden story
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a review in 2015 is a long time to wait – but it’s only peoples lives at stake, so who cares????????????
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it’s interesting to note that the Guardian offers occasional ‘workfare’ to Chris Huhne and Tony Bliar – says it all
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he abstained.
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Tony Bliar must be down to his last few million poor thing??
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21 I believe abstained so if all voted against the bedroom tax they still would have lost as the yahoo yob lobby won by 26 votes.
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so after all his talk and makeing a fuss abstained what a wate of space.
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haha – the Guardian have removed the story about how the lib dems voted against the bedroom tax – didn’t last long did it??? still the telegraph have no story at all – as if the vote never happened – the DT more fascist every day, the mouthpiece of the coalition
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Why have the MoronParliamentarians got a recess (November recess) from today unti next monday??? Do they need yet another break – what’s it for??? Anyone?????
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might be good to mention that 10 labour mps dident bother to turn up e there.
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The headline did NOT say ALL Lib Dem MP’s voted against the Bill, did it? It was accurate, up to a point. since 2 of them did. Patrick has admitted the headline was misleading, so give him a break …
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Patrick – so you are now admitting the headline was a ‘mistake’ or ‘error’? Funny that, I’ve scanned the guardian and I seem to have missed your apology for such a massive error.
After all, the Guardian managing to write a headline which was the exact opposite of the truth would surely merit an apology or correction, wouldn’t it?
As for Tim Farron – he has rebelled on a huge number of issues – including important things such as tuition fees, bedroom tax and Trident.
Farron’s rebellions are all part of the Lib Dem obfuscation of trying to look like they are against the government while at the same time being all for it.
Your selective choosing of ‘facts’ – whether deliberately or by ‘error’ – is aiding their obfuscation greatly.
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Was it a 3-line whip? If not, MPs can pair with opponents and then their parties are OK with them not turning up. If it was a 3-line whip they would have to have had very good reasons to stay away, e.g. illness, funeral.
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LibDems serve no purpose other than to give the tories the ‘majority’ they need to run amok all over ever human right we ever earned. Silent, traitorous partners.
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If the Guardian are a mouthpiece for the Lib Dems, they surely need to update their legend on the party. They became plastic tories in 2010, there is no route back from there. Once traitors, always traitors. True colours shown, but one thing I do have to compliment them on. Yellow is oh so the right colour for the Lib Dems, with a little red mixed in for a sickly orange/vanilla ripple. Clegg is done, and has taken his party with him
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And of course, we all know that tories are blue, not red lol. But you get my drift
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The headline on that article now reads “Lib Dem MPs join Labour in voting against bedroom tax” – I guess the online editor(s) must have twigged. Still doesn’t give the full picture, mind you. To be charitable to the Grauniad, a LOT of people (myself included) were backing the Lib Dems in 2010, if only because the other choices were so unpalatable. Of course, if we’d known then how easily they’d agree to coalition with the Conservatives… 😦
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hey look what I found
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/10447015/How-to-be-kind-and-why-its-good-for-your-health.html
wouldn’t it be kind to put the libdems (and coalition) out of their misery?
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Kindness day, is that why parliament is in recess so they can all leave the country on such an auspicious occasion – hateful days for the next 364days.
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– which doesn’t even include the notion that the vote was meaningless as labour would never win it!! Pairing, if it happened. ensures that only the government would win as the collective with the highest numbers of mps – once again labour sell the poor down the river for ‘political expediency’
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disingenious – are you alibdem then?????? – we should not hold the media to account should we??????
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bum
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Reblogged this on HUMAN RIGHTS & THE SIEGE OF BRITAIN POLITICAL JOURNAL.
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So it should be “2 Lib Dems join most of Labour in voting against Labour policy”?
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The Liberal Democrats will be no more after 2015 – Nick Clegg is one of the worst party leaders ever as he has destroyed his party! Why they didn’t give the post to someone else I don’t know.
It will be many decades before the Lib/Dems are ever trusted again, and to be honest, they deserve it as they could have removed Clegg at any time, OR, they could have stopped a coalition with the Tories.
A weak leader, a weak party and a disgrace to their voters at the last election.
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Agreed – especially as those of us who voted for them trusted them at their word.
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