Downs on the up

On top of Wilmington HillI’ve probably been more willing than many British people to try and see a glimmer of silver lining in the Blair->Brown Labour government ever since the honeymoon period ended sometime in mid-1998. But even I’ve pretty much given up hope, growing tired of my “even a bad Labour government is better than any Tory government” mantra. They’re as bad as each other, and at least the Tories have the excuse of a fundamentally selfish ideology, so we can’t expect anything great from them.

And then they confound it all by doing something really kind of, like… GOOD!

South Downs is a true place in the country (Tristram Hunt)

As Tristram Hunt says, this is what Labour governments are for. Preserve a special part of the country for everyone, taking it out of the reach of property speculators and concrete blandness. Personally, I think the North Downs are more deserving of National Park status, but this isn’t a bad start.

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6 Responses to Downs on the up

  1. SteveShark says:

    I’ve even stopped trusting the Guardian now – it seems to have lost touch with reality.
    Yes, it’s great that areas like the South Downs are protected, but it doesn’t make up for what Labour have done to our civil liberties.

  2. adrian says:

    Why stop trusting the Guardian – it’s the only hope we’ve got!

    Seriously, it’s the only paper I’d read… the Independent is worthy, but I find it boring. The rest are either full of lies or politically so far from my opinions as to be pointless reading (or both). It’s also nice to read a paper where there’s no rich mogul at the top, controlling the spin to suit his views.

  3. MikeE says:

    To be honest Adrian, I think there’s little point in trusting any of the mainstream papers in this country anymore. They’re all in thrall to the whims of their proprietors or the media corporations that own them. I’m coming to the conclusion that the great traditions of newspaper journalism have largely bitten the dust in recent years, with correspondents and journalsists content to remain in their offices, working from press releases or the output of bloggers, and endlessly rehashing each other’s copy rather than getting out and investigating stories. Having said that, I find the Indie the least annoying of them all, although one or two of the US papers are still readable when accessible.

    Oh, and I agree totally re; the North Downs as a national park.

  4. adrian says:

    That’s what I mean, though, Mike – the Guardian is at least not owned by a single proprietor and shareholders in the same sense as the Express or Times. The Scott Trust (as in CP Scott) is sole shareholder in the Guardian Media Group. They’re not immune from occasional bad decisions, but they’ve done nothing to make me stop buying the paper in over 20 years, so they must be doing something right!

  5. Steve Dix says:

    Hmmm. Smacks of misdirection to me. A Government that has taken away rights which previous generations fought bitterly for, now graciously allows us “official” rights to wander over a piece of land, which, I suspect, everyone’s been doing for quite a while anyway.

    Just as long as you don’t go protesting on it or hold one of them rave thingys and scare the sheep.

  6. Martin K says:

    As somebody that had the pleasure of a handful of guitar lessons with you a few years ago, I surf over to you site from time to time. In my past life, I spent 10 years in Berwick (East Sussex) and have walked and biked on the South Downs between Eastbourne and Lewes more times than I can remember. It was great to see some recent pics of the old stomping ground. Alas, I am exiled now to SW Florida where there are no hills more than six feet above sea level.

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