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Thanks to a tweet from @JonathanStubbs0 earlier, I came across this 2016 Simon Jenkins column about Brexit
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/06/brexit-britain-property-bubble
Now ignoring Jenkins is normally a good strategy *anyway*, but in retrospect this one is especially bad
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/06/brexit-britain-property-bubble
Now ignoring Jenkins is normally a good strategy *anyway*, but in retrospect this one is especially bad
Not least in light of what he is *now* writing about Brexit - today's column
Doesn't sound like Brexit is being good for Britain https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/01/government-pay-farmers-fishers-bad-brexit-deal
Doesn't sound like Brexit is being good for Britain https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/01/government-pay-farmers-fishers-bad-brexit-deal
But the wider question then is this: where is the accountability for those opinion makers in the press?
And when, if it turns out that what they said doesn't come to pass, what *ought* to happen?
What - in other words - is the accountability of commentary?
And when, if it turns out that what they said doesn't come to pass, what *ought* to happen?
What - in other words - is the accountability of commentary?
On my own blog I took Timothy Garton Ash to task here:
https://jonworth.eu/enlightenment-pro-eu-versus-values-based-pro-eu-some-thoughts-about-garton-ash-and-an-in-out-referendum/
And based on what happened in 2016, I think my take on it was closer to what happened that TGA's was
https://jonworth.eu/enlightenment-pro-eu-versus-values-based-pro-eu-some-thoughts-about-garton-ash-and-an-in-out-referendum/
And based on what happened in 2016, I think my take on it was closer to what happened that TGA's was
Or this abject piece by Andrew Marr - so bad it needed a fisking, and it reads even worse today than it did then https://jonworth.eu/some-further-thoughts-on-andrew-marr-and-the-brexit-debate/
Have we seen some sort of mea culpa from Marr? No, not as far as I am aware
Have we seen some sort of mea culpa from Marr? No, not as far as I am aware
I suppose the answer, ultimately, is that the new cycle moves on. Most journalists and commentators do not have a complete archive of all their previous works (that's the advantage of my blog - I do have *everything* in one place). And what matters is what these people write now
But somehow this nags at me still... Surely a good commentator is not only one who can analyse the present, but to some extent see what is around the corner, to use experience to judge what will matter in the future
I am not sure we have the tools to assess who is any good at that, and who isn't, over the medium term. Does it matter that we do not?
/ends
/ends
