Has nothing happened in the world today? In between bits and pieces for this week’s Ken Livingstone edit, I’ve been checking the news online: this morning the BBC told us that Gordon Brown is likely to say the word “cuts” in his speech to the TUC this afternoon. This hardened slightly to a firm prediction that he would say “cuts”, to — finally — reports of the speech itself, in which he, um, said the word “cuts”. Amazingly, each time I have clicked on Google News this “story” has been leading the international bulletins, too.
Like a clamouring drum, the media pack and Tory party — increasingly working together — have built up to this moment for days (never mind the difference between cuts now and cuts later). Now, like a baited bear, Brown has been forced to utter the word after weeks of resistance. And the end result, the icing on the cake? George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, declares right on cue that the Tories have “won” the “biggest economic argument” and forced Brown into “complete capitulation”.
So, another day, another dollar for the most media-supported opposition in modern history.
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