PAPER GLOSSES OVER HOTEL BAILOUT

By Steve Naieve

ASYLUM SEEKERS SAVED HOTEL, screeched a hugely sympathetic headline in the increasingly toothless Cumberland News recently.

The 1,500-word article, presented as a hard-hitting page one ‘exclusive’ turned out to be a tummy tickling PR piece for the controversial Cumbria Park Hotel in Carlisle.

For those not in the know, the hotel’s name was mud in the city when its doors were suddenly shut to locals in November 2022.

Christmas parties were cancelled and a revolving door of “asylum seekers” were then ushered in for a 12-month sojourn.

The tab? All picked up by the Government’s Magic Money Tree, of course.

Some have never forgiven the hotel.

And, contrary to the left-wing angle now being pushed on the CN readership, the hotel was surely bailed out by the taxpayer rather than being ‘SAVED’ by asylum seekers…

But let’s not split hairs.

Since that time, the hotel’s completely harmless array of overseas guests have long since been magically spirited away into Never Never Land.

Now, with the Christmas party season fast approaching, the management has recovered from its amnesia to remember who its actual customers are, eg local people in Carlisle.

Step forward the unquestioning CN who dispatched another of its bright young idealists to sprinkle some fairy dust over the backstory.

Curiously, over the full 38 paragraphs of the article, a key question went unaddressed.

How many millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash did the Cumbria Park Hotel receive for housing asylum seekers?

Also, how much of that money was spent on the refurb?

The newspaper also skilfully avoided asking other struggling hotels in Carlisle how they feel about a rival private business benefitting from a publicly-funded bailout.

Because the effect of this arrangement amounts to state intervention and in a small city like Carlisle, surely all the hotels are competing for the same shallow pool of paying guests?

Not that the Cumbria Park Hotel will now struggle for bookings. After the refurb, its new website boasts of ‘opulence’ in its suites, and ‘unparalleled’ comfort.

Indeed, the online version of the newspaper article featured endless commercial photos of the hotel’s gleaming new bar; its funky interiors; its fine food offering; and its luxurious bedrooms.

Perhaps sensing that this uncritical puff piece about the hotel might trigger some angry “community feedback”, the article was uploaded to the CN website with the public comments section firmly locked!

A newspaper can’t have its readers possibly asking questions, can it?