PAPER JUSTIFIES INQUIRY NO VOTE

By Phil Blanks

YOUNG churnalists on the News & Scar, Carlisle, continue to act as a loudspeaker for the Government rather than holding politicians – local and national – to account on behalf of the public.

The sinking “newspaper” has again shown how out-of-step it is with Joe Public having put out a defensive story justifying why Cumbria’s four Labour MPs voted down a legal public inquiry into grooming gangs.

(The paper couldn’t bring itself to use the r-word.)

Tellingly, the paper did not include any comment from any Cumbrian Labour MP explaining WHY they voted the way they did.

Yet the paper went to some length to explain the Labour line on why a public inquiry was a waste of time.

The article also managed to include a quote from Labour’s Education Secretary Bridget Silliperson accusing Tory leader Kemi Badenough of “lies, misinformation and slinging of mud”.

And the dismissiveness for which the “newspaper” regards Elon Musk was also on show.

The article itself was illustrated with a large photo of Musk who was described as: “The billionaire tycoon leading the grooming gangs debate on social media”.

Is the world’s most wealthiest man not allowed to express an opinion on his own platform about the failures of the British political system? Or is it because he has cosied up to Reform UK?

There was also no room in the article for a widely-reported YouGov survey which found that 76% of the British public want a public inquiry.

(Even 65% of those who voted Labour in the General Election support an inquiry – which makes a mockery of Keirnocchio’s claim that it’s merely a “Far Right bandwagon”.)

Only 13% of the public do not support a public inquiry, the survey of 2,500 people found.

The Women’s Policy Centre think tank, which commissioned the poll and works with Westminster, Whitehall, and European institutions, accused Keirnocchio of being “out of touch” with the British public.

The News & Scar’s approach to the public inquiry also appears out of touch with some of the Carlisle public.

On its website, the public comment receiving the most “upticks” (66), was as follows:

“They promised to put country before party, but this shows these parachuted-in MPs will always put party before country and before the interests of the poor little girls who were abused.

“Shame on them.”

Newsquest’s charity partner in 2024? The NSPCC!

In 2018, when Scroogequest took over, daily sales of the News & Scar were circa 6,600 copies.

Between January and June 2024, its daily sales had plunged to 1,776; whch is equivalent to less than 10% of the city’s population bothering to buy a copy.

Six months on from then our bet is that, rather like disapproval with the Government, the paper’s circulation has fallen even lower.

Sad times.