"Egremont today falls out of the sky"

That's the front page headline on this month's final issue of Labour's "Egremont Today" publication. The last "Egremont Today" front page can be read here.

I have very mixed feelings about this. Obviously I have had my differences with "Egremont today" and indeed there have been some moderately sharp two-way exchanges between that publication and this blog.

However, it is a good thing when politicians of whatever colour make an effort to communicate with their electorate, and regardless of your views about the politics of Peter Watson and Egremont Labour party, their worst enemy could not dispute that they put a lot of effort into Egremont Today.

Ironically, the truth of one point which Peter Watson wrote in his valedictory editorial on the front page was demonstrated only too clearly by turning the next two pages to read the articles by our local MP on page three and Brian Simpson MEP on page five.


Jamie Reed MP wrote on page five about being "determined to fight the impending Tory cuts to our community" and predicted that "the remote millionaire politicians of this government" will "try to dismantle the building blocks of our community." Brian Simpson wrote a long rant about "Tory Hypocrisy."

Which only underscored the following comment by Peter Watson which should perhaps be seen as the last word on "Egremont Today".

"Our biggest regret is that the significance of what we have been doing has never been understood in our own party. Orthodox political communication remains the trading of recriminations between opponents."

Comments

Jane said…
I like you Chris have had my disagreements with Egremont Today and particularly with some of the statements made by Jamie Reed MP during the lead up to General Election with regard to Tory policy on health and local hospitals.

I will concede that Egremont Today did publish good quality articles about issues of interest to the local community. One cannot deny that the publishing team did work hard producing and distributing the paper. I understand the disappointment felt by many of the commentators on the paper’s website. After 20 years it had become a local institution. Clearly it will be missed. Any outlet that allows local people a voice can only be healthy.

In my opinion Egremont Today did not provide a forum for debate. It did not have a political discussion column or publish arguments from opponents. It could have had a discussion column for the exchange of political ideas. Likewise Jamie Reed's short-lived blogsite, to which there was a link from Egremont Today's website, did not engage in discussions or debates with opponents. I noted the irony in Peter Watson's valedictory. If anyone contradicts Labour's arguments it is merely trading recriminations, but Labour are quite entitled to criticise opponents either personally or on policy grounds. I have many reasons for not supporting Labour, but the lack of intellectual discussion and the stifling of true debate is a major one.

I won’t scoff at Egremont Today’s demise, but neither will I mourn the passing. RIP
2:52 am
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