Here at Blighty we were up early enough this morning to catch the back end of the Today programme on Radio 4. They were discussing the idea that the real opposition to the Labour Government was not on the benches across from them, and not even over in t’other chamber where the half-asleep unelected preside, but in Fleet Street. Yes, the official opposition to the Labour Party is the press. It’s hardly a new idea, but the question to be asked is, is there a problem with this?

We know the press is partisan. Standards of neutrality that apply to broadcast media don’t apply to them. But it would be reassuring to think that newspapers actually considered issues and drew conclusions accordingly rather than looked at a story to work out the best angle for hitting Blair with a good jab. We expect the Daily Mail to yap away at Blair’s ankles like an irritating poodle on a daily basis. Either he had the wrong cereal for breakfast or went to the wrong place on holiday. But should we accept it? They will point to their readers and say, ‘There is our mandate’. If people buy the paper then their negativity is endorsed.

And this brings us to the unpleasant conclusion that the newspapers reflect the society we live in. People don’t want balanced debate they want custard pies in the faces. Politicians are there to be sniped at. They’re all as bad as one another and are after lining their own pockets. (We wonder if this idea is prevalent because it’s what dear old Joe Public would do in that position.)

Much of the criticism that comes out of Fleet Street is personal, too. As The Herald Tribune claimed in an article last month. Referring to the Mail and Telegraph they point to the fact that,

Every day brings a new barrage of criticism, personal as well as political, that has touched on such topics as the efforts of the prime minister’s wife, Cherie, to earn money by giving speeches abroad and the couple’s difficulties in trying to find tenants for an expensive new London house they bought with an eye to the day that Blair finally leaves the government.

The newspapers will undoubtedly tell us this is in the public interest. If these commentators and column fillers really are as powerful as is being suggested, it might be in the public interest to pry into their private lives now and again.

Another problem with the press setting the agenda was referred to by one of the guests on Today. That the media is broadly right wing in this country, owned by rich magnates. And this means that the issues that are debated, the attacks that do come, are never in support of issues like animal welfare or anti-globalisation.

If the press are the official opposition to the Government then don’t expect reasoned debate, expect knee-jerk negativity. But then, that’s what a good opposition does apparently.