• 2018: Corbyn and the Guardian

    2018: Corbyn and the Guardian

     

    Letter sent to the London Review of Books but not published

     

    Dear Editor,

    There is much of interest and value in James Meek’s review of Alan Rusbridger’s Breaking News (LRB 6 December). But in his account of the Guardian‘s development and its relation to its audience, he makes no mention of the virulent vendetta waged by the Guardian against Jeremy Corbyn from 2015 onwards. Columnists and other writers whose normal field had no relation to party politics joined in the chorus of hate. Whether this was editorially directed, or whether the assorted journalists simply had an eye to their career prospects, I do not claim to know. But it does explain why many of us have found the Guardian‘s incessant pleas for financial support very easy to resist.

    Ian Birchall