So here we are again, at party conference season. I have no objection to members of a political party getting together once a year to discuss politics, to have a drink or two and generally to misbehave themselves.
But why do the media feel obliged to inflict it upon the rest of us? Just about every news programme on the box this evening will be presented from Brighton, as if anything at the LibDem Party Conference actually mattered. But, no, as the BBC, ITV, etc have spent vast sums of money sending teams to cover the conference, we will get chapter and verse of what happens, whether we like it or not. But does the coverage justify the cost? Or is it the other way about - as they have spent so much in enabling their reporters, cameramen and all the other hangers-on to swan about Brighton, the BBC and its counterparts feel obliged to devote hours of television and radio to the event. It is almost worth watching to see them scraping the barrel for a morsel of news.
Tomorrow's newspapers will be full of useless detail about who said what to whom, conference diaries, political sketches and think-pieces about the future significance of the LibDems. The Labour and Conservative Parties will avoid taking any political initiatives which might queer the LibDems' moment in the spotlight, on the understanding that the favour will be returned over the next two weeks. (No point anyway, as all the media players are in Brighton.)
Thus normal political life effectively grinds to a halt for three weeks.
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