Charles Clarke and genocide

It has been entertaining me to observe the rise and fall of news stories. Yesterday morning I was listening to the Today programme and heard John Humphries pushing the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, to the limit of his patience. The infamous quotation and so-called “attack” o­n Prince Charles was picked up by the BBC and over the course of the day became headline news o­n the TV evening bulletin. In contrast the hunting debate appeared to be gaining ground as Parliament argued over procedures and dirty tricks, but by late last night it had all but fizzled out.

Nobody is going to convince me that the media are not responsible for a lot of what is called “news”. Not everybody realises that news is o­nly news if there happens to be a reporter there at the time. Presumably that, as much as anything else, explains why the Darfur tragedy appears to have happened without world outrage and action.

Good o­n yer, Charles…… we may not be able to be king or queen, but we can work at being the best we can at whatever we choose. As for Prince Charles…… let's hope this has made him rethink his views o­n education.