Culture

Recently, The Spectator held a roundtable discussion on the digital economy, featuring Matt Hancock, minister for digital and culture, Garrett Ilg, President EMEA, Adobe; Pete Cummings (Adobe), Vicky Ford MEP, George Freeman MP, Richard Fuller MP, Chris Green MP, Isabel Hardman (The Spectator), Charlotte Holloway (Tech UK), Stephen Metcalf MP, Valerie Mocker (Nesta), and Charlie Pickles (Reform). This is what resulted. Britain is one of the most digitally engaged countries in the world. We don’t have a Google, we don’t have Silicon Valley, but our industry is highly innovative in using technology to transform its operations. As consumers, too, we are strong participants in the digital economy.

So who came off worse in The Battle for Number 10, last night’s Channel 4 / Sky stand-off between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn? It was Jeremy Paxman. May and Corbyn were paragons of patience and sense in contrast with this oafish, boorish barker of rude and even pointless questions. Watching Paxo was squirm-inducing. He’s the angry drunk uncle who ruins every barbecue by yelling ‘BALLS’ at anyone who disagrees with him. I’m convinced Corbyn or May would have instantly won tens of thousands of new voters if they had told him to bugger off. It’s amazing how knackered Paxman’s schtick felt. Did we really lap this guff up in the 2000s, when he was anchor of Newsnight?

A few months ago, The Spectator sought the help of readers in defending press freedom. Theresa May’s government was consulting on whether to press ahead with a draconian new law that would make publications like ours liable for the costs of anyone who wanted to sue us, for whatever reason. The law, a hangover from the Leveson Inquiry, was intended as a way of bullying titles into signing up to Impress, a would-be press regulator bankrolled by the egregious Max Mosley. The legislation in question – Section 40 of the Crime & Courts Act – had been put out to consultation by the Culture Secretary and such things are often a numbers game.

A stirring defence of press freedom from Jeremy Corbyn at his party’s manifesto launch. Urging the booing Momentum authoritarians to have 'respect' for the press, Jezza commented: 'We also recognise that in many societies around the world very brave journalists have lost their lives or are assassinated because they have uncovered the truth about brutal regimes and abuses of human rights. Journalists and journalism and free journalism and free press are intrinsic to a democracy and a free society. I fully understand that.' Excellent. Corbyn then allowed precisely two questions from the print media about his manifesto. One of them being from the Daily Mirror. The other from some desolate hack from the Morning Star – who asked what could be done to curb the bias of the press.

I see that the UK’s Lucie Jones has blamed her Eurovision Song Contest failure upon Brexit. Lucie actually came fifteenth, which was substantially higher than either she or the song deserved. Her song, 'Never Gonna Give Up On You', or some such egregious, banal, tripe, was a hugely boring ballad without even the redemption of an interesting chorus. That’s why it came fifteenth – that and the fact that we chose a failure from that anti-musical jamboree, X Factor, to sing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl1GYTg4GmA Lucie is just the latest in a long line of people to blame Brexit for being utterly useless. I might use the Brexit get-out next time I can’t get an erection. 'Sorry love, I just feel bad about us leaving the European Union.

Out on the campaign trail in Leeds today, Theresa May stated that she supports fox hunting. ‘As it happens personally I have always been in favour of fox hunting and we maintain our commitment - we have had a commitment previously as a Conservative Party - to allow a free vote,' she said. The Prime Minister has consistently voted against the ban on hunting, and the general consensus has been that although she doesn’t necessarily think of it as a particularly important issue, she is supportive of the hunting community.  But it is perhaps something of a surprise that May has today come out and publicly said that she is actively in favour of fox hunting.

Newspapers everywhere are in trouble, with advertising revenues down about 20 per cent a year. Local newspapers are worst hit and many are on the brink of collapse, sacking staff and pages. But there can be no more depressing sign of their distress than to see newspaper owners selling front pages to political parties. Look at the above pictures: both are designed to deceive the reader and look like genuine front pages. They’re created by Labour and Conservative spin doctors, printed as so-called “cover wrap” adverts. Sure, there’s a blink-and-you-miss-it caveat saying “political advertisement" in the Labour one (left) for the Copeland by-election, there’s hardly any branding at all.