Another thought hatched over a ginger snap during Observer politcs conference earlier today (see below):
We wrote at length last week about Tony Blair's failure to appeal to women. We also ran a column from David Aaronovitch pegged to Blair's savaging by angry mums in a TV studio. That episode, broadcast on Channel 5, was also a theme in Andrew Rawnsley's column.
Thus, points out one editor, we assumed that the issues raised in the Channel 5 circus reflect the real concerns of the nation and map out legitimate election battleground sites, which perhaps they do. But it's worth remembering that Channel 5 editors are in the business of making entertaining TV programmes, and they know that angry mothers grinding axes make compelling viewing.
If we had our time over perhaps we would have written more about the process that went into creating a political TV 'moment'. Oh well, there's still a whole election campaign for us to play with.
Meanwhile, because we know how much our online readers miss it, here is Chris Riddell's weekly cartoon from Sunday, also on the Blair TV appearance theme.
