Shocked out of his bubble: Jeremy Vine discovers the truth about the years of Tory rule
Shocked: Jeremy Vine.
Veteran broadcaster Jeremy Vine had a nasty shock when he saw a graph showing the change in average income between the richest and the poorest people in the UK.
While Tory dissemblers like Philip Hammond told the world the poorest have benefited the most from Tory tax and benefit changes, the chart by the OECD showed that – in real terms – the poorest people in the UK have lost money, while the richest have increased their income massively.
This is a man who has spent the last eight years reporting and commenting on every political and economic development the United Kingdom has undergone – and he had no idea that the poorest were being pushed further into poverty.
This graphic is insane. I keep staring at it and thinking there must be something wrong. The gap between people in the poorest parts of Britain, and the richest.
(via @INorBY2020) pic.twitter.com/IkSKHTJ7GW— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) November 3, 2018
Some of our favourite commentators have drawn attention to his reaction – and the dissonance between it and the realities of life:
That moment when a BBC journalist finally becomes aware of the utter destruction that austerity has caused people outside of the bubble that he lives in. https://t.co/9OYfnI57O7
— Pileus Media (@thepileus) November 4, 2018
Astonishing.
After a decade of austerity and years of political chaos, this BBC journo is surprised to discover that things are pretty shit for ordinary people.
Yes. Yes they are. Hence Corbyn. hence Brexit. Hence literally everything that’s happened in the last 3 years! https://t.co/1g7CnZtaCU
— Evolve Politics (@evolvepolitics) November 4, 2018
But the real question is: What difference will it make?
Now that Mr Vine knows what the stories he has been reporting actually mean, will it change the way he reports them?
Will he be allowed to ask the questions that need to be asked? Or will he just ignore them and carry on as normal?
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Sadly I don’t believe Jeremy is at all shocked, but chooses to ignore what most see every day.
Agree with you entirely. A momentary lapse. No doubt the Tory advisers to the BBC put him in an armlock soon afterwards and told him to “keep on message”
This graph doesn’t really show the effect of Tory austerity policies. The date comparison is from 2000 to 2015. Although I am sure that, if the last 3 years were added in, things would be even worse, This covers 10 years of Labour and 5 years of Tories with no indication (even if we are pretty sure) when the changes came about.
I doubt if Jeremy Vine will be too put out, mind. A guy who makes a mint chatting at Tory dinners etc.
I tend to agree with rotzeichen…ignorance is a choice and determined ignorance takes effort…he and others like him, supposed reporters – no longer report the facts…simply deliver opinions based on their own privilege…how can they possibly understand.
That this man was able to negotiate the past eight years of tory malignancy without noticing anything untoward around about him tells us all we need to know about his so called journalistic skills, his searching intellect, his plane of orbit and integrity.
If the tweets are followed, the next one reveals the better interpretation perhaps. It apparently all depends on which figures are used, And it can be easy to use misleading figures. :) :) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DrLoFSeXgAUQBVL.jpg
Why was Je4remy Vine shocked? It comes as no surprise at all to most of us.
Unfortunately he is in that rich band, so yes he may feign shock, but ultimately he will be talking about something else in a day or two and this will quickly be forgotten. The rich have a tight stranglehold on this country at the moment, and they will protect their own fortunes anyway they can. That’s why we have been lead down the path that is damaging this country so badly. The one thing that is being protected is rich people’s off shore investments and tax avoidance schemes.
For being so ill-informed (allegedly), he should be out of a job. Was he also so very ill-informed about the arms industry when he accepted a five figure sum for talking to them at an after dinner speech in 2015??