When I was a schoolboy, I was sent on a week’s work experience. One morning, my “boss” was wrestling with a serious and difficult problem and wasn’t sure, professionally, of his best course of action. Accordingly, he walked into the room of Louis – a senior colleague – taking me with him, and setting the facts before him, asked for his analysis and advice. Having received his colleague’s view, we walked back to my “boss'” room.
He closed the door. “Now we know what Louis thinks, everything is clear. The answer is the absolute opposite of his view.”.
The Guardian is so predictably wrong that, in a similar manner, it has become a sort of inverse moral and political compass.
Others, including CIFWatch, have pointed to the notable disconnect between The Guardian’s analysis of the Israeli elections, and the outcome. But let’s do it again.
First up, Ian Black, the Guardian’s Middle East Editor who saw:
Netanyahu poised to return to power at the head of a more right-wing and uncompromising government than Israel has ever seen before…
Here’s Jonathan Freedland‘s most recent public hand-wringing act. He feared that:
a government ranked as one of the most rightwing in Israel’s history is set to be replaced by one even further to the right
and observed:
The centre of gravity is about to shift so far rightward that Netanyahu and even Lieberman will look moderate by comparison
Hamas fan and silly blogger, Rachel Shabi had this to say:
Israel is expected to elect the most rightwing government in its history on Tuesday – a coalition that will make the current prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, look like a man of peace.
Israel correspondent, Harriet Sherwood expected:
a strengthening of the hard right in the next parliament
Peter Beaumont bemoaned:
Israel’s right-shifting political scene
And now, the actual results. Here’s the BBC’s short summary of the likely outcome:
Coalition talks are set to begin in Israel after general election results predicted right-wing and centre-left blocs tied on 60 seats each.
What’s the lesson to be learnt? Well, if you start off with a particular ideological position that you promote and defend as essentially a matter of religious faith, then you will often find that reality takes you by surprise. That, I think, is what has happened here.
By the way, if you would like to buy the t shirt, you can get it here.
