It's pretty rum when Mr Murdoch can plausibly be represented as a cultural improvement

Spectator, The, May 11, 2002 by Glover, Stephen

Those pundits who believe that unattributable briefings will end are also being naive. One writer bemoans the `cowardly anonymity' of British journalism which he thinks is fostered by the lobby. He complains that he still does not know who is supposed to have briefed against Mo Mowlam, or why. But this sort of thing will continue to go on, since it is by no means peculiar to the lobby. Government spin-doctors will brief sympathetic journalists on the telephone, as they already do, and views and beliefs will still be attributed to unnamed sources.

Here is a private beef which has nothing to do with the media. A couple of years ago I was surprised by my irritation when I saw police motorcyclists stopping traffic in the Strand to make way for the Princess Royal's limousine. She was apparently unaware that she was causing a minor traffic jam - she was chatting to someone in the back of her car - and even a staunch royalist could hardly fail to be annoyed. Then, during last June's election campaign, I was appalled when the police held up the traffic in south London to ease the passage of William Hague's bus on which I happened to be travelling. I asked Mr Hague whether he didn't feel a bit guilty, and he laughed and said that without the help of the police he would never get to wherever he was going. So what? Why should people have been made late for appointments so that he could address a handful of supporters in a market square?

Last week around lunchtime I saw police outriders stopping traffic outside the Albert Hall to make way for Jack Straw's Jaguar. Admittedly they were very expert, and caused the minimum of commotion, but it was jolly annoying to see them gesture aggressively to drivers to pull up so that Mr Straw's car could speed him on to his lunch appointment. I can hardly believe that this sort of thing goes on in this country. Perhaps, if we all agree to hate politicians who behave in this way, they will desist.