Pretender to the crown
Sir: Kate Andrews combines detail and analysis with a sprinkling of satire to devastating effect in her article on Kamala Harris (‘Trump’s new rival’, 27 July). The news anchor she describes in the first sentence (‘I’m struck just in your presence’) is more partisan than journalist, and would give Ofcom good reason to clutch its pearls if they popped up on GB News. Here is someone who identifies as, but isn’t actually, a news anchor. Rather like Harris, who identifies as a politician but hasn’t gone to the trouble of securing any actual votes. Perhaps this is why the Democrats have the overwhelming support of Hollywood, whose whole business is, after all, pretence.
Compare the unhealthy state of the American mainstream media with the BBC of a generation ago, when Robin Oakley became political editor. In his Spectator Turf column of 13 July he writes that when he got the job: ‘I gave up political betting on the spot, aware that if it became known I had punted on some political outcome, accusations of partial reporting would rapidly follow.’ As consumers of news and opinion, on whatever media, we need to recognise and reward such integrity wherever it can be found.
Jon Wainwright
Cliburn, Cumbria
Age concern
Sir: Joe Biden said he was passing the torch to a new generation when he endorsed Kamala Harris for president. At 59, Kamala is not that young. This was the phrase used by Jack Kennedy when he was inaugurated in 1961, aged 43, succeeding Eisenhower, aged 70. Kamala is also five years older than Lyndon Johnson was when he became president and, unlike LBJ, will have served a full term as vice-president. Surely the problem is that, thanks to Donald Trump and then Joe Biden, we have become accustomed to old white men in the White House.
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