A Short Guide To Reading 'The Guardian'

While the BBC, the 'Daily Telegraph', the 'Daily Mirror' and the 'Daily Mail' all saw fit to record the passing of the Scottish SAS veteran John McAleese, as at the time of writing this I have been unable to find any reference to his death in the online edition of 'The Guardian'.

I hope that they have made some mention of it in the paper edition. If they have not, its editors would be guilty either of shocking carelessness or unforgivable churlishness. While we might not like the uses to which our armed forces are sometimes put, we should always be on the side of the very brave men on the ground who do the fighting, the ordinary soldiers who didn't go to Eton or Harrow. They're the ones whose side 'The Guardian' is always supposed to be on.

'The Guardian' is often at its best when Britain is at its worst, such as during the phone-hacking scandal. Equally, it is when Britain is or has been at its best that 'The Guardian' is often at its worst, and this is a classic case in point. It takes physical courage greater than I can fathom to do what Mr. McAleese and his colleagues did in 1980, and to be disrespectful to those who preserve your liberty is to treat it with contempt.

My condolences to Mr. McAleese's family.