Pass the salt

Abstract

In the months to come, the Government will be able to make its anti-terrorism policies felt in practice with virtually no formal scrutiny, since Parliament's long summer holiday will last until October unless it is recalled to consider emergency legislation. Scrutiny will therefore be in the hands of the media alone...[and] that reporting ought to be seasoned with well-placed pinches of salt. Scepticism, as a word, has been tainted with misuse in one political context, and many whose positions depend on getting the public to trust them would like to have scepticism confused with cynicism. They are not the same thing, but readers who are deprived of sceptical reporting have every excuse for turning into cynics.