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The Trouble With This Country is the Daily Mail

Does the Daily Mail epitomise the best or the worst of Britain?

Immigrant-bashing, woman-hating, Muslim-smearing, NHS-undermining, gay-baiting”. That’s how one critic has described the Daily Mail. It depicts a world where traditional British values are under siege – from the EU, rising crime, and benefit scroungers – and it assures its readers that they are not alone in their anxieties. It loves nothing more than a good health scare. According to the Mail, almost everything causes cancer (116 items at the last count, including salami, flipflops and chimney sweeping). As for women, they are castigated for trying to ‘have it all’, and any female celebrity who ‘dares to bare’ on the beach is subjected to microscopic scrutiny of her physique. Perhaps most worrying of all is the power the Mail holds over our politicians. “What would the Mail say?” is the question ministers ask themselves when considering any liberal policy that might get a slap-down from the paper. Making the case against the Mail in this debate were Zoe Williams of the Guardian and the Rev Richard Coles, the former popstar who is now a parish priest and much-loved Radio 4 presenter.

On the other side of the argument were Daily Mail columnist Peter Oborne and Roger Alton, former editor of the left-leaning Observer newspaper. As they pointed out, the Mail is the UK’s most popular newspaper in print and online. Millions of ‘ordinary’ people read it because it understands and articulates their concerns better than other papers. Mail readers are decent, hardworking people, struggling to pay their bills, ambitious for their children and loyal to their country. Hatred of the Mail comes largely from the liberal elite who sneer at unfashionable types who don’t work at the BBC or the Guardian. The Mail may be hard on immigrants and celebrities, but it has served this country time and again by exposing the wrongdoings of the rich and powerful. And it has a fine track record as a campaigning newspaper, most famously bringing the killers of Stephen Lawrence to justice by naming them murderers and challenging them to sue.


Speakers

For the motion

Zoe Williams

Columnist for the Guardian and New Statesman


Regular columnist for the Guardian and New Statesman, for which she writes political commentary, interviews and reviews.
Against the motion

Roger Alton

Executive editor of The Times


Former editor of The Independent and The Observer and executive editor of The Times. He writes a regular sports column for the Spectator.

Peter Oborne

Political columnist on the Daily Mail


Political columnist on the Daily Mail, associate editor of The Spectator and former chief political commentator of the Daily Telegraph. His books include The Rise of Political Lying and The Triumph of the Political Class.
Chair

Kamal Ahmed

Journalist, author and former BBC News Editorial Director


Journalist who has been Editorial Director of BBC News and BBC Economics Editor. He has also held senior roles at The Telegraph Group, The Observer and The Guardian. He recently co-founded The News Movement, a start-up dedicated to tackling misinformation. He is the author of The Life and Times of a Very British Man.