Tories Fiddle Crime Figures To Suit Their Story  

Three cheers for Mark Easton, the BBC’s Home Affairs Editor, for filleting the Tories’ claims about crime. Mark is a rarity among journalists today in that he cares about facts and accuracy. He has subjected Conservative claims about crime rates used to support their “Broken Britain” campaign to proper scrutiny and has shown them to be fiddled. While Cameron has claimed crime, including violent crime has gone up, it’s actually gone down, significantly, Mark points out. It’s a shame there aren’t more journalists of Mark’s integrity and courage. Most appear to be afraid of upsetting the Tories by subjecting their claims and policies to proper scrutiny. Could that be that they are hoping for special treatment if the Tories win the election? The Mirror’s James Lyons is another honorable exeption this collective cowardice. He has built on...