- China clay - 19th March 2025
- Television drama - 18th March 2025
- Jiffy squeezed again - 17th March 2025
During 23 years with the BBC, and 41 years in journalism (when he was trained to use simple language, avoiding jargon), political stories as well as looking at key events differently, have always been central for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, and the spotlight has been turned on this by the ‘news’ coming out of China’s ruling National People’s congress recently where troublesome non-party journalists were barred, the leader was praised, and much of what was said was absurd and formulaic.
Politics and politicians have always proved a rich hunting ground for me.
Journalists can be relied upon to report the scandals, a party’s woes, and opposition to controversial policies.
For example it was independent journalistic research which revealed how public money was used by the Scottish National Party (SNP), to upgrade travel arrangements for then leader Nicola Sturgeon, pay for a party member’s theory driving test, fund yoga classes, and buy multiple copies of books, including a collection of her speeches.
The spree that has been disclosed included almost £10,000 on VIP airport upgrades, and more than £32,000 on team-building exercises.
Apart from the yoga classes, driving test and books, other purchases by senior staff included nail polish, and £4,182 for hospitality, as well as accommodation at the five-star Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire.
In all £14.2 million of taxpayers’ cash was spent by Scottish civil servants in three years.
Taxpayer money was also spent on wellington boots “for inspections”, as well as expensive crockery for a meeting room.
The backdrop is incredible, because all of this is hard on the heels of an extraordinary police investigation following allegations of fraud, and an astonishing leadership election campaign, in which a contender said that in line with her religious beliefs she opposed gay marriage.
Unfortunately none of the kind of journalistic inquiry which brought this out exists officially in China, where political discourse has been baked in clay FOR YEARS, so you have to look at underground outlets for an idea of what is really going on.
Instead of the cut and thrust of political debate in the UK Parliament, or the Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (WP/SC), the picture in China’s rubber-stamp National People’s Congress (NPC) this month was one of polite decorum, dutiful praise of the leader Xi Jinping, and the announcement of ridiculous economic ‘targets’, which were as fanciful as they were unrealistic.
There would be no place for trouble-making journalists like me!
In the report of Li Qiang, China’s Prime Minister announcements were made of the same official economic growth target as last year (which has been described as complete nonsense by experts) – about five per cent.
He also provided a catalogue of 10 “major tasks” for the year ahead that echoed the list in 2024.
There would be, Mr Qiang declared, industrial modernisation, technological self-reliance and expanding domestic demand.
Stimulating domestic spending (which is MUCH needed because the economy is in the doldrums) was elevated from the third priority last year to the top task for 2025.
Indeed, Mr Li mentioned consumption 32 times, which is a record.
The previous peak (adjusted for the length of the speech) was 26 times in 2009, as China tried to revive spending in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Regrettably China (like many others) is not a signatory of the International Criminal Court (ICC) so it can do nothing about the country’s persecution of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the details of rape, torture as well as mass imprisonment had to be revealed by brave journalists.
China has tried to cover up all these abuses, and, for example, blanked out the prison camps on online maps only for diligent researchers to find them again by looking at the empty spaces.
According to Kenneth Roth, a former head of Human Rights Watch, China has become the greatest “threat to the global human-rights system”.
This comment, and human rights violations, show, too, the importance of politics (Chinese authorities claim they have dealt with transgressions firmly and have responded to pressure from ordinary people), as well as the role of independent journalism.
You wouldn’t get the state kind reporting these sort of things!
Details including political stories like these by Phil, as he was gripped by the rare neurological condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
Soon how as well as important stories on The Eye, cultural news about movies and books are central for Phil, and now comes news that a film in China is breaking all box office records, perhaps because it doesn’t tell people what to think.
Tomorrow – how for Phil it has always been paramount to describe groups correctly, and this is emphasised by new research coining a fresh term for a generation.
