Upset about the way this newspaper has been covering stories about Corbyn? Here's my response

One of the recurring themes of Jeremy Corbyn’s young leadership of the Labour Party is that he’s guilty until proven innocent in the eyes of the mainstream media, which just goes to show how out of touch with Britain this industry is. Given this newspaper has a stake in that industry, is passionate about politics, and that Corbyn’s supporters have something of a point, I think we had better address this criticism head on.

“Another day. Another non-story” tweeted Diane Abbott this week, with a link to one of our articles. The next day the Daily Mail published a picture of her and Corbyn from the 1970s, suggesting that they were lovers. Her riff on Twitter is one I’m seeing all the time. Apparently we in the mainstream media just don’t get it.

The ironies abound here. While Corbyn supporters say that there is a conspiracy by Britain’s mostly right-wing press to demonise a man of principle and integrity, Britain’s mostly right-wing press has long maintained that the country is run by a liberal metropolitan elite. They both claim to speak for the common folk of our country. They can’t both be right; and for what it’s worth, I think Corbyn’s camp is closer to the truth on this one.

But I also think Corbyn’s media strategy so far has lacked nous (see Andy McSmith’s excellent profile on page 40 for some of the background to this). I don’t care if this sounds self-interested: disparaging the mainstream media as a homogenous lump of Tory clones, as many Corbyn supporters do, is just not very smart. Newspapers are still read by millions of voters, both in print and online; and, crucially, set the agenda for broadcasters. Ignoring them would be naïve. I get the impression the Corbyn camp is waking up to this, not least from his rather turgid column in the Financial Times yesterday.

Here’s where we stand, so everyone’s clear. We’re going to take Corbyn very seriously indeed, interrogating his policies and asking constantly whether they’re right for Britain. Just as we do for all parties – including the Lib Dems, for whom the Corbyn phenomenon offers a glimmer of hope.

By the way, as an atheist republican who thinks our national anthem is awful, I’m with Corbyn on that score. How about Gustav Holst’s “I Vow to Thee, My Country”?

Final point. I’m very sorry indeed for the upset we caused by reducing the size of the jumbo crossword. Several of you complained about this, and in retrospect it was an error that I regret. By popular demand the jumbo crossword will be back in all its glory very soon, as part of an extra full page of games and puzzles – totalling four pages each Saturday. I hope we can sort that in time for next week.