The Periscope Post

The Leaders UK: All the best of the UK editorial pages, all in one place.

The Times: With its front page rallying round “The Battle for Middle England”, The Times tackled the same on its editorial page today. The “swing states” of England – those places where the election is almost too close to call – are “the suburbs, the market towns and the perimeters of the old industrial areas” and, said the paper, “These are the places that will decide the general election.” Calling it the “most exciting election in 35 years,” The Times concluded, “The independently minded people of the middle of England have not spoken yet. They will decide the outcome when they do.”

The Telegraph: Branding this election as a kind of “democratic renewal”, following a Parliament that saw “the gulf between rulers and ruled” widen, The Telegraph wants to see real debate on the issues come out of this campaign season. While still backing the Conservatives – or at least hating Prime Minister Gordon Brown – the paper nonetheless noted that voters don’t want sound-bites, they want a plan.

The Guardian: “Oliver Cromwell’s famously dismissive words to the Rump Parliament in 1653 — ‘Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation . . . In the name of God, go’ — may strike a resonant chord across the nation and the centuries,” The Guardian wrote today. This election could not come at a more dire time: Britain needs a new government, but voters need more than “time for a change” versus “more of the same” sound-bites. “This will be one of the most challenging elections of modern times. It poses a challenge not just to the parties but to the entire political culture of the country,” the paper said. “The weeks ahead present an opportunity to break with a failed past. This week is the last wash-up of a washed-up parliament.”

The Independent: In this election, The Independent will be looking at several main issues: Social reform (Britain’s not “broken”, but the gap between rich and poor is a bit too wide – social cohesion should be on the next government’s agenda); education; health, specifically addressing the needs of the ageing population; the economy (the paper noted that the Liberal Democrats are the only party to even start to spell out those drastic cuts everyone’s been talking about); electoral system reform; and Britain’s foreign policy (specifically, Britain’s continued support to the US in the war in Afghanistan and the country’s relationship to Europe).

The Sun: The tabloid urged – though that might be too light a word for it – Britons to get out and vote this election. Having nailed its colours firmly to the Conservative mast, The Sun nevertheless added, after a thinly-veiled diatribe against Labour, “But the choice is entirely yours. We will keep you informed so you can make up your own mind. Above all, please don’t turn your back on this election.”

But lest you think the tabloid could end its leading editorial on a less partisan note, be assured, it didn’t: “In Afghanistan our troops are dying so democracy can take hold. Democracy means YOU ultimately have the right to decide if the Government has let you down, wrecked the country, or betrayed our Armed Forces.”

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