I've always been wary of the "propaganda model" of journalism. It seems to me more of an excuse for losers than an argument - and a patronising excuse at that, which takes people for fools and dupes. On the Left, disappointed men from Engels through to Chomsky have tried to pretend that their ideas failed not because they were foolish or dangerous but because the ruling class brainwashed the masses by "manufacturing consent" for the established order.

 Labour's press conference this morning was hosted by Douglas Alexander, who is more impressive in the flesh than on television, and Ed Balls, who in middle-age looks ever more jowly and liverish, like Wackford Squeers after a hard day's flogging. I asked an obvious question: Why shouldn't centre-left voters support Clegg rather than Brown?

This is a cross-post from Index on Censorship

Simon Singh wins! The British Chiropractic Association(BCA) has today served a Notice of Discontinuance bringing to an end its libel claim against Dr Simon Singh. The science writer was accused of libel for an article in which he cast doubt on chiropractors’ claims of success in treatment of childhood conditions including colic, ear infections, asthma.

Well, given the contortions in modern liberalism, Amnesty's abandonment of universal human rights was always likely. In the 2000s I wrote that Amnesty was becoming equivocal about political violence, torture, racism and the hatred of women and gays if abuse could not be blamed on the West. (Here scroll down.) Still, its final collapse remains a melancholy spectacle and a shocking one.