AS AN ADMIRER of The Times I am concerned at
its tendency to hide from issues until it feels the coast is clear. There have been a number of ex- amples lately—the Shops Bill, for one; and one of the most glaring came last week in the form of a powerful leader-page article on parliamentary privilege. The gist of the piece was that the Commons had made asses of themselves in the recent privilege cases; and the writer criticised Mr. John Junor, the Sunday Express editor in- volved : 'Did not Mr. Junor lose an opportunity to emulate Wilkes's example in a good cause? His case was relatively strong.' It was; but it would have been a good deal stronger if he had received any support from The Times. As I remember, The Times chose to maintain a discreet editorial silence throughout the incident. 'That Jemmy Twitcher should 'peach me . .
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