"And Labour are putting 11 candidates up for election."

Readers might wonder at the curious title of this post, but it is a quote from that august local newspaper, The Westmorland Gazette, which is published in Kendal and has been reporting Westmorland news since 1818.

I was interested to read on its About Us page, that it says,

The Westmorland Gazette, first published in 1818, is independent of political parties, private interests and government.

as that was not the impression I gained whilst looking back through coverage of the run up to the 2015 local council elections.

The article in question, entitled Lines drawn in local battle goes into great detail  about the seats held by the Conservative party, the dominance of the Liberal Democrat party, the strength of the field of the Green Party and the decision of one candidate to stand as an independent. But of the Labour Party candidates not a whiff, not a mention, not a hint, until the very last line, which reads like a last-minute addendum along the lines of, "Oh bother we forgot to mention Labour, just stick it on the end, no-one will notice!"

Guess what, Westmorland Gazette? It was noticed! So if you really mean what you say on your About Us page, would you please give equal billing to all parties in future elections?  After all, you would not like to be considered biased in any way, would you? Would you???