The Issues at Hand in the Heartlands

True as ever to the liberal democratic spirit, the Guardian has sent a minion to a pub to find out what might be going on in the minds of the lower classes. Kirsty Scott went to the Broomfield Tavern in Lanarkshire, than which "there are few more solidly Labour regions in the country" and interviewed three whole voters.

A fifty-five-year-old man "nurses a half of stout and a growing anger at what is happening to the party that once earned his support". A sixty-six-year-old man and retired health worker "still thinks of John Smith" and says that "Nobody trusts them now ... I will never vote for them again". As with many a newspaper quote from the civilian population, the ellipses are by far the most interesting part. A fifty-eight-year-old man "blamed the media for the frenzy of speculation over Mr Blair's departure", but added that "everything they've done for us has been good. You have to remember when they got in, how it felt. It's like a religion, Celtic and Rangers. You want Labour in."

It is certainly good of the Guardian to occupy Kirsty Scott's time with the down-home insights of these honest working folk. It is to be hoped that Ms Scott did not have to spend too much time trawling Lanarkshire watering-holes for honest working folk who could express themselves in a fashion so elegantly combining Scots pith and editorial wind.