I wrote last year about the perverse decision favouring Lillian Ladele. This was the woman who thought she should be able to ignore the law of the land and refused to conduct Civil Partnership ceremonies. She probably wanted to pour green custard over them, but that’s another example of people unable to accept democratic decisions taking the law into their own hands. I see from this week’s Islington News that having had the original decision overturned (has anybody investigated the tribunal who came to this perverse decision?) that her latest appeal has failed. As Ms. Ladele is funded by the Christian Institute I expect this to go all the way up through the House of Lords and to the European Court of Human Rights wasting a lot of time and money that could be far more productively used. They have not recorded their defeats on their website.

I googled Lillian Ladele to research this piece and all the top hits are totally out of date.

BBC                Times                Sunday Times                Daily Mail                 Daily Telegraph etc, there are more

I cannot find one national news organisation with the facts. Worse click on any of these above and you will think that Lillian Ladele has won her case. Google is a neutral tool so the responsibility lies with the broadcasters anbd the newspapers. All these sites are out of date. None have been updated (and the appeal was overturned in December) and they still give a distorted view of what happened. Of course they like a controversial story and find common sense boring. I think it is unlikely that appealing to these organisations good nature will get them to report more responsibly. What will I suspect is when someone defames or worse assaults somebody because of what they have found on the net.

I am against internet regulation but as a public organisation the BBC is failing massively by not reporting the facts. It is following the 24/7 “feral beast” trend that menas that despite massive improvements in life expectancy the NHS is still lazily bashed. It is not perfect but where are the stories about people living longer happier lives. It is a fact because actuaries have confirmed this:

“Over the last few years, the issue of longevity risk has gained prominence as mortality rates, and therefore life expectancies, have been improving at an accelerating and faster than anticipated pace.” The Actuary 1.5.08

A Labour government, an improved economy and NHS and people live longer. Conclusive to me but who makes this causal link in the media? No it’s a MMR scare here and an isolated example of bad treatement there.  A true picture is that by voting Labour the country has accelerated its increase in longevity. Vote Labour to Live Longer, it’s a fact! What a slogan!

I have leapt a bit here but the point is the same. We live longer and have more money. We are more tolerant and Lilllian is an outdated bigot.

Yet our media fails to report this and runs down things far more readily than praising them. They need to get how the web works and their responsibilities to their readers and viewers.