A nice piece from the Financial Times about politicains (Tony Blair in this case) and the current view of them held by the media.

"What should worry Mr Blair - and, assuming they ever expect to hold office again, his Conservative opponents - is the corrosive cynicism that has spread into the rest of the media. Political journalism more often than not now starts and ends with the premise that all politicians are born dishonest, with no ambition or purpose beyond personal advancement.

This new fashion for what might be called anti-politics is far more dangerous for democracy than partisan- ship. It seeks to denigrate not one side or the other of the political argument but the entire process itself. It excludes from its definition of politics the substance that should lie at its heart. Public policy, which is what gives politics meaning, is elbowed aside in favour of the fevered obsessions of the Westminster village."