Normally I won’t hear a word against my fellow journalists. I even married one for heaven’s sake. But I do get a little uneasy when my esteemed colleagues start sounding off about people in public life who get free stuff.
The Prime Minister and his wife are currently in the stocks because of his designer glasses and her dresses, given by Lord Alli in return for a Number 10 pass. I’m enjoying seeing the sanctimonious Left being held to account and being forced to make a U-turn on accepting free clothes. But there are very few of us in the media who, hand on heart, can say we have not accepted freebies at some time.
You could argue that it is fair enough for book reviewers to get free books, theatre reviewers to get free tickets, travel writers to get free holidays and beauty writers to get free face cream. These are legitimate perks without which you could not do your job. But sometimes you are offered jollies for no other reason than that the organisation offering the jolly thinks you may be a useful contact – and that if they scratch your back, you will reciprocate.
Meanwhile, the crumbs from the table enjoyed by humble hacks are as nothing compared with the industrial-scale freeloading of influencers on social media, who – with their millions of followers – wield enormous economic power. The paradox is the very people who can afford to buy stuff – like the Starmers – often get it for free because that is the way the world works. Quid pro quo.
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