Descent into lunacy

Not mine, as it happens, though it was a near run thing. Today the Guardian goes further into a cul de sac of stupidity, myopia and breathless hyperbole more usually located in a student union paper (Oxford Student anyone?) than in a national daily (although the Independent runs it close).

Martin Jacques is frightened - with good reason. He has discovered "the most serious threat to democracy in Western Europe since the Second World War." Now, you might be thinking, this must be terrifying - after all if it's more serious than the Red Army camped in Germany aiming nuclear missiles at Paris and London it must be pretty damn serious. Um, Iranian nukes? No, far less worrying. Islamism and terrorism? Come on, this is the Guardian. Give up? OK, this terrifying scourge is none other than...no it's too awful, Silvio Berlusconi.

Berlusconi, "the most dangerous political phenomenon in Europe" is not just worse than the Commies, he is in fact "the devil" and Tony Blair has damaged the world by his friendship with this satanic mastermind. And what, I hear you cry, is the evidence for this hellish monstrosity? Steady yourself, for both Blair and Berlusconi are characterised by "an indiscriminate worship of business and moneymaking, a belief in the power of the media, and a contempt for the left."

Well, if they didn't have a contempt for the left before reading this article, I bet they do now.