What Rachida Dati’s pregnancy says about the quality of political coverage

My morning reading of choice is the Times, especially given the fact that the Guardian just annoys me. All that prissy ‘the Government should do this, this and this’ irks, especially when the ‘that, that and that’ is lifted directly from our manifesto and we’re being simultaneously rubbished.

My attention was drawn to the talk of Rachida Dati, described by the Times as, “42, the unmarried Justice Minister and glamourpuss of President Sarkozy’s cabinet”. Glamourpuss? Pardon? Ms Dati is pregnant, and not in a public relationship. This is, apparently, the cause of a media frenzy, with pundits trying to work out who the father is.

I too have some questions. Does her pregnancy impact on her ability to do her job? Does the identity of the father do so? If not, why the fuss?

There is a tradition in French politics, as stated by ‘Le Canard Enchainé’, a weekly journal which specialises in political scandal, that news ends at the bedroom door. The right to a private life is cherished in France, and privacy laws are, accordingly, strict.

Unfortunately, there appears to be no law preventing journalists from patronising half of their readers, or in this instance, more than half of them…