Alan’s written an interesting piece on keeping track of history. It’s a thought provoking read and I think he raises some valid points around how hard it is, even in the information age, to find out background information about news items, in part to due to the fact that they are often written before an event actually takes place – particularly with reference to political statements. I find myself agreeing with Alan’s observation that

If journalists do not see it as their job to give such background and it is still so hard to find elsewhere, then politicians can go on deceiving themselves and their people.