The British media has always been populated by larger than life figures – from Northcliffe to Maxwell, Beaverbrook to Harmsworth, Barclay to Lebedev and, of course Rupert Murdoch.

They have used their power to undermine or promote governments; create scare campaigns; and use their power to enrich themselves or others. They have been scandal-ridden and the huge phone-tapping saga from a decade or so ago, for instance, embroiled many media companies.

To Murdoch’s credit, of course, is his refusal to solicit the perks of honours and titles which most other media barons have sought. Beaverbrook, for all his pernicious impacts on politics, also did one wonderful thing – reorganising British aircraft production, which was undoubtedly a major factor in wining the Battle of Britain.

But now the latest media power centre is a small outfit which Private Eye, among others, has spent much time dismissing or scoffing about. But scoffing aside, GB News now outrates BBC News and the UK Sky News on some days.

GB News is becoming increasingly influential and its support for the right-wing party, Reform and its leader Nigel Farage, has helped Farage become the preferred British prime minister according to a number of opinion polls. Farage, of course, also led the Brexit campaign, creating in the process a memorable image of a knockabout chap keen on fags, beer and power. If the average working man had to choose a British pollie to have pint with, it would be Nigel.

Farage’s Reform party Reform UK — the new name of the Brexit Party — won five seats, had 609 candidates and received 14.3% of the vote in the 2024 general election. Since then, it has stormed to the head of the opinion polls.

Now, all this is occurring at a time when a huge number of things have gone wrong in the UK. Waterways are full of sewage; major projects are inevitably late and way over budget; and, the National Health Service — once the centrepiece of the London Olympic opening ceremony and a much-loved institution — is in dire straits after successive governments have upended its structures in restructuring programs, which have made it less effective while starving it of funding.

The first country since the time of the Romans to undertake massive infrastructure improvement, England is now a basket case which can’t build anything on time or within budget. The public works backlog and the sheer scale of the problems the country faces are overwhelming.

There is also a housing crisis and increasing poverty while billionaires proliferate. There are fewer Russian oligarchs there now, but lots of others who maintain non-dom status to avoid taxes while enjoying the benefits London offers the ultra-rich. All in all, England’s problems seem intractable.

The Tories finally lost an election after many years in power which ended in corruption and incompetence. Riding into power with a huge majority, Keir Starmer has proved to be timid beyond belief, making Anthony Albanese look like the greatest reformer since Paul Keating and Gough Whitlam.

Amy Fallon, writing in Crikey (11/8), says UK media figures are now warning that GB News needs to be taken seriously.

She reports that GB News has so far lost about £100 million. However, its co-owner, multi-millionaire Sir Paul March, is bankrolling the station. Its chief executive is Angelos Frangopoulos who was previously at Sky News where he was chief executive for 22 years, working with Andrew Bolt and Peta Credlin.

Fallon says its audience is predominantly older and male and has a monthly reach of 5.78% viewing compared with 74.66% for the BBC.

She has been watching it for months and even attended a live broadcast. A middle-aged woman in the audience announced she was a TERF and said most of the audience were too. For those who don’t know what a TERF is, like me, it’s a trans-exclusionary radical feminist – which appears to be a declaration that women are women. Fallon said the audience had come from afar to hear news about how the UK Labour Government was paving the way for gender identity lessons for school children as young as nine.

Fallon also reports that since GB News was launched, it has faced 20 broadcast standards investigations with 12 recorded breaches. GB News may have started small — just as Farage did — but its impact is growing.

In one of Max Gillies satirical shows, he played John Howard sitting quietly in a chair sipping tea. He chatted away to the audience about what he had done and what people had thought of him over his life in politics. Then after a long pause he said, ”You’re not laughing now are you?”

The English people might be saying this about Farage in the not-so-distant future.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.