pot, kettle, pot, kettle

When it was reported (somewhat speciously) over the weekend that MPs were demanding a significant pay rise, there was a vituperative response in the media.

So you would have thought that the (far more realistic) prospect of a similar improvement in conditions for Assembly Members would have been leapt upon by Wales' paper of record, the Western Mail. Instead, today's editorial says:

"It is easy to make a populist case around the view that politicians are already paid quite sufficiently, and that all they are interested in is "feathering their own nests". We believe that the temptation to peddle this view should be resisted."

You could practically hear the complimentary tea and biscuits being dropped to the floor in surprise at the Senedd. Was this an attempt by the Western Mail to create a more mature, sophisticated and consensual relationship between politicians, the media and the public? Was it an early outbreak of seasonal goodwill?
No:

"This newspaper is relaxed about the likelihood of AMs getting a substantial pay rise - in fact, we welcome the prospect if in the longer term it means there will be an overall improvement in the calibre of our politicians...
"It is our view that a substantial number of the current AMs fall far short of the required standard. Some barely make a contribution to the Assembly's proceedings, and when they do succeed only in embarrassing themselves and those watching. The thought of some of the current AMs making a worthwhile contribution to legislative scrutiny is risible."

Ah. What superficially looked like an attempt to elevate the political discourse is in fact the latest installment in a long-running feud between the Western Mail and the Assembly Government. Highlights have include the paper spiking Culture Minister Alun Pugh's weekly column after he called the paper "a bit of a joke", and the Assembly responding by threatening to take its job adverts elsewhere.
Remind me where journalists and politicians feature in the list of most disliked and distrusted professions?