I'm surprised by how little reaction to this story has cropped up amongst the social spaces I inhabit online:
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I didn't, but I explained I was a journalist for The Independent looking to speak to a man at an address in the area, who was standing as a candidate in the local elections, about allegations of postal vote fraud. "Can we see your note pad," the boy asked. I declined and then the first punch came - landing straight on my nose, sending blood and tears streaming down my face. Then another. Then another.An Independent journalist, investigating electoral fraud, is beaten up in the pursuit of a story. As Brian Micklethwait, a blogger whose work I have long enjoyed, puts it on Samizdata, a libertarian blog:
Isn't trying to learn the truth about things, sometimes naively and foolishly, going where people who already know it all are too wise to venture, what journalism is all about?
Yes. And that's why I think this might be a more important story than many that have washed over the media in this election campaign.
