Terry McCrann (“1984, The sequel”, Herald-Sun, 26/3) invokes George Orwell to bolster his criticism of our ill-starred but nonetheless democratically elected government. This is a disservice to the memory of Orwell, a lifelong Leftist and class warrior who, if alive today, would favour Labor over the Coalition, and the Greens over both. In particular, Orwell would have supported the ownership restrictions in Labor’s failed media bill. One of his pet hates was newspaper magnates using their mastheads to peddle anti-Left propaganda such as McCrann’s.