The Wall Street Journal recently imported a new editor-in-chief from the U.K. Emma Tucker is her name, formerly of Britain's The Sunday Times, and according to a recent National Review piece her mandate is "modernizing the highly profitable but sometimes stodgy paper, in part by diversifying its readership beyond its core audience of wealthy, white businessmen." Veterans of the paper told NR they have concerns about the shift, noting that Tucker "appears to lack a basic understanding of American government, politics, and culture," that she is bent on nudging the paper's political leanings leftwards, and "seems to be prioritizing less serious lifestyle stories with snappy headlines over hard-hitting accountability journalism. "

There is perhaps no more perfect illustration of these concerns than some of the paper's recent focus on the everlasting “climate change” story, especially as it pertains to sharp price rises among the prices of small luxury foods. According to a June 10th story, entitled “Climate Change Is Coming for the Finer Things in Life: Wine. Olive oil. Coffee. Cocoa. ‘It does feel a little apocalyptic'." The piece opens with an anecdote about an assistant in a London art gallery who can no longer afford to add olive oil to his salad dressings. “You remember the days when you could have olive oil,” he says, pitifully.