Right wing confusion & bile over Baby P
More nanny state, less nanny state. From castration to welfare layabouts, how the depressing tragedy that took place behind close doors is fuelling the tabloids’ rage and anti-working class bias
In Haringey, North London, a 2-year-old child died after being tortured by his scummy parents.
The resulting blaze of finger-pointing is reminiscent of an incoherent pub talk amongst pissed-up geezers. “This beer’s fookin shite, ennit?”, says one. And the other slurs “Yeah mate, ‘know what you mean, it’s ace, love it“.
Look at this. David Cameron, the man who suckled his political milk from the tits of there-is-no-such-thing-as-society, now is making the government accountable for anything dysfunctional that may go on in our society, even if it’s behind closed doors. The high ranks of the anti-”nanny state” brigade are asking angrily where nanny was. At a guess, the implication is, if the Tories were in power, no family violence, no barbaric cruelty, would take place.
continue reading… »
Censorship at Waterstones
New Humanist Blog report :
Just as it looked like Sarah Palin was going to walk away with the Bad Faith Awards, Christian ‘lone’ Voice Stephen Green makes a late bid for the prize, by forcing the Waterstones in Cardiff to cancel a book signing. Patrick Jones was due to sign copies of his new poetry collection Darkness is Where the Stars Are but Waterstones cancelled at the last moment citing concerns about disruption. Apparently our friend Stephen had mobilised a few believers, aggrieved at what they consider Jones’ blasphemy, who sent emails and called the store. What’s the deal! Are we allowed to pressure bookstores to cancel events featuring people we don’t like… if so there’s a few I’d like to start with.
I phoned the manager of the Cardiff Store, who wouldn’t comment but referred me to John Howells in their central press office. He said the event was cancelled because of concerns about safety in the light of a high volume of complaints received yesterday (he wouldn’t say how many or what proportion were emails or phone calls).
Not defending the BBC, not this time anyway
It’s a commonplace on this site that one should “defend” the BBC from unceasing, unsubtle and rather tiresome attacks from trenchant right-wingers. Very little written about the organization by either the Daily Mail, or any of its apers on the Web, has any merit. That’s true. The Beeb is worth defending: there’s something enriching about our ad-free broadcaster. Something that serves the public, that stands above the commercial white noise of modern television. Of course, the organization isn’t entirely non-commercial: BBC Worldwide makes decent profits that, at least nominally, feed back into UK public service broadcasting. So far, so uncontroversial. However, BBC Worldwide’s 2007 acquisition of travel guidebook publisher Lonely Planet did raise objections, continue reading… »
It Was The Sun Wot Manufactured It
The Sun crows over the Shannon Matthews case:
The prosecutor said cops recovered at [Michael] Donovan’s flat a copy of The Sun from March 11, with the headline: “£50,000 for Shannon. Sun ups reward to find lost girl.”
Police also discovered a copy of the Daily Mirror which had been ripped up and dumped in a bin.
Its bizarre that The Sun should choose to delight in this little factoid, because it draws attention to a few rather negative interpretations:
- “The Sun is paper of choice for evil scheming child abductors”
- “The Sun falls for trap set by evil scheming child abductors”
or worse
- “The Sun’s dubious track record inspires evil scheming child abductors”
‘Censorship’ I don’t mind
The Independent wrote an editorial on Monday arguing that ‘Censorship is not the answer’, in response to the news that: “news outlets should be prevented by law from reporting stories the Government judges to be against national security interests.” The paper even went as far as comparing it to 42 days legislation.
Let me explain what is actually going on here. The secret service, police and Home Office are supposed to have established a protocol in publically talking about terrorism related raids and arrests. This came after criticism that various agencies were leaking information about raids to the media to further their own agenda. Anyone remember the idiotic rumours in the national press when Forest Gate raids took place? There have been more since, “terror in the skies” etc, and the alleged plot to kill a Muslim soldier. Various papers including the Telegraph and Sun have even had to pay out for calling people terrorists when they weren’t.
So the government is finally getting its act together and putting forward legislation that would stop the media from pouncing on unsubstantiated rumours based on “anonymous sources” when it relates to terrorism related threats. Given its hard to plug holes, since the press use almost anyone as a “legitimate source”, this is a sensible move. It would not only stop crazy theories, but also prevent people being accused of crimes that have yet to be proven. The system of self-regulation doesn’t work and the Press Complaints Commission is a toothless waste of space.
Surprise surprise then, that newspapers oppose any such restrictions. Newspapers sell more when terrorism is on the front page, even if a few weeks or months after the event they quietly declare on page 37 that it amounted to very little. The Indy’s attempt to compare it to 42 days is a joke. This move should be welcomed.
Paul Dacre on the morality of shag & tell journalism
PAUL DACRE’S insistence that newspapers run with shag ‘n’ tell stories principally as a means to promote family values and uphold marital fidelity somehow – how can I put this? – fails completely to convince. Such limited moral rectitude on the matter as he may possess runs little deeper than the desire to sell tabloids by the truckload.
Accordingly, the speech delivered by the editor of the Daily Mail to the Society of Editors on Sunday night, in which he actually does push this proposition, has to be dismissed as cant of the most breathtaking proportions.
Is this the end of the age of cynicism?
Barack Obama has built enormous levels of goodwill in the manner of his emphatic election victory and claimed in the opening stanzas of his victory speech that it represented a triumph of hope over cynicism (”It’s the answer that led those who’ve been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.”)
In the enthusiasm of the moment, some commentators (among them the BBC’s own Matt Frei) went so far as to claim his victory has overturned a political consensus held for a generation: that negative campaigning is the only way to win – the lunatic assassination plot against Obama can be cited as one extreme example of the nature of reactions that may be inadvertently encouraged by negativity, and this may in fact be the best argument against negativism.
Blears on Blogging–Cluelessness or Wilful Ignorance?
Hazel Blears today gave an intriguing, wide ranging speech on a number of topics that I found interesting, thought provoking and mostly agreeable[1]. Unsurprisingly, the media has chosen to highlight the minor area of the speech in which she is both woefully misinformed and completely inaccurate. It is, naturally, the bit in which she talks about blogging [2].
US Elections 08: Key moments
Hey all, here is a post about the key moments that are happening in this potentially historic election. There is the liveblog/chat on the right of the main page for quick and more light hearted discussion, but here you can be as serious and excitable/cynical as you need to be about what is happening.
05:20 – Last word
Only five states are left to come in, all republican. Obama is likely to take Indiana, Montana and North Carolina off of the Republicans hands, but I can no longer wait up to see this happen. Good night all, it’s been an amazing evening. Well done to the new President Elect, Barack Obama.
On your marks… Get set… Go!
And the rightwing rags are off again.
This time the target is one of their own, BBC presenter and Thatcher-lovin’ columnist Jeremy Clarkson, who has upset viewers with a controversial remark about truckers.
Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has prompted more than 500 people to complain to the BBC about a joke he made on Sunday’s motoring show.
Clarkson, 48, was taking part in a lorry-driving task, when he joked about lorry drivers killing sex workers.
“Change gear, change gear, check mirror, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder. That’s a lot of effort in a day,” he said.
The BBC said the joke had made “ridiculous an unfair urban myth”.
Lorry driver Steve Wright was jailed in February for killing five prostitutes in Ipswich.
I suppose Jez should be considered collateral damage?
Thanks to Leon for the link.
Blood on the carpet
Yet more jibbering idiocy over the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand affair. Lesley Douglas, BBC Radio 2’s Controller, has resigned in the wake of tabloid outrage and hyperbole.
Last night on Newsnight the target of the “joke”, actor Andrew Sachs, said that the matter was pretty much over as the two presenters had apologised. Subsequently Brand has resigned and Ross has been suspended for 3-months by the BBC.
Don’t you just love it? The BBC, as always, has been forced to pull down its trousers and bend over, while the collective tabloid media buggers it silly with its enormous cock of hypocrisy. And yet again our shower of a government has piled in (as did Slippery Dave, but that’s hardly a surprise considering what a predictable populist shitbag he is).
What happens if I complain…
…about something on the BBC?
Your complaint must be logged and investigated under the terms of the BBC’s charter. You can complain about a programme even if it doesn’t directly affect you, and even if you didn’t see it at the time. If it is decided that any guidelines may have been breached there will be a further investigation. Action may be taken against those responsible for the programme/story in question. You can also complain to Ofcom, who have the power of unlimited fines. All this will be backed up by a torrent of media hysteria involving other newspapers and broadcasters, all of whom have a vested financial interest in seeing the BBC’s credibility damaged and their own profits boosted, given that their primary responsibility is to shareholders, not to their readers.
…about something published by the Daily Mail?
Your complaint will be recorded and you might get a letter or email back. If it’s about a story that doesn’t directly involve you, you cannot take the matter further. If it does directly involve you, you can write to the PCC. The Mail can write a letter explaining editorial policy to you. If you aren’t satisfied with that very generous offer, the Mail can write an apology if they deem it necessary. If they don’t, or even if they do and you still want to take it further, and if the PCC – which is chaired by the editor of the Mail – decides the Mail has got it wrong, it could write a ruling that says the newspaper has got it wrong. There is no further sanction or redress, unless the Mail has libelled you, and even then, it’s up to you to prove it has damaged you personally. You can get the case taken on as a conditional fee arrangement, but that’s harder than it sounds, as the big players are only interested in upset celebrities, where there are opportunities for big payouts without the necessity of having to go to court, rather than ordinary people, where it can be argued that the financial damage suffered to their reputation was much less.
So, it’s easy to see why the Mail has taken the moral high ground.
More “Joe the Plumber” BS
The Guardian has news that Sam “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher (who has become a byword for every hard-working American in John McCain’s stump-speech lexicon) is being courted by a record company, keen to turn him into a country music star.
Jim Della Croce, Wurzelbacher’s PR spokesperson (yeah, seriously), has claimed ::
“He is a dynamic speaker and an everyman who has become an overnight celebrity…”
Substitute “everyman” for “Republican plant”, and “overnight celebrity” for “compulsive liar”, and he’s just about right.
Wrong outrage, wrong target
There’s been an enormous tabloid fuss about Recorder Shaun Smith’s comments on namby-pamby sentencing guidelines, which he says prevented him from sending a burglar to jail.
[Dominic] Wong had admitted battering his way into [seven months pregnant] Safa Moustafa’s home and stealing cash while she cowered upstairs with her two-year-old daughter… [She said] ‘I’m now very nervous and anxious in my own home. I’m forever checking doors and windows and keep looking outside to see who’s around. I can’t even go into the garden unless my husband is here. I can’t be alone in the house and have friends to sleep over.’
Said Judge Smith:
This is sentencing by numbers. I want to send you to prison.The public want to see you go to prison. But I can’t send you to prison because of the guidelines I have been given.’
Indeed, this is an outrage. But the outrage is that the judge doesn’t appear to know the guidelines that he’s working from.
continue reading… »
British Women (and Men) – Your Help Needed Now
I went to a meeting last night at the House of Commons about abortion rights and the up-coming amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. At the meeting I heard some very moving stories about the experience of women in Northern Ireland.
For instance a woman who was told after having a child that if she became pregnant again she could lose her eyesight. Then her contraception failed but under Northern Irish law since she only MIGHT go blind she was not able to access abortion. Instead in desperation she borrowed money from a loan shark to pay to travel to England for a private abortion, leaving her life further at risk from trying to pay back the cost (which typically ranges from £600 to £2000) at interest rates of 150%. continue reading… »
TODAY’S TOP STORIES / 6th October
Elsewhere
42-day detention maybe not dropped as unworkable
McCain team gets personal
The £2trillion question: Will Brown guarantee deposits?
Va. GOP fears McCain could lose the state
Stocks fall. Everyone dies.
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Jennie Rigg
Senator Stuart Svyret has some exclusive and shocking updates on the Jersey child abuse scandal (hat-tip: Jonathan Calder)
Charlie Stross wonders how we’re all going to cope with the first recession of the internet age.
Lib Dem Voice is giving a platform to all three presidential candidates. Two of the three have so far posted articles. At the risk of sounding like James Graham: where’s Lemby?
Political Betting wishes a very happy first birthday to Gordon Brown’s biggest cock-up.
Anton Vowl has discovered that not content with nicking stuff from Beau Bo, the Fail are now stealing from Fox News.
Laariii posts on the reason why even though women are breaking into male-dominated workplaces, men are not rushing to female-dominated jobs in the Bad Feminists group blog.
I’m still picking on the party’s public stance on equality (or lack thereof)
Amused Cynicism is chronicling the continuing assault on our civil liberties.
Ryan Cullen has created a special new version of Digg especially for Lib Dem members, although apparently anyone can look, so if you want to go see what excites geeky Lib Dems, knock yourself out. I don’t see the point of it myself, but James Graham likes it, so it MUST be useful… 
And amid all these tales of woe there’s one little beardy ray of sunshine, and it’s the Honourable Lady Mark Valladares, who has found recycling provision in Devon to be mightily impressive.
Why socialists should vote Lib Dem.
Kate Belgrave posed this question on this very site when replying to Jennie Rigg. Kate seems to be slowly warming to the idea but nonetheless I think it is a relevant question. The first thing to note is that there are doctrinal differences between liberals and socialists; they largely arise in different attitudes to capitalism and how to deal with it. Socialists want to replace it and liberals want to promote it while protecting the most vulnerable members of society. Of course, this is a sweeping generalisation which doesn’t do nearly enough justice to the complexities of the issue but it will have to do for now.
However, if we are being entirely honest, socialists don’t really have much of a clue what to replace capitalism with anymore following the failure of social democracy and communism. This is not the place to discuss why those two things failed but it does lead us to make an important discovery; the doctrinal differences are narrower now than at any time in history. Liberals and socialists share a common interest in the preservation and protection of the lower strata of society. continue reading… »
Top Stories and Blog Review – 28th Sept
Elsewhere
Vaz under pressure over 28-day query
Tories plan to create 5,000 new schools
Breakthrough Reached in Negotiations on Bailout
McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Jennie Rigg
James Graham has been to Labour Conference and found it wanting.
Liberal England discusses the picture of Ed Balls in Nazi uniform.
Junkfood Science reports on the “success” of BMI assessment of children. My own daughter took part in the UK pilot of this recently…
Peter Black is stunned to discover that some dodgy folk have been contributing to Tory coffers.
Showbiz: Chicken Yoghurt’s tribute to Paul Newman; and Spirit of 1976 has the trailer for the new biopic of Dubya.
Cookery: This Little Piggy Went To Market has been making cookies; and organic box company Farmaround has a fine selection of vegetarian recipes for you to choose from.
(if you’re wondering why we have a showbiz and cookery section now, click here)
And if that’s not enough links for you, Scepticisle has more.
England Expects in silence
Via Mr Eugenides, I see that a blog, England Expects, written by a press officer, Gawain Towler, for the European Parliament Independence and Democracy Group, which includes UKIP, has been effectively shut down.
While it appears he may have been in a technical breach of the rules, I would submit that the rules appear to be over strict and that their application in this case – to someone representing a political grouping – is inappropriate.
As it happens, I disagree with the sentiment expressed with Gawain Towler in the original post that caused him trouble. However,
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
~Evelyn Beatrice Hall summarising Voltaire’s attitude towards Helvétius.
Talk-Radio meltdown
You’re going to love this…
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or rss feeds.
» Why don’t MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours?
» Obama is right to slam BP – and why capitalists should too
» Why does Phillip Blond see civil cohesion as a security issue?
» So what if the Labour candidates went to Oxbridge?
» Last night’s Labour hustings: will it get interesting or turn to torture?
» It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour
» The Labour people need
» Blog Nation: what would you like to see discussed?
» The Labour leadership’s token contender.. and it’s not Diane Abbott
» In defence of these fraternal nominations
» Is this the end for the socialist left?
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