Slapdown: Emily Maitlis drew criticism from BBC watchdogs for pointing out Tory double-standards during Covid-19 lockdown.
This is a follow-up to the claim by Emily Maitlis that the Conservative government has an inside man on the BBC board, there to ensure that the broadcaster never criticises the Tories.
It seems that, rather than discuss the matter in a serious way, or indeed discuss more important subjects like the effect of the energy price cap increase, the mass media are attacking Maitlis for having told her truth as she saw it.
Watch:
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This is a bit of an oldie (the clip is from September last year) but relevant as we prepare to have a new prime minister forced on us by electors in the Conservative Party.
The message is clear: don’t think for a moment that you can change UK politics by electing Keir Starmer’s Labour Party instead of the Tories, because he is just the same as them – another member of the ruling Establishment.
The last Labour leader who wanted real change was Jeremy Corbyn – and he was hounded out by the Establishment’s client mass media, who proved exactly how far they can influence the weak-minded by convincing huge numbers of people that the peace-loving Corbyn was a hate-filled racist.
Here’s the clip:
From a personal point of view, I like that point that it is a badge of honour if you are attacked by the Labour leadership and pushed out of the party; it means they think you are important – you matter.
This Writer was among the first people to be attacked in this way.
It’s nice to know that I have an effect on the world.
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Rishi Sunak: I like this shot because he looks nervous. If I was in his position, asking Tory backbenchers to raise taxes, I’d be nervous too.
I make no apology for returning to this issue. Why shouldn’t I? Rishi Sunak did!
Top take from this clip is the fact that so many people claiming Universal Credit actually have jobs – indicating that the UK’s government has engineered the shameful situation in which working people have to claim state aid in order to survive. This is an employer subsidy, funded with public money. Businesses should be able to pay every employee a living wage.
As for the rest – see for yourself:
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Sunak and Truss: they’ll be attacking the Scottish government at a hustings event in Perth.
It’s all a bit predictable, isn’t it? Still, if it works, there’s no reason they wouldn’t carry on with it.
I refer, of course, to the Tory tactic of “divide and rule” – currently on full display in that party’s leadership election campaign.
Both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have ventured into Scotland, where they said the ruling SNP should be challenged on its record, and affirmed their opposition to another independence referendum.
The SNP has retaliated by pointing out (correctly) that neither candidate is offering a solution to the current cost-of-living crisis – and suggesting that both will boost support for Scottish independence.
Sunak has announced a plan to roll back devolution to ensure “every single” government department operated UK-wide, despite key policy areas such as education and health having been in the control of Holyrood since 1999.
That’s unconstitutional, of course.
He also called for regular reports from Scotland on the delivery of key services, so these can be compared across the UK. That seems to be another attempt to establish lines of criticism that could be used to accuse the Scottish administration of failure (probably on false bases).
Truss just went straight for the jugular, saying she would make changes to the Scotland Act to give MSPs the same full parliamentary privilege as MPs at Westminster, so they would have legal immunity from prosecution over statements made in Holyrood, instead of the narrower set of protections against defamation claims and some court actions they have now.
If that seems like a bonus for MSPs, think again: Truss wants it in order to “allow for more robust questioning for ministers” and “increase the powers of the Scottish parliament to hold the Scottish government to account”. It’s all about attacking the SNP administration.
“I’ll make sure that my government does everything to ensure elected representatives hold the devolved administration to account for its failure to deliver the quality public services, particularly health and education, that Scottish people deserve.”
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, reminded voters that throughout the cost of living crisis, while other nations’ governments have acted to support the most vulnerable people, the UK’s Tory government has “sat on its hands”. He said:
“Whoever wins this leadership contest, Scotland loses.”
That’s true – but it’s not the argument for independence that he insists it is, because it applies across the United Kingdom. We all lose as long as any Tories remain in office at all. That’s something we should all remember as this leader election draws to its close.
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Cash cow: campaigning organisation We Own It created this banner, with a highly-relevant message. And why DO the Tories want to privatise Channel 4 so much? For their own profit?
Russell T Davies has scored another hit – this time with a single sentence rather than a TV series.
The It’s a Sin creator and returning Doctor Who showrunner was speaking on the red carpet at the BAFTA Awards ceremony.
Asked if he had expected It’s a Sin to have the impact it did – raising money for HIV and AIDS charities and being nominated for 11 BAFTAs – Mr Davies responded as follows:
Of course, it was made on a channel that the government’s going to sell off while they’re also planning to get rid of the BBC licence fee so if you like shows like this, go and vote differently, that’s what I say.
He’s absolutely right!
If This Writer had time right now, I’d be making infographics with that quote all over it, using an image from shows like It’s a Sin, Doctor Who… Peaky Blinders would be another good one… with a tagline saying something like “Conservatives want to kill the best of British TV”.
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UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace: he even looks shifty, doesn’t he?
Why is the UK’s Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, so popular among Tory voters? If he has his way, he’ll turn the world into a radioactive cinder!
Wallace has been making a big show of defiance against Vladimir Putin, saying that the threats of nuclear attack from Russia are worthless because he is outnumbered and outgunned by Nato.
But that won’t help if Putin actually launches a nuclear strike. There is no defence against such an attack.
Wallace reckons that Britain’s nuclear weapon-armed submarines are “deep underwater, hiding, waiting, in case Britain needs to be protected”.
But they’ll only be asked to decide whether to launch their missiles – and even then, only if the United States approves of it – after an enemy (possibly Russia) launches a nuclear attack against the UK.
By then, it will be too late for all of us. We’ll either be dead as a result of bombing, or we’ll die soon after from radiation poisoning, and that’s not a pleasant way to go.
There is only one effective way to use nuclear weapons, and that is not to use them at all.
Wallace is wrong to rattle the sabre at Putin because he is taunting a man who appears willing to go nuclear despite the consequences – which are that his entire country will become a radioactive hell very soon afterwards.
The simple fact is that the UK doesn’t have to broadcast that it is helping Ukraine.
Our government is entirely capable of arming Ukrainian forces to the hilt without ever letting Russia know how its enemy received the weapons.
Shouting about how we can poison Russia as badly as it can poison us does not help anybody.
By doing so, Wallace is attacking his own fellow citizens more than anybody in Russia.
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What did he say? If evidence emerges that Boris Johnson did attack BBC coverage of the Ukraine war, and then deliberately lied about it in the House of Commons, it will be clear proof that he deliberately misled Parliament and he’ll have to resign – especially after pointing out that there are rules to prevent such dishonesty, only minutes later.
Has Boris Johnson just dug another hole for himself?
In Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday (April 20), Keir Starmer demanded an apology from Johnson for alleged claims made in a private meeting with Conservative MPs on Tuesday (April 19), when he was trying to build support after being fined for attending an illegal lockdown-busting Downing Street party.
Starmer reckoned Johnson attacked the BBC’s coverage of the war in Ukraine. He said:
The Prime Minister … accused the BBC of not being critical enough of Putin. Would the Prime Minister have the guts to say that to the faces of Clive Myrie, Lyse Doucet and Steve Rosenberg, who have all risked their lives day in, day out on the frontline in Russia and Ukraine uncovering Putin’s barbarism?
Here’s Johnson’s response:
I said nothing of the kind. I have the highest admiration, as a journalist and a former journalist, for what journalists do. I think they do an outstanding job. I think he should withdraw what he just said, because it has absolutely no basis or foundation in truth.
But what did he say?
Anyone who can show that Johnson did, in fact, attack the BBC and its journalists in Ukraine will be able to show that Johnson has definitely and deliberately misled Parliament – very possibly not for the first time.
It has been suggested that Johnson is a compulsive liar who simply says whatever he thinks will get him out of trouble at any particular time, and then conveniently forgets his words – but that will not help him if, say, a recording of what he said in that private meeting comes to light (and This Writer understands that Tory MPs have been known to make recordings of these meetings).
Alternatively, it would be extremely helpful if anybody can prove that Johnson didn’t say what Starmer alleged.
It is the fact that the words were spoken in a private meeting, allowing Johnson to hide behind secrecy, that is damning him now.
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As figures in the Labour Party move to smear former leader Jeremy Corbyn and push him out, supporters need to be aware of more subtle attackers.
For example: the “Project for Peace and Justice” website at https://projectforpeaceandjustice.com that attempts to satirise Mr Corbyn’s new organisation with smears that are neither accurate nor amusing.
The current version of this page offers a foul-mouthed tribute (if you can call it that) to the late Peter Newbon, a leading light of the pressure group Labour Against Anti-Semitism who brought it into disrepute by publishing a doctored image showing Mr Corbyn apparently reading anti-Semitic hate book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to schoolchildren. In fact he was reading Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Rosen’s entirely justified response to this abuse appears on the page, where he is described using a four-letter word beginning with ‘C’. Accurate? No. Amusing? No.
Another page attacks two campaigners who have demonstrated repeatedly that the current hysteria over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party is nothing more than a witch-hunt. It describes a fictional “Greenstein” award (named after Tony Greenstein) for services to anti-Semitism on social media being given to Simon Maginn for his #ItWasAScam campaign? Accurate? No. Amusing? No.
The indicia at the bottom of every page includes the message: “The Project for Peace and Justice does not adhere to the IHRA definition of antisemitism. I didn’t want to do this Laura made me” – an apparent claim that the site is operated by Mr Corbyn himself after his wife Laura demanded it. Accurate? No. Amusing? No.
Possibly the worst aspect of this is the call for donations that appears immediately whenever anybody visits the site. It doesn’t work – clicking to donate says it can’t be done – and this may put people who genuinely want to donate to the Corbyn Peace and Justice Project off doing so.
You can see this travesty yourself – if you’ve got the stomach for it – by visiting the website at the link above. But your time would be far better-used by visiting the genuine Peace and Justice Project site at https://thecorbynproject.com where you can learn about the four main projects: climate justice, economic security, democratic society and international justice – and may donate by using the proper system for doing so. This one does work.
Considering the hatred for Mr Corbyn and the concentration on fake accusations of anti-Semitism against people who have done nothing more than campaign for accuracy, This Writer wonders whether the fake site was set up by the former Labour leader’s critics on the right wing of that party.
It would seem reasonable, considering the fact that right-wingers like Steve Reed are now admitting their involvement in the creation of pressure groups like the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, that has been found also to be involved in spreading such hate against figures like Mr Corbyn, to question whether right-wing Labour members are also behind the fake “Peace and Justice” website.
If so, it makes a mockery of their claim to be crusading against fake news.
But while it is important to be aware of these fakers and their lies, the best thing to do is simply to ignore them.
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RIP democracy: this image of Boris Johnson in a Hitler moustache was stuck to the door of the Conservative office in Beverley, near Hull, earlier this year.
This is nothing new:
Funny how The Times has only just learned of the Johnson government’s plan to overrule court rulings, in December 2021, when it was in the Conservative manifesto for the December 2019 general election almost two years ago!
Yes, Boris Johnson backpedalled for a little while, but that’s a classic Tory tactic; they lure you into a false feeling that everything’s going to be all right and then they stab you in the back.
If it’s good enough for them when they’re electing leaders, then they’re not going to see any reason not to do it to you. Right?
It is an offence against democracy and a step into elected dictatorship – but you knew that already because This Site told you.
So did the nearly 14 million people who voted for it. Right?
Wrong?
They didn’t know?
They just voted Tory because they wanted to get out of the European Union so badly they didn’t care what else happened over the next five years?
Oh, wow. And – hey! – The Times could have told them all about it back in 2019 but didn’t?
That’s a real shame.
It’s also the reason people are told, time and time again in their lives, to RTFM.
In this case, it means Read The F-ing Manifesto!
Too late now.
Because this is one manifesto promise that Boris Johnson is hell-bent on keeping.
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Ink today – what tomorrow? This 77-year-old ex-doctor is afraid of what the next member of the public will do to him and/or his colleagues – and papers like the Mail are egging on the attackers.
Yes, it’s annoying when your driving experience is disrupted by people who have superglued themselves to the road to draw attention to life-threatening issues including climate change – but that doesn’t justify assaulting them by throwing ink in their faces.
But here‘s the Daily Heil showing off its worst fascistic tendencies by venerating some music promoter for doing just that.
It seems
Andrew Dutton was filmed calmly walking along the line of the protestors sat in the middle of the road and spraying them with ink as they blocked traffic yesterday.
The 38-year-old from Harlow, Essex, who works with bands and arranges concerts, later told friends he lost his temper after asking the protestors to move from the A40 in North Acton, West London, to allow an emergency vehicle through – only for them to refuse and stay put.
I’m not buying that. Insulate Britain activists have a standing rule to let emergency vehicles through.
As Steve Gower said when This Writer interviewed him,
We’ve had accusations of not letting ambulances through. There’s footage – I’m in one of the clips actually, where we let an ambulance through. That is the policy of Insulate Britain – to let any blue light through our barricade.
The Mail‘s report shows footage of Dutton assaulting the protesters with the ink – with not a single emergency vehicle in sight. So I have a couple of doubts about the claim made about him (it turns out his friends told the right-wing rag about the alleged ambulance, not him).
The piece is highly supportive of the aggressor. Besides the ambulance allegation, it said his friends had hailed him as a “hero” and the protesters – who want better insulation for social housing, to stop people from dying of the cold in their own homes and to help tackle climate change – as an “eco mob”.
The result is that these people are scared. This tweet, and the embedded video, sums up the situation:
Legacy media has spent so long smoothing the path for people to feel comfortable physically attacking the elderly who dare to voice dissent. Happened to Labour canvassers in their 70s during GE19, not an eyelid batted. https://t.co/YQ4muvKc9i
— More Peter Cushin' for the Pushin' (@misslucyp) October 27, 2021
We’ve recently seen footage of a woman who tried to run over Insulate Britain activists in her Range Rover because she wanted to drive her son to school. Commenters have questioned why he couldn’t walk.
The hypocrisy is palpable. Only days ago, politicians were calling for “respect” and for people to stop fuelling the kind of “hatred” that led to the death of Tory MP Sir David Amess.
After Tory MPs were criticised for letting water companies pump raw human waste into our rivers and other waterways, they whinged – falsely – that they were being attacked with hate speech.
But when people are confronted by someone with a cause to promote, suddenly it’s okay to roll a Range Rover over them or spray ink into their eyes?
That is the message the Mail is putting out.
And the Tories must be delighted because once again, they have succeeded in getting people to squabble with others instead of casting a critical eye over the many faults of our (Tory) government.
The protesters involved are afraid – but they aren’t going to stop because they know people have already died because they lived in badly-insulated homes and they know that it will happen to others if they don’t succeed in prodding the government to act.
The – video – evidence shows they are right to be afraid.
What happens if one of them ends up suffering serious injury? What if, next time, it’s – well, I’m not going to put ideas in the heads of the irresponsible.
Will the reporter who penned the Mail piece turn himself in for possibly having incited it?
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