Tabloids Category
The news as told by the UK’s tabloid press – The Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Star and News of the World.
The Daily Mail versus The Guardian: wrapping Nazis and eugenics in Paperchase guff
Have you boycotted Paperchase, sellers of printed stationery – yep, people really do still send letters (though not to Daily Mail readers who communicate by holding their noses and yelling into the wind)? Hope not. Paperchase tried its best to shine a light into society’s darkest recess. It reached out to the Daily Mail’s Untermensch readership, hoping that in offering them two free rolls of Christmas wrapping paper, they’d be put on the path to decency.
Paperchase – not fan of Brexit
But Stop Funding Hate thought Mail readers beyond salvation and bombarded Paperchase’s social media account with complaints. Paperchase didn’t rescind the offer, but did vow never again to reach down into the sewer. It was “truly sorry”. Some people are just not worth the effort. Wrapping paper is a not a right; it’s a moral choice. The tree gods gladly give up their own to wrap useful gifts like photos of Jeremy Corbyn, DVDs of The 100 Best Silences and the Pop-Up Book of Safe Spaces. But save for the odd Japanese knot weed and leylandii, no vegetation wants to be seen dead around the kind of stuff Mail readers buy at Christmas – jackboots, flaming torches and Jeremy Clarkson audio tapes.
Sarah Baxter tells Times readers Stop Funding Hate is interested in muzzling the Press. The group’s founder, Richard Wilson, ‘admitted on Newsnight that “the end point for us is a media that does the job we all want it to”.’ Which is? Baxter says it’s “suppressing the array of opinion reflected in the British press… Stop Funding Hate, however, has morphed into an arrogant group of hate-mongering activists who are outraged about an ever-expanding range of subjects”.
The idea is simple: starve the publication you don’t like of advertising money and watch it die. If this also deprives thick-as-custard people of reading the tabloids, all to the good. If those mouth-breathers can’t be banned from sharing views of the right-minded, their reading material must be censored. The caring Left knows best.
The Advertising Association is concerned, stating: “The UK has a free press and advertising plays a vital role in funding that. Pressure group lobbying of this kind has negative implications for our press freedom.” Advertising body Isba, warns: “We shouldn’t take for granted the freedom of the press.”
Over in the Guardian, which would surely be the only newspaper on the bottom shelf when the anti-haters have won the day, Peter Peston thunders:
Stop Funding Hate may legitimately urge Mail readers to quit (and Mail readers may, equally legitimately, examine the causes SFH espouses and make up their own minds). But trolling rather nervous companies such as Paperchase isn’t legitimate. It’s the thin end of a dangerous wedge – with no winners in sight, from left or right.
As last week’s Ipso complaints ruling on Trevor Kavanagh’s “The Muslim Problem” column for the Sun mordantly observes: “There is no clause in the editors’ code which prohibits publication of offensive content”. Nor should there be.
In the same paper, Stewart Lee writes beneath the headline: “My futile attempt to sell satire to the Daily Mail.” Well, the paper does employ the sublime Craig Brown, so maybe he’s enough? Guardian readers are told:
Usually, I am the sort of person who thinks that anyone who has ever worked for the Daily Mail is worse than Adolf Hitler, even the temps and the tea lady. And I’m not alone. So disgusted are youth voters by the repellent newspaper, it’s now clear that the Daily Mail’s increasingly hysterical attacks on Jeremy Corbyn, the coddled egg of British politics, may even have helped secure his triumphant loss in the last general election.
Worse than Hitler? Satire, right? Phew! And people not voting for Corbyn because the Mail told them, too? I thought it was about anti-Semitism. But, then, I’ve not been keeping up with the Guardian’s news on Jews and Jezza’ Labour Party, not since one of their columnists wrote in the Guardian: “I have developed a habit when confronted by letters to the editor in support of the Israeli government to look at the signature to see if the writer has a Jewish name. If so, I tend not to read it.”
I didn’t call for a boycott. And the sport pages are good. Boycotts are, after all, for censors and Nazis.
Lee also turns to the subject of Nazis, riffing on when the Mail hailed the blackshirts.
And a sepia-toned card of the first Viscount Rothermere, the paper’s 1930s proprietor, declares, in Daily Mail font, “I urge all British young men and women to study the Nazi regime in Germany. There is a clamorous campaign of denunciation against ‘Nazi atrocities’ which consist merely of a few isolated acts of violence, but which have been generalised, multiplied and exaggerated to give the impression that Nazi rule is a bloodthirsty tyranny. Congratulations on passing your driving test.”
Haha. Got one about the Guardian opposing the creation of the National Health Service as it feared the state provision of healthcare would “eliminate selective elimination”?
This is not to defend the Mail. It’s to highlight how censorship is formed by bigotry.
Owen Jones disagrees. He writes in the Guardian: “Paperchase rejecting the Daily Mail is another victory against hatred.” No, he’s not being ironic.
This paper, whose less than glorious history includes cheerleading for the Nazis and Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts, is one of the most vindictive bullies in Britain.
And the Guardian? The Spectator tells us that not all leading figures in the Left, including eugenicist George Bernard Shaw, minded tyranny. ( In March 1933 Shaw was a co-signatory to a letter in The Manchester Guardian protesting at the continuing misrepresentation of Soviet achievements: “No lie is too fantastic, no slander is too stale … for employment by the more reckless elements of the British press.”)
Malcolm Muggeridge, was initially supportive of the Soviet regime. But then he went to Moscow as a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian and learned about the Ukrainian famine. The Guardian censored his reports. The left was divided by the atrocities of the Soviet Union into honest, moral people and those who turned a blind eye.
Is this a row between newspapers: the Guardian in need of the Mail to showcase what it is not; the Mail and right-wing Press, doing much the same? The difference is, though, that only one side supports censorship.
Posted: 26th, November 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Key Posts, News, Tabloids, The Consumer | Comment
Transfer balls: when will Liverpool sign Didier Baptiste?
Dream Team
November 24 is the day when Liverpool moved to sign Didier Baptiste for £3.5million. It was an unforgettable moment of Transfer Balls on November 24 1999. The News of the World reported that Liverpool were looking to sign the “French Under-21 international” from Monaco.
Baptiste to Liverpool was on. The Times and The Guardian agreed, albeit valuing Baptiste at £1million. But Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool would never get the young defender: He didn’t (and still doesn’t) exist.
Baptiste was a character played by the late Tom Redhill in the Sky One football soap opera ‘Dream Team’ who arrived at Harchester United from Monaco in 1999.
The aforementioned papers were all drawn into a hoax that began on an Arsenal fan forum and got rehashed on Liverpool’s Clubcall line (a premium rate phone number supporters could ring to listen to the latest club-related gossip), from whence the News of the World plucked the ‘story’ and ran with it.
The News of the World duly blamed the Hayters sports news agency for feeding them the rumour, though the damage had already been done.
As Chris Wright quips: “The tabloid was ultimately forced to cease publication in 2011, though whether the Baptiste cock-up was directly to blame is still subject to debate.”
Posted: 25th, November 2017 | In: Back pages, Liverpool, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Come On Effzeh! The Daily Mirror trolls Arsenal and Spurs fans by misreporting FC Cologne song
At last night Europa League match between Cologne and Arsenal (-0 to the Germans), the Daily Mirror heard fans offering some tag-team anti-Spurs abuse. The headline is unequivocal: ‘”Tottenham are s***!” Arsenal and Cologne fans “join forces to troll Spurs” during Europa League tie”.
They did? No, of course they didn’t. The Mirror is trolling Arsenal and Spurs fans. But Mark Jones is hearing what he wants to, telling Mirror readers:
Arsenal fans seemingly joined forces with their counterparts from Cologne to troll Tottenham Hotspur during their Europa League tie in Germany on Thursday night… the two sets of fans linked up in perfect harmony at the RheinEnergieStadion, although Spurs fans won’t want to hear it.
Wrong. The Cologne fans chant “Come on FC!” or “Come on Effzeh!” over and over and over at every match. Cologne fans are not trolling Spurs fans. They don’t give a s*** about Spurs fans. But the Mirror’s advertising clicks do.
Spotter: 365
Posted: 24th, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, News, Sports, Spurs, Tabloids | Comment
Jack Maynard: let’s feed him to the cockroaches and Dennis Wise
They’re gunning for Jack Maynard, the YouTuber who left the I’m A Celebrity Jungle accused of making alleged racist and homophobic tweets. Exposed by the Sun, Maynard is hammered by the Mirror, which leads with his face and the headline:”Teenage girl: I’m A CelebJack begged me for pic in my bra.” It might have been kinder to have Jack Maynard buried in a cockroach-infested hole in the Australian jungle with Dennis Wise for company. But that’s not to diminish from his apparent offence. Being buried alive for TV entertainment was too good for him.
On page 8, we read: “Your boobs are nice & would look good in bra shot…Ever take one?” The claim is that Jack “pestered the girl” when Jack was 17. We’re told there is “no suggestion he knew the girl was only 14 at the time”.
We then get introduced to the ‘victim’, who says she was a fan of Jack’s brother Conor Maynard and “sought his advice on becoming an online model”. They then allegedly got into an exchange, in which Maynard was told he is only famous through his brother and he told her: “Who the fuck even are you? You’re an ugly freak.”
We then hear from her: “I looked up to Jack as a role mode and I found his persistence annoying. But I saw it as relatively harmless flirting given the small age gap… I don’t think he was aware I was younger than him. He was just a bit of a dickhead…” The Sun ignores the bra and says, “he had also begged a 14-year-old fan to send him nude pictures.”
The Sun also quotes the ‘victim’, no aged 10, who says: “He was 16, I was 14. It was something that happens to everyone. [The Mirror said he was 17.] I never once felt harassed. We were kids, it’s not once harmed me at all in any way. It’s in the past. It is a serious allegation to make, but you’re a kid, you make mistakes. He didn’t know how old I was, and I didn’t know how old he was at the time. I cannot stress enough that the messages were harmless.”
And that’s it. “I’m sorry to anyone that I upset, anyone that I offended, anyone I made feel uncomfortable,” says Maynard. “Growing up I was all over social, my entire life was on social media an through that it led to be my job. I’ve tweeted some bad things, some horrible things, that I’m just ashamed of.” The Sun says he wad “grinning” and “smirking” when he apologised in a video.
Thankfully, no journalists ever said anything that might have caused offence.
Posted: 24th, November 2017 | In: Celebrities, News, Tabloids, TV & Radio | Comment
Jon Venables: turning James Bulger’s murder into good and moral entertainment
Jon Venables, the child who killed a child, is back in the news. News is that he’s been caught in possession of child abuse images, just as he was in 2010. This means he’s back in prison.
The Sun leads with the news, saying how Venables’ probation officials spotted the images on a computer belonging to the 35-year-old who together with Robert Thompson killed James Bulger in February 1993. Over pages 4 and 5, we see the familiar photos: Venables at age 10 stood for the police cameras; his partner in crime Robert Thompson in the same pose; and that haunting CCTV picture of James Bulger being walked form a Merseyside shopping centre to his gruesome death.
Venables, of course, is not known by that name. He got a new name, one which cannot and should not be revealed. Right now he’s in a category A prison, his alleged offences under investigation. If it goes to court, the paper says Venables will be afforded a crown court trial. Venables keeps costing the State money. Last time in prison, we learn he was given around-the-clock protection, and “access to guitar lessons and a rowing machine”. Before his release in 2001, he was given “years of costly treatment”.
The crime was heinous, one that shocked us all. But the story is without end. The country does try to seek out Venables, much less exact vigilante justice. So what is the purpose of the Sun’s story? Is it to show that rehabilitation does not work. Surely not because Robert Thompson is “now hailed as rehabilitation success story”.
Venables served seven years of a life sentence for the murder of James Bulger. In 2001, aged 18, he was set free, albeit under license, able to be recalled for any misdemeanour. He got a new name, a job that enforced unsociable hours on just above minimum wage and a place to live. The press were forbidden by law from revealing any details on Venables’ new identity. But we only knew their real names because the judge told us the killers’ names in an adult court, moving on from ‘Child A’ and “Child B’. Was that right? Venables was ordered never to reveal his original identity to anyone. He must live a lie. Was that freedom?
Then, aged 27, Venables was back in prison, serving a two-year sentence for downloading and distributing indecent images of children. Now he’s back inside again. And the media continues to stoke the fires. Denise Fergus, James Bulger’s mother, is back on our screens, her pain clear to all. Her lot is to be a media celebrity dished up for us to gawp at. On Sky News, once more she is encouraged to revisit the horror. Our utmost sympathy must be with her and Ralph Bulger, James Bulger’s father. They have no need to forgive.
But why are we invited to stare? Why are we being invited to be entertained by their suffering?
It was ever so. The rare murder of a child by children might have been sui generis had the Labour spokesman on home affairs not milked the story. Tony Blair, for it was he, seized the moment to amplify the murder into a national crisis. Thompson and Venables’ crimes were “hammer blows struck against the sleeping conscience of the country, urging us to wake up and look unflinchingly at what we see”. He told us: “A solution to this disintegration doesn’t simply lie in legislation. It must come from the rediscovery of a sense of direction as a country… We cannot exist in a moral vacuum. If we do not learn and then teach the value of what is right and what is wrong, then the result is simply moral chaos which engulfs us all.”
There are other murders. But this one served a purpose. Blair tapped into the trial judge’s comments on it being a crime of “unparalleled evil and barbarity”. If that was evil the likes of which had never been seen before manifest in our midst, then Tony Blair was the force for good. And so it was that the murder of James Bulger became a totem for the nation to rally around. James Bulger, the innocent child, became a New Labour symbol and a political football. The crime was submerged in the age’s reaction to it. And there was the video and the pictures to promote the message on rolling news. They’re still being used in a crime packaged for our age.
Posted: 23rd, November 2017 | In: Key Posts, News, Tabloids | Comments (2)
Clickbait balls: Daily Mirror tricks Manchester United fans with rehashed FIFA 18 press release
Clickbait balls in the Daily Mirror, the self-styled “intelligent tabloid”, which appears not to have the utmost respect for its readers. The headline is unequivocal: all-time Manchester United great Peter Schmeichel has named an “ultimate XI” that does not include a single players from his former club:
That’s newsworthy stuff, especially for Manchester United fans. But click on the link and you get the story that Schmeichel wasn’t picking actual players. He was picking virtual footballers made up of code and pixels. It’s a glorified press release from EA Sports, who asked their man to name a FIFA 18 ultimate XI from the game’s current choices, taking in every player in every virtual team in every virtual league.
It’s clickbait.
Why not just name the video game in the headline? Well, it’s all about the clicks…
Posted: 22nd, November 2017 | In: manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Jack Maynard: outrage as ‘racist’ vlogger avoids being eaten by rats
So farewell, Jack Maynard, aka ‘YouTuber Jack Maynard’, who has left I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! to sort out “circumstances outside camp”. Maynard wanted to “do the internet proud”. And he did just that, introducing the TV-watching tribes to life on the web. As the Sun thunders: “YouTube sensation, 22, was forced to apologise for racist and homophobic slurs on his Twitter account where he branded users ‘retarded’.”
Twitter’s a bit like a 1970s comedians showcase, albeit without the wit, laughs, likeable characters and fun.
The Sun took it upon itself to “reveal” some of Maynard’s “racist and homophobic tweets”, although it saw reason to edit them. Too rude for the paper that used to feature stunnas on Page 3 and still advertises phone lines for onanists seeking on-the-clock relief – yesterday readers were invited to call “X-Rated Cheap Girls – 18-94 Year Olds” and “HOT GIRLS [age unspecified]”. Thankfully, Pink News is less prudish. Damning Maynard as someone “famous for being the younger brother of singer Connor Maynard”, we read:
When an abusive commenter suggested he had profited off of his brother’s fame, Maynard hit back: “Completely forgot you know how I got it YOU RETARDED FAGGOT”.
He also used what the mainstream media terms ‘the N-word”. Censorship is provided by the Sun. (If you want to read the bad words, you need to get yourself on twitter.)
So Jack’s gone to spend time with his selfies, denying his accusers the chance to watch him being locked in a buried coffin and terrorised by rats. You had your chance.
Even better is the “spokesperson for the vlogger” – yep, even narcissists have their limits – who tells the Sun:
“Jack is ashamed of what he said in these tweets, many of which were deleted a long time ago and were sent in response to a neighbour who was bullying him. Jack was a lot younger when he posted them in 2012 but realises that age is no defence.”
Anyone else read that and see an adult explaining the action of a child? Jack is a big boy, says the grown up, and he knows he has done wrong. That leads to the a classic non-denial denial with sympathetic back story:
“He would never use that language now and realises that, as someone who was bullied himself, this kind of retaliatory, inflammatory, insulting language is completely unacceptable.”
Look at Jack Maynard less as the perpetrator, but as a victim living out fantasies born of a difficult childhood.
Posted: 22nd, November 2017 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, News, Tabloids, TV & Radio | Comment
Madeleine McCann: The Todorovs, a dead Bulgarian and a purple haze
Madeleine McCann returned to the newspapers yesterday with news that the “Maddie hunt woman” is a…”waitress”. The Mirror saved this news for page 4, and reading on you wonder how it made it into the paper at all.
The story begins in typical ‘Our Maddie’ reporting style, using a shortened version of the child’s name in a report based on opinion. We read: “A criminologist claims to have identified a mystery woman being sought by British police in connection with Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.” Is a claim newsworthy?
We read that “Scotland Yard detectives want to speak to a female dressed in purple who was seen by two people standing outside the youngster’s apartment.”
And criminologist Heriberto Janosch Gonzalez “claims to have identified the woman as Bulgarian waitress Luisa Todorov”.
Grab your torch. Let’s go!
The 58-year-old was working with her husband at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished in 2007. Luisa and her husband Stefan, 50, gave statements to police five days after the three-year-old’s disappearance. They both denied having any knowledge of the case and have not been spoken to again for over a decade.
Seems fair. But then this: “British police are now scouring the globe for the pair so they can ask them if they saw anything suspicious.”
Scouring the globe? Not looking to speak with them. Scouring. That’s what you do when you want to reveal what’s beneath the dirt and grime. You scour. Is “scouring” the way to find two innocent people?
Luisa is believed to be the woman seen standing by a lamp post just outside the apartment at 8pm on May 3, 2007.
Claims. Believed. Any facts?
Gonzalez is quoted:
“I have been combing through all the police files trying to identify who the woman in purple could be. It has been widely reported that Yard officers are in Bulgaria. Examining all the known statements it seems highly likely the police are seeking the Todorovs. They are the only known people with a clear link to Bulgaria. I have been unable to trace them in Portugal and believe they could have moved away. It is widely known that many workers at the Ocean Club were made redundant so it is possible they went to Bulgaria seeking work.”
And after that speculation presented as news, we get the unchanging fact of this long-running story:
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry, from Rothley, Leics, were dining in a tapas restaurant when she vanished.
Child vanishes. And that’s the story’s single thread. But the reporting remains frenzied. The Mirror’s story, which supports a Daily Express ‘exclusive’, is repackaged to read:
Madeleine McCann: Mystery ‘woman in purple’ sought by Met police identified as waitress – Indy
‘Woman in purple’ mystery witness tracked to Bulgaria. Waitress Luisa Todorov, seen twice near the holiday apartment on the night Maddie disappeared, could be a significant witness – International Business Times
Madeleine McCann mystery woman spotted outside Portugal apartment is identified – Leicester Mercury
MADDIE CLUES – Madeleine McCann cops hunt Bulgaria for waitress believed to be ‘woman in purple’ – The Sun
Madeleine McCann: Police hunt waitress believed to be mysterious ‘woman in purple’ – Daily Express
The Express’s story is pretty incredible:
Waitress Luisa Todorov, 58, is believed to be the mystery woman seen by two witnesses standing outside apartment 5a of the Ocean Club from where Madeleine was taken 10 years ago.
She has become the focus of Yard inquiries for months as officers want to know if she saw anything suspicious on the night of Madeleine’s abduction from Praia da Luz when she was aged just three.
But she spoke to police already, right? We were told that. And given that she worked in manual labour, might that huge reward have tempted her to talk more?
And:
One witness saw her standing by a lamp post just outside the apartment at 8pm on May 3, 2007 and another saw her about half an hour later nearby.
They saw her, or they saw a woman dressed in purple who we are told might have been her?
Luisa’s husband Stefan Todorov, 50, was working at the Tapas bar, where the McCanns and their seven holiday friends were dining when Madeleine was abducted.
Unless she wondered off, of course.
The Express adds:
In August 2007 a British woman reported seeing a child who looked mile Madeleine at Varna airport in Bulgaria, but the information was very sketchy and did not check out.
And hold on a moment. The Indy had other news, reporting on November 6:
The story began:
Detectives working on Madeleine McCann’s case have travelled to Bulgaria in search of a paedophile’s widow known as the “woman in purple”.
Oh?
On the evening of Madeleine’s disappearance an eyewitness saw a woman startng [sic] intently at the apartment block next to where the McCann’s were staying in Portugal.
Intently?
The woman is believed to have been the wife of a man of a convicted peadophile, who has is now believed to be dead.
The name of this convicted, dead paedophile? It’s not given. But two “believed” in one sentence is peak reporting.
And what about the woman in purple? British expat, Jenny Murat, introduced us to her. She said: “She caught my eye because she was dressed in purple-plum clothes. It struck me as strange. It’s so usual for anyone, particularly a woman, to be standing alone on the street in our resort, just watching a building. The next morning, we heard that a little girl had gone missing, and I later told police about the woman I’d seen right outside. I didn’t recognise her and don’t have a clue who she is, but she seems a bit suspicious.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 21st, November 2017 | In: Madeleine McCann, News, Tabloids | Comment
Gaia Pope: Connor Hayes and putting the clocks back
Gaia Pope continues to occupy minds in the tabloids. How the 19-year-old died, we do not know. but we do know she was not murdered. And there is no evidence anyone else was involved in her death. Today the papers carry the image of Conor Hayes. The Star says Gaia Pope”was on the verge of a nervous breakdown” after “learning Connor Hayes may be released early”.
Who is he? Well, we read that Gaia Pope accused Hayes of sexually assaulting her two years ago. The Star says he was not prosecuted for the alleged crime. Why Conor Hayes in in prison is featured on the Dorset police website.
Two men jailed for child sex offences
18 April 2017
Two men who filmed a video of themselves having sex with a teenage girl that was subsequently published on the internet have been jailed.Connor Hayes, 24 and of Namu Road in Bournemouth, pleaded guilty at Bournemouth Crown Court on Monday 5 December 2016 to taking an indecent moving image of a child, possession of indecent images of a child and paying for the sexual services of a child.
William Wright, 24 and of Andover Green in Bovington, pleaded guilty at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday 3 February 2017 to taking an indecent moving image of a child, intentionally obtaining for himself the sexual services of a child under the age of 18, distributing an indecent moving image of a child and making indecent images of a child.
The pair were sentenced to two years in prison at Bournemouth Crown Court on Thursday 13 April 2017. Both of them were also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.
The court heard that Hayes befriended his victim in 2014. The girl was over the age of consent, but under the age of 18, meaning it is illegal to make or possess indecent images of her.
In November that year, Hayes got his victim to take part in a sex video with his friend Wright, telling the girl that the video was just for them and would not be shown to anyone else. Hayes told her that if the video got out he would be in trouble as she was under the age of 18, the court was told. After it had been recorded the victim asked the pair to delete the video.
The video was discovered to have been uploaded onto the internet around November 2015…
An examination of the iPhone belonging to Wright showed that there were ten video clips and 27 still images of the victim. Examination of a laptop used by Hayes showed there were 18 images of the victim which were indecent.
Nasty and sad stuff And the tabloids are happy to pile in on the “revenge porn convict”. The paper quotes Hayes’ mother, who says in a statement:
“I am aware that my son had a brief friendship with Gaia Pope when she was 16 and had just started college. Within weeks of their friendship ending Gaia made an accusation to the police which was not upheld. To the best of my knowledge my son has not had any contact with Gaia since their friendship ended at least two years ago.”
In the Mirror, we read about the police. On page 2, the paper quotes Greg Elsey, related to three people arrested on suspicion of murder – all of whom have been cleared. “They totally mishandled it,” he says, “and the guy in charge want to walking the beat.” In the Express, we hear Mr Elsey accuse the police of launching a “vendetta” and “witch-hunt” against the trio. He asks, “For anybody in the future, why should their family members be accused of murder when they absolutely no evidence it has happened.”
Over two pages in the Sun, we hear of “GAIA COPS’ CLCOK GAFFE”. Rosemary Dinch, 71, was one of the trio hauled in. She and they are now billed as “a frail pensioner and her family”. She says: “We gave hem [police] CCV footage that showed Nathan going to his gran’s house round the corner. When they questioned him, he time didn’t match because the clocks went back and the time on there didn’t change.” Paul Elsey adds: “The police got it all wrong but it was like talking to a brick wall.”
Paperchase must ban all Daily Mail suspects from its stores
Paperchase is “truly sorry” for speaking to Daily Mail readers, offering them two free rolls of wrapping paper in Saturday’s newspaper. Stop Funding Hate, the group that hates the Daily Mail and its pressie-wrapping readers, promising without irony to “tackle the culture of hate, demonisation and division that is poisoning our political discourse”, encouraged tweeters to complain, just as it did when Lego advertised in the Mail. Lego responded by vowing never again to advertise in the popular tabloid. One minute you’re a Danish-based company selling plastic figurines to children; the next you’re a force for moral good. Life moves pretty fast when your in the censor’s crosshairs.
Stop Funding Hate spotted the Paperchase promotion in the Mail and opined: “After a torrid few weeks of divisive stories about trans people, is a Daily Mail promotion what customers want to see from @FromPaperchase?” Paperchase, of course, laughed this off, arguing that pricey envelopes and novelty pens should be available to all people, even those who only send emails. No, of course not. It said: “We now know we were wrong to do this – we’re truly sorry and we won’t ever do it again. Thanks for telling us what you really think and we apologise if we have let you down on this one. Lesson learnt.”
With any luck, all ‘responsible’ advertisers will pull their ads and the Daily Mail will be much reduced, existing on a sponsorship of Nazi memorabilia, cricket bats and Downton Abbey merchandise before dying with their last reader’s final breath.
‘For her’ – pink and flowers
‘For him’ – the skies the limit and here’s to spoting success
Not far enough, of course. Paperchase, which as you can see from the images above, thinks nothing of supporting arcane gender stereotypes, disappointing we who look it for guidance on all manner of pressing issues (such as: when does Christmas shopping begin? when are 2018 diaries discounted?; is there life after death?) needs to do more. Sam White suggests: “Paperchase, not good enough. You should question people wishing to enter your stores as to whether they have ever handled or looked at a Daily Mail. Those who have can be refused entry, or possibly sent for re-education.”
And there’s a card for everything, even the Untermensch:
Paperchase – not fan of Brexit
When you see a card declaring ‘Intolerance will not be tolerated’, you know where to send it…
Posted: 21st, November 2017 | In: News, Tabloids, The Consumer | Comment
Gaia Pope: suing the police for a crime that never happened
After the febrile reporting and shadowy photos of innocent people, police say foul play played no part in the death of Gaia Pope, the 19-year-old who went missing in bucolic Dorset.
You might wonder why police arrested three people on suspicion of murder. All three were released under investigation. Greg Elsey, whose son Paul Elsey was arrested by police, accuses investigators of behaving like “wooden tops“. He says his son can prove he was elsewhere when Gaia Pope went missing. So why was Paul Elsey arrested and subjected to harsh media scrutiny?
The newspapers piled in, as ever they must when a photogenic blonde is missing. But from front-page news, the Express relegates the case of “tragic” Gaia Pope to page 4. The police says the young woman might have taken her own life or died of natural causes.
The Mail presents her death as a mystery, asking a question we will never know the answer to. “Did fear of prisoner who assaulted her push Gaia to suicide?” asks the Mail, wrapping two questions into a headline to which the only sensible answer is ‘no’.
Blonde woman goes missing
As for that assault, a “friend” tells the paper: “She was assaulted when she was 17 and I think she thought the man would be released early from prison.”
We are free to speculate, of course, but why did an apparent objective police investigation lead to the arrests of three people and talk of murder? Surely they knew of Gaia Pope’s past, and of her severe epilepsy, which, we are told, could take her life at any time? We read now that Paul Elsey, Nathan Elsey and Rosemary Dinch, the three innocent people arrested for a crime that never took place, are planning to sue police for wrongful arrest.
The Sun zooms in on innocent Paul Elsey
Over in the Sun, which talked of police “swooping” on Paul Esley’s “prized” car – no, not that car – the story (page 7) is one of “Tragic Gaia’s Attack Agony”. The paper reads the dead woman’s mind. “She feared fiend’s release,” says the paper. She did? Well, maybe. Maybe not.
In the Daily Mirror (page 9), Gaia is the “tragic teen”. She is “Gaia from Langton Matravers”. In the Sun she is “Gaia from Swanage”. Gaia Pope was from Langton Matravers. She was staying at an address in Swanage when she disappeared on Tuesday 7 November 2017.
Such are the facts.
UPDATE: Det Supt Paul Kessell, of Dorset Police tells everyone:
“We have today released from our investigation two men, aged 19 and 49, and a 71-year-old woman, all from Swanage, who had been arrested and were assisting with our enquiries. I appreciate our enquiries would have caused these individuals stress and anxiety, however we have an obligation in any missing person investigation to explore every possible line of enquiry. The public would expect Dorset Police to fully investigate the sudden disappearance of a teenage girl. Our aim was not only to find Gaia but to find out what happened to her. Gaia’s family has been informed of this latest development and our thoughts remain with all her family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.”
What happened to people ‘helping he police with their enquiries’? Why the rush towards arrest?
Posted: 20th, November 2017 | In: Key Posts, News, Tabloids | Comments (5)
Gaia Pope: no injuries to suggest ‘any other person was involved’ in her death
Gaia Pope is dead. The Press have been speculating over her cause of death. Murder has been the word most used. Now police say there is no evidence “any other person was involved” in the death of the 19-year-old, whose remains were found in a field near Swanage, Dorset. This is after police arrested three people on suspicion of murder.
Det Supt Paul Kessell tells us: “The post-mortem examination has not identified any injuries to suggest any other person was involved in her death. The cause of death is undetermined, pending toxicology. The coroner is involved in the oversight of these examinations but at this time this remains an investigation into an unexplained death.”
Did the police stuff up? Being accused of murder is no small thing.
The Mail had more:
Her father Richard Sutherland, a business development manager, said his ‘distressed’ daughter had been told she could die at any moment because her epilepsy was so severe.
And she was also battling post-traumatic stress disorder after a ‘devastating’ assault by ‘some guys’ when she was 17, he said, made worse because the main perpetrator is reportedly set for release from prison.
Now the Sun tells us: “Gaia Pope cops reveal teenager was NOT MURDERED.”
Below is the photo the Sun used to introduce readers to Paul Elsey, one of the three people arrested on suspicion of murder and released under police investigation.
Is that the kind of photo that suggests anything to you? Innocence is presumed, right? The Sun reported: “Forensic officers made a midnight swoop on the prized VW Golf of Paul Elsey, 49.” Prized? Why prized? Why swoop?
Mr Paul Elsey’s father Greg told media:
“Paul is fine but all this attention isn’t fair, please just give him some space. What I will say is the way the police have handled this is terrible, it’s shocking. My family has totally been the victim of a witch hunt. They should start looking elsewhere. I think of the public money which has been wasted, which could have been spent searching for Gaia and finding those clothes a long time ago.”
He added:
“I’m totally disgusted. Paul’s solicitor has asked me not to say anything. You will be gobsmacked how the police have formed [their investigation]. Absolutely disgusting. What I said this morning is that I would find [Paul] and have a chat with him. He was going to ring the police station and arrange to see them if they wanted. That was the agreement we came to. That’s the agreement I and the solicitors made. I can’t say anything more but you will find out and you will be disgusted, the same as I was.”
And:
“The officers running this investigation seem to be a bunch of wooden tops. It especially feels like they arrested Paul just to make it look like they were doing something. It’s felt like they can’t find the poor girl so they said ‘ let’s go and nick him’. We have only ever tried to help – both Gaia and the police.”
Gaia Pope: The last sighting, lives ruined and hiding the truth
Police searching for Gaia Pope have found a body on land near Swanage, Dorset. The family of the 19-year-old woman are “absolutely devastated”. Detective Superintendent Paul Kessell tells media: “Although the body has yet to be formally identified, we are confident that we have found Gaia.”
Gaia, who had severe epilepsy, had been missing since November 7. Last Thursday her clothes were found in a field near cliffs.
What happened? A 71-year-old woman, a 19-year-old man and a 49-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder. All three have been released under investigation. No crime has been established.
The Sun names the innocent trio:
Nathan Elsey, 19, who starred in Christopher Nolan’s film Dunkirk with Harry Styles, was arrested alongside his grandmother, Rosemary Dinch, 71…
Gaia had been temporarily staying at Mrs Dinch’s house at the time of her disappearance. Paul Elsey, the uncle of friend Nathan, was then arrested on suspicion of Gaia’s murder on 16 November.
The Sun zooms in on 69-year-old Greg Elsey, taking a photo of the man and captioning it: “Greg Elsey accused the police of a ‘witch hunt’ against his family.”
Doorstepped, he tells the Mail:
“I’m absolutely bewildered that he was arrested, I’ve got no idea why he was taken. I mean, for God’s sake, he was working all day in Weymouth when Gaia went missing, he had nothing to do with it. He lives with his mother Rosemary and takes care of her, he goes back there each night, that’s the only link he’s got with it. Police took him in and he said ‘look, what on Earth am I doing here? I’ve got nothing to do with this. He’s staying with a friend at the moment just chilling out. I saw him last night and he’s alright. I’ve got no way of getting hold of him, they’ve taken his phone, they’ve taken everyone’s phones. It’s ruined Rosemary and Nathan’s life, she was just being nice on the day, all police had to do was say to her they want to ask her a few questions and that would be fine but they arrested her.”
The Mail‘s headline is at odds with the URL, which tells readers and the Google bots
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5095395/Man-arrested-Gaia-Pope-murder-goes-hiding.html
“Hiding”. Is that a loaded term?
The Mail adds:
Mrs Dinch, who shares a first-floor flat with her son Paul, was the last person to see the missing teenager alive.
Was she? The Sun tells it readers:
She [Gaia] was last seen in Swanage on 7 November, when CCTV captured her running past a house in Manor Gardens on Morrison Road. She was also filmed in a petrol station buying ice cream.
The BBC says:
The 19-year-old, who has severe epilepsy, was last seen on 7 November at 16:00 GMT by family friend Rosemary Dinch, off Morrison Road, Swanage. Dorset Police believes she was captured on CCTV running past a house in the same street about 20 minutes before.
ITV adds:
Less than an hour before her last confirmed sighting at 3.39pm, she was being driven between Langton Matravers and Swanage by a family member when they stopped off for fuel at St Michael’s Garage on Valley Road in Swanage. Gaia went into the garage to buy an ice cream at around 2.55pm before leaving.
It adds:
The last reported sighting of Gaia was at an address in Manor Gardens on Morrison Road at around 4pm on 7 November.
The Sun speculates:
THE last sighting of Gaia Pope may have been caught on chilling dashcam footage, which appears to show the teen leaning into a mystery car on the night she vanished.
The video, obtained by Mirror Online, shows a figure, dressed in similar clothing to those Gaia was wearing when she went missing, on the outskirts of Langton Matravers, just before midnight.
May, Appears. What facts? Undeterred by that exclusive’s lack of substance, the Mirror adds in a second story to its tasteful logo-heavy video: “Final footage of Gaia Pope before she went missing? Driver’s dashcam captures haunting ‘sighting’ of teen.” Adding: “A driver believes his haunting dashcam footage could have captured the last sighting of missing Gaia Pope.”
Believes. Could. No facts.
As for the state of Gaia Pope’s mind and body, The Guardian writes:
Pope had severe epilepsy, and her father had said earlier in the week that it may have played a part in her disappearance as she had been warned by doctors she was at risk of sudden death from the condition.
Such are the facts.
Kenneth Branagh and the actor formerly known as Michelle Pfeiffer star in journalism horror show
Michael Pfeiffer
Copy and past news now, as the Metro tells us that Kenneth Branagh is starring in a remake of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. On set he was delighted to see fellow star “Michael Pfeiffer“. Any relation to screen goddess Michelle Pfeiffer? Dunno. But the rest of the busy tabloid media also salute the great Michael Pfeiffer:
Daily Express:
Speaking with ITV’s Lorraine, he said: “There was a lot of mutual respect.
“The first time they met on the platform I was on the train watching them all getting ready to come on. They were so sort of shy with each other, it was like the first day at school… Then the first person up the steps was Michael Pfeiffer and she had tears in her eyes and I thought, ‘Christ, we haven’t started and she’s already upset!’ And I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ and she said, ‘I just met Judi Dench!’”
Daily Mail:
He told Lorraine: ‘There was a lot of mutual respect. The first time they met on the platform I was on the train watching them all getting ready to come on. They were so sort of shy with each other, it was like the first day at school. ‘Then the first person up the steps was Michael Pfeiffer and she had tears in her eyes and I thought: “Christ, we haven’t started and she’s already upset!”
Daily Mirror:
“They were so sort of shy with each other, it was like the first day at school, then the first person up the steps was Michael Pfeiffer and she had tears in her eyes and I thought, ‘Christ, we haven’t started and she’s already upset!’ and I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ and she said, ‘I just met Judi Dench!’”
He added: “Judi Dench is the secret to casting movies basically, you cast her and she’s an actor magnet.”
Isn’t modern journalism great. (Copy and paste at your leisure.)
Posted: 17th, November 2017 | In: Celebrities, Film, News, Tabloids | Comment
Arsenal Balls: Wilshere signs new deal and heads to Spain in Sun clickbait tie-in
Transfer balls: Jack Wilshere, once the saviour of English football, is making his way back to the fore after a trying time with injuries. Having clawed his way back to the Arsenal bench, Wilshere is now being tipped to get his reward: a career at Real Betis.
Well, so says the BBC, which reasons that once Wilshere’s Arsenal contract expires in the summer, Betis are “confident” they will get their man and make him part of Spain’s eighth best side.
Over in the Sun, the story is given added oomph: “BET ON IT Arsenal news: Jack Wilshere set to leave the Emirates as Real Betis ‘believe they are close’ to signing England midfielder on a free.”
Only a loon would bet on Wishere heading to Real Betis. He wants to remain at Arsenal, and the Gunners are pretty keen on keeping him. The Sun’s “exclusive” looks a lot like an advertorial for its betting operation, SunBets. The paper’s scoop comes wrapped around two large calls for readers to sign up to SunBets .
It’s all utter balls. But in the race for clicks, where one news source leads, the other dutifully follow.
The Mirror and Mail both cite the Sun, which has no quotes and facts to support its story. At which point the story takes on a life of its own, with ESPN saying a deal is all but done (taking care to namecheck two big clubs for SEO purposes) – “Jack Wilshere set to spurn Premier League giants Chelsea and Manchester City for Real Betis” – and 90mins.com reading the player’s mind: “Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere Could be Interested in Joining Real Betis.”
But hold the bet! The Sun has more news:
Best save your money.
Posted: 16th, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Clickbait balls: Liverpool ‘favourites’ to sign Barcelona Mascherano in a market of one
Transfer balls spots this gem in the Daily Mirror’s desperate clickbait factory: “Liverpool favourites to sign Barcelona star in January transfer window.”
To reach this story, readers vault no fewer than three video adverts. The story is squashed between them:
The entire scoop is an exercise in total balls:
Liverpool have been made favourites to sign Barcelona star Javier Mascherano in January.
Ah, him. Is he still any good? Does he want to rejoin Liverpool? Who else wants him?
Mascherano’s contract at Barcelona is less than two years to run and he is understood to be considering an early exit.
Understood by whom? Dunno. The Mirror doesn’t bother to say. But it does note:
Liverpool have been made 6/4 favourites to sign him by Sky Bet, although River Plate are another option for the 33-year-old.
Why SkyBet have odds on Mascherano is not stated, nor how large the market on the move is. Although it is fun to see the Mirror plugging its rival – SkyBet is operated by the Sun’s owners. Once upon a time both red-tops were fierce rivals seeking out scoops and shockers – now they exist to fluff each other’s guff and get readers to bet on total nonsense.
We called SkyBet and were told that the bet does exist. And because it’s a ‘Special Bet’ or a ‘Request A Bet’ the odds can be triggered by one person requesting odds. Make the request and look back in wonder as your simple question makes it on to the pages of the self-declared”Intelligent Tabloid”.
The full odds are hereunder:
Since the Mirror published its story, the odds have not changed, which implies the market for Mascherano to Liverpool is no larger than a PR’s chequebook?
Posted: 14th, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, Money, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Manchester United Balls: Mourinho accepts defeat
Football moves pretty fast at the Sun, where the paper continues to cheer for Jose Mourinho, currently turning Manchester United into a pragmatic, defence-minded grinding machine. Second in the Premier League, a not inconsiderable 8 points behind Manchester City after just 11 games played, the Sun explain that none of it is Jose’s fault.
On November 8, Sun readers were told:
“JOSE MOURINHO is heading for a clash with the Manchester United board over further backing in the transfer market. Mourinho has spent £300million in less than 18 months — but still wants more to strengthen his squad as they fight on four fronts… Now he is concerned he may not get the funds he needs to boost his squad in the New Year and next summer.”
One day on and United are in a panic. Mourinho’s off to PSG:
Things move pretty fast. After all, way back in August, the Sun was telling us that Mourinho was living the dream:
“JOSE MOURINHO has told his Manchester United players to do the Double this season. He said their aim had to be to win the Premier League and FA Cup and at least reach the last eight of the Champions League. But as Sunsport today reveals, Mourinho was so confident of what this squad could do he had raised the bar ahead of the new season”
Nothing a few hundred million can’t fix.
Posted: 9th, November 2017 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Arsenal clickbait: Daily Mirror ‘spots’ Sead Kolasinac in a Christmas jumper
How bad is sports writing? Like everyone else who cares – and many more who do not – we too saw the Arsenal squad wearing their Christmas jumpers to highlight the work of Save the Children. Since 2011, the club has raised over £2million for the charity.
But to the Daily Mirror, this is a reason to produce “7 things we spotted from Arsenal’s charity Christmas jumper team photo”.
The Mirror provides no link to the charity nor does it mention Christmas Jumper Day (December 15), which is why the Arsenal were wearing seasonal sweaters.
Says Arsenal:
Theo “Woolcott”, “Sweater” Cech, “Gra-Knit” Xhaka and the rest of the Arsenal squad have donned festive jumpers for a special squad picture with mascot Gunnersaurus.To help raise funds for our global charity partner Save the Children, we have created a range of exclusive Christmas Arsenal knits, which each carry a 20 per cent donation of the RRP to Save the Children.
The Arsenal Christmas jumpers are available from ArsenalDirect.com and from the club’s three superstores while stocks last – in sizes for men, women, children and … dogs!
Swap your kit for a knit and sign up for Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day on Friday, December 15.
Weak of the Mirror not to link their dire article to the charity. But they do notice that team manager Arsene Wenger is in the photo (Spot 4 on the paper’s list). That’s the same Wenger who, according to the Mirror, left the club on June 30.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 1st, November 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, News, Tabloids | Comment
Toothless sex sold for £4 in Liverpool
‘Natalie’
The Daily Mail has a story about on-the-clock sex and immigrants. The news comes via a BBC Three documentary on life in Liverpool:
Sex workers in a major British city are said to be selling their bodies for as little as £4 – with prostitutes blaming an influx of Eastern European competitors for pushing down prices.
That this is bad is pointed to by the Mail’s images of prostitutes and pimps lurking in the shadows looking miserable. Have you ever seen a newspaper story on prostitution featuring a woman running through bluebells? That the women are in need of rescue is a given.
Punters want cheap sex. There’s the obvious economic argument to defer from the headline: increased supply and a steady demand leads to lower prices. But the market for flesh is geared towards risk: it’s legal to sell your body in private but selling it in a public space, kerb-crawling, running a brothel and pimping are illegal. In an unregulated environment buying sex is a crime. Prostitution is a dangerous business. How can a woman complain of abuse and criminality, access safe lodgings and medical support without getting into trouble and running pellmell into judgement?
“The worst thing about prostitution is the lack of respect and opprobrium, and the pity and the assumptions that are piled onto prostitutes,” says AA Gill. “The root cause of all the dangers and misery of prostitution is because society despises prostitutes and the men who use them. So I wouldn’t make any of it illegal but what I would do is insist that anyone who used a prostitute had to work as a prostitute once a year, just to see what it was like.” Good idea.
The Mail continues:
The documentary tells the story of crack addict Natalie, who works on the streets to fund her habit.
Selling sex is a reality. A woman’s autonomous choice to sell her body is often fed by a consuming need. “They sell sex to pay for their habits,” says Michaela Edwards of the charity Streetwise. “Some do it to pay for Christmas presents for the kids. Some to pay the rent after getting their benefits cut.”
It’s about the money, right? “I’ve had to give a blow job out for a tenner because I’d been rattling for the heroin. Some days it’s even hard to make 60 quid,” says Hayley on the show. “Obviously the men are coming asking for cheaper money and we’re saying ‘no’. Then other girls are going and doing it,” says Hayley. “Some girl’s done it for £8, for anal and everything.”
And of the £4 rate, she adds: “Sex, here – some of the girls give it away for four quid. Because they’re battling for business, because they’re desperate to get crack.”
And having introduced the show’s plot, the Mail than adds:
A man named Jack, who lives with Natalie, blames Eastern European sex workers for flooding the market and slashing prices. He claims women come from as far as Serbia and Croatia and sell sex for rock bottom prices.
He said: ‘They’re absolute stunners. But the local girls… Sometimes I have to lend them my teeth.’
Spotter: Mail
Posted: 29th, October 2017 | In: News, Tabloids, TV & Radio | Comment
All MPs are suspects as sexual harassment panic grips Westminster
In time for Halloween, a witch hunt. Allegations unspecified are front page news. No need for reason and objective judgement because the story of MPs allegedly sexually harassing “furious female researchers, secretaries and aides working across Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament” (Sun) has a life of its own.
Women have “shared horror stories and warned of sleazy male politicians”. And they’ve chosen to do so on WattsApp. The Sun has a list of accusations, which include “groping”, “leering”, “pursuing” and having sex with staff in Parliamentary offices. The paper tells of anticipated resignations. Because an allegation is enough to end a career. It’s not justice we grave; it’s guilt.
Readers are told that these “revelations”, or what would be better termed ‘accusations’, “follow Hollywood’s Harvey Weinstein sex scandal, in which the movie mogul was accused by multiple women”. Weinstein has been accused of the heinous crime of rape, which he denies. And his innocence must be presumed. We can agree on that, right? Arrests, charges and trials are staging posts to truth. Allegations mean just that. Nothing tested in court and made to hurdle barriers to justice serves no purpose in a society founded on reason. If Weinstein did it – and, boy, are there a lot of claims made against him – put him through the system.
Harassing Who?
No MP has been named in the Sun’s expose. And none has been accused of the heinous crime of rape. But in our hot and heavy sexually-charged world, an unwelcome advance, a lewd comment or a misjudged flirtation is on a par with violent physical assault. How does that help victims of brutal, life-changing crimes?
Reading the Press is to realise that Westminster is embroiled in a sexual-harassment crisis. Is it?
Stymied from reporting on consensual sex between cheating showbiz stars, ministers, footballers and even snooker players in raucous and saucy kiss ‘n’ tells by the Leveson Inquiry, papers turned to the less potentially libellous news that dead men had been embroiled in a murderous VIP paedophile ring. The new focus is on another group in urgent need of protecting: adult women cowed into silence by a predatory patriarchy operating out of Westminster. (Anyone else miss the News of The World?)
Jimmy Savile is away
The story has reached the top. Theresa May’s spokeswoman tells media:
“Any allegations from anyone would be taken very seriously. We would encourage anyone who has a serious allegation to report it to the police, no matter who it is or where it is.
“My understanding is it would be House authorities [they would report to]. But obviously if they are working for an MP or party they can approach the party. If it’s a serious allegation they can go to the police.
“All parties, all employers in any walk of life including politics must take this seriously. No industry or area is immune to that, including politics.”
You Will Be Believed
Will the police be any more or less objective than May?
In 2016, Nottinghamshire Police said sexual harassment was a hate crime. “What women face, often on a daily basis, is absolutely unacceptable and can be extremely distressing,” stated chief constable Sue Fish. A spokesperson for End Violence Against Women added: “What we are talking about is not trivial behaviour – some harassment that women and girls receive in public is upsetting and should have the attention of the authorities.”
Delicate, chaste woman shown sex toy! Ann Summers shocked
So much for equality. Women are vulnerable and in need of State protection from men, who are all sex criminals-in-waiting. For those of you unable to hire your own police guard, the message is don’t drive or cycle. If you must leave the house, travel in women-only train carriages, or wait until a trusted male relative is free to accompany you to the market. And wear a crinoline burka. The police can’t be everywhere, but you can take precautions.
In the meantime, it’d be sage for every MP, politico, sitting Lord and civil servant to publicly praise any woman saying #MeToo (what police might term “credible and true“) on an encrypted messaging App as ‘brave’. Failure will do this will place any man in the role of enabler and suspect.
Because equlity matters.
Posted: 29th, October 2017 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Arsenal’s missing striker Gonzalo Higuain hits 100 goals in Italy
Congratulations, Gonzalo Higuain. The Argentinian today scored his 100th Serie A goal, hitting the net twice as Juventus beat AC Milan. Higuain, 29, has scored 101 goals in 153 games in Italy’s top flight since arriving in Italy from Real Madrid in July 2013. You will recall that Higuain joined for €40 million. In 2016 he moved to Juventus for €90 million.
But none of that happened if you read the Sun. According to the paper of record, Higuan plays for Arsenal, who he joined for £23m in 2013.
He then went to Liverpool:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 28th, October 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Carabao Cup balls: Arsenal and Manchester City in fake news epidemic
You can make a story out of anything. Take the Sun’s news that “Arsenal and Manchester City face disqualification from [the] Carabao Cup”.Why? Well, the Sun says they stand accused of “making too many substitutions in extra-time”. It’s the ‘CARABAO KO”.
Readers are told:”Arsenal needed extra-time to beat Norwich 2-1 and City saw off Wolves in a penalty shootout but both are waiting to discover if they broke rules over subs.”
The rules are, according to the Sun:
‘The Premier League giants made four changes — two in extra-time — and the Canaries will demand clarification from the Football League. Four subs are a novelty for cup ties this season but the rules imply only one can be used after 90 minutes.’
Arsenal and City have ready-made defences should the matter reach the legal stage. Bristol Rovers, Bournemouth, Brighton Burnley, Brentford, Portsmouth and Cardiff City all made two changes in extra-time in the Cup’s earlier rounds.
A quick look at the rules tell us that Arsenal and Manchester City did nothing wrong:
10 Substitutes
10.1 Subject to Rule 10.2, in all matches, each team is permitted up to seven substitutes of whom not more than three may take part in the match.
10.2 Where any match goes to extra time (in accordance with the provisions of Rules 14.4, 14.5 and/or 14.6), then subject to the League having obtained the prior approval of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to the application of this Rule, each Club participating in that match will be permitted to use an additional substitute (in extra time only).
And having suggested that Arsenal and Manchester City could be booted from the competition because it failed to understand the rules, the Sun then notes:
‘The Gunners made a total of four subs, making use of the rule that you can use one added change when a tie heads to extra-time. Arsenal made TWO in extra-time, causing some debate among Twitter users to suggest that Arsene Wenger had broken the rule.”
Isn’t new media crap and full of fake news, eh. It’s nothing like the trusty, subjective and truthful old media, is it? (Yes, it is, ed).
Posted: 25th, October 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Manchester City, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Shock and horror as Facebook seeks to make a profit
What do you think of Facebook? It’s pretty good, isn’t it. You can post stuff about your dog, website or uniquely gifted children and watch as people write ‘Bless” and “OMG” beneath the images and breaking news. Having throttled post reach – the number of people who actually see a post from your Facebook Page on their timeline is typically around 5%; and then invited users to pay up to ‘boost’ that figure – Facebook is looking for new ways to charge its users. It’s pay-to-play.
Facebook is testing moving publishers’ posts out of people’s news feeds unless the companies pay thousands of dollars to reach their audience.
The new format is being tried in six countries, including Slovakia, Serbia and Sri Lanka, and moves any posts that do not come from users’ friends and family into a secondary feed unless they are paid for. Paid promotions still appear in news feeds as normal.
Pay or vanish.
The change could wreck the business models of small publishers who depend on organic sharing on Facebook for a large part of their audience. It could also have a big impact on larger companies such as BuzzFeed that create content designed to go viral on the site, as “likes” cause Facebook’s algorithm to promote them in news feeds.
Of course it’ll hurt publishers – that’s part of the idea. But if you pay, you an use the service.
Critics yesterday accused Facebook of devious tactics, in giving publishers a huge organic reach and only later charging for that audience.
It’s not a public service, however long and loud Facebook founder and majority owner Mark Zuckenberg tells us his site is a force for world good. It’s a money-making machine. Facebook wants global harmoney [sic].
Facebook has issued a statement (via Recode):
“With all of the possible stories in each person’s feed, we always work to connect people with the posts they find most meaningful. People have told us they want an easier way to see posts from friends and family, so we are testing two separate feeds, one as a dedicated space with posts from friends and family and another as a dedicated space for posts from Pages. To understand if people like these two different spaces, we will test a few things, such as how people engage with videos and other types of posts. These tests will start in Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala, and Cambodia. We have no current plans to roll this out globally.”
One Slovakaisn user explains:
Biggest drop in organic reach we’ve ever seen. Pages have 4 times less interactions, reach fell by two-thirds https://t.co/KhAtCR0yvu
— Filip Struhárik (@filip_struharik) October 21, 2017
Posted: 24th, October 2017 | In: Money, News, Tabloids | Comment
‘Pregnant Women’ are taboo and gender fluid children commonplace as the trans movement thunders on
Transgender news features on the cover of the country’s two biggest-selling red-tops. The Sun has news of “fury” at “Government drivel”, which advises calling pregnant women mums in favour of “pregnant people”. Absurd? Of course it is. But is it true? Can it be that a triumph of liberty – the right to be what gender you choose and shag whatever consenting adult you like – has distorted into a tyranny?
The Government department being ridiculed is the Foreign Office, where civil servants have added their advice to a draft UN human rights paper, warning “the term ‘pregnant women’ could ‘exclude transgender people who have given birth’. Instead, it should be replaced with the term ‘pregnant people’, they suggested.” The Sun musters furious voices to say it’s “nonsense” (Labour MP Jess Philipps) and “drivel” (Tory MP Philip Davies). But it only gives readers a sliver of information about the proposal. It’s not until the 15th paragraph that readers are told:
The intervention came in Britain’s official submission on proposed amendments to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The FCO said: “We requested that the UN human rights committee made it clear that the same right extends to pregnant transgender people”.
That sounds fair, no?
The Times quotes Sarah Ditum, who might not have got that memo:
“This isn’t inclusion. This is making women unmentionable. Having a female body and knowing what that means for reproduction doesn’t make you ‘exclusionary’. Forcing us to decorously scrub out any reference to our sex on pain of being called bigots is an insult.”
But isn’t this just an addendum to the inclusive speech that has men saying “We are pregnant” and attending NCT classes? But, in any case, it’s not true.
In other news, the Mirror leads with the story that “50 kids a week are being sent to sex change clinics”. Is that progress?
The lead image sets the tone that all might not be well in childhood.
What about thses figures?
The number of children visiting Britain’s specialist clinic the Gender Identity Development Service, hosted by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London, has risen by 24% to 1,302 in the past six months.
Among them were two children aged four, four five-year-olds and 17 kids of six. In 2016/17 there were 2,016 children referred to the clinic. This is on track to rise in 2017/18 to 2,600. In 2009 there were 97.
Isn’t the key part of that fact the NHS’s involvement, the State’s overseeing role in individual sexual identity and personal liberation? The country has undergone a revolution in sexual liberty. But the movement for equality didn’t end with the decriminalisation of gay sex and the arrival of same-sex marriage; it simply moves on, seeking new things to overhaul. So now the focus is on children, and how they can be altered.
As Brendan O’Neill notes: “The government wants to scrap the current requirement of a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before you can switch gender and allow for ‘self-identification’. So any bloke could self-identify as a woman, apply for the legal right to be recognised as a woman, and – boom – he’s a woman.” Moreover, you can go back and change your birth certificate, altering it from ‘It’s a boy!” to “It’s a girl!”.
And what began as a glorious pursuit of freedom morphs into something weird, non-sensical and the opposite of truth.
Everton balls: Oh, come on, we loved Williams chucking his dummy
Argy-bargy at Everton, where the Toffees lost 1-2 to Lyon in the Europa League. The lowlight features the unforgettable sight of an Everton fan in the Gwladys Street end “trying to shove Anthony Lopes, the Lyons goalkeeper, with his right hand” (Times). The idiot compounded his behaviour by cradling a toddler sucking a dummy at the time. There’s thick and there’s wading into a fight against professional athletes whilst holding a child levels of thick.
We’ll get to know this dangerously thick man is. As the Times notes, “The shame game has begun.”
But before that, what happened? As ever the Press seem incapable agreeing on the most bald fact.
Everton fan carrying a CHILD slaps Lyon goalkeeper on his head – Daily Mail
Merseyside Police investigating Everton-Lyon brawl which saw man throw punche while holiding a kid [sic] – the Sun
An Everton fan who appeared to slap a Lyon player while holding a child during last night’s Europa League game has been banned by the club while police investigate the incident. – Daily Mirror
One fan was seen trying to throw a punch while holding a child. – Daily Express
…a fan carrying a child appeared to aim a punch at Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes. – Daily Telegraph
Punch? Slap? Hit or miss?
Lyons were unimpressed with the Everton showing:
Is this football ? 😫 #EvertonOL pic.twitter.com/ygp6O6BngV
— OL English (@OL_English) October 19, 2017
As for the shame and the horror, the players have spoken:
Everton captain Williams, who was shown a yellow card, told media: “It’s what happens, it’s football. It is what it is. It’s high emotions. We want to win the game, they want to win the game and stuff happens. That was just one of those times.”
He later told Everton FC’s website – where the incident is a described as a “heated exchange – “We want to show fight for ourselves, but more than anything for the Club and the fans especially. We’re disappointed we haven’t got a result tonight because I thought we showed good attitude in how we went about it.”
And Lopes opined: “I don’t think it is part of the English atmosphere to hit an away player. It was no big deal, it happened and that was it. For me it seemed to wake up the fans and they seemed to love it.”
They did. And so did the media. Fans and media love a mass brawl. Chuck in a streaker, a few red cards and the match would have been yet more entertaining – albeit not up there with Zidane’s headbutt or Cantona’s kung-fu kick.
Posted: 20th, October 2017 | In: Back pages, News, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
