Welcome To Zelo Street!

This is a blog of liberal stance and independent mind

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Too Much Blarney – 3

What a difference three and a quarter hours makes: yesterday I noted that the three blogs named by Donal Blaney, CEO of the Young Britons’ Foundation (YBF), in the video where he also smeared Ken Livingstone and Brian Paddick, had not said a word about him or his organisation since Blaney featured in a Guardian article at the weekend.

Following my observations, one of those bloggers, Paul Staines, who styles himself as Guido Fawkes, belatedly weighed in on the YBF’s behalf. Unfortunately, his post contained an elementary howler which not only undermines the credibility of his attack, but suggests that he may not have read the Guardian piece in the first place.

Staines infers that the Guardian are suggesting that, because YBF wannabes on visits to the USA visit firing ranges, this is a sign that Young Dave will repeal the handgun law if the Tories come to power. As any fule kno, no such suggestion was made: rather, the emphasis was on Blaney’s advocacy of a more liberal firearms policy.

As for Blaney, Staines does not mention him by name. The Blaney blog is still hidden from public view, his Twitter feed has been reduced to filling the airwaves with amateurish football punditry, and the best he can do in response to the Guardian article is to sneer “Guardian faces commercial ruin if the Tories win”.

The reality is that the Tory Party has cut Blaney loose, for the time being at least. Paul Staines is not pleased with Fat Eric on this point, but Pickles is a practical politician who exists in the real world: for him, the luxury of accommodating fringe wingnuts does not enter.

[The Guardian article has been updated to acknowledge that a legal complaint about it has been made on behalf of Donal Blaney]

No comments: