Tommy Robinson Faces Defamation Action

While Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, ranted recently from a motorway service area about a teenager who is accused of assaulting a Syrian refugee at their school near Huddersfield, he let slip that someone was looking to sue him. This was one of those blink-and-you-miss-it moments; it was clear that Lennon did not take the idea seriously. He may soon have cause to reconsider.

What should be giving Lennon cause to worry is the narrative in a Crowdjustice post by Abdulnasser Youssef, described as “Jamal’s Litigation Friend” (Jamal is the young Syrian refugee). He tells “He defamed the young boy by falsely stating that amongst other things Jamal was involved in the violent gang beating of young English girl who had to be subsequently home-schooled through fear”. And there is more.

“We will be bringing an action in defamation against Lennon, we are also exploring bringing a claim against Facebook and other social media platforms which have been exploited by Lennon to publish his false and damaging comments made in respect of Jamal”. Also, there are further counts of defamation to consider.

“On the 28 November 2018 Mr Lennon produced the first video containing defamatory statements about Jamal … Over the following days and weeks, further publications which contained defamatory statements in respect of Jamal were published by Mr Lennon, and again these were posted to various social media platforms”. And the result?

“Jamal became the focus of countless messages of hate and threats from the extreme right wing. The police informed Jamal that there was an increased risk to the safety of he and his family; as a result, he and his family were forced to relocate”. Therefore “We will be pursuing an action, in defamation, and any other cause of action advised by our solicitors in respect of the defamatory publications made by Mr Lennon”.

Now come the interesting parts, and for Lennon the parts to which he would be best advised to pay attention. “We are exploring routes by which the social media platforms that provide a means of dissemination to Lennon can also be attached to this action”. That would mean making the likes of Facebook liable, as they had disseminated the content.

And now the pièce de résistance: “We will also have to undertake a review regarding the enforceability of any judgment which is successfully obtained for Jamal. We expect this to be complex as Mr Lennon has not only gone by several names during his lifetime but also has several criminal convictions … His criminality indicates that enforcement of any financial award obtained may be challenging. We hope to penetrate the veil of Mr Lennon's finances,  identify and forensically trace all of Mr Lennon's financial assets so that he does not escape the economic consequences of his defamation of others”.

It would make little sense winning a defamation action, only to see Lennon squirrel away his assets beyond the reach of the courts. This tracing work is going on alongside accumulating evidence of defamation. Lennon knows this. Hence his angry and agitated tone when discussing the case the other day. He knows this is serious.

What this case is about is not only securing redress for Lennon’s repeated defamation of a young Syrian refugee, but then enforcing the judgment. That means it’s serious.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2

Liz Kershaw To Sue New European - NOT

On Thursday evening, broadcaster Liz Kershaw Tweeted out a photo of herself and Julie Bindel, telling her followers “Me and Me Julie @bindlej Ready to go with #skypapers”. She seemed happy to be taking part in the Sky News paper review. Sadly, this was destined to be a campaign that developed not necessarily to her advantage.

Liz Kershaw

Ms Kershaw was invited to pronounce on a story about baby bottle manufacturer Philips Avent, which was transferring production from East Anglia to the Netherlands, with the loss of 430 British jobs. As the New European  told readers, “Brexiteer broadcaster Liz Kershaw has branded the loss of Philips from East Anglia as ‘great news’ for Brexit on breakfast television”. You read that right. And there was more.

“While most would see the move as terrible, the BBC Radio 6 Music DJ claimed this was ‘good news’ because it showed Philips still had faith in the UK … ‘I think this is great! It is terrible that jobs are lost in East Anglia, however, doesn’t it show faith by a multinational in a global market that they can manufacture these bottles in Holland and still easily frictionless trade import them to the UK?’” Oh, folly folly! Presenti flollopload!

“Presenters Stephen Dixon and Gillian Joseph were forced to intervene - hinting that her argument was insensitive to those losing jobs. Joseph said: ‘I don’t think the 430 people who have lost their job will see it as a positive.’ Kershaw, however, did not get the hint and continued to dig a large hole. ‘I’m not saying that, I don’t like that, I’m saying rather than “ooh we’re leaving because Brexit is going to be bad” I think you can put your own spin on anything’”. She did eventually concede “I wish I’d never mentioned it”.

But in the retelling, Ms Kershaw became outraged at the thought that she was - once again - destined to be the object of ridicule (Zelo Street regulars may recall her less than felicitous attitude to refugees arriving by boat) . So she came out fighting. She would sue! “When I sue this rag I will also include anyone who has abused me on here by swallowing their libellous misinterpretation of my comments this morning. Be warned”.

But, as Jon Stewart might have said, two things here. One, the New European included a video of the relevant part of the Sky Papers review, which shows that Ms Kershaw did indeed make the comments attributed to her. And two, that wasn’t the only publication reporting on her mis-step: the East Anglian Daily Times also carried the story.

Their version told “Broadcaster Liz Kershaw branded Philips Avent leaving East Anglia as ‘great news’ for Brexit on breakfast television - but added the job losses were ‘terrible’ … As she reviewed the newspapers for Sky News, she left the presenters baffled, as well as the fellow reviewer, as she commented on job losses at the factory in Glemsford in Suffolk which makes baby bottles and soothers … Kershaw claimed it was ‘good news’ that Philips had such faith in the UK”. So much faith they’re packing up and leaving.

The suggestion that Ms Kershaw might go to law over more than one publication reporting what she actually said has already attracted a significant amount of derision. If she goes ahead, she might also attract a reference to Arkell v Pressdram 1971.

Stick to the music, Liz. And keep schtum about politics. Just a teensy hint.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2

Question Time Criticism Won’t Go Away

Most of the time, the BBC gets it right, and so for most of the time, no-one criticises the Corporation. The problem comes when the Beeb, or a company producing programmes on its behalf, gets it wrong. All too often, the response to criticism - defensive and dismissive in turns - only serves to make matters worse. So it has been with last week’s edition of Question Time, and the treatment by host and audience of Labour’s Diane Abbott.

Fiona Bruce - got her facts wrong more than once

As I pointed out yesterday, not only did host Fiona Bruce peddle falsehood and misinformation in endorsing the claims of mercenary hack Isabel Oakeshott that Labour was “way behind in the polls”, she also made the false claim that there were questions about “both sides” in the referendum campaign. There aren’t.

Worse, there was a failure to tell the audience that Ms Oakeshott was a paid lobbyist, a water carrier for offshore billionaire Michael Ashcroft for whom a No Deal Brexit would be most helpful. She duly endorsed it. On top of that are a series of allegations about the treatment of Ms Abbott before and during the show.

The BBC’s response on treatment of panellists was abrupt, and yes, defensive: “We firmly reject claims that any of the Question Time team treated any of the panel unfairly before and during the recording last night”. But some who were in the audience claim otherwise. And now Ms Abbott’s team has waded into the controversy.

Diane Abbott - not happy at her treatment

As the Guardian has now reported, “Diane Abbott has accused BBC Question Time of legitimising racist abuse after claims that the shadow home secretary was singled out before and during Thursday night’s episode of the political discussion programme. The Labour politician claimed she had been unfairly mocked in the warm-up and had been interrupted more often than other panellists by Fiona Bruce, the programme’s new chair”.

The Beeb has not exactly been reassuring in its response: “We are sorry to hear Diane Abbott’s concerns over last night’s edition of Question Time and we have contacted her team today to reassure them that reports circulating on social media are inaccurate and misleading”. Reassure them as to what? To claim that what actually happened before and during the broadcast has been reinvented in the retelling?

Time for Lord Hall-Hall to intervene?

Even the Daily Mail has weighed in, correctly observing “In one combative exchange during the programme the shadow home secretary hit back at incorrect claims that Labour was struggling in the polls … Isabel Oakeshott said Labour was 'miles behind' the Conservatives in the polls, saying it was a 'damning indictment' of party leader Jeremy Corbyn … The two parties have been neck-and-neck in recent polls”.

Added to that, Ms Abbott’s team has noted “Analysis of the programme shows that the only black woman on the panel was jeered at and interrupted more times than any other panellist, including by the chair herself”. The proven falsehood and misinformation is not being addressed. The mistreatment of one panellist is not being addressed. The host’s lack of knowledge is not being addressed. And the critics aren’t for quitting just yet.

The BBC cannot get away with playing the combination of rabbit in the headlights and snooty dismissiveness this time. Question Time is only two shows into a new run and it is already in big trouble. Doing nothing is not an option.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2

Tommy Robinson Ignores Jo Cox

Absent from the airwaves for some time over Christmas and the New Year, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, has returned to his beat - touring Britain, taking time out to rile up his supporters, threatening organisations whose actions incur his displeasure, and intimidating those who pass adverse comment upon him.

So it was that after stopping off at a motorway service area to let his fans know that he intended to “shut down” Huddersfield Town FC, and take action against Kirklees Council’s social services people - perhaps even holding a march in the area - he and his pals rocked up in Glasgow this morning so The Great Man could confront an SNP MP.

Here’s Lennon’s schtick, and a few corrections. “For too long the media and the establishment have told lies, they have smeared and slandered my name [no citation]. Glasgow South MP Stewart Mcdonald stood and abused his parliamentary privilege. He stated it is a fact that Tommy Robinson is guilty of inciting racial tensions. I have never been arrested, let alone convicted for any hate speech, incitement or racial charges”.

Stewart McDonald did not claim that Lennon had been arrested or convicted. So if Lennon is taking a 700 mile round trip using that as a pretext, it’s a pretty lame one. But do go on. “So for a respected member of parliament to lie so blatantly, which was then picked up by the media and spread across the world is beyond words. Im [sic] fed up of these lies being spread about me so I decided to speak to him in an open meeting that he invites members of the public to ask him questions”. It wasn’t an open meeting.

Stewart McDonald - confronted at a library surgery

McDonald was holding a constituency surgery at a library in Pollockshaws. Some may recall that it was outside a library, where she was due to hold a constituency surgery, that Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered. And while Lennon sneers “Mr McDonald called the police and hid from me rather than asking questions”, what he does not tell is how many of his pals were with him at the time. From my own experience, he never turns up alone.

Herald Scotland observed “A source at the library said they had been made to stay inside for more than an hour as a small crowd gathered outside … They also claimed that Robinson's supporters bombarded the library with phonecalls”. The library was effectively placed in lockdown for at least an hour. Police Scotland officers attended the scene.

Jo Cox - murdered outside a library surgery

The report continues “In the video, Robinson repeatedly accused Mr McDonald of hiding, and was heard saying ‘he’ll probably come out in a burka’ … He said: ‘There’s multiple police officers here – too many. There’s no danger to him, he knows that. But still he hides’ … He added: ‘I can’t believe he’s hiding in there for hours, I can’t believe it. He’s got a police guard.’” And Lennon didn’t have his own guard with him?

Once again, Stephen Lennon is intimidating for kicks. He knows full well that since Jo Cox was murdered, and especially after his disciple James Goddard’s recent antics, MPs are not going to take the implicit threat of anyone gatecrashing a constituency surgery lightly.

But good to see those constituents, and the other library users, not getting a look-in. As always with Stephen Lennon, it’s never about them. It’s always about him. 

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2

Question Time In Deep Shit AGAIN

Last week seemed such a promising beginning for BBC Question Time under the new leadership of Fiona Bruce, with her holding both Labour and Tory representatives to account and insisting that they answer the questions put, rather than using the platform given to them to slag off their opponents. Sadly, all the credit banked by that first effort was expended, and worse, last night. And the critics are once again circling.

Fiona Bruce - falsehood, misinformation, and worse

Diane Abbott - smeared and jeered ...

... while Isabel Oakeshott gets off scot free (again)

The programme came from Derby, and featured among the panellists mercenary hack Isabel Oakeshott, Tory MP Rory Stewart, and Labour’s Diane Abbott. Stewart received the benefit of the audience knowing that he had tutored Royalty, Ms Oakeshott avoided being identified as the water-carrier for offshore billionaire Michael Ashcroft, and Ms Abbott as treated, by all accounts, shamefully. The feedback does not look good.

A number of audience members have already passed adverse comment on proceedings, with Labour member Jyoti Wilkinson telling “Tonight I managed to wangle myself into the @bbcquestiontime audience. The way they stoked up the anti Dianne Abbott sentiment before hand was appalling - the BBC is in dire need of reform … The wangle was the fact I managed to get picked without having some underlying hatred of Dianne Abbott”.

He had more to say. “We were made to turn our phones off as we entered the building, and i was fairly taken back by it all. If you watch the episode, you can see the hostility … There was a huge amount of hostility towards Diane - jokes about only being in the shadow cab cos of her affairs with Corbyn etc alongside the usual stuff you hear”.

Oh dear, BBC. And it wasn’t just Labour members: Khalil Akbar told that “I have to agree somewhat. I was sat there at the front and amazed at the number of ‘Leave’ voters behind me with their running commentary...it was not a balanced audience for sure-especially given [they] spoke to everyone and interviewed beforehand”.

Another Labour member,  Alison Martin, recalled “I was in the audience of Question Time tonight - didn't feel like a balanced audience, though the Leavers were loud. The jeers against Diane Abbott were worse than could be heard on the broadcast; was some humour at Diane's expense from BBC staff before the recording”.

It wasn’t just Ms Abbott’s fans voicing unease at the spectacle: “I can’t say I’m a massive fan of Diane Abbott but I’m much less of a fan of the obvious bias and abuse she is facing tonight. She might not be easy to watch but the way she’s being treated tonight is absolutely disgusting … Not a fan of Diane Abbott but I am yet again seeing such bias from the bbc and Fiona Bruce - need to be fair and equitable” were typical.

Word got back to Aaron Bastani of Novara Media. “I’m told that prior to broadcast of tonight’s #bbcqt Fiona Bruce came out, introduced herself to audience and gave a 10 minute talk [this is normal for QT]. Proceeded to make jokes about Dianne Abbott which were ‘in reality appaling’ then in rehearsal the floor manager did the same thing [while this is definitely not]. Abysmal”. He was also unimpressed at Ms Bruce’s research.

“Last 4 polls • Kantar - Labour lead by 3% • ComRes - Labour lead by 2% • BMG - Labour level • Survation - Labour lead by 3% Fiona Bruce, heading BBC flagship politics program #bbcqt ‘Labour are behind in the polls’ These are the people protecting us from fake news?” That was not the new host’s only faux pas.

The Observer’s Carole Cadwalladr picked up another, arguably worse howler: “No Fiona Bruce!! She just intervened after a woman referred to Leave's ‘dirty campaign’ & said there are ‘questions about both sides in the referendum’. Totally untrue. There are multiple legal investigations into Vote Leave, BeLeave, LeaveEU and Arron Banks. And none into Remain”. Any suggestion Remain cheated is Leave propaganda.

And that still from the show in Ms Cadwalladr’s Tweet looks, well, terrible for Ms Bruce and the Beeb. Added to all of that, as Otto English observed, was the glossing over of Ms Oakeshott’s vested interest. “Isabel Oakeshott backs No Deal because Isabel Oakeshott is nothing more than billionaire Michael Ashcroft's spokesperson and that is what off shore billionaire Michael Ashcroft wants”. Correctamundo. Ms Cadwalladr concurred.

“Exactly. Isabel Oakeshott is a paid lobbyist. And the @BBC can invite her on every week but they could and should be open & transparent about whose interests she represents”.

So that’s apparently shameful treatment of Diane Abbott (again), misinformation on opinion polls, falsehood on referendum cheating, and lack of openness when it comes to panellists’ backgrounds. Not good, BBC. And one has to say it: we’ve been here before.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2

UKIP Leader Facing Press Ridicule

Although the party is languishing in the polls, and its leader’s obsession with the far-right is bringing it little more than ridicule, the rump of saloon bar propper-uppers otherwise known as UKIP is about to hit the news stands in a way which is already causing that leader considerable discomfort. Because it’s all about him.

I em not a racialist but, und zis is a big but ...

The inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker - whether the paper concerned is the Daily Mail or Mail on Sunday is not yet clear - clearly do not have enough on their collective plates with Brexit. So they have decided to delve into the wacky world of Adolf von Batten, and what they have found there has been deemed newsworthy enough for it to be given significant prominence in a weekend edition of one of the two titles.

Exactly what the Mail titles may have in mind was outlined by John O’Connell of Far Right Watch, who told his followers “The Daily Mail or Mail on Sunday, or both, have a take-down prepared on #Ukip's @GerrardBatten for this weekend. We hear there's lots of new stuff, including criminality. Expect #Ukip head implosions and tantrums galore”. Criminality? Some may be surprised. They should not be.

It has been put to me on more than one occasion that Batten’s links to bent coppers are long-standing and potentially damaging to at least one Police force. It has also been put to me that he has been able to use these links to damage his rivals and keep the heat off himself. What Batten may not know is that the press also does links to bent coppers, and has done for decades. Why d’you think phone hacking nearly got covered up?

The Met knew it had enough evidence to sink the Murdoch empire. It pretended it didn’t. The Murdoch mafiosi was well in with the Met. They were not the only ones in the press pack to be so favoured. Anyone who thinks their Police contacts trump those of the press establishment is not dealing from a full deck.

So how has Batten reacted to the impending defenestration by the Rothermere goons? Simples. The idiot has admitted it’s on its way. “Not content with sending a ‘journalist’ thousands of miles to harass my wife’s family in the Philippines last week the Daily Mail has sent our Party Chairman a bunch of ludicrous questions about me. They plan more hatchet jobs. Not once have they ever asked me about Brexit”.

Ask yourselves why the Mail should dispatch someone to the Philippines. Clue: it’s not for the purposes of bringing the readers a heartwarming story of love across the national, and indeed racial, divide. Gerard Batten is about to be exposed and ridiculed big time, and there is nothing he can do about it. Except rant about the hated MSM.

If there is nothing in the Mail’s exposé, then he has nothing to worry about, and the story will die a death. If there is, UKIP will become even more of a laughing stock. And if he gets defamed in the process, well, tough titty Adolf. You and your pals don’t fret when you’re all doling that out to anyone else. What’s sauce for the goose, and all that.

Gerard Batten is about to follow Paul Nuttall into becoming the comedy leader of a comedy political party. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving bigot.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2

Tommy Robinson YouTube Money CUT OFF

Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, has been uncharacteristically quiet of late. No late night trips with his pals to intimidate targets, or relatives of targets. No livestreaming from protests and other events. No attacks on all those Scary Muslims™. No threats to sue those who do not dispense news in accordance with the dictates of Himself Personally Now. No sign of him at all, in fact.

Until yesterday evening, that is: a new video featuring The Great Man was posted on his Facebook page. But the first beneficiary of his claim “BIG NEWS: We are taking on the social media giants and inviting you to join us” was not himself, but Avi Yemini. Moreover, the background for Lennon’s rant at all those rotten social media platforms features Christmas trees. Bit late for that, isn’t it? But he got one thing right.

And that is the increasing reluctance of social media providers to not only host his content, but also allow him to make money off the back of it. It’s almost as if he knew what was coming next. What that meant was revealed by the people at BuzzFeed News.

The headline was not good news for Lennon. “YouTube Says Tommy Robinson Will No Longer Be Able To Make Money From His Videos … ‘We have suspended ads on Tommy Robinson’s YouTube channel as it breaches our advertising policies,’ a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News”. Ouch! And there was more. Rather a lot more.

“The anti-Islam activist and founder of the English Defence League had been monetising his videos through YouTube's platform, which allows video-makers to collect money from advertisers … On Thursday, YouTube told BuzzFeed News that it had suspended advertising on Robinson's channel - boasting more than 270,000 subscribers - for violating the company's advertising guidelines”. And more.

“In the 23-minute recap video of 2018, Robinson rails against ‘press-titutes’ and ‘left-wing big tech platforms in Silicon Valley’ … [he] also claimed there was a ‘rape jihad phenomenon’ in ‘pretty much in every major town and city in our country … It would wake a lot of people up to what's going on with the globalist, no-border bullshit and the fact we’re importing third-world alien cultures and treatment of women in Britain,’ he said”.

And the response from YouTube? “The video no longer has comments, sharing buttons, or suggested videos, and features a pre-screen warning that the YouTube community has identified it as ‘offensive or inappropriate for some audiences’ … His Instagram caption read: ‘Anyone who has watched my new yrs video know this is complete bollox. They want to remove my YouTube account.’” They. They are coming for him. The other.

This is, to no surprise at all, paranoid bullshit. YouTube has its terms and conditions, together with sanctions for those who cannot, or will not, comply with them. Lennon has overstepped the mark once too often. He needs to own the consequences.

But good to see a practical demonstration of why he needs to “take on the social media giants”. Because inciting hatred breaks the T&Cs. Boring but true.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2

Nigel Farage Private Plane Hypocrisy

As if we need to be reminded of the motley collection of charlatans, spivs, squeeze merchants and others of no known principle who have brought Britain to its latest and most precarious state, who should pop up like the proverbial bad penny but former UKIP Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, showing once more that, when it comes to a combination of hypocrisy and dishonesty, he is in a class of his own.

Squeaky charter terminal finger up the bum time

Mr Thirsty was caught by the people at Channel 4 News being flown privately from London to Strasbourg, at great expense, in the manner of those political elites about whom he has so much - usually severely adverse - to say. As so often, he brushed aside the implied criticism with the usual bonhomie, claiming that he’d paid the bill out of his own pocket, but then managed to put his foot in it in no style at all.

Farage couldn’t resist a dig at Matt Frei, who had caught him red handed. “Dear @mattfrei. Your sneering publicity yesterday led to a businessman coming forward and paying for the flight. A huge personal thank you from me, this was going to be a very expensive week until you showed up”. So he won’t be declaring that in his MEP’s expenses, then.

Nor did this convince media figures, especially those whom Nige has a habit of bodyswerving when they invite him on to their shows, like James O’Brien, who was on to the Farage U-Turn like a shot. “But you said you'd paid for it? Should be easy to provide a receipt”. So it should. And the timing did not convince.

Morten Øverbye was one of those taking a sceptical stance. “Took a private plane. Can't remember what it cost the same day as he took it. Next day claims a business man came forward to pay for the flight. My guess is the businessman already paid for the flight”. Certainly, if I’d taken a private plane and had to pay the bill myself, I’d know what it had cost. It’s like Nige’s Ecuadorian embassy amnesia revisited.

Nor does Farage’s initial claim that he had paid for the flight tally with the interview he gave the Daily Mail just over a year ago. “Nigel Farage, the former leader of Ukip, has bemoaned being ’53, separated and skint’ in an interview, adding ‘there’s no money in politics … particularly doing it the way I’ve done it - 20 years of spending more than you earn” as the Guardian reported later. But no-one should be surprised.

After all, this is the politician who Zelo Street nominated as Liar Of The Year at the end of 2016, for his claims that the EU interfered in the 2015 Portuguese assembly elections, the story that his car wheels had been “sabotaged”, saying he couldn’t go out without his security detail, and that Austria would be voting to leave the EU. All those claims were totally untrue, and merely the tip of a much larger dishonesty iceberg.

So come on Nige, show us the receipt for that private plane trip, own up as to who paid for it, and make sure you don’t try and claim in back from the European Parliament on expenses. The you might get believed. Until then, you won’t.

Nigel Farage has his pants on fire big time. No change there, then.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2

May Screws Up - Press Blames Corbyn

We are no nearer to seeing the end of the farce that is Brexit. The clock ticks down, the deal offered up by Theresa May is rejected, the craven cowards of the Tory Party and the slippery naysayers of the DUP back her in a confidence vote, she claims to be reaching out to other parties but won’t budge one millimetre, and all the while the country is derided abroad as a laughing stock. So, press people, who is to blame?

Ah, but in the looking glass world that is the Westminster bubble and the equally hermetically sealed environment of the press and pundit establishment, the usual rules do not apply. For the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press, the Empress Treeza can do no wrong, despite having royally fouled up Brexit.

So they blame Jeremy Corbyn instead - because he does not want to see a No-Deal Brexit. Jezza does not want to see hundreds of thousands of jobs vanish overseas, along with the trashing of agriculture and the fishing industry. He doesn’t want to see living standards nosedive. He doesn’t want to see poverty worsen. He doesn’t want to see more people sleeping on the streets. He doesn’t want the NHS fouled up. So it’s all his fault.

And while the Labour-supporting Mirror is broadly accurate with “Corbyn’s Ultimatum … Ditch No Deal … and then we’ll talk Brexit … He insists May blocks UK crashing out”, the alliance of Murdoch and Rothermere titles has decided to kick Jezza. Hard.

Thus the Mail thunders “May wins confidence vote, invites Labour leader for talks at No 10, then … WRECKER CORBYN SLAMS DOOR ON THERESA”. This comedy front page is completed by the side-splitting idiocy of “JEREMY Corbyn was last night accused of playing politics after he rejected talks to break the Brexit deadlock”. And Theresa May isn’t playing politics? They’re politicians, Mail people.

The dishonest tone continues at the Murdoch Times, where readers are told “Corbyn snubs Brexit talks … Labour shuns negotiation as May wins confidence vote by 19”. There was no negotiation on offer, and no snub. Corbyn was, and is, willing to talk - all she has to do it so take No Deal off the table. Why won’t she? Why isn’t that question being asked?

Ah, but this detail is beyond those who scrabble around the dunghill that is Grubstreet. That is made crystal clear by the Murdoch Sun, which proclaims “PM Wins Vote, Now It’s … COME OVER TO MAY PLACE … But Corbyn ducks No 10 Brexit invite”. In the parallel press universe, the Brexit screw-up is down only to the one bloke who can’t influence it.

Britain’s politics is screwed. And what has screwed it is the tribalism of the Tories, the sectarian myopia of the DUP, and the sheer venality of the press. For any of those groups to try blaming anyone else, and especially Labour, for their own shortcomings is beyond disgraceful. It is beyond irresponsible. It is totally out of order.

And, press people, that’s who is playing politics. I’ll just leave that one there.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2