A Stroll Across The Astroturf – 6

As promised a few days ago, I’ve been looking more closely at the hangers on from the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance, the Astroturf group which enjoys the support of a whopping 0.064% of UK taxpayers, and in particular at the bloggings of Mike Denham – oops, Wat Tyler – who I see is credited by the TPA as being a “research fellow”.

Mike – oops, sorry, I mean Wat – had a go yesterday at something called the Grun, which is Mike’s (or is that Wat’s?) hilariously clever nickname for the Guardian (so those wacky TPA folks really do have a sense of humour – perhaps). He asserts that the Guardian “accuses the TPA of being a front for the Tory Party ... “, but anyone following the link helpfully provided can see that the assertion is wrong.

The Guardian article notes that there are those who accuse the TPA of being a Tory front organisation, but then gives the TPA’s own view, which counters the accusation. This is known as balanced journalism: that Denham – oops, Tyler – cannot or will not take this on board is noted, and I will leave others to make their own conclusions.

This inability to recall accurately does not dismay me: on the contrary, I consider it singularly instructive. Anyone going on to read anything posted by the TPA’s “research fellow” will have at the back of their mind Denham’s lapse in interpretation – deliberate or otherwise – and may therefore give his writings less credence than they might otherwise have done.

Put simply, Mike Denham – oops, Wat Tyler – has demonstrated superbly how to spray on his own firework.