Guido Fawked – Thatcher Funeral Hypocrisy

The supposed impartiality of the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog was called into question yet again this week as they not only trotted out misinformation from the cheaper end of the Fourth Estate, but did so to bash those rotten lefties, and to burnish their credentials as unswerving supporters of the memory of Margaret Thatcher.

“Maggie Funeral Final Cost: £1,205,809” declared the Fawkes blog yesterday, adding that this was some kind of national bargain as it worked out at a mere 1.9 pence per person. Then it was time to kick the rotten leftie Mirror and deeply subversive Guardian for having the gall to suggest that the real cost of Mrs T’s send-off could be as high as £10 million.

Yeah, that’ll show them, eh? But this was neither original, and nor was it factually accurate, both these being trademarks of the Fawkes rabble. The post was culled from the Super Soaraway Currant Bun, to which Staines and his pals have sold out, in order to ingratiate themselves with Rupe, so they can get a column on the Sunday edition. At least the original headline had been toned down.

“£1m Lady T funeral bill shames lefties” proclaimed the original article by the Sun’s non-bullying political editor Tom Newton Dunn. “LADY Thatcher’s funeral cost just £1,205,809 — a TENTH of the amount claimed by Lefties” he asserted, knowing that Sun readers need some WORDS in CAPITALS so they know when to get REALLY ANGRY about SOMETHING.

Sadly, Newton Dunn’s “exclusive” – and The Great Guido’s lifting of it – were being a little economical with the actualité, as the Guardian has now pointed out. The costs of policing and security, and of the funeral, were as shown by the Sun. But Newton Dunn had managed to miss out the minor detail of the £2 million “opportunity cost” of policing – that of 4,000 officers not available for duties elsewhere.

Moreover, the opportunity cost for the 700 military personnel was not included, and for that you can easily add another half a million or so. And then there is the hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, in production lost to the economy through all those people having the day off. Or would the papers who said there were so many lining the route now like to scale down their numbers?

So there is, in reality, nothing for any “lefties”, or indeed anyone who favours full disclosure of information, to be ashamed about here: the total Thatcher funeral bill may well have exceeded the £10 million estimate given by the Mirror and Guardian at the outset. Not that Newton Dunn will be saying anything beyond his original propaganda piece, and nor will The Great Guido.

Derivative, dishonest, grovelling, and yet obedient – another fine mess, once again.