Guido Fawked - Hacked Off Hypocrisy

The perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog never miss an opportunity to ingratiate themselves with their true masters, the press establishment to which they have so shamelessly sold out. So it was no surprise at all to see them laying into campaigning group Hacked Off after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found adversely upon the “Leveson Declaration” advert.

Fart in lift Inquiry encounters tail wind

Hacked Off noted “We are disappointed in the ASA ruling, and particularly disappointed that, unusually, the Council has chosen twice to overrule the decision of its own professional staff on this advert, which first appeared over a year ago, and has not been re-used for 9 months”. They would appeal the decision. But The Great Guido was having none of that, declaring “Hacked Off Fail to Issue Prominent Correction and Apology”.

The Fawkes folks go on “[Hacked Off] are whinging that the decision was “political”, a unlikely story giving the leanings of the ASA”. And, as Jon Stewart might have said, two things here. One, there is no requirement for any “correction and apology”, nor any expectation of one. Moreover, two, one well-known voice of the blogosphere is all too keen to characterise the ASA as “political”.

That well-known voice told of the ASA: “They are a censorious bunch of self-appointed bureaucrats making politically correct judgements in areas they should not go into. To call them a ‘kangaroo court’ would be to insult the powers of jurisprudence wielded by antipodean mammals. They have no place in a free democracy … The ASA are not above making false claims themselves. They claim to be an ‘Authority’ when in fact they have no more authority than the Girl Guides, with no legal powers whatsoever”.

And there was more, as the well-known voice noted “This is the Sun fantasy football advert banned in the latest politically correct ruling from the censorious Advertising Standards Authority … chaired by renowned part-time floods expert and Labour peer Chris Smith … Almost as if the ASA has a massively unsubtle political agenda” [my emphasis].

In the case of one advert, “this week the ASA council announced it was overruling its executive’s decision” [see above] … “The ASA has a long track record of making rulings against less politically correct causes … Asked by its executive to find against a politically correct government anti-smoking advert, however, the ASA council headed by Lord Smith vetoed the recommendation. Yet another example of the ASA’s politically correct agenda”.

Who is this trenchant critic of the ASA who so clearly agrees with Hacked Off that the agency has a political agenda? Why, it is The Great Guido himself! Yes, Staines, his tame gofer, the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole, and newly anointed teaboy Alex “Billy Liar” Wickham, are not merely in hock to the press establishment, they are quite prepared to engage in acts of blatant hypocrisy in order to suck up to them.

Fawkes rabble continues to inhabit that draughty glasshouse. Another fine mess.