When faithful Murdoch retainer Trevor Kavanagh was made a board member of toothless sham press regulator IPSO, a move that made even less sense than Caligula appointing his favourite horse Incitatus a Senator, this blog was not the only place passing adverse comment on the move. That is because Kavanagh is, let us not drive this one around the houses for too long, an habitual liar. And we need not look far for examples of his craft.
Why did Kavanagh cross the road? He didn't, he just made the whole thing up and IPSO rejected the complaints
Indeed, Kav has been lying through his teeth in his latest Magnum Opus for the Super Soaraway Currant Bun, spinning the racist unpleasantness directed at former footballer Gary Lineker over the demonising of refugee children as nothing more than someone taking advantage of our generosity: “Gary Lineker forgets that we’re not racist - we just don’t like being conned”, he offers. And then come the porkies.
“Home Office figures show two out of three of those elbowing their way to the front of the queue from Calais are lying about their age”. Wrong. Those shown to be over 18 are not getting in, so are not “elbowing their way” anywhere.
Have another go. “The abysmal failure of the Border Force and immigration authorities to sort this out is stoking anger over the abuse of our hospitality”. Not true. The anger is being stoked by irresponsible politicians - and the likes of the Sun.
And another. “Most migrants have destroyed their passports and other age-revealing ID”. No citation, and none will be forthcoming. And they are refugees.
And yet another. “DNA swabs and dental age checks are ruled out as “intrusive”, even though other EU countries use them”. Give us an example. You can’t, because you’re just making this up to order - in other words, lying.
Keep going: “MPs are up in arms, calling for an ‘urgent inquiry’ into the long-predicted shambles”. Two of them so far. And there is no shambles.
Try again: “Despite David Cameron’s promises, immigration is still out of control”. No thanks, I don’t want to look over there. This is about a few dozen refugees. Stop calling them migrants and hiding behind faux claims of “generosity”.
“Human life means zero to money-hungry thugs who lock pitiful families below decks on leaky boats”. No relevance to the article subject, and none will be shown.
“Britain is now home to more than four million newcomers, legal and illegal”. Over how many decades? No citation, and none will be forthcoming.
Trevor Kavanagh should never have been appointed to the board of IPSO. No-one prepared to lie to order should be let anywhere near an organisation which is supposed to call the press to account for, er, lying.
That is in addition to all the other reasons he shouldn’t be there, notably his involvement in the Hillsborough smear. IPSO is a sham. Kavanagh just confirmed it.
Kavanagh,(or Caomhánach in the original Gaelic). Fine old English name. Wonder if he's included himself in the 4 million 'newcomers legal or illegal'.
ReplyDeleteAlways wondered how this bastard has got away with it for so long. Assumed it was because he looked like an 80s poly lecturer rather than the usual bloated pisshead wide boy.
How to Sow Mistrust, a Beginners Guide
ReplyDelete1. Find or invent an example of an official process being circumvented, e.g. suggest that child migrants are not children, or that benefit claimants are living the life of Reilly on taxpayer's money. Do not worry if you have no actual evidence of this, a photo of any swarthy foreign looking miscreant will be evidence enough, or a "suggestion" from someone official-sounding.
2. Make sure you talk about this abuse of the system all the time. Never mention the 99.9% of occasions when the system works perfectly.
3. Should anyone have the temerity to suggest you are mistaken, consult the following table for how to respond:
A) Are they rich? Deride them as champagne socialists and/or bleeding heart luvvies
B) Are they a so-called "expert"? Deride them for living in their ivory towers and being out-of-touch with ordinary working folk
C) Are they poor? Deride them for being brain-washed by the Liberal Elite, or just ignore them. They're poor, it's not like they can do anything
4. Make sure to share the story with all your chums at other newspapers, and volunteer for talking-head spots on broadcast media. That way your insinuations will be given legitimacy by the constant repetition and multiple sources
Congratulations, you have now widely disseminated mistrust and can paint your bigotry as "representing people's legitimate concerns". If you're really lucky, you have so damaged public trust in the system that it will soon be dismantled.
Imagine these arseholes in the 1970s attacking the BBC for having presenters and entertainers who speak with Irish accents. How dare our public-funded broadcaster employ the likes of Terry Wogan and Dave Allen? The Bum says: Sling your shillelagh and craich off.
ReplyDeleteOr.
Back to back to the 15th century when Thomas Caxton engaged the services of Flemish typesetters? The Crud says: Destroyers of quill-pushers jobs. Get back to Flemland.
Another story about the lying press - see https://www.facebook.com/peter.stiles.560
ReplyDelete"The Telegraph contacts someone by googling Great Torrington and ringing the chair of a local charity late on sunday evening - to ask him leading questions about the arrival of 70 child refugees. He replies in a non committal way. The telegraph uses that to say there is disquiet in the town. The Express uses the same quotes to run a story saying there is fury in the town. Today - everyone from across the political spectrum - the town, district and county council, the local conservative m.p. the local paper and arts organisations (The Plough has contacted the place where the kids are staying to say they can arrange free screening of films) have come together to say that we are sympathetic and will do our bit. We spoke to journalists from the Mail and Telegraph who agreed that there wasn’t a story and that they are aware of the strength of feeling around the town about giving it a bad name by making us sound unwelcoming.
The Sun then runs a story to say the town is in uproar - using nothing more than the information they have gathered from the original story."