Dan Hodges - Beyond Desperate

Despite the Mail on Sunday’s resident Ron Hopeful telling readers that he was “Britain’s best political columnist”, the sheer cluelessness alone tells anyone with brain plugged in and a hole in their backside that the not at all celebrated blues artiste Whinging Dan Hodges is anything but. And to put the lid on his deservedly wobbling reputation, Desperate Dan has had a less than happy weekend to boot.

He's desperate, Dan

The blowback for the pundit who told the world that Mil The Elder would become Labour Party leader in 2010, UKIP would fail to break 6% of the national vote share at the 2015 General Election, Jeremy Corbyn would not become leader of the Labour Party, Britain would not vote to leave the EU, and that Hillary Clinton would become the 45th President of the United States, began when Matthew Black reminded us of his 2016 analysis of Hodges, which included the passing of severely adverse comment.

Ava Vidal - plain speaking

And for the pundit who claimed to be a Labour member, but who embraced Lynton Crosby in celebrating the win of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson in the 2012 London Mayoral Election - Bozza’s disastrous eight years pretending to be Mayor of London is only now entering the consciousness of the Pundit Establishment - it swiftly got worse.

Hodges decided to pick an argument on the wrong subject, on the wrong pretext, and with the wrong person. His subject was racism, his pretext that he had experienced it, and the person was comedian Ava Vidal. He could have desisted, but the Hodges iron law of Twitter argument holds that, unless he comes over all righteous, throws a mardy strop and blocks his adversary, battle must be joined until won, or, as in this case, lost.

Had Hodges experienced racism? Ms Vidal had to put him straight: “If we walk down the street together (unlikely) &someone calls me n****r, I personally EXPERIENCED racism & you personally WITNESSED it”. But what about if they, er … “Please get your black friends to explain to you that you being called a ’n****r-lover’ is not racism against you. This is embarrassing”. Not going very well, was it, Dan? And then it got worse.

Hodges signed off a reply to Ashiwaju Bisi Alimi with “thank you Nigel Farage”. He was just not going to get that one past Ms Vidal: “Jesus. He's now calling a black person 'Nigel Farage.' A mainstream columnist gaslighting and being a racist troll. Total disgrace”. But Dan’s got black friends, honestly. Was she convinced by that? “Sure. Amazing that you've been banging on since yesterday using them as props and they've decided not to confirm your story. Says it all”. That would be a No, then.

And just to make sure he got that, she followed up with “What has that got to do with your 'black friends' not confirming your story we all know is bollocks?!” Dan Hodges could have just admitted he was clueless, was talking crap, and then yielded to Ms Vidal. But because he’s a Really Important member of the Pundit Establishment, he won’t.

It used to be rumoured that David Cameron was an enthusiastic reader of Hodges’ missives. Which goes some way to explain why he was the worst Prime Minister in living memory. Meanwhile, Dan Hodges, far from being “Britain’s best political columnist” is in line to succeed Peter McKay - as The World’s Worst Columnist. You’re welcome, Dan.