Those expecting our free and fearless press to get off its collective backside and perform a little Proper Journalism™ on the subject of the Labour Party leadership and deputy leadership contests may be setting the bar rather too high: in most cases, accurate copy won’t be happening, and in-depth analysis is totally out of the question. We can get a flavour of how the coverage will pan out from Telegraph pundit Allison Pearson.
Allison Pearson - sneering at the appearance ...
And the candidacy giving us the starkest examples of the depths to which the right-wing press are prepared to go is that of shadow business secretary and Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long Bailey. Those who have met Becky, as she prefers to be called, know only a smart and likeable individual, who has that key ability - to be a good listener.
... of Becky Long Bailey
This counts as nothing with the press pack. Even Pippa Crerar, who is supposed to work for the nominally Labour-supporting Mirror, sniped yesterday “A close ally of Long Bailey tells me: ‘She's struggling to deal with Santa not being real’”. Thus the bar was set very low indeed. Ms Pearson was soon along to set it yet lower.
Under the headline “Aliens are among us … and they’re running to be leader of the Labour Party!” she wrote (and, to quote Theresa May, I am not making this us) “The shadow business secretary, who looks like the love child of the Roswell alien and Mrs Merton, just confirmed that she is running to succeed Jeremy Corbyn”. Think about that.
Not only was it gratuitous and unnecessary, it was totally out of order. Worse, though, was that this sub-Katie Hopkins abuse got past all the relevant editors and managers at the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph - and into the paper. The Tweet advertising this vapid column is still, as I type, extant on the Telegraph Twitter feed.
Small wonder there has been severely adverse comment passed on Ms Pearson’s latest bucket load of vomited viciousness, with “I remember when the Telegraph was considered a serious newspaper. Allison Pearson has been caught out recently, yet her failure is rewarded with more print space. Many fight hard to address the superficial and harmful appearance obsessed age - and yet we have this” typical. And there was more.
“A female journalist writing about female politician in such a derogatory way is pretty disgraceful. Criticise politicians for their policies, statements and actions. Attacking the way they look is low. Play the ball, not the man, Allison Pearson. This isn't the playground … God knows I have little time for Long-Bailey but this article by Pearson, describing her as looking like ‘the love child of the Roswell alien and Mrs Merton’ is uncalled-for. Criticise her opinions not her looks”. The latter quote was one of many not supporting RLB.
Labour MPs were also quick to condemn Ms Pearson, with Rosena Allin-Khan, who you can call as she’s a doctor, responding “This is vile. This Labour leadership race must remain positive and respectful - candidates must not be dragged through the mud by people trying to divide us. Personal attacks have no place”. Leadership front runner Keir Starmer simply added “This type of nasty, personal attack has no place in our politics”.
Allison Pearson is a disgrace to what remains of her profession. Which you knew anyway.
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6 comments:
All of which guarantees I vote for Rebecca.
"A female journalist writing about female politician in such a derogatory way is pretty disgraceful." - the idea that RLB will get any kind of 'sisterly solidarity' if she wins is for the birds. And that's just the Labour party.
In the circumstances Pearson won't mind me describing her, her employers, her opinions, her looks and her dresses as the scrag end of a Nazi kindergarten supervisor (SS Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler Hausfrau division).
After all, it's only bantz innit?
Snacks of jealousy,fear and that a Northern working class Labour lass like Becky done good.
Becky gets my vote, simply because she is good at her job, smart and intelligent.
And yet, if we were to point out she's the union of a fat munter with an even fatter munter resulting in a fat munter, who's twitter avi is 5 sizes and 20 years out of date, who makes normal people wretch when they glimpse sight of her... we would be called out for being nasty left wing trolls. Not that we would point out that she's fat and ugly, because we would never ever go so low... but it seems that the reich-wing press get to play by different rules to the rest of us where double standards, and multiple chins, are writ large!
A 'Roswell' alien? Not even this bit makes sense. If there were aliens at Roswell, we, um, don't know what they would look like. Does the pathetic old has-been mean a Grey alien perhaps?
Perhaps Allison should take a trip out to the deserts of New Mexico- and stay there!
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