Zelo Street: September 2021

Thursday, 30 September 2021

Bozo’s Reserve Tanker Fleet ISN’T

The continuing shortage of motor vehicle fuel at locations where vehicle owners and drivers tend to need it - like filling stations - has now become so serious that someone in the Government is going to take action. The problem is that, as so often with alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his coterie of ineptitude, the action that is going to be taken is more PR guff than actually doing anything.

Kwasi Kwarteng MP

As the BBC has reported, “The government's reserve tanker fleet was being deployed on Wednesday afternoon to boost fuel deliveries, the business secretary said. Civilians were driving the trucks from their depots in Cambridgeshire and West Yorkshire, Kwasi Kwarteng said. He has also said soldiers would be delivering fuel in the coming days”.

Do go on. “Mr Kwarteng admitted the situation had been ‘difficult’ but denied there was a crisis in UK fuel supplies”. By “difficult”, perhaps he means the fights that have broken out among those queuing for fuel, especially in and around London. But not to worry, “Ministers have decided to deploy troops to drive tankers in ‘the next couple of days’, he said, in addition to the civilians driving them from Wednesday”.

Tesco/Esso forecourt opposite Crewe fire station last weekend. It was still out of fuel yesterday

The Petrol Retailers Association spokesman did not sound totally confident that the Government’s move would clear the problem overnight: "It would take more than ‘a day or a few days’ to fully replenish stocks at all UK forecourts, he said, but there was still ‘plenty to go round’”. And then there is the problem of suitably qualified drivers.

But isn’t an HGV qualification all you need? Apparently not. As a Zelo Street source told me, “Petrol tanker drivers have an ADR qualification as well as a HGV licence. They need this for them to drive petrol tanker lorries … There is a shortage of HGV drivers … however HGV drivers cannot drive a petrol tanker lorry without having an ADR qualification”. You can get more information on the ADR licence HERE.

So the situation is not as straightforward as our free and fearless press would have you believe. Worse, none of our media class seem to have stopped and thought where the civilian drivers would come from. James Doleman did: “And what do these drivers do when they are not called up by the reserve tanker fleet? Is it driving tankers by any chance?”.

The Tweeter known as My Sweet Landlord concurred, adding “There are no reserve tanker drivers. Just tankers. Allegedly” and quoting from the FT: “The Government’s tanker fleet is a pool available to private companies to lease, stored in depots in West Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire. Government insiders said the fleet had not been released before now due to ‘driver availability issues’ among hauliers, since industry is typically expected to provide drivers for the vehicles from their existing workforce”.

Meanwhile, media outlets outside the UK have no compunction in telling their readers exactly what is going on out there, like CNN reporting that “Rising energy bills, higher prices and a critical shortage of workers leading to food and fuel supply constraints are threatening to stall Britain's recovery from the pandemic”. The reason being?

“Although shortages, supply chain delays and rising food and energy costs are affecting several major economies … Britain is suffering more than most because of Brexit”. And the suffering won’t be ended by the shuffling of the tanker driver pack. No change there.

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Wednesday, 29 September 2021

No News Today - Here’s A Sleb

The fuel shortages continue, despite alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his coterie of rank ineptitude telling anyone who will still listen to them that they are all over. Shortages at supermarkets also continue, with the threat of turkeys not being present for Christmas. But for the inmates of the Baby Shard bunker, and to their shame those in charge at the Mirror, this is not really news.

Katie Price

No, for the Super Soaraway Currant Bun, there is something much more important on which to focus this morning, and that something is Slebs. Or rather, one sleb: showing that the Murdoch mafiosi have learned nothing from their part in the sad death of Caroline Flack, who was effectively slain by the Sun, they have decided to plaster Katie Price all over their front page, because she had a car accident.

She was, it seems, driving a car when it left the road and ended up on its side. And, as so often, the Sun wants us all to know that it is concerned about Ms Price’s wellbeing, while plastering every last personal detail across its pages and its website. Starting with the inevitable “A DRAMATIC new picture shows how Katie Price ROLLED her BMW in a ‘drink and drug drive’ smash in the early hours of this morning”.

Because the Sun has to put SOME WORDS in CAPITALS to make sure its READERS know EXACTLY what to READ and thereafter what to THINK. But do go on. “The new picture shows Katie's car turned on its side across the road - with the mangled front crashed into some bushes. The blue lights of an ambulance can been seen behind the vehicle, with it confirmed that the road was briefly closed due to the accident earlier today”.

So concerned are the Murdoch doggies that they have invented “a source” to make yet more stuff up about their target. “Sources told The Sun she had ‘stayed up all night partying with a few close friends’ … A source said of today's accident: ‘Katie rolled her car and was in a bad way when police arrived. She's in hospital now and everyone is desperately worried about her and why she was driving’”. Worried? The Sun?

Remember her, Murdoch doggies?

Well, only inasmuch as the endless stream of Sleb Goss that they wrong out of Ms Price’s every pronouncement might come to an end. Otherwise they couldn’t give a flying foxtrot. There may be, for instance, a driving ban to splash all over the paper: “According to the Sentencing Council, the maximum jail-term for drink-driving is six months with an unlimited fine … Katie has previously been banned from driving six times in the last 10 years”.

And after the BBC reported that “Reality TV star Katie Price has been charged with driving without insurance and while disqualified following a car crash on Tuesday … She has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Crawley Magistrates' Court later”, off went the Sun once more: “Sources close to the former model have said that she has been through a ‘difficult’ time in the past few months”. Really?

Remember him?

So what would a sensible person have done, if Ms Price had been through a difficult time? What would a responsible journalist have done? What would Nietzsche have done? Well, for starters, they wouldn’t have splashed a load of leering stories all over the front page of the Sun. Whose management have not learned the lesson from Caroline Flack.

Did the press learn the Leveson lessons? You might ask that. I couldn’t possibly comment.

Tuesday, 28 September 2021

Guido Fawked - Burnt To Ash

As those who look in regularly on Zelo Street will already know, the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog are not only not the sharpest set of tools in the box, they are not the most honest ones either. This has been superbly illustrated by an attack on the people at Novara Media, which has proved to be a campaign that has developed not necessarily to The Great Guido’s advantage.

Earlier today, Andrew “HS2 Ate My Credibility” Bridgen, MP of no discernible principle, took to Twitter to attack the Rotten Lefties™ in the Labour Party. “Today the Labour Party conference are voting for a minimum wage of £15 per hour. Imagine the impact that would have on lorry drivers wages. Why would any driver face nights away from home, poor living conditions and low pay when they could stay home and earn nearly as much?”

Eh? So Lorry drivers shouldn’t make £15 an hour or more? Not sure that what Bridgen Tweeted at 1036 hours makes sense. But the idea that £15 an hour was too much for the proles caught the attention of Aaron Bastani at Novara Media. “You live on £10 an hour for a month and come back to me Andrew” he responded at 1132 hours. Note the timing.

Why is that significant? Ah well. Just 62 minutes after Bastani’s Tweet came the hit job, as the Fawkes Massive told anyone not yet asleep of “Brighton’s Minimum Wage Hypocrites”. Who they? “Ash Sarkar has slammed the 'shameful' Labour Party for instructing shadow ministers to argue against a £15 minimum wage. Given Ash’s passionate diatribe one would expect all Novara Media staff to be paid at least £15 per hour”. Do go on.

“Wrong! Novara Media recently advertised for a 'Social Media Editor' to be paid just £12.50 per hour, for a job interviewing in January of this year … Luckily for Ash, she isn’t the only minimum wage campaigner to underpay staff. Last week Guido exclusively revealed that Labour Party’s conference stewards are being paid less than £10 per hour”.

Sadly, someone chez Fawkes had not only failed to notice that we are almost nine months on from that closing date, they also failed to check with Novara Media, such was their eagerness to put one over on the lefties, and lack of anything approaching journalistic principle. And the Fawkes piece accused Ms Sarkar of underpaying - present tense.

So it should not have surprised them when Ms Sarkar fired back “Hey [Guido Fawkes] - we did pay £12.50 in 2020, but it’s now £15 (and going up to £16.50 from this Friday). Amend and retract, or fuck off into the sea. I don’t mind which”. Come on, O Great Guido!

“The job advert clearly says 2021, so your charming tweet can't be true. When exactly did you stop paying ‘shameful’ poverty wages to all your staff? What was the date?” Like I said, not the sharpest tool in the box. Moreover, we know it was Staines who responded, as the idiot left his location on (Waterford, Ireland - in the EU, dontcha know).

Ms Sarkar dismissed this slice of stupidity with characteristic directness and brevity. “We raised our wages in February 2021, thanks to our supporters. Now amend and retract, or get fucked”. But Staines and his rabble aren’t clever enough to say sorry.

And it’s not the first time they’ve been caught lying. Another fine mess, once again.

Telegraph’s Defamation Bob A Job

[Update at end of post]

Private Eye magazine noted a problem for the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph: “Hacks at the Daily Telegraph are increasingly horrified by their main political cartoonist ‘Bob’, aka Bob Moran - not so much for his cartoons as for his noisy presence on Twitter, where he has become a hero for Covid sceptics and anti-vaxxers”.

Since then, Moran’s Twitter feed has kept up the offensive. He Retweets Laurence Fox, Kathy Gyngell, and Claire Craig. He mutters ominously “I can no longer pretend that these people are political adversaries or opponents in a debate. We are at war against the most disgustingly immoral ideology ever conceived. The worst version of humanity imaginable. And they are its remorseless cheerleaders. They are the enemy”.

Maybe the enemy is Health Secretary Sajid Javid? After Javid had told that vaccination had saved 123,000 lives in England alone, Moran ranted back “It's saved however many lives your idiot scientists 'predicted' would have been lost. Based on totally insane modelling. You could claim it's saved a hundred billion lives and you wouldn't sound any more deranged than you do now”. Or perhaps there was some other enemy?

Well, we began to see who that supposed enemy might be after Rachel Clarke, who you can tell as she’s a doctor, Tweeted “Why do you employ a man who openly abuses NHS staff, [Telegraph]? This is targeted harassment & you appear to condone it”. The Tweet mentioned had come from Moran. And it had violated the Twitter Rules.

But the lesson for Moran went unlearned as he frothed “Why do you employ a woman who promotes disgusting ideologies, without moral or scientific justification, which lead to the deaths of children, [NHS England]? This is pure, unspeakable evil and you appear to condone it”. That’s nailed-on, bang to rights defamation, that is.

So Dr Clarke has tagged the Tel’s CEO, just to keep him in the loop. “Dear [Nick Hugh], a cartoonist employed by your newspaper has just openly defamed me, an NHS palliative care doctor, on this platform. I intend to pursue this legally - it's appalling. But how can you, who describe yourself as father of 3 & husband … allow such abuse & hate?”

And she has decided to call in the lawyers. “OK [Telegraph], enough. You employ this man, who is openly slandering me, an NHS doctor, on Twitter. This is hateful abuse. [Bob Moran], I suggest you think carefully about whether you want to keep this tweet up. You've just defamed me & I'll be talking to a lawyer”. Also, the Tweet has been screen shotted.

She’s also tagged in Javid and the CEO of NHS England: “Dear [Amanda Pritchard], [Sajid Javid] & [NHS England], I am alerting you to the hate, abuse and - in this case - open defamation that frontline NHS staff experience for advocating for Covid vaccination, mask wearing & social distancing. It's vile & we'd really appreciate your support”.

As well as telling the wider Twitter community “I have never asked anything like this before. But [Bob Moran] - a cartoonist employed by [the Telegraph] - has just openly defamed me, an NHS palliative care doctor, as well as incited hate & abuse. If I sought to crowdfund legal action against him, might you be willing to help me?” I might just.

Bob Moran could finally be the subject of laughter. As he is taken to the cleaners.

[UPDATE 1625 hours: Press Gazette has brought bad news for Bob Moran. After noting the Twitter exchange between him and Dr Clarke, the article tells "Press Gazette is not repeating the entire Twitter exchange for legal reasons" before letting readers know "Press Gazette understands that as of early Tuesday afternoon the Telegraph is planning to suspend Moran".

Too wacko even for the Tel. That's a seriously low bar]

Monday, 27 September 2021

Angela Rayner’s Attackers Prove Her Point

To the discomfort of Keir Starmer during his interview on The Andy Marr Show™ yesterday, and a shrug of the shoulders from most other Labour members, is the less than shock horror revelation that deputy leader Angela Rayner has described alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson in the most unflattering terms.

At a Conference event on Saturday night, she commented “I’m sick of shouting from the sidelines, and I bet you lot are too. We cannot get any worse than a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, absolute pile … of banana republic … Etonian … piece of scum … and I held back a little … that I have ever seen in my life”.

As Sir Sean nearly said, I think we got the point. But here a problem entered: not only was Ms Rayner a woman calling out a man, the man involved was big pals with our free and fearless press, many of whom were invested in his success. Also, Bozo was one of their own. He was a journalist, or, at least, he had pretended to do journalism once.

But, as Ms Rayner has since pointed out, “People seem to be far more concerned with my choice of language than the fact that [Boris Johnson] has made comments that are racist, homophobic and sexist. I'm very happy to sit down with Boris. If he withdraws his comments and apologises, I'll be very happy to apologise to him”. Also, Bozo has consistently refused to apologise for his racism, homophobia and misogyny.

That counted for nothing as the pile-on began, from Stephen “Vicky” Pollard, given a platform by the Mail: “Labour has been poisoned for decades by the likes of Mrs Rayner, for whom the point of politics is to generate a pulpit for their outrage and hate, rather than winning elections and governing. She and her ilk do their party - and indeed the country, which like all democracies benefits from a strong opposition - a great disservice”.

Stephen Pollard - even IPSO won't defend his paper

Then came Ian Austin in the Murdoch Sun: “Decent working class people will be appalled by motormouth Angela Rayner branding the Tories ‘scum’ … they want the people they send to speak up for them in Parliament to be taken seriously”. So that’s why he decided not to stand for re-election in 2019. And then came the increasingly alt-right Spectator.

Ian Austin - another political failure

Here, Sam Leith declared “A person chooses, at least arguably, to persist in homophobia, misogyny and these other forms of horridness. Those are defects of character. To be an Etonian, on the other hand, is a condition you acquire ineradicably, in the innocence of childhood … You no more choose to be Etonian than you choose to be black, or gay, or or a cervix-haver. So snarling at Etonians like that … it’s, like, racist, yeah?” Er, no.

The Speccy - bigotry'r'us

So let’s sum up: Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, which has had so many IPSO judgments go against it that many have lost count, and which keeps on losing libel actions, Ian Austin, whose Parliamentary career consisted mainly of slagging off others, and who became yet another floor-crosser, and the Spectator, a cesspit of racist bigotry, which regularly publishes a self-confessed anti-Semite, are on the attack.

In other words, Angela Rayner is opposed by the dregs of alleged journalism, those dregs in turn defending yet more dregs of alleged journalism (Bozo) to order. Which rather proves her point. When that’s the standard of your cheerleaders, best keep quiet.

Fuel Shortage Culprits NAMED

First the reports that there may be fuel shortages, then the sight of queuing at forecourts, then the shock front page frighteners, but only later the realisation that, as with everything else that fouls up in 2021 Britain, there must be a scapegoat. Someone must be responsible for fuel stations running dry, and the iron law of the establishment class means that that person, or those persons, cannot be the Government, or the press.

This is a total pack of lies ...

So who would like to point the finger? To no surprise at all, Grant “Spiv” Shapps, inexplicably elevated to Transport Secretary, was at the front of the queue. He blamed those panicking and queuing needlessly to top up, thus exonerating his press pals and their avalanche of panic headlines. Then he made a most unwise statement.

Shapps also blamed the truckers for “manufacturing” the crisis, thus ensuring that whenever alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his coterie of rank ineptitude needs the goodwill of the road haulage industry in future, it is an odds-on certainty that there won’t be any. And Shapps wasn’t the only out-of-touch idiot.

... and this isn't far behind ...

The inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker, more specifically those working for the increasingly wayward Mail on Sunday, had invented a fall guy for the crisis, which means the person concerned would not be one of their number, nor a Tory Brexiteer.

And so it came to pass that the MoS screamed yesterday “HGV BOSS ACCUSED OVER LEAK BEHIND FUEL PANIC … Ministers point finger at ex-BBC man who is a diehard Remainer”. HOUSE! BINGO!! The Beeb and the Remainers Done It!!! Sadly, this is, as with the Shapps spiel, total crap. So let’s look at what actually happened.

... but the real culprits are the Tories ...

Last Thursday, BP put out this statement: “We are experiencing fuel supply issues at some of our retail sites in the UK and unfortunately have therefore seen a handful of sites temporarily close due to a lack of both unleaded and diesel grades. These have been caused by delays in the supply chain, which has been impacted by industry-wide driver shortages across the UK and we are working hard to address this issue”.

How many sites? As Sky News has reported, “The energy giant said tens of forecourts in its 1,200-strong network were experiencing shortages”. Apparently it was around 35 sites. Also, “Esso said a few of its sites were affected. Tesco said two of the 500 petrol stations it operates were currently affected”. There was not so much of a problem.

... and their pals in the press

That did not prevent the screaming headlines, with the Murdoch Sun howling “WE’RE RUNNING ON EMPTY” last Friday, and the Mail mining the same seam of blind panic. By Saturday morning, the queues had built up and so the press reinforced their message, making the problem that they had caused immeasurably worse. And so it went on.

Fuel stations ran out, when they need not have done so. As some forecourts ran out, the panic spread, and queues lengthened at those still open. Only then did the press realise what it had done, and moved to dump on someone else. The Government, whose ineptitude had already caused an HGV driver shortage, dumped away too. But neither can escape their part in this shambles, although they won’t be the ones that suffer.

Our Establishment class fouls it up for everyone else. No change there, then.

Sunday, 26 September 2021

Telegraph SFH Hit Piece UNRAVELS

While much of our free and fearless press is covering the Labour Conference, along with the travails of party leader Keir Starmer, or spooking the public over potential fuel shortages while blaming the result of their handiwork on the Road Haulage Association, or even blaming someone who once worked for the BBC and opposed Brexit, one corner of the press has today put the boot into campaign group Stop Funding Hate.

That particular corner is occupied by one Edward Malnick, who claims to be Sunday political editor at the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph. “Group behind GB News advertising boycott summoned by regulator over 'political campaigning' claims … The Community Interest Company watchdog says it will monitor Stop Funding Hate and 'act accordingly' should it breach legislation” is the less than arresting headline.

It is also not supported by Malnick’s own article. Although he claims “The campaign group behind the advertising boycott of GB News is being summoned to see a government regulator and will be ‘monitored’ following claims that it breached company laws by engaging in ‘political activity’. The directors of Stop Funding Hate, which is registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC), are being called to a meeting with the CIC regulator over allegations that it has taken part in political campaigning”, this is not true.

We know this as he tells readers “The move comes after ten Conservative MPs called for an investigation into the group” but then admits “In a response to the MPs' complaint, Louise Smyth, the CIC regulator, said that the company's activities had not breached the relevant regulations”. SFH has not breached the relevant regulations. Case closed.

Brendan Clarke-Smith MP

Moreover, Ms Smyth added “I will be contacting the directors of Stop Funding Hate and requesting a meeting to discuss this matter further”. So no-one is being “summoned”. Also, only later in the article does Malnick reveal his source: “Brendan Clarke-Smith, one of the signatories of the letter to Ms Smyth, and a member of the Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs”. And who would Brendan Clarke-Smith be?

Ah well. Representing Bassetlaw, following the flouncing out of “Lord” John Mann, he has attacked Marcus Rashford over free school meals provision, attacked the England football team taking the knee, and claimed food banks are a “political weapon”. He has said it is “‘simply not true’ that ‘people can't afford to buy food on a regular basis’”.

He has also asserted “The actions of this group and its attacks on free speech are not only an affront to democracy, but have undermined the trust that many people might have had in Community Interest Companies”. Most people don’t have the foggiest idea what a CIC is. And there is no attack on FREEZE PEACH by SFH. Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) is free to have its hosts say what they want.

Others are then free to pass adverse comment upon them, or indeed, ask advertisers if they wish to be associated with Dan Wootton, Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, Tom “Hardwood” or any of the channel’s other “stars”. As for the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs, Tim Bale summed them up well: “a heady mixture of hyperbole, highly questionable assertions … and frankly risible conspiracy theory”. That’s how credible Malnick’s source is.

But good to see that SFH scares the Tory right. Their campaign is clearly working.

Saturday, 25 September 2021

Brillo In Tears - Boo Sodding Hoo

Ultimately, he departed Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) with a payoff not unadjacent to stuff all. But for former Murdoch editor Andrew Neil, it wasn’t about the money, oh no. Even though his contract was allegedly worth a cool £4 million. No, walking away was an act of self-preservation, of maintaining his dignity.

This process is what has led him to tell all to the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker, taking out a king-size onion in no style at all: “'GB News is just a disaster. I came close to a breakdown. It would've killed me to carry on. I HAD to quit': ANDREW NEIL breaks down in tears in his first interview since his exit from channel he helped create”.

DAHLINGS! It was GHASTLY!! Do go on: “it comes as a surprise when Andrew Neil starts to cry and confesses to me how he nearly succumbed to mental collapse, broken by his experience at GB News … ’I came close to a breakdown,’ he confesses, tears falling … His reputation was in the hands of, as he sees it, amateurs who could destroy his 48-year record of unrivalled success built on rigour and professionalism”. Bwahahahahaha!

“48-year record of unrivalled success built on rigour and professionalism”? As Billy Connolly once said, there’s going to be some swearing … FUCK OFF! AIDS denialism, hiring David Irving, and the libelling of Carmen Proetta that meant the Sunday Times having to stump up £150,000 in damages? That kind of success and professional rigour?

Had that libel award been made today, and not in the late 1980s, you could have added a zero to the payout. Worse, he seems to have forgotten that he’s still chairman of the increasingly alt-right Spectator magazine, which ploughs the same furrow of bigotry as GB News, but does it in an upmarket typeface, fronted by a faux-posh editor.

When he moans “I do feel angry though about what they’ve done to a beautiful dream. This was a vision that might have worked. But if you watch the constant themes that come through again and again from the shock jockeys on GB News, the perception is ‘we hate migrants, we hate the NHS, we hate lockdown and we hate Meghan Markle’”, you have to wonder if he ever reads the Speccy - before rocking up at their summer party.

There was little sympathy for Brillo, with Nels Abbey, who caused The Great Man such discomfort on BBC Question Time, noting “Every word I said about Andrew Neil & GB News on Question Time has now been confirmed -by Andrew Neil- to be true”. As for that walking away with no payoff, Alex Andreou had something to say about that.

“Andrew Neil took a business risk that stood to make him a very wealthy man, had it worked out. And had it worked out, he would still be crowing ‘go woke, get broke’, like he did when figures in the first few days looked good. He’s a mercenary distancing himself from his failure”. And Hussein Kesvani had something to say about all that rigour.

“Sorry but if Andrew Neil genuinely didn’t know what GB news was or where its audience came from, it’s more proof that he really isn’t a good journalist at all, and had the good fortune of being a media person in a book period and having the BBC support him unconditionally”. Basically, no-one cares about Brillo’s blubbering.

He’s not a media messiah. And no-one cares if he’s a very naughty boy. Sad, really.