[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.
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[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]
12 comments:
Good grief.
Incredible, even by ranting rightie "standards".
All that's missing is a Sieg Heil.
So we can't criticise medics now? Even those who are still journalists at heart?
And as for Javid, I'm sure few of your readers would have had a good word to say about him in his past jobs.
Sadly, if we were to refer to him as “Mr Moron” there’s a risk that people might think we were referring to colossal bellend Piers “Morgan” Moron…
" Anonymous said...
So we can't criticise medics now? Even those who are still journalists at heart?"
Not with libelous accusations no.
Who is this anonymous twat on here who thinks vile abuse is mere criticising medics? Not only is this Moran an anti woke conspiracy theorist and anti vaxxer spreader of lies; lies I may add that emanated from the fake news anti vaxx community on twitter, who have ultimately over the pandemic's life, been responsible by their ignorant untruths for innumerable deaths. The science was not wrong, it was right, and his ignroance about epidemiology, how one virus can suppress other viruses (like flu) and and he is so ignorant about pathology.
Not with false, libellous accusations. Which he has done. Happy to help.
@Hayley
I wasn't aware you could libel a job. Perhaps Miss Clarke will try her hand at the law next?
It appears on the basis of this article that she jumped into a spat between Bob and Javid, a politician of no great moral stature who is, therefore, fair game.
You're not allowed to defame anyone, let alone a health care worker who saves lives in a global pandemic, idiot.
She's worth a billion trillion of both you and Mr. Moron put together. Show some goddamn respect to the people who save our lives. The goddamn disrespect.
@ 12:02.
Nobody with a sense of decency likes a liar.
And Moran is a liar.
@ 14:58.
It wasn't the job that was libelled, it was the doctor.
Which is why I hope Moran is taken to the legal cleaners. Though I doubt there is enough moral detergent on the planet to clean out what passes for his "mind".
Why do you allow anonymous comments ?
To 21:24.
I'm just guessing here: it might be why he also allows "Unknown" comments.
But I could be wrong.
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