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Friday 10 March 2023

Dead Cat Again - Dacre’s Worried

Despite several of the titles published by the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press throwing their collective toys out of the pram yesterday at the horror of a sports commentator having an opinion with which they disagreed, some of them can’t get enough of Lineker bashing. One title that clearly wants to keep kicking the Match of the Day lead presenter is the Daily Mail.


Unrepentant star mocks ‘ridiculous’ row over Tweets [because it IS ridiculous] … As bosses dither [you don’t know], he renews attack on ministers [he took the piss out of Penny Mordaunt] … Boasts he WILL be on TV tomorrow [because Saturday is MOTD day, duh] … LINEKER’S PLAYING THE BBC FOR FOOLS”. And a false assumption to round it off.

But a quick look at the BBC website, which had been covering the story, shows no sign of it - suggesting that, whatever has been said between Lineker and the Corporation’s management, the matter is, effectively, closed. Which, in turn, suggests that papers still throwing mardy strops about the hosts’s comments are indulging in a little al fresco dead cat throwing.

So the question has to be asked: from what are the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker trying to distract attention? Ah well. This comes down to another current controversy - the resignation honours list put forward by disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, which apparently features at least one figure from the Mail titles.

Yesterday, the Guardian told who that was: “Boris Johnson has once again nominated Paul Dacre for a peerage as part of a pared-back resignation honours list despite the Daily Mail chief having previously been rejected by the appointments watchdog, the Guardian has learned”. Ah, the legendarily foul mouthed editor in chief of the Mail titles. And there is more.

Sources with knowledge of the list have said that Johnson has put forward Dacre’s name for a second time. He had been knocked back last autumn after reported doubts raised by the House of Lords appointments commission. If the commission raises the same objections again, it will create a major headache for the prime minister”. Why would that be?


Because Rishi Sunak “will have to choose whether to overrule its members or risk the wrath of one of Britain’s most powerful newspaper bosses”. Also, “Dacre is one of the most powerful media executives in the country, and the backing of his papers could help decide the next election in Sunak’s favour”. But here a problem enters: lawsuits. Rather a lot of them.

Especially this one: “Dacre’s battle for a peerage has coincided … with legal challenges from a group of prominent individuals who allege the Mail newspapers engaged in illegal reporting tactics - including during Dacre’s time as editor … Lawyers acting for the group - which includes Prince Harry, Elton John and Doreen Lawrence - allege they were ‘victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy’ by the Mail”.

There was also - so it has been alleged - a knighthood for current Daily Mail editor Ted Verity in Bozo’s list, although whether that has survived the paring down imposed on Johnson is not known. But it’s the Dacre gong that demands the slinging of dead cats well beyond the shelf life of stories.

So Mail readers, and those of many other papers, will not have seen the reaction of the Hacked Off campaign to the alleged peerage: “No way Dacre should be given a role in the Lords (the ‘house of unelected wreckers’, in the words of his own newspaper) until claims hacking & other illegality took place under his editorship are fully investigated”. So how’s that lawsuit going?

That we do not at present know, but should do before too long. In the meantime, those vetting proposed honours should once again knock back the proposed peerage for the Vagina Monologue. Remember - when the press bangs on about what is effectively a non-story for as long as it has, it’s a racing certainty that it’s at least partly a dead cat. And this one is just that.

No gong with lawsuits pending. There need to be limits to Tory corruption.


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9 comments:

Burlington Bertie from Bow said...

In case you missed it yesterday:

Ex-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, the man who demonstrated his belief that sex workers should get a fair crack of the whip by taking his dominatrix to Amsterdam with him on MTV-funded ‘parliamentary business’, has soiled his seat in the House with his own little emission on the topic of Lineker’s ‘morality’:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64899472

If you like a story which covers Amol Rajan, sado-masochism, Earls Court fetish club the London Retreat, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Paul Dacre, James and Rupert Murdoch, the Independent’s tenancy in the Daily Mail’s building, the burying of a story, Kate Middleton, the Leveson Inquiry, the Sun, Max Mosley, Geordie Greig, the Tory Cornerstone Group (‘Faith, Flag and Family’!), George Osborne, ‘Mistress Kate’ and a mise-en-scene involving dungeons, gimps and possibly ball-gags (ask your mum), do have a look at Open Democracy’s account of it all here:

www.opendemocracy.net/en/ourbeeb/real-whittingdale-scandal-cover-up-by-press/

Anonymous said...

There are no limits to tory corruption, blue or red. That is the still-not-learned lesson of the last 44 years.

It's obvious where it's all heading. But relatively few people seem to care.

Which is why it doesn't matter whether lying hypocrites like Dacre and Starmer get (dis)honours. It's the dilute equivalent of Henry Ford receiving nazi Germany's highest foreign civilian award. Gobshites mutual backslapping.

The past and present public record of the Daily Heil shows why.

Anonymous said...

This is how far right tory Bruce of the BBC deals with someone telling the truth:
https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/status/1633951332829634562?s=46&t=Ynjkak6BcWxlouSla_j7Mg

A broken nose is "a one off", so that's alright then. Watch too the expression on the face of that decaying slob Clark.

Bruce is the one with the elocution lessons lemon still wedged in her arse.

Anonymous said...

This is all a distraction by the Government and Media from something that should really concern us all.

Why is nobody discussing the so-called Online Safety Bill which seeks to remove online privacy?

This is the UK Government behaving like the Stasi and should worry us all, as well as make us more vulnerable online!

Burlington Bertie from Bow said...

Oh no!
Now the Trot-infested BBC, for fear of offending the dinosaurs of the Tory party squirearchy and their forelock-tugging hunt-followers, have gone and cancelled a programme by that whingeing, woke, gorilla-botherer and Class War alumnus, 'Sir' David Attenborough who dared to suggest that some aspects of British farming were not necessarily always beneficial to what the snowflakes like to refer to as 'the environment' !

Cancel his National Treasure status forthwith! Take his 'Sir' away and give it to Lee Anderthal! End the disastrous 'Public Service Broadcasting' experiment now!


(A caveat: the story comes from the extreme right, London-centric, Chablis-sodden Guardian, so it's no more credible than the musings of Neil Oliver or, well, Julius Streicher, eh?)

www.theguardian.com/media/2023/mar/10/david-attenborough-bbc-wild-isles-episode-rightwing-backlash-fears


Anonymous said...

Next BBC football trivia "pundit": Andrew "urfascist" Neil, currently pinballing around C4, recent deserter from a far right propaganda "news" station, and former BBC tory front man.

It's either him or some other "reliable" far right bullshitter. The media revolving door is jammed with them.

Gary said...


Northcliffe and Dacre are eerily similar, both see themselves as kingmakers and both are deranged loons.
* The demented tycoon would later fall out with Lloyd George too—unlike David Cameron, he was a leader not to be trifled with. Harried at the 1919 Versailles peace talks by the Mail’s “Prussia Must Pay” campaign, Lloyd George returned to the Commons to denounce Northcliffe’s “diseased vanity,” and pointedly tapped his forehead. *

Alas, Sunak is no Lloyd George, so he will likely feed Dacre's "diseased vanity" (what a perfect description of our media barons).

Mr Larrington said...

The Beeb’s craven decision to let MOTD go out tonight with neither a presenter not a bunch of pundits has left many people who were hoping for the gig greviously disappointed. These are said to include:

• Lord Haw-Haw
• Ri Chun-hee
• Roger Mellie
• The little old lady accosted on a bus by Sunak that time
• Fiona Bruce, Suella Braverman and 30p Lee
• Jacob Rees-Mogg, Jonathan Gullis and 30p Lee
• Darren “Crafty” Grimes
• Mad Nad and Bloody Stupid Johnson

James said...

The BBC should be ashamed. Elsewhere on social media you have Alan Sugar coming out with bigoted stuff as well as subtly likening the former labour leader to Nazis. His awful tweets are still available for all to see. Why didn't Sugar get disciplined ? Instead the BBC went after an individual showing decency towards vulnerable folk. Messed up!