Carole Malone Easter Ban ISN’T

Another public holiday of Christian tradition, another lame attempt by bad faith actors in and around our free and fearless press to talk well, but lie badly, about how the Rotten Lefties™, Scary Muslims™, and of course the hated BBC, are somehow “Cancelling Christianity”. Yes, Easter is being systematically wiped out! Except that this is total horseshit.

Carole Malone

At the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph, Christopher “No” Hope told that “BBC ‘abandons Christianity’ after dropping traditional Easter service broadcast”, only for someone on Twitter, X, or whatever Muskrat’s calling it this week, to add “The BBC is showing on its main channel a full Easter service from Canterbury Cathedral on Easter Sunday”.

But the idiot who wants people to call him “Chopper” (is he a fan of young peoples’ cycles from days gone by?) has served up a mere Hors d’Oeuvres for a rather more pungent Entrée brought forth by the appallingly batshit Carole Malone over at the Daily Brexit, still called the Express, where someone calling themselves a journalist has done very little journalism.

Teased from the Express’ front page as “Why are we forever apologising for wishing Happy Easter”, and with the Dan Hodges-inspired absent question mark, the supporting article bears very little resemblance to reality, to which seasoned Malone observers may shrug and reply “no change there, then”.

Off she goes: “I still 100 per cent believe in, and live by, the principles of my religion. But what I see is that Christian traditions - like Easter - are being wrapped up and sold as ‘all-inclusive events’ [no citation], with the Christianity part phased out because it’s somehow become an irrelevance, or worse, an embarrassment [no citation]. There’s no respect for Christianity any more [no citation]”. Would Madam care to stop generalising and lie more specifically?

She certainly would. “We’re not allowed to call Christmas Christmas in case it offends other religions”. Bullshit. Jesus of Nazareth is an important prophet to Muslims, for instance. But do go on. “Nativity plays are renamed ‘winter celebrations’”. This refers to a hearsay claim from 2014 by “Parents on Netmums”. The BBC report of the unsubstantiated claims can be read HERE.

And, sadly, there is more. “Why the hell are we forever apologising for [Christmas and Easter] and trying to dress them up as something else?” We’re not. Have another go. “This week, we’ve seen stories about shops calling Easter eggs ‘gesture eggs’ to be ‘inclusive’”. The Beeb report hasn’t got a photo of that. And the “to be ‘inclusive’” is just another false assumption.

Worse for Ms Malone, not that she’ll take any notice of it, was Snopes taking the claim “In March 2024, the British candy manufacturer Cadbury renamed its chocolate Easter eggs ‘gesture eggs’” and declaring it FALSE. And her claim “We have Iceland replacing the crosses on Hot Cross Buns with a tick” is a flat-out lie: no replacement has taken place. Then it gets worse.

“It’s no wonder church congregations are dwindling if children aren’t being taught about Christian traditions. I’m guessing there are children who believe Easter is just about holidays and chocolate eggs”. She said it! Chocolate Eggs! Instead of Easter Eggs! But seriously, she knows what the problem is.

Yes, it’s Scary Muslims™! “The point about the Islamic faith is that its followers are fervent. They protect it. They refuse to have it disrespected. But Christians aren’t doing any of that any more, because they’ve been made to feel Christianity is a ‘white’ outmoded institution [no citation], which is maybe why it’s being systematically phased out”. That’s a straight-A Fuck Right Off. No-one, but no-one, is systematically or otherwise phasing out Christianity.

Anyhoo, do we get a rousing peroration? Er, “I said at the start I don’t go to church every Sunday but I am a Christian and I demand the right to have my religion respected along with everyone else’s, and I resent those meddlers who think it’s OK to phase out or tamper with my beliefs”. But no-one is tampering with her beliefs. So this article didn’t need to be written.

Except to scare her target audience by lying. And that’s not good enough.

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Portugal’s Farage Plays And Loses

As I mentioned earlier this month, the latest snap election for Portugal’s parliament threw up a messy outcome, with the largest grouping, the centre-right Democratic Alliance, managing just 80 seats, way short of the 116 simple majority needed in the 230-seat Assembly of the Republic. First task for its leader, Luís Montenegro, was to get an Assembly President elected.

Nothing sticks to Nigel Farage ...

For those in the UK, think Speaker of the House as an equivalent to Assembly President. Montenegro nominated José Pedro Aguiar-Branco; there was a vote; only 89 for; the nomination failed. Enter André Ventura, leader of the newly emboldened far right party Chega, to explain that it was nothing to do with him, honest. Except it was something to do with him.

Montenegro had ruled out working with Chega, on the not unreasonable grounds that Ventura was a fascist. But, by Ventura’s own admission, he and the AD leader had reached an “understanding”. So why had only 89 deputados voted for Aguiar-Branco? Ventura summoned his inner Nigel Farage to explain that he did not take responsibility for the mess.

Realising that allowing The Fash to make mischief ran the risk of collapsing the Government and bringing on yet more instability, it seems that Pedro Nuno Santos, leader of the centre-left PS, spied an opportunity, and there were discussions between him and Montenegro. The PS would back Aguiar-Branco. But - and this was a very big but - there would be a quid pro quo.

And that would be a scenario not unfamiliar to politics watchers in Ireland: the AD nominee would be Assembly President for no more than two years of the nominally four-year Parliament. After that, the PS would nominate someone who would then take over. This agreement would then enable the PS, with their 78 deputados, to support Aguiar-Branco. End of problem.

Until the next problem, which will be the need for AD to get its budget passed. This, it should be remembered, is what finally did for the last centre-right Government in Portugal, a coalition mainly of the PSD (Montenegro’s party) then under the leadership of Pedro Passos Coelho, in 2015. Except this time there is no viable alternative majority waiting in the wings.

... André Ventura wants a bit of that, too

There is only the spectre of The Fash under Ventura, with their 50 deputados, and unable to appreciate that being in opposition does not merely mean voting everything down. Montenegro now realises, if he did not before, that he needs Nuno Santos in order to stay in power, and will have to give up a series of concessions to the PS in order to keep them sweet.

Which is not lost on Ventura, who has had difficulty coming to terms with the reality of politics. As with his inability to take responsibility for anything, the spirit of Farage was present as he talked the talk in the realisation that he had played the game and lost. Here’s some of his pearls of wisdom.

“I don't mind humiliating or degrading myself in the search for political stability. I don't mind giving an image of even some humiliation, even some demotion, if it means that I'm working towards stability”. Working towards stability is not what he and his pals were doing. But he did accuse Montenegro of being “arrogant and even childish”. He’s a victim!

He’s also ranted “today, Luís Montenegro chose his travel partner and it is with him that he will have to complete this trip … We are not here to be hidden from the country or to be ignored … The PSD prefers a left-wing solution to a right-wing solution. You are free to do so, but from now on everyone follows their own path and Chega will lead the opposition in Portugal, because it is the third party and the only one that is outside this pseudo-agreement made between PSD and PS”. It’s not fair!

What the PSD, as part of AD, prefers is not to collapse the Government on the say-so of a self-promoting fascist, someone who has called for “a new dictatorship” and wants to proclaim the Fourth Republic, which is more or less the same thing. Portugal’s Government is about more than André Ventura.

Like Farage, he won’t take responsibility. Like Donald Trump, he’s a victim. Meanwhile, Nuno Santos will bale out Montenegro, extracting concessions as he goes. The Fash will merely bluster. Politics is the art of the possible, again.

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Net Zero - Tories Lying AGAIN

The desperation of The Blue Team, as a General Election looms ever closer and the polls get ever worse, has now extended to flat-out lying about their main opposition. This has necessitated quoting the lobby groups in and around Tufton Street as if they were reliable sources, and not yet more highly partisan bad faith actors. Today has brought an excellent example.

Just after 0800 this morning, the Conservatives feed on Twitter, X, or whatever Muskrat is calling it this week, declared “Labour’s green pledge costs over 4X MORE than they previously admitted, according to new reports. Energy experts this morning say Labour’s flagship policy is now ‘infeasible’". And how many “new reports” was that, then? Er, just the one, actually.

Could we have a source for that? Here is where the balloon of remaining Tory credibility was instantly deflated. The “source” was an article on the website of the Daily Brexit, still called the Express. And the article did not contain a citation, or link to the “report” quoted. But it did tell readers “Energy experts unveil 'true' £116bn cost of Labour's 'infeasible' 2030 net zero plan”.

And there is the warning sign, the hint that this may not actually be true: the use of quote marks to do the heavy lifting. Even the supporting article doesn’t make sense: “The money required is more than double the funds required under a net zero by 2035 scenario, modelling by Aurora Energy Research for think tank Policy Exchange has said”. TUFTON STREET ALERT! Do go on.

“Iain Mansfield, director of research at Policy Exchange, said: ‘To decarbonise the power grid by 2030 is simply not feasible. Given the state of the public finances it is hard to see how any Government could find the additional £93 billion required ‘ but even if the money were made available, it is simply not possible to build new renewable generation at the pace required’”.

But that assumes all the funding in the Labour proposal will be provided out of taxpayer funds, which it will not. Even the idea that the name Aurora Energy Research makes the Policy Exchange stance credible is rendered useless when we read “The paper’s author, Thomas Cabot, research fellow at Policy Exchange”. ONE OF THEIR OWN RESEARCH FELLOWS WROTE IT.

How much credibility does Policy Exchange have in the bank? Very little, sadly - ever since Tim Leunig’s wacko assertion that cities in the north of England, like Liverpool, had failed, and therefore their inhabitants should all move to London. Another fact not helping its credibility is that one of the group that founded Policy Exchange was Michael “Oiky” Gove.

Nor is this snippet from Policy Exchange’s Wiki entry: “Transparify's report ‘How Transparent are Think Tanks about Who Funds Them 2016?’ rated them as 'highly opaque,' one of 'a handful of think tanks that refuse to reveal even the identities of their donors’ … In 2022 it was revealed that the organisation is partially funded by ExxonMobil”.

Worse, and a sure sign that the Tories really, really want this hokum to be true, at 1100 hours came the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog to tell anyone not yet asleep “Labour’s bonkers £116 Billion Black Hole … LABOUR’S BLACK HOLE JUST GOT BIGGER”.

It did? How so? “Analysis by Aurora Energy Research has found that Starmer’s pledge to decarbonise Britain’s electricity grid by 2030 will cost £116 billion over the next 11 years. More than double the cost of the government’s current target of 2035 … The report concluded that even if Labour scraped the funds together, the policy is still ‘unfeasible’ due to the supply chain constraints, skills shortages and lead times”. There was more.

“No one believes going green is possible by 2030, though Starmer will bankrupt us trying. As Bim Afolami said, ‘Labour’s unfunded spending commitments just got bigger’”. No citation. Not even for the quote from Afolami. No mention of Policy Exchange. So much for the provisional wing of CCHQ and its dubiously talented convocation of lame propagandists.

Thus the true level of Tory desperation. It still won’t move the poll numbers.

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Harry Lawsuit NAMES Murdoch, CEO

At first, we were told that phone hacking was the work of “one rogue reporter”, then, after it was revealed to have happened on an industrial scale, that our free and fearless press had cleaned up its act and no longer hacked phones, or used the services of those who practiced The Dark Arts. But these claims, too, were untrue. We were also told that editors didn’t know.

And nor did bosses. But this farrago was soon exposed, with hacking, blagging, improper use of data, improper access to Police and medical records, other forms of surveillance, burglary, bribery and bugging carrying on through and beyond the time of the Leveson Inquiry, indeed, to this day. It was, and remains, a Wild West Show carrying the highest of risks.

Not least the risk that some of those targeted by the press might have sufficient resources to take said press to the cleaners, and that sufficient numbers of those who know what was going on move from poacher to gamekeeper, bringing expert knowledge to the service of those taking legal action. All of this, yesterday, came together at the High Court.

As so often, press reports are restricted to the Guardian and Press Gazette, plus Byline Times from the new and independent media. So what’s PG got to report? “The publisher of the defunct News of the World ‘gave false evidence’ to police about how the hard drive of its then-chief executive Rebekah Brooks went missing as it faced allegations of phone hacking, the High Court has been told”. And that’s just for starters. Who’s bringing the lawsuit?

“News Group Newspapers (NGN) is being sued by Prince Harry and several other individuals over allegations of unlawful information-gathering, including the use of private investigators”. Why do they all hate Haz so much? Do you think that the lawsuits and press hatred are in some way connected?

Do go on. “Lawyers for the individuals have claimed that a computer hard drive belonging to Rebekah Brooks, NGN’s former chief executive now in the same role at News UK, went missing in May 2011 and that NGN gave false evidence to the police to ‘explain away’ its disappearance”. Hmmm.

“In his written arguments, David Sherborne, representing Harry and the other people bringing claims, said it had already been alleged that the hard drive of Brooks’ computer was ‘sequestered and/or destroyed deliberately in order to conceal her and others’ knowledge of wrongdoing at NGN’”. Also, “The hearing was told there are 45 separate claims against NGN, including from Harry, film-maker Guy Ritchie, actor Hugh Grant, and Baroness Lawrence”.

It was the Byline Investigates feed that let us know just how tasty it was getting: “Prince Harry's lawyer has just referred to a document called the 'PI Annex' which is long list of private investigators - the vast majority allegedly unlawful - who were tasked by Rupert Murdoch's papers”.

Then, rather a lot of people were named. “The current Editor of The Sun Victoria Newton has just been named in Prince Harry's High Court case for allegedly unlawful information gathering” … “The current CEO of News UK Rebekah Brooks has just been named in court for alleged unlawful information gathering and covering it up”. Anyone else?

“Rupert Murdoch - and a long list of his executives - have been named for allegedly being 'dishonest' - an allegation which his company objects to” … “[Will] Lewis - who serves as the publisher and chief executive officer of The Washington Post - has just been named in court for allegedly covering up phone hacking for his former employer Rupert Murdoch”. Well, well.

There was more. “The News International execs were seeking approval from Rupert Murdoch, according to Sherborne, to pursue concealment and destruction of evidence and a deliberate strategy to thwart the police investigation … David Sherborne, for the claimants, has told the court that News International bosses allegedly set-out to disrupt MPs who were calling for an investigation into the phone hacking scandal”. The hearing continues.

And don’t forget, the Mail will be next. Why d’you think they hate Harry, again?

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Mail Editors - You’re Sick, Get Help

Not for the first time, today has brought the disturbing sight of a national newspaper indulging in the kind of creepy obsession that, were it coming from an individual with no power or influence, might already have resulted in a visit from the law enforcement agencies, together with the direct suggestion that the individual concerned occupy their time in some other way.

To no surprise at all, the newspaper (for some value of newspaper, given what it splashes on its front page today has Sweet Fanny Adams to do with the major anxieties of the people) is the Rothermere Daily Mail. And, also unsurprisingly, the subjects of the Mail’s creepy obsession are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Which illustrates the press’ Royal dichotomy.

“Royal Special One”, at the top of the page, tells “The image the world has been waiting to see: smiling Kate out walking with William”. Is it really Kate? It’s a bit of a blurry image. Still, on to “Royal Special Two”, with the Mail capitals out, meaning this is something telling readers what to think. “HARRY AND MEGHAN ARE DOWNGRADED BY PALACE”. Eh?

The alleged story, under the by-line of Rebecca English, who is claimed to be the paper’s “Royal Editor”, goes on “HARRY and Meghan were ‘downgraded’ on the official Buckingham Palace website last night … Despite acrimoniously stepping down [false premise] as senior working royals in January 2020, full profiles of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex separately had remained up alongside of the rest of the Royal Family until this morning”. Do go on.

“Tonight those pictures and biographies briefly vanished completely. Within half an hour they were replaced with a significantly smaller, joint biography at the very bottom of the page - below the Duke of York … The Sussexes' entry now reads that they have stepped back as working royals, with just a couple of short paragraphs on each of them”. Which tells us what, exactly?

It tells us that the Mail, under the less than benign leadership of its editor-in-chief, the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre, not only considers the Royal pecking order more important than anything else, but that the paper has someone poring over even a small change to the Buck House website.

Stop f***ing making it about me, c***

And then comes another false premise: “Despite growing public anger at the Sussexes' continued inclusion, Buckingham Palace has always side-stepped questions about why their details remained online”. Growing public anger? Isn’t the Mail getting confused here? “Public anger”, growing or otherwise, is not the same as Dacre getting radged at Haz suing the paper.

So the first discovery of the alleged “downgrade” may have been made elsewhere. But only the Mail has made it, and a blurry image of Wills and Kate, which is already arousing suspicion as to its authenticity, into a story covering the front page to the exclusion of any actual news.

It even puts former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, who arguably allowed his obsession with the Duchess of Sussex to get him the sack from ITV Good Morning Britain, in the shade. A couple who had an entry on a website still have an entry on that website, but the entry is now smaller than the one they had before. That beats cost of living crises, war in Ukraine, tens of thousands blown to bits in Gaza, and of course climate change.

Because the Mail titles are still prepared to give a hearing to those who deny that it’s happening. But not when they have their Sussex obsession to parade, while screaming to the world that they have no sense of self-awareness and reminding us at every turn of their iron rule “if our targets refuse to deal with us, then we will deal with them”.

That lack of self-awareness means no mention of broken infrastructure, not even a front page item defending the Government the Mail has been cheering on for the past fourteen years, or anything about all those refugees crossing the channel in small boats. Nothing on potholes, food banks, crumbling schools, the NHS on its back, and a population increasingly skint.

But the whole front page given over to a blurry Royal snap, and another obsessive attack on a couple who won’t be reading it. Sick indeed.

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Tory Extremism Farce EXPOSED

Cost of living crisis, an underperforming economy, energy bills still far too high, water firms pumping raw sewage into rivers and out into the sea, councils going bust across the country, a health service in constant crisis, life expectancy falling, the well-off becoming more well off while the poor become poorer, all topped with a generous dose of rampant corruption.

The Elmer Fudd of the Tory Party is back

That is what the Tories have bequeathed the UK: small wonder their poll ratings see them on a path to losing the next General Election so badly that they may well win fewer than 100 seats. Maybe fewer than 50 seats. So what would The Blue Team like to put forward in order to provide a little momentary interest? They would like to talk about Extremism. Seriously.

And so it came to pass that Minister Still Desperately Trying To Look Relevant And Failing Miserably Michael “Oiky” Gove brought forth A New Definition Of Extremism. We only had the last one from 2011, but the new one has been touted as “Narrower and more precise”. Go on then, let’s see the wording.

Extremism is “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1. negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or 2. undermine, overturn or replace the UK's system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or 3. intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2)”. But then a problem entered.

Its name was Hester. Frank Hester. Who he? As the BBC has told, “Electoral Commission records show Mr Hester has donated more than £10m to the Conservative Party in the past year - including gifting Mr Sunak a £16,000 helicopter journey”. He also “allegedly said veteran MP Diane Abbott made him ‘want to hate all black women’ and should ‘be shot’”. There was more.

“The tech boss apologised for making ‘rude’ comments about the former-Labour MP but said his remarks ‘had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin’”. Not much, they didn’t. And it got worse. “The prime minster called the comments ‘racist’ and ‘wrong’ but argues Mr Hester's apology should be accepted”. Sunak declined to give the dosh back. Then it got worse still.

Yes, “on Thursday, news website Tortoise Media reported that the Conservatives were ‘sitting on’ an extra £5m cash donation from Mr Hester that had yet to be declared - taking the total to over £15m”. Just sitting on five million notes. As you do. So there we apparently have an individual pushing hatred and intolerance, which could lead to violence. So has he been nicked?

As if. Hester’s alleged outburst also, arguably, undermines UK democracy, especially if Sunak thinks it’s OK to keep the money. Had he been poor and black, he’d already be in custody and facing a handful down the Scrubs. Worse, Gove then gave a get out of jail free card to Paul Marshall.

Who he? This from Adam Bienkov of Byline Times: “Michael Gove asked if GB News funder and Tory donor Paul Marshall, who liked and shared multiple far-right, Islamophobic, homophobic, conspiracy theory posts, is an extremist. Gove says he ‘deplores’ this ‘attack’ on Marshall, who he describes as a ‘distinguished philanthropist’”. For some value of “distinguished”.

But Gove is going after a raft of organisations advocating for Muslims. This from the Guardian: “A draft version of Gove’s ministerial statement, which has been seen by the Guardian, names several prominent Muslim groups, including MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development), CAGE, Friends of Al Aqsa, 5Pillars and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) as ‘divisive forces within Muslim communities’”. So says the author of Celsius 7/7.

Meanwhile, Hester is quoted by the Guardian. “Addressing a number of staff members on a crowded balcony for the meeting at the TPP headquarters, overlooking the railway line in Horsforth, Leeds, Hester asked if there was ‘no room for the Indians, then?’ He then said: ‘Climb on the roof, like on the roof of the train there maybe?’”. Laugh? I thought I’d never start.

Extremism: dumping on Scary Muslims™ while accepting millions from nailed-on, er, extremists. The Tories are the pits. But you knew that already.

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Guido Fawked - Wootton v Rayner

It is not only the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker who harbour a creepy obsession with Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, as has been demonstrated in no style at all by the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog recently. What has also been demonstrated is The Great Guido’s stinking hypocrisy when events go against them.

Behold The Great Guido's new hero

The alleged “journalists” chez Fawkes have yet to post another attack on Ms Rayner today: this may not be unconnected to one plank of their defence being kicked away yesterday by an outbreak of reality. The subject on which the attacks have been made is an unsubstantiated claim that Ms Rayner somehow avoided paying tax on the sale of a former council house.

Rather than investigate the claim thoroughly, there has been a succession of highly charged headlines implying guilt on Ms Rayner’s part, from “Tories Reckon Rayner Dodged Tax”, and “Angela Rayner’s Dodgy Council House Dealings Explained”, via the not at all subtle “'F***ing Liar Angela Rayner'”, the quote marks doing some seriously heavy lifting, to the equally charged “Lying Angela Rayner Can’t Hide From Media Forever”.

As Sir Sean nearly said, I think we got the point. But then, yesterday, came an item from the Manchester Evening News, headlined “Labour MP Angela Rayner cleared after police investigation … A complaint was made to GMP about the Ashton-under-Lyne MP” and telling that “Angela Rayner has been cleared by police following a complaint by another Greater Manchester MP”.

Do go on. “Labour's deputy leader and Ashton-under-Lyne MP has denied claims of wrongdoing relating to where she was registered as living after her marriage in 2010. Conservatives have also accused Ms Rayner of hypocrisy after it was revealed last month that she sold her ex-council house in Stockport at a profit of £48,500”. Labour MPs not allowed to do that, then?

The Tories should have stopped and thought at the news that “According to the Mail on Sunday”. But “Bury North MP James Daly asked GMP to look into whether Ms Rayner gave the correct information in official documents and to investigate whether she broke electoral rules”. Police say NFA.

Evening all

At which point, Fawkes watchers may have experienced a measure of Déjà Vu. Like the headline “Metropolitan Police Investigation of Dan Wootton Finds No Evidence, Met Decides No Further Action”, going on to tell “In the summer of last year a number of lurid allegations were made by Byline Times about Dan Wootton … Wootton has lawyered up against Byline News”.

Is it News or Times, Fawkes folks? Sloppy sub-journalism. Must do better. But there was more: “Dan Wootton’s lawyers have sent a letter to Byline Times, its editor Peter Jukes, and the journalists Dan Evans and Tom Latchem, informing them that Dan will be going after them for a ruinously large sum in damages and costs”. And quoting ZXC v Bloomberg.

This, of course, is a studied response and nothing to do with Wootton having instructed Griffin Law, the domain of Staines’ pal Donal Blaney, he of Young Britons’ Foundation fame. The Great Guido also claims “Byline Times maliciously chose to name Dan for political reasons” and talks of an “attempt to destroy Dan’s reputation”. However, one item is missing.

And that is the minor point that Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) has decided to dispense permanently with the deeply unpleasant Wootton’s services (so have the Mail titles), but neither has been in receipt of any communication telling them that poor Desperate Dan has been subject to an attempt to destroy The Great Man’s reputation.

Yet, as I type, there has been no word from the Fawkes rabble telling that Ms Rayner has also been told by the cops that there will be No Further Action. But it is highly likely that there will be more bad faith attacks on the Labour deputy leader, whether from Staines and his assembled creeps, or the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press, or both.

Once, the Fawkes blog was really independent. No longer. Staines always wanted to be part of the establishment club. What an unprincipled crawler.

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Portugal’s Messy Election Result

So the election was held, and now the various parties have to live with the result - but maybe not for long. The centre-right PSD, being most of the Aliança Democrática along with the CDS-PP (who were wiped out in 2022) and the People’s Monarchist Party, gained all of two Deputados. The outgoing centre-left PS lost a lot more. So AD had the most seats.

Luís Montengro ((c) EPP)

But that gave them just 79 out of the 230 Deputados. Which brings us to the big winner from yesterday’s elections, Chega, and its deeply unpleasant leader André Ventura. They conned their way to 48 seats on the promise of some kind of change, of cleaning up Portuguese politics, neither of which they will accomplish. But too many in the country’s media, especially its broadcast media, have not sufficiently exposed Ventura’s vacuity.

AD, under the PSD leader Luís Montenegro, would have a majority with Chega. They won’t get that. They may make an agreement with the so-called Liberal Initiative, which is billed as “pro-business”, but in reality is the local version of The Tufton Street Gang, though the latter won just eight seats.

87 is way short of the 116 majority line. And the only other party out there on the right is Chega. Underscoring the fact that Montenegro has to own the mess was PS leader Pedro Nuno Santos conceding the contest and saying explicitly that his party would go into opposition. He saw the bed of nails and decided that his team were not going to lie on it. So why the problem?

Ventura and his party are not going to take responsibility for anything; it will all be someone else’s fault. UK politics watchers will recognise this as “doing a Farage”: Mr Thirsty initially lauded the Brexit deal presented by Boris Johnson, but more recently has declined to take any responsibility, because this was not “his” Brexit, which would have been a far superior proposition.

Worse, Montenegro has previously denounced Ventura, rightly identifying him as a xenophobe, a racist demagogue. So now, even with IL on board, and perhaps two of the four seats still to be declared, even if Chega abstained on his budget vote, 89 seats would be vulnerable to the centre-left and left taking him out. Because they would be able to muster 93, also assuming that the PS take the other two of those four yet to be declared. A word about that.

André Ventura. And his twitchy right arm

Portugal’s post-revolutionary constitution ensures that no citizen is disenfranchised, even if they reside outside the country. So two seats in the Assembly are for citizens who live elsewhere in Europe, and two for citizens who live elsewhere in the world. These will not declare for at least a week.

Chega could help Montenegro by backing his budget, but here a problem enters: further down the road, this taking of responsibility could be held against them. Ventura and his pals will happily vote something down - that’s easy - but making a positive choice to support something - that’s hard.

The BBC notes that “The Chega leader said his party was ready to help build the next government. But even though he has watered down some of his policies … there seems little chance of him having any role at this stage” but cautions “Former centre-right leader Luís Marques Mendes said there had never been an election night like this before: ‘I think we'll have fresh elections early next year’”. By which time the voters may have rumbled Ventura.

All that the left and centre-left have to do is to choose their moment. Unless Ventura and his gang are prepared to make a positive choice and back Montenegro. But if they back AD, and AD turn out to have got something wrong, that would rebound against them. Of course, the Chega claim that everyone else in Portuguese politics is corrupt could also work against them.

That would occur if anyone in Chega, or linked to them, were to be caught with their hands in the till. Ventura is adept at playing the victim - think Trump playbook - but his support is yet fragile. At least there was one big positive from yesterday’s contest, and that is turnout, which, at 66%, was far higher than two years ago, and a high turnout is always good for a democracy.

Meanwhile, eyes are on the President to nominate a PM. No pressure, now.

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Brillo Faces Humiliation

With many out on the right increasingly worried about the possibility of the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph, and the equally increasingly alt-right Spectator magazine, being sold off to a vehicle bankrolled out of the UAE, and headed by a former CNN main man, their knight in less than shining armour has appeared to oppose the move.

Step forward former Murdoch editor Andrew Neil, Brexiteer without equal, well, apart from his residing in an EU member state, that is. Brillo clearly approved of the news from Spectator editor Fraser Nelson, who told his followers “It’s looking more likely that the Emirati bid for the Spectator and Telegraph will be blocked by parliament”. Until the next election, maybe.

Still, Neil was bullish as he responded “If so it will be a job well done. And one in the eye for IMI, their know-nothing-about-Britain US frontman, Jeff Zucker, and their hired hand, George ‘Fees’ Osborne”. Sadly for him, Zucker has been speaking to former BBC man Jon Sopel, now of The News Agents.

“Andrew Neil, sometimes media executive, chairman of the Spectator, who I know you’ve met, said ‘the idea that these two vital vehicles of mainstream centre-right thought should be owned by Arab money, and controlled out of New York by a left-wing Democrat, beggars belief’. He said that the idea is absurd” told Sopel as Zucker listened patiently. So what say Mr Z?

“This may come as a shock, but Andrew Neil is quite the hypocrite on this …the reality is that Andrew Neil was interested in working with us, until we didn’t have any interest in having him work with us. I proposed to him … that he be the chair of an editorial trust board for the Spectator. He said that was too small for him, because he already, essentially, had that role”. Do go on.

“But he did say to me that he’d be interested in being the chair of a combined editorial trust board for the Telegraph and the Spectator, and suggested that, in that role, he could also act as a shadow editor of the Telegraph, because he felt the newspaper needed one. He also wanted to know how much such a role would pay. We said no thanks. And ever since that day, he’s been one of our most vocal critics, and I think that says all you need to know about [him]”.

Jeff Zucker ((c) David Shankbone)

OUCH! And he wasn’t finished. “Since I am sure he’s going to deny this … let me be very clear about something. He did not make that request just of me … and I can also tell you, that when I spoke to folks at both the Telegraph and the Spectator about his potential involvement, they were all quite pleased to learn that he would not be around”. DOUBLE OUCH!! Come on Brillo!

“Mr Zucker’s memory is playing tricks on him … I have no interest in a role solely designed to give Mr Zucker editorial credibility, which he lacks”. But Jeff Zucker, with his background, does not need Andrew Neil to give him credibility. The rest of Neil’s rebuttal airily pours scorn on Zucker. But one thing is lacking. And that is any threat of legal action against Zucker.

Moreover, whatever desperate measure the Tories dream up in order to block the Redbird IMI takeover of the Tel and Speccy is highly unlikely to survive a change in Government in the UK, which may occur sooner rather than later. So what’s with the idea of blocking that takeover? Simples. It guarantees that both titles will back the Tories into that election. And when the Tories lose, folks like Neil and Nelson will discover just how disposable they are.

After all, there were no howls of protest when the Evening Standard and Independent were taken over by the Russians - Russians very close to that country’s security agencies. Or when “Arab money”, to use Brillo’s happy phrase, bought a stake in the latter publication. Nor was there such organised opposition when another foreign takeover of the Tel happened.

That being Conrad Black buying the Tel and Speccy, among other titles. Nor was there the same scale of protest when Peter Oborne resigned from the Tel after the paper failed to cover the HSBC Swiss tax-dodging scandal, apparently in fear of offending advertisers (though Brillo criticised the Tel).

The time of Andrew Neil as a player, a major influence in the UK’s right-wing press, was for a time, but not for all time. Just rejoice at that news.

Farage Does Another Racism

Fresh from his attempt to smear former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has come another racism from former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage. Nige has seen that Jeremy Hunt (the former Culture Secretary) has allocated public funds for a memorial honouring the sacrifice of Muslims who fought for Britain in two world wars, and elsewhere.

In another example of He Wouldn’t Have Said That About Jews - not even Farage would have gone there - The Great Man told his audience of adoring Gammonati “At 12.30, up got the Chancellor of the Exchequer. His opening sentence I simply could not believe”. The offending passage was played back. “Well, here is my response. I went to the local cemetery” said Nige.

“Over 100 years ago, we had men of more brain and foresight than our Chancellor. They decided at the end of the First World War, and continued it through World War 2 as well, that everybody, regardless of race, rank or religion, would be buried beneath the same headstone. The principle was equality in death, recognising the contribution of all”. There was more.

“Indeed, if you go to a big Commonwealth war graves cemetery in France, or elsewhere, what you’ll see is a stone of remembrance that says ‘those of all faiths and none’. We thought about this more than 100 years ago. We do not need Jeremy Hunt putting forward the idea of a memorial to a specific religion. It is just plain wrong”. Cue fervent Gammonati applause.

Yeah, that’s telling all those Scary Muslims™! Who do they think they are, eh? But, as Captain Blackadder might have observed, there was only one thing wrong with Farage’s argument - it was bollocks. For starters, if you go to a big Commonwealth cemetery, as Farage suggests, you will soon see that his claim about “the same headstone” is yet another from his roster of lies.

The "same headstone" in practice

Christians generally have a headstone in the shape of a cross. Jewish soldiers have the Star of David on theirs. And Muslims? At the very minimum, the crescent moon and star will be present, and most likely with some Arabic script. So Farage couldn’t find any examples in Whitehaven, where he was presenting his burst of straight-talking bluster and intolerance?

Maybe the area didn’t have many non-Christian soldiers billeted there, or indeed, living there before and during two World Wars. But I have news for Mr Thirsty: the British Indian Army, which by 1945 had grown in number to around two and a half million, is agreed to have contained around a million Muslims. Of which tens of thousands gave their lives for the Empire.

Indeed, the National Muslim War Memorial Trust has pointed out “By World War II, the British Indian Army had grown significantly to 2.5 million. Of this approximately 1 million were Muslims. Muslims mainly from India and African countries fought on three continents and played a decisive role in Britain's first major land victory against Nazi Germany in North Africa”.

Winston Churchill told, in a letter to Franklin Roosevelt at the height of the Second World War, “We must not on any account break with the Moslems, who represent a hundred million people, and the main army elements on which we must rely for the immediate fighting”. They fought to liberate us from totalitarianism. Farage missed that. Why might that be?

You might wish to ask that question. I couldn’t possibly comment.

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Corbyn Sues Farage

And so it came to pass that former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage overstepped the defamation line in no style at all, live during a broadcast on Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”), perhaps thinking that, as his target was former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, it was a free hit and there would not be any blowback.

After all, his taking out the smearing iron was on the subject of anti-Semitism, and Jezza had had every last drop of that dumped on him by his detractors, whatever the fact of the matter might have been. So what did Mr Thirsty say? Here it comes, and don’t forget: what Farage said was highly defamatory.

“I said the Jewish community in North America had been massively successful in law, in business, and yes, they did campaign for what they wanted, they did it within the law, they did it quite successfully, but I was never a subscriber to the madcap conspiracy theory [we’ll see about that later] that the Jews run the world. But I’ll tell you who was - yes, Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour leader that you supported. Yes, Jeremy Corbyn!”

It was not long before examples of Jezza not subscribing to what, using Farage’s happy phrase, was a “madcap conspiracy theory”, were appearing all over Twitter, X, or whatever Muskrat’s calling it this week. Worse for Mr Thirsty, there are plenty of examples of him crossing the anti-Semitism line out there. Including what he actually said about North America.

Before LBC kicked him out, Farage told listeners “there are other very powerful foreign lobbies in the United States of America, and the Jewish lobby with its links to the Israeli Government is one of those strong voices”. The US Jewish lobby, according to Farage, was a “foreign lobby”.

Could it get worse? Don’t ask. The Board of Deputies were not happy: “In a tweeted video message this month, Farage said the UK faced ‘cultural Marxism’ [origins in Nazi ideology] … said companies who pulled TV adverts from rightwing TV shows were being pressured by ‘Soros-funded organisations’ [trope of the ‘Disloyal Jew’]”. And his Newsweek interview?

“Farage talked about ‘unelected globalists shaping the public’s lives based on secret recommendations from the big banks’ [‘Globalists’ being code for ‘Jews’ or ‘Jewish bankers’] … Goldman Sachs was the only bank he mentioned by name, echoing another common theme from far-right antisemitism”. We need look no further than Ms Thirsty’s Twitter feed to see examples - rather a lot of examples - of these characterisations.

“Orbán's Hungary is standing up to George Soros and closing him down, I wish we all did the same … Another anti-Brexit plot backed by George Soros. This man will stop at nothing … The Soros-funded attempt for a second referendum has failed … London is ranked the best financial centre while Frankfurt is 11th. We're all sick of the constant threats from Goldman and the globalists”. Goldman and the globalists? They got an album out, have they?

There was more. “We are heading towards a world where the democratic nation state has made a comeback against the globalists … We are beating the globalists! … Obama and Merkel are holding a losing party for the globalists! … The globalists are sticking together”. And he wasn’t finished.

“Goldman Sachs and big business lost the referendum … Congratulations to former EU Commission President [José Manuel Barroso], now over at Goldman Sachs. Global corporatism! … If Goldman Sachs are leaving London for the US, why aren't they going to their beloved European Union? … Goldman Sachs Chairman thinks those who want border controls are 'xenophobic'. Badly out of touch”. You get the picture. So will Jezza’s lawyers.

Farage will find many instances of Corbyn condemning anti-Semitism, denouncing Holocaust denial, and showing solidarity with Jewish groups. He will have rather more difficulty standing up his smear of the former Labour leader. He will lose this one - should he decide to defend it.

Nigel Farage will have to pay up and say sorry. Just rejoice at that news.

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Tory Dog Whistling - Enough Is Enough

All too often, when you need to show how debased politics has become, the opposition rides to your rescue. Today’s Mail on Sunday has demonstrated this superbly, carrying a screed of no observable fact from Robert Jenrick, a former minister whose resignation was a great relief to all those who wished it had happened rather earlier. And the subject is Scary Muslims™.

Robert Jenrick. Claims to be a former minister

This brings not so much a dog whistle as a foghorn, devoid of facts but heavy on nudge-nudgery and forthright bigotry. So let’s start at the very beginning, as it’s a very good place to start. “It’s crystal clear to the British public we have a serious issue with Islamist extremism [no citation] … Just this week we saw the strength of the alliance between the hard-Left and Islamists on full display, with George Galloway’s brand of sectarian politics proving a decisive vote-winner in Rochdale”. Democracy is bad when you don’t like the result.

But do go on. “As Immigration Minister I grappled with the link between uncontrolled mass migration and extremism”. Which is not an easy task, as there is no “uncontrolled mass migration”, and no link between this fictitious concept and extremism. And then we’re on to the Small Boats™.

“A not-insignificant number crossing in small boats turn out to be national security threats that require surveillance from our security services [no citation]. While most arrivals don’t pose a direct threat, they are from countries that are statistically more likely to possess values and beliefs … at stark odds to our own”. Guilt by association. And no citation. Again.

“Despite the rise in far-Right activity, the threat still overwhelmingly comes from Islamists”. And once more it’s a No Citation. He’s worried about MPs’ safety. Er, who killed Jo Cox? And who plotted to kill Rosie Cooper? It was the home grown far right. And who hosted a hate preacher in the Commons?

That would have been Bob Blackman. As in, one of Jenrick’s fellow Tory MPs, who hosted the Islamophobic and indeed anti-Christian Tapan Ghosh, who explicitly endorsed Geert Wilders, and held a meeting with Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson. Ghosh talks about the Muslim “reproduction rate”. He endorses fringe wackos such as Breitbart.

Jenrick does not allow this to trouble him as he continues “Islamists make up 75 per cent of the security services’ caseload, but a culture of political correctness has meant roughly a quarter of referrals are for those espousing Islamist views”. WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE WOKE. Let’s misuse the language! And, guess what? You got it - No Citation.

And he’s not finished, sadly: “Our intelligence services are stretched and so rightly apply a high threshold before engaging. That means plenty of less dangerous - but still hateful - extremists don’t qualify”. What kind of offences is he talking about? Walking on the cracks in the pavement? Looking at officers in a funny way? Wearing a loud shirt in a built-up area?

Then he goes there. “We must immediately end the two-tiered policing that has consistently let extremists off the hook”. There is no such thing as “two-tiered policing”. And there’s more. “Would the police have intervened to prevent ‘from the river to the sea’ being emblazoned on the Palace of Westminster if it was a racist far-right slogan? I strongly suspect so”.

Why doesn’t he mention that the current Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, used the phrase? Or is that more of Jenrick’s “two-tiered standards”? So what’s his solution? “To forge a more cohesive and united society we must end the disastrous experiment with mass migration. That task is virtually impossible when more than a million people arrive in the country every year”. Two things here. One, there is no “experiment”.

And Two, the increase in non-EU migration is a direct consequence of leaving the EU. Which Jenrick’s party botched. Moreover, if the immigration numbers were to be significantly reduced, the economy would suffer. Because there would be fewer people in productive employment and paying taxes.

The extremism of which he speaks would be reduced if he, plus 30p Lee, Liz Truss and Suella Braverman, were to stop encouraging it. That is all.

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Guido Fawked - Spanker Spanked

The perpetually thirsty Paul Staines memorably told Esquire magazine that “the lying in politics is on an industrial scale”, momentarily missing the fact that he and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog contributed rather a lot of it themselves. And nowhere was this more obvious than in their dealings in political matters in and around the constituency of Rochdale.

Behold the arbiter of good journalistic practice

One highlight stands out: the flat-out lying about then Greater Manchester Mayoral hopeful Andy Burnham, whose draft manifesto for the Labour nomination had been leaked to The Great Guido. Seeing a redaction in the text, then teaboy Alex “Billy Liar” Wickham invented a reason for the redaction. Reality soon showed that he had chosen … poorly.

It also showed the bad faith nature of the Fawkes rabble: others did the making up and other invention, never themselves. Staines’ roster of personnel may have changed over the years, but that nasty undercurrent still holds sway. So it was when sitting MP Tony Lloyd died and a by-election was called - bringing one political career momentarily back from the dead.

Who that? Step forward disgraced former Labour and independent MP Simon “Spanker” Danczuk, whose one accurate observation on his own career was “There’s no fool like an old fool” after the Murdoch Sun splashed a front page on another of his momentary liaisons with a much younger woman. Spanker was to stand for his old seat. For the Reform UK Party.

The latest incarnation of the Brexit Party, domain of Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, is now headed by out-of-touch property magnate Richard Tice (he’s not very nice). Polling in national opinion polls at around 10%, there were high hopes that Danczuk could reclaim his old seat. The party duly got a favourable press release recycling from the Fawkes mob.

“With Labour imploding in Rochdale William Hill now says they are no longer the favourites … Reform UK and their candidate Simon Danczuk’s campaign is now concentrating on stopping Galloway. Their simple message to those with Labourite views is that Labour is too distracted with Middle-Eastern politics to be focussed on the important issues. Reform spokesman Gawain Towler tells Guido: ‘If you care about Rochdale not Gaza the only person left in this fight is Simon’” told The Great Guido. But this was total crap.

Exhumed political career isn't. Good thing too

As the BBC reported after the by-election result was declared, “George Galloway is back in Parliament with a resounding win in the Rochdale by-election after a campaign in which the Gaza war was a running theme”.

Galloway, wearing a hat, but not because he’s over-sensitive about his continuing encounter with male pattern baldness, you understand, memorably told “Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are two cheeks of the same backside and they both got well and truly spanked tonight here in Rochdale”. The actual Spanker came 6th. His vote share was 1.9% down on the Brexit Party’s 2019 showing. And well short of that 10% Reform UK national poll rating.

So The Great Guido faithfully reported the excuses. “Reform UK came 6th last night, after Tice told party representatives to leave the election count for their own safety as a mob gathers outside … Tice pointed fingers at a ‘sudden increase also in the size of the postal vote’”. Yeah, right.

If Reform UK were so popular, why the warning to leave the count? And why blame the postal vote, which carried the 2016 referendum over the line for Leave? But no acknowledgement that the Fawkes rabble once again got it wrong, despite their sneering dismissal of actual journalism.

As in their telling, apropos Dan Wootton and his instructing lawyers to go after a variety of people, “The next question is whether or not Byline Times will [settle]. The six or seven figure bill might encourage them to. If they choose to double down, it’ll spell the end of the outlet. And an end to its particularly paranoid form of conspiracy theorising masquerading as gutter journalism”. After their Rochdale conspiracy theory about how popular Reform UK was.

What say Frankie Leach? After being on the wrong end of “conspiracy theorising masquerading as gutter journalism”? Away with you, Guido.

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