Reginald D Hunter And More Bad Faith

As this blog has pointed out many times in the past, the power of our free and fearless press rests not only on what they choose to publish, but - sometimes more significantly - what they choose not to publish. The most recent instance of the latter rests with two hacks: Dominic Cavendish of the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph, and Sabrina Miller in the Mail.

Ms Miller’s last comment on the incident at Reginald D Hunter’s Edinburgh Fringe show was two days ago: “All day people have tried to discredit, gaslight and intimidate the brave Jewish, Israeli couple who spoke up about their experiences at Reginald Hunter’s show. Thank goodness [Dominic Cavendish] was in that audience to tell their story”.

But from Cavendish there has been silence, and neither hack has addressed the subsequent exposure of the couple Ms Miller called “Shimon and Talia” as Mark Lewis and Mandy Blumenthal, or indeed whether the only comeback they managed to a Hunter joke about Israel was to say “not funny”.

Maybe they recalled the saying attributed to the late Denis Thatcher: “better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt”. Maybe they also noticed that the aftermath of the exposure was turning nasty, with one Twitter user being doxxed to his employer, and failed judge Simon Myerson claiming that Sangita Myska had been “sacked” by broadcaster LBC, information that is most certainly not in the public domain.

One Twitter presence not fazed by the unpleasantness, though, is James Wilson, who knows Mark Lewis of old. He is “the Wilson in Wilson v Mendelsohn, Newbon and Cantor”. He won that one; Lewis was advising his opponents. And what he has been told about the polite response of “not funny” is that there was rather more than Cavendish and Ms Miller told.

We know this as information has emerged, despite the doxxing and bullying, including a video showing the moment Lewis and Ms Blumenthal left the show. Hunter can be heard quietening the audience and telling them “let’s end this peacefully”, only for Ms Blumenthal to shout back “enjoy your racism”. The audience response suggests this wasn’t her first effort.

James Wilson has told “I’ve been given some quotes as to the sort of thing Mandy Blumenthal was shouting at the audience”, and reminded us that “Sabrina Miller described Mandy as ‘charming and friendly’”, while letting Ms Blumenthal know that “I’m happy to post your response”. He may not get one, given the rather obvious toxicity of what she’s alleged to have said.

Brace yourselves. “Your children will be raped and murdered by terrorists … Your women will be raped by terrorists … You are supporting terrorism. You are supporting women being raped”. Small wonder that one Tweeter mused “This will run and run … So many complicit parts … There will be a Netflix series called ‘Shimon and Talia' very soon”.

Meanwhile, Mark Lewis’ reputation is being put through the shredder as so much more attention is focusing on James Wilson’s observations. Such as “Having dealt with Mark Lewis in my litigation for over three years, I have to say this is all of a piece. I’m reminded of the two times - that we know of - that Mark Lewis provided untrue information to the Court and then got found out”.

OUCH! And he wasn’t finished: this one he addressed to Ms Miller. “If Sabrina Miller trusted what she was told by Mark Lewis, she won’t be the first person to get her fingers badly burnt. The Defendants in my case trusted what … Lewis told them and it turned out to be terrible advice”. Bad enough that one of them now faces losing his house in order to pay costs.

It’s almost as if Lewis and Ms Blumenthal didn’t think through what would happen when (not if) they were rumbled. Someone in the audience would call them out, possibly with the aid of audio and video. The subsequent doxxing and bullying only goes to show the bad faith behind all of this; the deliberate attempts to lose people their livelihoods should concern us all.

Two hacks still stand devalued. Neither appears to have a credible way out.

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