The Great Guido as thirsty as ever
At which point Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, enters the scene. What he said in a radio interview on the subject of Gaza, Israel and Hamas has been repeated, and indeed creatively reinterpreted, by a number of media outlets, not least the Daily Mail. Vince, one of those people with the means to go to law, has already secured an apology and damages from the Mail.
Now he has the Fawkes massive, as well as former London Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, and Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice (he’s not very nice) in his sights. And his action against The Great Guido has proceeded to a meanings hearing, which happened earlier this week. Staines claims he decided to stand and fight, as if he had any choice in the matter.
Given that even the Mail, not usually given to being an easy pushover in legal matters, has decided to settle and say sorry, one has to ask if Staines’ decision to resist such a way out is wise. Nonetheless, he’s launched a fundraiser, claiming “We’re going to make a stand and defend free speech and the reporting of the actual words he said”. FREEZE PEACH!
No-one, of course, is trying to restrict Staines’ freedom of speech. But that freedom can have consequences, and those have, on this occasion, led to where he is now. So far, so predictable, but now into the mix has come the announcement - via Press Gazette, and not thus far reported on the Fawkes blog - that Staines is stepping down from his position as Fawkes editor.
Ross Kempsell, sorry, "Lord" Ross Kempsell
There was more. “Staines will become founding editor, no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the site. The news was announced ahead of Guido’s 20th anniversary dinner being held this week”. Another reminder that the Fawkes blog, far from being outside the media establishment, is very much a part of it. And what of Kempsell, sorry “Lord” Kempsell?
Anyone unsure of just what a nasty piece of work “Lord” Ross Kempsell, ennobled via the recommendation of disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, really is, may usefully be referred to this blog’s analysis of his modus operandi from October 2017. When it comes to unpleasantness, Kempsell’s past form is nothing to sniff at.
But his praise for Staines is risible. “Paul’s decades of hard work has built an extraordinary media brand with unparalleled influence inside Westminster and beyond. Paul did nothing less than single-handedly revolutionise political reporting in Britain. Loved by its readers and feared by its competitors, Guido is constantly growing in reach and impact”. Hard work? Paul Staines?
Staines wouldn’t recognise hard work if it jumped up in front of him and kicked him in the undercarriage. Feared? That’s a straight-A Fuck Right Off. And “revolutionise political reporting”? Would that be the lying, the calculated smearing, the constant favouring of increasingly far right views to the exclusion of all else? So all will change, but nothing will change.
Except that Dale Vince might just clean Staines out. If he weren’t so eco minded, Vince might find himself renamed Cillit Bang.
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11 comments:
I mean nothing impersonal when I say I hope Vince uses a rusty bread knife when he cuts off Staines's pea-sized testicles.
I haz popcorn.
That is a truly sinister picture of Kempsell. Is he trying to look like one of Musks evil henchmen? If so he succeeds mightily. As for Staines, no doubt Lord Gnome will be purring like Musks white cat in the next Private Eye as one of his numerous pet hates bids farewell.
As for Staines himself, doubtless he'll take a well earned rest. In particular after the 'wicked cops picked on poor, innocent, Allison Pearson, the excellent journalist (yes, that was said - and not in jest)' took years off his life as the outpouring of faux outrage took on a fever pitch.
Surely Musk, in his never ending quest to spread ha.., sorry, defend 'free speech' can take our unloved hero to his breast?
‘Lord’. Ah-hahahahahahahahahahahahaha (cont p94, and 95).
Kempsell has the unfortunate (but comically relevant) appearance of a Yank frontman for their State Department.
That is, face scrubbed with a pumice stone, coated in olive oil, 1950s slicked hair, dressed like a tailor's dummy, and voice like a Roy Cohn goblin. But most essentially....... full of far right lying bullshit.
Relevant to Tim's previous post:
Sign Palestine Solidarity Campaign complaint to Ofcom re the Sky reporting/Sky censorship here:
https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/ofcom-sky-news-complaint
Thanks Bertie. Signed.
Staines? What do you expect from a far right pig but a far right grunt...... You know, like a Zionist-without-qualification.
Here's how Zionism (pace the Starmer Quisling) operates even in Lebanon.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/11/online-media-banned-in-lebanon/
You are on a redemption arc Bertie, and I'm here for it.
Meanwhile, from The Canary - details of just one Utopian element of far right blue, red and yellow tory capitalist Britain:
110,000 people died in poverty last year, according to a report from end of life charity Marie Curie, with research from Loughborough University. That’s up 19% from 2019 where the dying in poverty figure stood at 93,000.
18% of the total people who died in 2023 did so in poverty. That’s 300 people every day. It’s a ‘cost of dying crisis’, as the charity suggests.
In fact, working age people are proportionately much more likely to die in poverty than pensioners. 28% of working age people who died did so in poverty, compared to 16% of pensioners. This suggests that inequality is leading to particularly premature death in the UK, where 1% of the population own more wealth than 70% of people.
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