Oh Tommy - The Mail Gotcha

During the campaign of intimidation, harassment, threatening, doxxing, and, one has to say it, flagrantly lying in order to pursue his agenda by Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, the thought has occasionally entered as to how he would like it if it was him getting that treatment, if the boot were to be firmly on the other foot.

Now we know: Lennon does not like it one bit. Worse, while he has been whining about articles in the Guardian and Murdoch Times, it is the paper most skilled in the art of spiteful monstering of its targets, the Daily Mail, that has come for him. Now he knows how all those victims of press misbehaviour felt. But his response means there will be no sympathy for him.

Worse, there will be rather less than a snowball’s chance in hell of the Mail cutting him some slack and maybe backing off, of which more later. First, the story: Lennon has arrived in Cyprus, more specifically somewhere in the area of Ayia Napa, at a five star all-inclusive hotel. It’s possible it was not the Mail that figured out where he was. But now they have him in their sights, well.

On the front page you go! “Tinderbox Britain … STOKING RACE RIOTS FROM HIS SUNBED … Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson relaxes in five-star Cyprus resort while fuelling violence across UK with inflammatory online posts”. There was more: “Robinson, 41, shared a series of fake stories over the weekend including claims that Muslims had stabbed protesters in Staffordshire and attacked three women in Scotland”.

Just wait until Northcliffe House’s finest get to work on his film SILENCED, which is chock-full with packs of lies from one end to the other, even though he declaims them loudly and aggressively, while calling anyone opposing him a liar. So how did Lennon take the attention from the Mail?

Not at all well. “If you haven’t all noticed their plan is to pin all of this violence on me . My documentary is at 30 million views, it’s a huge blow to their corrupt judiciary’s credibility. They want pay back”. Not a good idea to brag about how many views your dishonest and defamatory film is getting.

There was more. “My kids are crying , we come here so I could spend some quality time with them . Now they are scared people are coming here to get them. The daily Mail have purposely doxxed the exact location of my family . How can they be allowed to do this”. Thought you had an exclusive on doxxing your targets, eh? The Mail did not give the exact location. And why do the kids think someone is coming to get them? Who told them that?

Then he lost it: “these lies have a direct result on threats to my family . Is it ok if I track down the journalists addresses & families details & dox them? Would that be journalism. This has been coordinated from the top down because my latest documentary humiliates their lies. They have purposely doxxed where my children are is it fair for me to do the same to them”. Do go on.

“By tomorrow I’ll have every bit of information on the journalists who wrote these lies & endangered & caused fear to my children. This is not acceptable behaviour, it’s intimidation by a corrupt & morally bankrupt media”. But it’s OK when he does it to anyone else. And if his source for that information is an actual journalist, they may well back off doxxing the Mail.

Because that would incur the Mail’s displeasure. You don’t want to go there. What Lennon should be looking at is why he got busted. And, as Jon Stewart might have said, two things here. One, the Mail isn’t exactly immune to anti-Muslim bigotry: better to shop a convenient scapegoat, so that all the attention homes in elsewhere. Which brings us to Two.

If Lennon thinks he has the backing of some important actors out there, he can think again. When the Mail dumps on you, one reason they do so is that nobody really important is going to lean on them and tell them to desist. Not only has the Mail dumped on Lennon, it’s highly likely that it’s had the green light to do so. He thought he had clout? Not any more he doesn’t.

Stephen Lennon’s little Wild West Show just ran out of road. Rejoice!

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Oh Tommy Tommy - Still A Racist

It was back in late April 2017 that Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, knocked very loudly at my front door in the dead of night to claim - wrongly - that I had been telling lies about him. He had taken grave offence to having been called a racist. So in the cause of free speech, he would do his best to deprive me of my ability to do just that.

Lennon rocked up the next night too, and thus The Curse Of Zelo was, and indeed remains, upon him. A variety of scrapes with the law, and unsuccessful legal actions, later, and he is still telling packs of lies about anyone and everyone who done him wrong. Today, his particular bête noire is something else that is untrue - the claim that there is “two tier Policing”.

In pursuit of leveraging this claim for the benefit of Himself Personally Now, The Great Man has fronted a gathering of the Gammonati in central London today, accompanied by washed-up former minor thesp, never-was chanteur, and dead on arrival failed politician Laurence Fox. This would show the world that Lennon was not only active, but in London!

And there was more: not only would there be that gathering, Lennon would première his latest video production, an item called Lawfare. The cops requested a sight of this magnum opus, but at this point Lennon bristled. “I made the film, I’m a journlalist [yeah, right], and I’m going to play the documentary. It’s unreasonable and overreaching of the Police to interfere”.

Was it now? Do go on. “There’s nothing inciteful, nothing that breaks the law, it’s not inflammatory towards other communities, I promise you that. We had people asking to play videos of Mohammed. There’s nothing like that happening, I assure you … we’re talking about freedom of speech, we’re talking about the Government, the establishment and [abuse of power]”.

Lennon is then asked for a sight of the video. His response is unequivocal. “Lads … lads … straight up, you’re not viewing it … your job, and our job, is to facilitate a peaceful protest. Obviously if you try and prevent the airing of the film, you know you’re not going to do that. You know you’re going to provoke a serious reaction, and cause chaos”. Is he making threats?

Whatever. Let’s compare Lennon’s assurance that there was “nothing like” Mohammed, and test the claim by studying the banner behind which he and Dear Dear Larry marched. A banner that said “THIS IS LONDON, NOT LONDONISTAN”. That would suggest very strongly that Lennon flat-out lied to the cops in that phone call. And it would suggest he is still a racist bigot.

Reinforcing that thought is the appearance behind the banner of failed amateur kidnapper Danny Tommo. Further reinforcement was provided by little children loudly shouting “Allah! Allah! Who the fuck is Allah?” with video provided by racist organisation Turning Point UK, who told “Young children join in on a chant criticising Allah at the anti-two-tier policing demo in London”.

The “peaceful” protest was interrupted - but peacefully, you understand - by several of those attending giving Nazi salutes. Nick Lowles of Hope Not Hate saw two Lennon fans outside a phone box and mused “Nice to see Tommy Robinson supporters relieving themselves in public”. Usually, they take turns to use the phone box as a pissoir. Not the Lennon brains trust.

But let’s cut to the chase here: this is just another excuse to dust off the Islamophobia, with another chant, “Allah Allah you’re a c***”, providing yet more of that reinforcement. And the Islamophobia is, in itself, another excuse to start smearing all brown people as “Pakis”, a loaded and blatantly racist term. Lennon claims it’s not about Mohammed, or racism. He is lying.

The Nazi salutes, the little kids effing and blinding, the clear attempt to smear London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the use of the loaded hate term “Londonistan”, and above all, the refusal to give the Metropolitan Police a sight of his not-really-inflammatory-towards-other-communities film, brings us to one conclusion: Lennon was a racist when I called him out for it in 2017.

And he’s still a racist. One who is promoting Himself Personally Now.

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Post Office Scandal - Press Desperate

Today’s headlines from our free and fearless press show a realisation among those who scrabble around the dunghill that is Grubstreet that the Post Office scandal, where more than 700 sub-postmasters have been falsely convicted of theft, false accounting and even fraud, was now very much a thing. So the readership of those papers needed to be instructed what to think about it.

Why oh why oh why oh why ...

What actually happened was that supposed shortfalls at Post Office branches were down to its own Horizon accounting software. As the Wiki entry tells, “In 2019, the High Court ruled that the Horizon system was faulty and in 2020 the government established a public inquiry. In April 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed 39 convictions”. And there was more.

“As of January 2024, some victims are still fighting to have their convictions overturned and receive compensation, the public inquiry is ongoing, and the Metropolitan Police is investigating the Post Office for potential fraud offences”. And then “A four-part television drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, was broadcast on ITV in January 2024, after which the scandal became a major news story and political issue”. It was on telly! So the press woke up.

And while the Guardian is playing it straight, telling readers “Ministers have drawn up urgent plans to clear the names of hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of theft and fraud in the Horizon IT scandal as the Government scrambles to get on the front foot over the major miscarriage of justice”, others have decided to find someone to blame instead.

Free sheet Metro, having discovered a petition out there calling for former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to be stripped of her CBE, and nothing to do with it being a part of Associated Newspapers you understand, has screamed “Outrage over scandal boss … 1m Say Strip Post Office Paula Of CBE”.

Would anyone care to blame anyone else? Well, the Daily Brexit, still called the Express, would. “Ex-minister Sir David Davis says probe into fraud is ‘long overdue’ … WHY ARE POLICE ‘FAILING TO DELIVER’ ON POST OFFICE SCANDAL?” Except that the Met are investigating the Post Office, which is why those quote marks are needed. Any more Ron Hopefuls?

... oh why oh why oh why?

But you already know that this particular honour has gone to the Daily Mail, which has gone Full Dacre today. “SHAMELESS … As national revulsion over Post Office scandal mounts, former boss STILL clings to her CBE and Lib Dem leader REFUSES to step aside”. Ed Davey represents a party of which the Mail does not approve. So He Done It. He should do what the Mail says.

There has even been a characteristically judgmental and dishonest intervention by tedious and unfunny churnalist Richard Littlejohn. So far, there have been four articles published in the past 24 hours which instruct anyone reading them to consider the Lib Dem leader to be A Very Bad Person Indeed. What none of them tell you is the Mail’s role in the scandal.

And that’s because the Mail didn’t so much as raise a peep for all those years when the only ones doing the serious investigative journalism were the likes of Computer Weekly magazine, and Private Eye. The Mail is actually capable of investigative journalism - their main problem is that this skill set usually only gets deployed when the paper wants to dig up dirt on those it dislikes.

Photo of someone’s house? What it’s allegedly worth? Photo of their car? Any unspent points on their driving licence? Any convictions? Any debt problems? Where they bank? How they voted in the 2016 EU referendum? Any religious or other affiliations that the Mail deems A Very Bad Thing? But no interest in picking up the Post Office scandal for year after year. Until it’s on telly.

Once again, actually dealing in news evades the Mail. Followed by the usual spiteful blame game, along with no acknowledgement whatsoever of those who fought to expose the facts. The Mail titles sum up the state of the London centric press: it’s only worth covering if there’s an opportunity to give anyone not out there on the right a good kicking. Why the country is screwed.

Computer Weekly remains on the Post Office’s case. Unlike the Daily Mail.

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Penny Mordaunt Goes Hughie Green

As if this week’s Tory party conference in Manchester did not already contain enough low points and sufficient embarrassing moments, those of A Certain Age may have made the connection between the mildly bizarre podium monologue of Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons and Lord President of the council, and a showbiz fascist from the mists of broadcast time.

Penny Mordaunt ...

“Stand up and fight, because when you stand up and fight, the person beside you stands up and fights” she began, evoking drinking-up time kicking off in no style at all. And there was more. “And when our party stands up and fights, the nation stands up and fights”. Doubtful. But do go on. “And when our nation stands up and fights, other nations stand up and fight”. Whatever.

Those other nations are too busy getting on with putting one over on the UK, which has, with the wonder that is Brexit, imposed economic sanctions upon itself. But it was all about FREEM. “Have courage. Bring hope. Stand up and fight”. There was also “Stand up and fight against the odds, against the polling, against the sneering commentary, against the inevitability of decliners and the despite-Brexiters”. The latter category are your supporters, Ms M.

But she wasn’t finished. “We are the party and country that transformed the sick man of Europe into a titan on the global stage, who stood up and fought against militant trade unions and broke their chokehold on Britain". Three million unemployed, North Sea Oil money wasted, that sort of thing.

There was yet more. “A few brave people [the cops. The right-wing press. The rich. Foreigners like Rupe] with courage and conviction and love of country who thought about the long-term, not short-term popularity, who knew what needed to be done and took on bullies to achieve it. Margaret Thatcher and every single person that stood with her and fought for a better future”.

The usual highly creative reinterpretation of recent history, then. But it was the “Stand up and fight” exhortation that rang bells. It was very adjacent to the call to his viewers to “Stand up and be counted” that ultimately saw bosses at the ITV network pull host Hughie Green and his long running talent show Opportunity Knocks off the air. Green was a broadcasting legend.

... now channelling this old fascist

Sadly, he was also a right old fascist. Despite his programme’s success - 18 million would tune in to every show, the original to which New Faces, The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and all the others trace their lineage - Green used the programme to push his right-wing propaganda. What proved the last straw for Jeremy Isaacs and others came at the end of 1976.

To quote Wiki, “in December 1976, Green recited a monologue about the state of the United Kingdom, followed by a choir singing ‘Stand Up and Be Counted’, with the words coming up in subtitles: ‘Stand up and be counted, where the managers manage and the workers don't go on strike’”. Penny Mordaunt also broached the spectre of strike action in her speech.

Green was also a stinking hypocrite who used the scandal of an extramarital affair to see off producer Jess Yates (after he had failed to get ITV bosses to remove Yates on his say-so), while carrying on a succession of extramarital affairs himself, including one brief fling with the wife of, er, Jess Yates. The late Paula Yates discovered to her horror that Green was her father.

And right now, the Tories, having been caught pursuing a scorched earth policy on HS2, putting forward a list of alternative projects, some of which have already been built and many already announced, with their party leader proudly palling up to Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s far-right PM (“God, fatherland and family”, anyone?), are echoing TV’s most infamous old fascist.

That’s on top of more hate speech from Suella Braverman, for some reason appointed as Home Secretary, equally hard-right rhetoric from Kemi Badenoch, sniffing at the idea of a US-UK trade deal because Joe Biden stands in solidarity with ordinary working people, an increasingly intolerant response to protest, and indifference to man-made climate change.

Hughie Green would have loved it. And I mean that most sincerely, folks.

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The Mail And Russell Brand

The exposé by the Murdoch Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches of comedian Russell Brand has told us many things: the rich and powerful enjoying the limelight can get away with behaviour that would get lesser mortals a criminal record, it takes a lot of journalistic hard yards and yet more legalling to get an exposé published, and not everyone likes the result.

Russell Brand

Bev Turner at Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) was one of them. “You are being attacked [Russell Brand] … Establishment media don't know what to do with the fact that you have 6million subscribers”. But not to worry, Brand was welcome on her show anytime. That one of her fellow presenters is the desperate and devalued Dan Wootton is somehow missed.

Aseem Malhotra told Brand “We support you mate” before the Tweet announcing his endorsement disappeared from view. An observant Tweeter asked “Was it the Times article or Dispatches?” Floor crosser Paul Embery declared “Russell Brand is entitled to the presumption of innocence”. Except that there was no criminal case against him. Then came the hypocrisy.

From media noise floor occupant TalkTV, tedious self-promotion specialist Julia Hartley Dooda: “I waited to see the … investigation of [Russell Brand] before forming an opinion on the allegations … I also want to hear [his] defence … Without a Police inquiry or court case, we can’t know for sure what really happened”. Which wasn’t what she said about Huw Edwards.

But in the biscuit-taking pantheon of media shithousery, these bad faith actors paled into insignificance before the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker: the Mail on Sunday, as befits the modus operandi of the Dacre doggies, after saying less than boo for the duration of the Sunday Times and Channel 4 investigation, suddenly and miraculously knew more than everyone else.

We know this from the MoS’ front page headline: “As comic brazenly takes to the stage, Police urge victims to come forward … BRAND IS ACCUSED OF RAPE - AND GROOMING A GIRL OF 16”. Moreover, readers are told of an “Exclusive MoS Dossier”. The paper has devoted six pages to “The Full Extraordinary Story”. The problem for the MoS is the lack of exclusivity.

Which does not extend much further than “Four women alleged they were assaulted by Brand, one of whom had previously told the Mail on Sunday of his ‘controlling and manipulative’ behaviour”. So why didn’t the Mail titles, armed with the best media lawyers, say anything earlier? Why wait until someone else does the e-legwork and has it all legalled?

And it is in answering these questions that we arrive at the heart of how the Mail titles operate. They may or may not have had something about Brand in the safe, but especially with recent budget cuts, so much of their allegedly original content comes from all those opinion writers, and the likes of their “Royal Correspondents” who recycle press releases and make stuff up.

The Daily Mail, and MoS, can Doxx a target’s home - maybe not specify the address, but a photo is fine by them - along with an estimate of what the property is worth. They can trawl social media histories for dirt, and when it is deemed necessary, get a private investigator to dig up more. The titles have a grim reputation for illegal information gathering (pace Steve Whittamore).

But the kind of investigation that the Times and Sunday Times, to their credit, and Channel 4 have undertaken? Not the Mail. They wait until after the story breaks, and then tell readers “Amid a series of explosive allegations … BBC and Channel 4 bosses faced questions over whether complaints by staff about Brand's alleged behaviour were ignored”. Bash the broadcasters.

The Beeb sacked Brand, and Channel 4 was a party to exposing him. All the Mail did was to dump on both organisations while doing next to nothing in the way of original journalism. Even when they had the story - “One of the alleged victims, Jordan Martin, told this newspaper in 2015” - they did nothing. All the Mail does is get righteous, kick the BBC, and sponge off others’ work.

Then in the retelling, claim the credit. It’s reality, Jim, but not as we know it.

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Putin - Worst Bond Villain Ever

There were so many executions of insufficiently loyal subordinates to choose from: Number 9 being fatally electrocuted and Count Lippe dispatched by a passing motorcyclist in Thunderball, all those executed by Mr Wint and Mr Kidd in Diamonds are Forever, and of course the scientists whose helicopter was blown out of the sky in The Spy Who Loved Me. Remember that one.

A plane crash ... most unfortunate

Yes, bad Bond villains and their gratuitous murder of anyone they decided may not be conducive to whatever evil project they had embarked on were a feature of the franchise. But they were not happening in the real world, you understand: it was mere exaggeration just to show the viewer how ruthless 007’s latest adversary was prepared to be. Until this week in Russia.

As the BBC has reported, “Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the passenger list of a jet which crashed in Russia killing all 10 people on board, Russia's civil aviation authority says”. And what might have caused the aircraft to crash? “Social media linked to the Wagner mercenary group say his private plane was shot down by Russian air defences”.

We are also reminded that “Prigozhin led an aborted mutiny against Russia's armed forces in June”. So who was on board? “Prigozhin's aircraft - an Embraer-135 (EBM-135BJ) - was flying from Moscow to St Petersburg on Wednesday with seven passengers and three crew, Russia's Rosaviatsia aviation authority said … Senior Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin - who founded the group in 2014 - was also on the passenger list, it said”.

Shoot-down or something else? “Grey Zone said local residents had heard two bangs before the crash and had seen two vapour trails … The aircraft had been in the air for less than half-an-hour”. There is also video showing the aircraft on fire and out of control before it crashed.

The Beeb has also told us “several Russia watchers have described him as a ‘dead man walking’ since the mutiny … President Putin's initial reaction to his challenge to Russia's defence establishment was vitriolic, calling it a betrayal and a stab in the back in a video message on 24 June”. Vladimir Vladimirovich has previously said one thing he will not forgive is betrayal.

This organisation does not tolerate betrayal

So what did Vlad have to say about the hit, sorry, crash? “Regarding this plane crash … first and foremost, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families of all those who died. These matters are always a tragedy. Indeed, if the initial data are correct, then those who were on board included employees of the Wagner Group”. Like he didn’t know beforehand.

Do go on. “I would like to emphasise that these are people who made a significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the neo-Nazi régime in Ukraine. We remember this, we know it, and we won’t forget it. Prigozhin I’ve known for a long time, since the early 1990s. He was a man of complicated fate, and he made serious mistakes in his life”.

Like being on board that aircraft when it just happened to fall out of the sky, on fire, and out of control. But don’t worry, “the head of the investigative committee reported on this to me this morning. They’ve already begun a preliminary investigation into this incident [incident, not accident]. It will be conducted in full and seen through to the end”. Yeah, right.

The US has already decided that the aircraft was brought down by what Chief Inspector Clouseau of the Sureté would have called A Beumb. More importantly, those in and around the Wagner Group have decided that It Was Vlad Who Ordered The Hit and have vowed revenge. Byline Times has more.

Their article on the crash and what comes next notes “Putin’s reign is characterised by the violent deaths of critics, dissidents, journalists, opposition leaders, rebellious oligarchs, and organised crime group members”, and adds that the hit may have been “timed to send a message to the Russian elite in anticipation of the forthcoming 2024 elections”.

May get nasty if he loses his grip, mind. Or suddenly becomes unwell.

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Murdoch Fails To Dismiss Nemesis

Our free and fearless press, and especially the Murdoch and Associated Newspapers titles, has been hoping that a judge would throw out attempts by claimants including actor and campaigner Hugh Grant, and similar claims by Prince Harry and others, to see them in court over allegations of illegal information gathering, including blagging, bugging, and burglary.

Evening all

The defence presented by the Murdoch and ANL titles, for which read the Sun and Mail, has rested on the six-year limit having passed. Counter to that is the assertion that claims could not have been brought because those making the claims did not have the evidence before them until the six years had passed. Today at the High Court, we got the moment of truth.

And, as PA Media’s Twitter feed told us, “A damages claim brought by actor Hugh Grant against the publisher of The Sun will go ahead to a trial following a ruling by a High Court judge”, noting “Mr Grant is bringing legal action alleging he was targeted by journalists and private investigators against News Group Newspapers (NGN) in relation to The Sun only”. The BBC had more.

“A judge has dismissed an attempt from News Group Newspapers (NGN) to block his legal action because he did not bring it within six years … The actor claims private investigators working for the Sun tapped his phone, bugged his house and car, and burgled his home to get stories about him … The publisher denies the claims”. Hugh Grant’s statement goes further.

“He said the company had a ‘vast, long-lasting and deliberate policy strategy plan of false denials and other concealment in relation to The Sun, to prevent me, and others in a similar position, from bringing claims against them’ … This included, he said, false denials to the Leveson Inquiry into Press Standards, a press complaints body, and in public statements”. Ouch!

Do go on. “Cases of this kind in the civil courts have to be brought within six years, and this time limitation has become a major legal battleground in cases against newspapers, because allegations of wrongdoing often go back 30 years. Publishers attempt to argue that cases should not go to trial because alleged victims of unlawful news gathering delayed their legal action”.

However, “Mr Justice Fancourt said, in his judgment, Mr Grant had long believed that private investigators had been paid to look into his private life … However it was only in 2021 when News Group Newspapers disclosed invoices for their payments that Mr Grant had potential evidence capable of allowing him to win his case in court”. Which means what, exactly?

“This judgment does not mean the issue of whether Mr Grant's claim is too late has been decided, but it will now be considered at the trial next year … The judge said there was a realistic chance the actor would establish at trial that before seeing this evidence ‘he could not reasonably have believed with sufficient confidence that he may have been targeted by … the Sun’”.

As is customary nowadays, the BBC and Guardian have reported this news, while most of the rest of our free and fearless press has not, with the sole exception of a magnificent piece of misinformation from the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph, which suggests Grant lost.

Seizing on this aspect of the BBC report: “the court refused Mr Grant permission to sue NGN for allegedly hacking his phone voicemails, as the judge ruled he could have brought a case much earlier”, the Tel announced “Hugh Grant has been denied the chance to take phone hacking claims against the publisher of the Sun newspaper to trial, a judge has ruled”.

Quite apart from misinforming its readers, the Tel managed to miss this rather important line from the Beeb report: “A similar legal argument centred on the claims of the Duke of Sussex is due to be heard by the High Court in July”. Harry is not the only one: the action also features claims by Elton John, Liz Hurley, Sadie Frost, David Furnish, and Doreen Lawrence.

It also, whisper it quietly, includes claims against the Mail titles. Small wonder there has been no comment from the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog, no comment from former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, and nothing from Desperate Dan Wootton, who is too busy spreading malicious misinformation about Haz and Megs.

They think it’ll go away. It won’t. Judgment for the press moves ever closer.

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Sussexes - Clueless Press, Free Publicity

If ever evidence was needed to back up the suggestion that the sad and desperate convocation of bottom-feeders within our free and fearless press known otherwise as Royal correspondents was light on actual facts, but good at creativity when faced with a blank sheet and a deadline, the past week’s tirades against Haz and Megs has brought it in bucketloads.

Led by the Murdoch and Rothermere press, against whom Harry has taken legal action which looks like it will prove expensive, and not for him, the level of bile aimed at the Sussexes for the heinous crime of making their own way financially and taking part in a Netflix documentary series has been ramped up to the max, starting with last Sunday’s Mail on Sunday.

“As couple reveal wedding night photos to plug their next Netflis bombshells … HARRY AND MEGHAN ARE TOLD: STAY AWAY FROM CORONATION” thundered the front page headline. The MoS was keen to stress that this wasn’t any old invention, but was backed up by “A coalition” of senior figures.

Then, as trailers for the second tranche of three Netflix documentaries were released, and the content of those shows became widely disseminated, the abuse really kicked in. Yesterday’s Daily Mail frothed “After Harry’s savage onslaught on William and King Charles … DIGNITY IN THE FACE OF TREACHERY”, with a photo of the Waleses attending a carol concert.

The Murdoch Sun, using the same Wales family photo, rather let itself go: “Harry lays into ‘screaming’ Wills … He calls father The King ‘a liar’ … He has gall to demand apology … But The Firm put on a united front … THE TRAITOR & THE DUTIFUL”. Shouting TRAITAH at someone who has served his country as Haz has is not clever. Especially given today’s U-Turn.

For some reason, the Sun has sat this one out: perhaps the all too obvious volte face would have alerted readers to the lack of veracity in Friday’s welter of abuse. It has been left to the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph to tell “Sussexes will receive invite to Coronation … Royal family will not respond to calls for titles to be stripped in bid to retain ‘dignity’”.

And the Mail, having just inflated an otherwise anodyne Netflix documentary to the status of a “savage onslaught” and whined about “treachery”, now agrees. “EXCLUSIVE: Why Meghan’s STILL invited to Coronation” it admits, although the claim of exclusivity is clearly misleading. This, whisper it quietly, is not merely the Mail and MoS disagreeing with one another.

No, it is an all too clear illustration that all those obscenely overpaid Royal “correspondents”, “experts” and indeed “editors” don’t have a Scooby Doo most of the time. What they do know - as Peter Hunt, who dispenses punditry on constitutional and Royal issues, Tweeting after seeing those Friday front pages, has told - is that “Prince Harry is taking legal action against the publishers of the Daily Mail and the Sun. (And also the Daily Mirror)”.

Not only that, the attention given to the Sussexes and their docu-series has been very good for business: as CNBC has reported, “‘Harry & Meghan’ becomes Netflix’s biggest-ever documentary debut … ‘Harry & Meghan’ racked up 81.55 million viewing hours globally in its first week of release, Netflix said Tuesday … The show appeared in the Top 10 TV list in 85 countries, including ranking number one in the U.K.” Do go on.

“The series, which Netflix billed as an ‘unprecedented and in-depth’ documentary, appeared in the streamer’s Top 10 TV list in 85 countries, and ranked number one in the UK … By comparison, season five of ‘The Crown,’ now in its fifth week of release, recorded 18.9 million views over the week”.

There is more. “‘Harry & Meghan,’ which was directed by Oscar-nominated Liz Garbus, marks one of a series of programs the Sussexes are producing under a commercial deal with Netflix … Their production house, Archewell Productions, is due to release another Netflix series, ‘Heart of Invictus,’ in 2023”. Perhaps our free and fearless press would like to bad mouth that, too.

Had the Murdoch and Rothermere press said nothing about the Haz and Megs Netflix show, those viewing figures and hours would not have been anything like that good. Even worse for the press, some of those viewing hours have been contributed by their own Royal “experts” tuning in to binge watch the series just so they can then slag it off.

Clueless and counterproductive press. So Netflix never had it so good.

Doctor, I’m Not Racist - BUT

First broadcast in November 1963, and having survived a hiatus which looked rather like the BBC was trying to kill it off for good, science fiction series Doctor Who is still going strong in its 59th year. It has reinvented itself for successive generations of viewers, partly by the “regeneration” of the Doctor, a device first used in 1966.

Darren's next burning question: does it make you go blind?

So far, there have been 13 “official” Doctors, although you can get to 16 by adding John Hurt’s War Doctor, Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor, and (for those of A Certain Age) Peter Cushing’s 1960s film spin-off Doctor. In 2017, Jodie Whittaker became the first female Doctor: she will be departing the series soon. So who would take over the coveted role?

Ncuti Gatwa

Age? While William Hartnell, the first ever Doctor, and Peter Capaldi, the twelfth, had been cast in their mid-50s, Matt Smith, who preceded Capaldi, was just 26. Jodie Whittaker and Jo Martin showed that the Doctor could be a woman. And the came the reveal. “The future is here! Ncuti Gatwa is the Doctor” told the official Doctor Who Twitter feed.

Gatwa is 29; he’s a Scot, although born in Rwanda from where his family fled the genocide that swept that country in the 1990s. He is also gay. This triggered a wave of sneering aggression from the Gammonati: the Twitter feeds for Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”), and Murdoch property Talk TV, were a thing to behold.

Those objecting somehow failed to notice that Gatwa is also a BAFTA-nominated actor, or that he had performed a convincing audition. Nor did they notice the positive reaction of many younger viewers who knew him as Eric Effiong from Sex Education, and who might not have been regular Doctor Who devotees. And then came Darren Grimes.

“The BBC have gone for a black and gay man to be the next Doctor Who, it’s a shame they couldn’t find anyone who was also trans to really tick the right boxes” he Tweeted, before demonstrating that he was of less than perfect courage and deleting the comment. But Mirror Online’s deputy news editor Tom Davidson had captured it for posterity.

Grimes, an appallingly immodest individual with much to be modest about, was until recently known mainly for being too stupid, by his own admission, to fill in a form correctly. From there he went downhill to being known for allegations that, when at school, he surreptitiously flogged his log under cover of his desk. Whether this impromptu twanging of the wire involved a dirty book and a hanky has not thus far been clarified.

Demonstrating that he is in a minority, the blowback came swiftly. “‘Tell me you’re a racist without telling me you’re a racist’ - Darren Grimes’ deleted tweet in which he shows his true colours” mused one Tweeter. Danny Wallace added “Darren Grimes is like a name Roald Dahl rejected for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because it was too on-the-nose”. And the Tweeter known as Otto English reminded Grimes where he’s going.

“Carving a career out of saying stupid and offensive things is much like riding a tiger. People will look on in awe and disgust as you prance about making a display of yourself - but one day the beast will eat you. Katie Hopkins demonstrated that. Suspect Darren Grimes will too”. The inevitably sticky ending which awaits Crafty Darren.

Meanwhile, An Adventure In Space And Time continues. Well done Ncuti Gatwa.

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So Farewell Then Channel 4

Seemingly determined to outdo even the most vindictive behaviour of Mrs T., the Tories, under the less than competent leadership of alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, have delved into history, seen how the Thatcher Government emasculated the BBC, abolished the IBA and ensured Thames Television was suitably punished for doubting The Blessed Margaret, and decided to go one step further.

Thus it was that our new Culture Secretary (yes, it’s her again) Nadine Dorries declared that Channel 4 was to be sold off. This is, of course, nothing to do with the broadcaster being rather more ready to hold Bozo and his coterie of ineptitude to account than the Beeb, oh no. And nothing to do with Ms Dorries having previously been shown up for claiming dishonestly that Channel 4 was publicly subsidised, which it is not.

Predictably, the Bozo boosters have declared this action to be A Very Good Thing, with the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog telling their readers “in the words of the government, Channel 4 is currently performing well, they believe state ownership is holding it back in comparison to its privatised competition, such as Netflix”. Thus the official line from the Provisional Wing of CCHQ.

Elsewhere, those who actually know what they are talking about have passed severely adverse comment on The Fragrant Nadine and her proposals. After she told “I have come to the conclusion that government ownership is holding Channel 4 back from competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon” there were few supportive voices.

Paul Bernal put her straight. “Apart from anything else, why on Earth would Channel 4 be competing with Netflix and Amazon? They occupy - very successfully - and very different niche. All4 is already a successful streaming service. Either you don’t know this *and should* or this is just dishonest”. And why sell it off? Rob Barnes had that one covered.

“Just a reminder - this all started because Channel 4 News ran an item about Boris Johnson’s dad that he didn’t like, and because they replaced him with a block of ice when he didn’t turn up at their election debate. Not because anyone else wants it”. And Adil Ray had a reminder of what Channel 4 has produced during its first 40 years.

“C4 has been the lifeblood of UK diversity. Skins, It’s A Sin, Ackley Bridge, Desmond’s, Undateables, Paralympics, This Is England, Britz, Eastern Eye, Black on Black, The Word, Brookside, Dispatches, Bandung File, Queer As Folk, My Beautiful Laundrette..we owe them everything”. Also Countdown, A Place In The Sun, Location Location Location etc.

Moreover, not all Tories were on board, as Steven Swinford pointed out. “C4 privatisation backlash from Tories in full swing: Tom Tugendhat says he's 'pretty doubtful’. Damian Green says it's 'very unconservative’. Jeremy Hunt says it risks public service broadcasting. Ruth Davidson says it's the 'opposite of levelling up’”.

And after Jonathan Lis asserted “This isn’t about innovation or the arts or creative potential. A government of thin-skinned vandals is taking revenge on a critic by destroying it”, we didn’t have to wait long for the proof. Hello Arron Banks. “Ch4 news is an extension of the guardian newsroom … It needs a bullet in the back of the head pronto!” That’s the mindset that is driving the sale. Philistine and vindictive. So no surprise there, then.

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Piers Morgan And The Kobayashi Maru

Seasoned Trekkies will not need reminding of the opening scene of the second Star Trek film: the USS Enterprise, with a young Vulcan woman, Lieutenant Saavik, in command, receives an apparent distress call from a vessel called the Kobayashi Maru. She orders the helm to plot a course to intercept, despite the location given being in the Klingon Neutral Zone, only to then come under attack and be forced to abandon ship.

We then see that this was a training exercise: the Kobayashi Maru simulation is a test of character. It is a no-win: only one of those to pass through Star Fleet training has ever disproved that, and to no surprise it was one James Tiberius Kirk, who beat the no-win challenge by rewriting the rules. This morning, former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan may be wondering if he, too, can do something similar.

Because, as is becoming increasingly well-known in media circles, Morgan is in talks - informal, formal, on, off, whatever - with Gammon Broadcasting™ News ("Bacon’s News Channel”). GB News is desperate to score some ratings: its recent hiring of former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage had some initial success, but by his fourth show, Nige had already lost a third of his opening night audience.

So of course GB News wants Piers Morgan: after all, he got ITV breakfast offering Good Morning Britain level on ratings with BBC Breakfast, although the manner in which he achieved this - by flouncing off set after Alex Beresford criticised his constant bad faith attacks on the Duchess of Sussex - could not be replicated on a regular basis.

Even so, after the Guardian confirmed that Mr Thirsty would be joining GB News, they also told “Piers Morgan, who left Good Morning Britain in March, may step into a high-profile role on the new TV channel. Morgan, 56, is in protracted negotiations with management but must first deal with his contractual ties to ITV”. And there is one more hurdle to jump.

It's GB News, Jim - he's dead already

Morgan needs to maintain the saleability of his brand: just passing the character test will not be enough for him. Like James T Kirk, he needs to be able to rewrite the rules of this particular Kobayashi Maru exercise to avoid any taint from working at a rabidly right-wing channel, alongside not just Farage, but the likes of the deeply unpleasant Dan Wootton.

He managed to extricate himself from his rather-too-close friendship with Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, but to go to GB News would be, arguably, worse than rocking up at Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) alongside wackos like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham. The Murdoch mafiosi pays FNC hosts well: one reason is that they need tempting to go there, because of the broadcaster’s credibility. Or lack of it.

And for those imagining that Piers Morgan might look on GB News as one great last payday before hanging up his contacts book (and resting his unfeasibly oversized ego), that is not in his DNA: there has to be another berth, he has to still be in demand. All that failing upwards cannot be allowed to come to an end. So there must be a way out.

Of course, there will be no heroic saving the earth involved, but for Piers Morgan, saving Himself Personally Now is just as important. Will he continue to live long and prosper?

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Another Murdoch Libel Hushed Up

In June last year, it was announced that “At last night's digital AGM, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) confirmed Krishnendu Majumdar as its new Chair. In doing so, Majumdar becomes the first person of colour to be appointed to the role in BAFTA’s 73 year history and the youngest chair in 35 years”. The Emmy winning and Bafta nominated TV producer was also, whisper it quietly, considered fair game by the press.

Krishnendu Majumdar ((c) Harry Richards Photography)

So it came to pass that in the wake of Noel Clarke being accused of sexual misconduct, and both his membership of the Academy and Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award being suspended, the Murdoch Times published something about Majumdar that was not only not true, but defamatory. The offending article appeared in early May.

Yesterday came the inevitable “correction”: “In 'Bafta boss Krishnendu Majumdar worked with scandal star Noel Clarke on diversity' (News, May 3), we reported concerns that Krishnendu Majumdar’s close links with Noel Clarke and their work together to promote diversity could have hampered Bafta’s handling of the sex allegations against Clarke. We accept that this suggestion is incorrect. There are no close links between the men”.

And so? “We apologise to Mr Majumdar and Bafta for the distress”. The magpies of Northcliffe House had lifted the article, republishing the libel. So Mail Online has now told “An article on 3 May reported claims in The Times that BAFTA chairman Krishnendu Majumdar had close links to Noel Clarke, the actor facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. We now accept that the reference to close links was incorrect … We are happy to make this clear and apologise to BAFTA and Mr Majumdar”.

So who among our free and fearless press would like to report this news? Come on, let’s be having you, there must be some space left over from the prurient coverage of ministerial hypocrite Matt Hancock and the gratuitous doorstepping of his poor wife.

Sadly, all that can be heard is the distant sound of crickets. The story has made the pages of Variety, which has told readers “BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar has received an apology from two British newspapers, The Times of London and Mail Online, for falsely claiming he had ‘close links’ with disgraced actor and director Noel Clarke”.

Deadline has also reported the news: “UK broadsheet the Times has issued an apology to BAFTA and its chair Krishnendu Majumdar … The Mail Online has also agreed to issue a similar apology … after picking up on the original report”. The Hollywood Reporter has added “BAFTA, which issued legal complaints against both publications, says 'The Times' has also paid damages and costs, and that the 'Mail Online' is expected to follow suit”.

But among those who scrabble around the dunghill that is Grubstreet, it’s a no comment all round. Not even Press Gazette has (yet) mentioned the story. Even the racist element: as Bafta has noted regarding the case, the Times “also implied that because both the Chair and Clarke are men of colour, this also influenced the decision to present Clarke with the OBCC award. Both claims were baseless”. Casual racism is also not news today.

Once again, the Murdoch press is caught dabbling in racial smears. And once again, the iron law of press Omertà means they all keep schtum about it. That’s not good enough.

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