Hacking In The Mirror?

While Rupe and his troops were getting that richly deserved reward for their efforts in precipitating Phonehackgate, the word was that they were all at it. The details of Operation Motorman were pored over, and the appearance of the Mail and Mirror at the top of Steve Whittamore’s charts caused some to wonder whether these titles had been as consistent in their use of the Dark Arts as the Screws.

And recently, Mark Lewis, who has acted for many who have taken action against the Murdoch empire, had given notice that cases against Trinity Mirror, owners of the Mirror titles and the People, would be brought. So the news yesterday that four cases had indeed been brought should not have come as a surprise. What may be surprising is whether Lewis can also prove the hacking.

This is because News International hired Glenn Mulcaire, who kept notes of who he was doing, the notes ended up with the Police, and they eventually bothered to follow them up. So what have they got on the Mirror titles? Well, according to the Independent, the Met have something on one of the group’s former executives, although this does not appear to specify who was being hacked.

“Scotland Yard are holding evidence that a senior Mirror Group executive regularly paid a private investigations firm up to £125 a time for mobile phone numbers and private pin access codes at least two years before phone hacking became a routine practice at the News of the World”. That’s not just hacking, either: getting the PIN code, if it’s not a factory default setting, needs insider information.

So that means a seriously bent presence somewhere inside a mobile phone provider, as well as a very well connected PI. Add to that the “senior executive” and those well versed in the Dramatis Personae of Phonehackgate will be able to join the dots and fill in the names of both PI and executive. And if the names in the frame are the ones I think they are, Trinity Mirror could be in for a rough ride.

However – and there is inevitably a however with the hacking business – there has to be a connection made to prove any of these cases. If the presence of Sven-Goran Eriksson in the list is to do with the exposing of his affair with Ulrika-ka-ka-ka, Lewis is likely to come up short: as I’ve previously told, the hacking in that case was done by the Screws, and the story got out to the Mirror before they could publish.

That case is the only one of the four that involves the appalling Piers “Morgan” Moron, now one of CNN’s two top rated hosts, but at the time editor of the Daily Mirror. And in the meantime, other papers and executives should be on their guard: if that PI is the one I reckon it is, the Mirror group was not alone in using his particular brand of, shall we say, “expertise”. More titles could get dragged in.

Meanwhile, here on Zelo Street we await yet more excellent spectator sport.

BBC, Savile, And More Mail Hypocrisy

Following their misleading assertion about the resignation of Newsnight editor Peter Rippon – which hadn’t happened when they said it had, and failed to happen subsequently – the obedient hackery of the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre have maintained their assault on the BBC over the past activities of Jimmy Savile, about which they couldn’t have given a stuff for so long.

It's f***ing true if I say so, c***

This has involved their resident BBC knocker Paul Revoir (crazy name, crazy guy?!?) concocting a range of scare stories about the “pressure” on Director General George Entwistle, the supposed hundreds of millions of pounds that will have to be paid out in the claims that have not yet been made, and of course the accusation that the Corporation “isn’t telling the truth”.

That last point is a staggering slice of brass neck, coming from a paper that has redefined the word “truth” to mean not what the OED might say it means, but what the Vagina Monologue deems it to mean for the purpose of furthering his agenda, which is driven by a boiling, obsessive hatred for the BBC and all who sail in it. Dacre’s legendary aggression is all over the Mail’s coverage.

But there also has to be the authentic gravitas of reliable punditry to march through the gap that the shock troops have punched in the Beeb’s defences, and today this has been provided by Max “Hitler” Hastings, self-proclaimed liberator of Port Stanley, as he declares “I know from experience that the BBC is an empire of control freaks and cowards”.

Yes, seriously, Max is writing in the Daily Mail and accusing another organisation of control freakery. Pot, kettle, Dacre lackey. What a come down it must be for someone whose CV includes editing the Telegraph – when its journalism was half-way decent, to boot – to be reduced to asking “How high?” when the Vagina Monologue orders him to jump.

And Hastings goes at the Corporation with some zeal: “Some of the Corporation’s most senior executives, from the Director-General downwards, could well lose their jobs — and deserve to ... Most of the men and women who rise to the top of the BBC hierarchy are self-serving bureaucrats of meagre abilities and scant editorial judgment”. Yeah, not like our Max, eh?

So why is Hastings so sore? Simples. He was at the BBC when a film he was making about Robert Maxwell had to be re-scripted to avoid legal action from the man known as the “Bouncing Czech”. That’s not cowardice, as Hastings asserts, but self preservation – Maxwell sued anyone and everyone who dared to suggest he was a crook (even though, of course, he was). Ask the folks at Private Eye.

This is just sour grapes. But it satisfies Dacre’s orders, so that’s all right, then.

Express Film Trailer Howler

Once again, the lack of editorial oversight at the Desmond flagship Express has brought a priceless string of gaffes, this time over the apparently straightforward task of copying a press release. How hard can that be? Well, for Emily Fox and whoever wrote the headline for her piece advertising the upcoming film Iron Man 3, it seems that the task was so challenging that the gremlins crept in.

Take that headline, for starters. “First Look: Robert Downing Jnr Returns For Iron Man 3 Trailer”. Robert Downing Jnr? Who he? And why is he only in the trailer? Does someone else get to star in the film? And the styling of Robert Downey Jnr as Robert Downing has also crept into the body of the article, although further on he gets indentified correctly.

And, folks, he’s in “a new suit”. Doesn’t quite convey what’s going on, does it? And, as the man said, there’s more: the full trailer is “to wet [sic] your appetites”. The trailer gives a “sneak peak [sic]”, and moreover, Gwyneth Paltrow is “showed [sic] in serious danger”. Can’t Dirty Des and his minions afford a spoiling chucker and someone who understands the word “grammar”?

You think that’s all the howlers in this piece? No it isn’t: readers are also told that “Pirotechnics [sic], explosions and tension is set to be at their highest”. This must be the lamest slice of Express rubbish since, er, the last lamest slice of Express rubbish. And the lamest until the next one. But, hey, it’s making a profit and keeping Des in the style to which he has become accustomed.

And we know what that means: another Benchmark Of Excellence.

Donald Trump – Bald Reality

[Update at end of post]

The economist and commentator J K Galbraith on occasion passed severely adverse comment upon those out there on the right of the political spectrum. On one occasion he observed that “It is not the function of conservatives to care, and therefore they do not”. The sentiment could have been tailored to order for one conservative, Donald John Trump.

Vanity blowing in the wind

Trump is, as they say, not one to be backward in coming forward. He is wealthy and powerful, but more than likely not as wealthy and powerful as he would like to be, or would like to be thought to be. He is staggeringly vain, to the extent of combing his hair forward to cover the inevitable progress of male pattern baldness. And, for him, good taste is an ever elusive concept.

This combination of bluster and bullying has now travelled across the North Atlantic to Scotland, where Trump has had a golf course built – in the teeth of opposition from the local population and their elected representatives – on the coastal dunes at Balmenie, north of Aberdeen. The development, on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), went ahead after the personal intervention of Alex Salmond.

The First Minister of Scotland had made his call on the grounds that Trump’s development would create 6,000 new jobs locally. Well, the course has been completed – but only one of the two intended – and most of the jobs have yet to materialise. The luxury hotel, housing and holiday villas, along with a second golf course, remain a distant dream, the project having been indefinitely mothballed.

Into this sad tale has come film-maker Anthony Baxter, to make a documentary titled You’ve Been Trumped. This has revealed that Trump has tried to have nearby homes compulsorily purchased, only to claim later that he had nothing to do with the action, called a nearby working farm “a slum”, and had overseen a security regime more in keeping with being the dictator of somewhere deeply unstable.

But, despite being allowed to despoil an SSSI, leave his development way short of what he promised, and being permitted by the authorities to behave as if his new fiefdom is somehow above the law, The Donald is not happy, and has taken to Twitter to call his opponents “Morons”, and assert that their opposition has made his development “far more successful than anticipated”.

So perhaps Trump would like to tell just how many punters have stumped up for membership, or just a day’s green fees, at his new course. Or where all the rest of the development, and those jobs, have gone, instead of threatening the BBC with his lawyers for screening You’ve Been Trumped. Then he can give us all a laugh by going out in the Scottish breeze without hat or hairspray.

Donald Trump, wannabe star of The Credibility Apprentice – you’re fired.

[UPDATE 24 October 1020 hours: Trump has once again demonstrated his inability to keep to the facts by trying to conflate the showing of You've Been Trumped with the Savile business.

But, instead of showing his grasp of the situation, the king of the combover tells anyone who is interested that he is sounding off without engaging brain. If "the phones are ringing off the hook", then someone is not doing their job and the system for taking bookings at his golf course is not fit for purpose. There should be a phone queuing system and a facility to book online. Nobody should have to hear the dial tone repeatedly.

Then he tells his Twitter followers that a BBC boss "was just fired". The Corporation has not fired anyone, and Trump might bear in mind that the Beeb is the UK's conduit for The Apprentice franchise.

And not everyone agrees with the great man: Andy Lynes reminded him of the kind of reaction that many viewers had to Anthony Baxter's documentary. Trump ought to put some effort into tomorrow evening's appearance with David Letterman on the Late Show, which could be rather good, but not for him]

Osborne – Travel Expenses Revealed

Thanks to the good offices of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), it’s possible to examine the expenses of your MP – or, indeed, any MP. So in the wake of Ticketgate, Zelo Street has been examining the rail travel claims of the Rt Hon Gideon George Oliver Osborne, heir to the Seventeenth Baronet. His details for 2010-11 and 2011-12 are available for scrutiny online.

Yes you, Bum Nose

Most of the journeys are to and from London Euston, with a few northbound ones beginning at Milton Keynes Central (perhaps the Chancellor had been visiting Chequers). The most frequently used northern endpoint is Macclesfield, this enjoying a more frequent London service than Wilmslow, although the latter is in Osborne’s Tatton constituency. Occasionally he travelled to or from Crewe.

The ever-changing – and expanding – array of book-ahead fares makes for a variety of amounts claimed, but one thing is consistent: according to the details – for every one of these journeys – all of the tickets purchased and claimed for were for travel in standard class. Every last one of them. A few were “Anytime” or open tickets, and some were “Off-Peak”, open tickets not usable at peak weekday times.

The remainder were book-ahead tickets valid only on specific trains. The dates shown are the date on which the ticket was purchased: therefore, the journey Osborne made on May 28, 2011 – where he was seen trying to blag his way into First Class – shows in the expenses as May 26, this being the purchase date. The cost - £137.50 – indicates an “Anytime” single fare.

Sometimes there is a combination of ticket types: the January 14, 2011 return fare of £205.30 will have been made up of an “Anytime” single at £137.50 and an “Off-Peak” single at £67.80. But these are, one has to say it again, all standard class fares. They appear to have been booked through an agency – clearly, Osborne is used to having a chap to do that sort of thing – so it isn’t an accident.

Think about that for a minute, and then consider what ITV’s Rachel Townsend said about last Friday’s incident: “his aide approached the ticket collector right next to me. He said he is travelling with George and he has a standard ticket but can he remain in first class? The guard said no. The aide said Osborne couldn't possibly sit in standard class. The guard replied saying if he wants to stay it's £160. The aide said he couldn't pay and he couldn't really sit in standard. The guard refused to budge. The guard went on gathering tickets and later told me Osborne had agreed to cough up the £160”.

Osborne “couldn’t possibly sit in standard class”. The claim of “can’t pay”, followed by paying up, has all the hallmarks of blagging. He was caught trying it on last May. And he always buys a standard class ticket. Something about this business smells very ripe indeed. Enquiries are continuing, and I hope to have more soon.

Careful With That Axe, Nadine

[Update at end of post]

While most attention was being given to events around the apparent lack of competence in the Tory Party (as well, of course, as the Savile business and the continuing attempts by the Fourth Estate and its pals to discredit anything remotely related to Leveson), a curious Twitter exchange was taking place involving (yes, it’s her again) Mid Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries.

As seen on First Capital Connect (allegedly)

Ms Dorries had asserted that, while she has not claimed for first class travel – which figures, as it’s not much more than a half hour train journey from her constituency to central London – she would not begrudge MPs of any party who have long distances to travel doing so. This was accepted by @AndyCavster, but he then asked if she had employed family members and paid them “over the odds”.

That’s a challenging and forthright question, but Nadine Dorries works for We The People, so she should expect such examination in a public forum such as Twitter. And at first she engaged with her questioner, but became agitated when he quoted an article in the Daily Mirror. “If you don’t want to be blocked don’t quote the scummy Daily Mirror at me again” she snapped.

And it soon got worse: “just don’t quote the [Mirror] at me or misrepresent me as you have just done”, she told him. “Your [sic] flying close mate”. Why can’t anyone cite a national newspaper in a request to a Member of Parliament? Did the Mirror have to withdraw its story? If not, then there is no reason it can’t be quoted. Merely because Ms Dorries does not agree with its tone or content is not sufficient cause.

Moreover, how has @AndyCavster “misrepresented” her? He hasn’t: this is just a gratuitous smear, and here we encounter an old Dorries favourite, a ploy she used against Tim Ireland of Bloggerheads fame (mentioning him, incidentally, gets you blocked by Ms Dorries), most recently when she maliciously attempted to have him removed from the Big Question studio (and failed).

And the reality in which Ms Dorries exists is an interesting one, as another Twitter excursion shows. “Lynton Crosby would have won 2010 for us” she asserts, despite his previous effort in 2005 making no impression on public opinion, and the use of crude dog-whistle politics bringing the Tories a welter of condemnation. Crosby has been talked up way beyond his real campaigning value.

All of which merely reinforces the thought that Nadine Dorries is not particularly good MP material, although she is an accomplished smearer of those who have the temerity to disagree with – and challenge – her. That, together with her intolerant attitude and thin skin, does not bode well for the future, and especially if the Tories want to introduce more youth into Parliament.

But if she finds herself shut out, Nadine Dorries will only have herself to blame.

[UPDATE 1940 hours: as @AndyCavster has now discovered, Nadine Dorries was not entirely honest with him in her last comment.

Yes, the fragrant Nadine had blocked him, but somehow lacked the candour to say so. That's an interesting attitude to take for someone who is paid out of the public purse. Her pals at the Guido Fawkes blog would be hot on the trail of anyone else for that kind of thing, but as I've noted previously, they have a blind spot when it comes to Ms Dorries]

Savile – Dacre Pants On Fire

[Update at end of post]

The fallout from Jimmy Savile’s alleged activities continues, with a well-trailed Panorama expose this evening. And, despite all talk of the BBC covering the whole affair up, that programme will air on not just the BBC, but its main channel BBC1, and during peak transmission time – unlike the dropped Newsnight item, which would have gone out on BBC2 rather later in the evening.

It's true if I f***ing say so, c***

This, of course, does not accord with the narrative dictated by the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre, and his angry and obsessive hatred of the Corporation has led the Daily Mail to go beyond what is actually known into a blatant attempt to push the BBC into actions that the Vagina Monologue has decided they should take in order to satisfy his demands.

So it should have surprised nobody to see today’s print edition of that paper declaring “Newsnight boss quits over damning evidence of Savile ‘cover-up’”, nor that the boss concerned has not quit. Moreover, there is no evidence of a cover-up (hence the use of quotes around the phrase), although that boss was warned that his action would cause the accusation to be made – as the Mail is now doing.

Spot the teensy slice of invention

Peter Rippon, editor of Newsnight – the title, like that of Barney Jones at The Andy Marr Show (tm), means he runs the show – has not quit. So the Mail has changed the assertion in its on-line edition to read “stepped down”. But he hasn’t done that either. Of course, this event may come to pass, but at the time the Dacre hacks were making their assertions, they were doing so with trousers well alight.

Such is the all-consuming rage of Paul Dacre that he is driving his obedient minions to attempt to cause the BBC to bend to his will by frightening them. That this is the paper’s main mission is confirmed by the lead item in Daily Mail Comment – the authentic voice of the Vagina Monologue – which repeats the assertion that Rippon has stepped down and righteously demands an independent inquiry.

Added to this is a characteristically batshit rant by Melanie “not just Barking but halfway to Upminster” Phillips, where she smears Harriet Harman as some kind of apologist for paedophilia, blames a culture of permissiveness, and dumps any related wrongdoing on “the left”, whatever and whoever that is. Mad Mel has decided that sexualisation of the young is another of those “liberal left” crimes.

Meanwhile, what the Mail is not telling its readers is that, when Panorama investigated Rippon’s assertion that the initial Newsnight investigation into Savile was pulled for “editorial reasons”, their researchers “found no evidence to contradict that view”. So the Mail, as with anything else that doesn’t fit its narrative, has just made it up to fit the demands of its raging, swearing editor.

And the Mail still isn’t telling why it took until now for it to care about Savile.

[UPDATE 1235 hours: Rippon has now, as reported by the BBC - which, it should be noted, is accused by the Mail of covering up its past activities - stepped aside from his role at Newsnight while the investigation into the shelving of the programme's item on Savile takes place.

But he still hasn't quit. And nor is the Mail doing any of its own investigation into Savile - it's just riding on the back of everyone else's, while dumping as much as possible on the BBC. And that's for one very good reason: Dacre believes he can inflict some damage on the Corporation.

As for actually covering news, stuff that. Priorities, priorities]

Booker Posts Another Whopper

The Telegraph’s resident Sunday fable spinner Christopher Booker is at it again today, inventing scare stories about the EU, while not telling his adoring public that his assertions can be effectively rebutted because the publication he cites as his clincher is available in summary form online, and that what he says is in it isn’t in it at all. His subject is the Royal Mail.

“How the EU ruined Royal Mail” is the Booker headline, an assertion so direct that there is very little chance of misinterpretation. “When I was born in Eastbourne, East Sussex, at 6.30 in the morning of October 7, 1937, my father immediately sent off a birth announcement to The Times, which arrived in London at noon, to be published next day” he tells, and thus we get an insight into Booker World.

If I had to assign a class to my immediate family, I would call them middle class. This would, I suspect, be the verdict of a majority of those asked the same question in the UK today. Neither my parents, nor any of their sisters, brothers, in-laws, cousins or other contemporaries to my knowledge sent off a birth announcement to the Times, or any other newspapers, as their children entered the world.

So now we know just how grand the heritage of Christopher John Penrice Booker really is (he’s got 50% more Christian names than me too, but we’ll let that pass). Seriously, though, Booker is trying to suggest that if First Class Post were to end (and that is still a very big if) this would be because previous action “was forced on the government by three EU postal services directives”.

This, he tells, is set out in the Hooper Report of 2008, except it isn’t (you can see a summary of that report HERE). The only mention of the EU comes in an item suggesting that its competition rules may prevent a forced restructuring of the business. Booker’s real beef is with the effect of EU competition rules on parts of the Royal Mail business, which is merely hypocritical, rather than dishonest.

Or perhaps Booker will be telling his readers next that he is in favour of state monopolies, if only where they might fall foul of EU competition rules. All other national postal services within the EU are subject to the same rules, and had we not been in the EU, Booker would more than likely have been cheering the introduction of competition to the Royal Mail.

And on top of all that, Booker didn’t even bother doing his research, other than to take as data an opinion piece by Dominic Sandbrook in the Daily Mail. The supposed “end to First Class post” is his interpretation of a survey of Royal Mail users, which has found that 60% of them would prefer a single class of service, “less expensive than first class, but delivered in two days”.

And whether that goes ahead would be nothing to do with the EU.

Telegraph First Class Deception

The availability on-line of all MPs’ expense claims has tempted the Telegraph to splash on a supposed “investigation” revealing that over a hundred of them claimed for First Class travel. But this, as I noted when considering the case of the Rt Hon Gideon George Oliver Osborne, heir to the Seventeenth Baronet, is permitted under IPSA rules as long as the cost is less than the standard class “Anytime” equivalent.

So the Tel is giving us no new news. The rules were set, and MPs are abiding by them. They are doing no more than their constituents – shopping around for book-ahead deals that give them a First Class seat at a lower price. I’ve done the same over a number of years for journeys from the north west to London and to the south west. The difference is that my authority for doing this is me (I approved the claims).

And that is the entire rationale behind the Tel piece. No rules are being broken, money is actually being saved, but, dammit, they’re sitting in the comfy seats and they could have saved even more by going standard class. Not necessarily. While checking journeys from Wilmslow to Euston (for instance) after Osborne’s adventure last week, the cheapest single fare was not always in standard class.

For some trains, the lowest price was for a book-ahead First Class fare. Partly that is down to demand at the time of the day – Osborne’s train was busier in standard than it was in First – and partly down to the amount of First Class accommodation on the Virgin Pendolino trains, which fills up on popular business trains but usually has plenty of space at other times of the day.

So the Tel is being disingenuous: that cheapest standard class fare may not be available on the train the MP has to take. Would they prefer they charge the public purse more for an Anytime ticket? And they’re being equally disingenuous on Osborne’s travel expenses: “the Chancellor is one of 460 MPs who have not sought to claim for a first-class train seat in the past year” is key.

Going once more into Jon Stewart mode, two things here. One, the expense claims made by Osborne available online only go up to the end of last year, so they don’t know. And two, those claims that are available for scrutiny do not specify what class of ticket the fare paid for. The fare ranges for standard and First advance purchase tickets overlap (as will come clear when I publish my analysis).

But the last word has to go to Matthew Sinclair, chief non-job holder at the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance, who not only repeats the potentially false assumption about standard class always being cheaper, but asserts “If standard-class travel isn’t good enough for MPs, it isn’t good enough for ordinary commuters who pay for their own tickets”. Yes Matthew – that’s why commuter trains also have First Class seats.

So that’s more guff being expounded on the subject. No change there, then.

Top Six – October 21

So what’s hot, and what’s not, in the past week’s blogging? Here are the six most popular posts on Zelo Street for the past seven days, counting down in reverse order, because, well, I have to prep a vat of curry later. So there.

6 Mensch In Murdoch Land Former Tory MP Louise Mensch has been given work by the Murdoch empire. As she’s moved to New York, can a berth at Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) be far behind? And in what kind of role?

5 Global Warming – Mail Caught Telling Porkies Another David Rose article, another slice of misleading rubbish eagerly leapt on by the antis. It’s the same old selective use of figures, and the same old dishonesty.

4 Gary McKinnon – Tories, The Mail, And Yuman Rights The legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre and his hacks, and many of the Tories, want to repeal the Human Rights Act. Then Gary McKinnon had his extradition to the USA stopped on grounds of Human Rights. Guess what they didn’t want to talk about afterwards.

3 Luckhurst’s Lame Leveson Lament Into the speculation over what may or may not be recommended by Lord Justice Leveson strode Tim Luckhurst, now a professor of journalism. He smeared his opponents as authoritarians and Marxists, painted a vision of state control of the press, and otherwise showed he hadn’t got a clue what he was talking about.

2 All In This Train Together The Rt Hon Gideon George Oliver Osborne, heir to the Seventeenth Baronet, gave the impression that he was trying to blag his way into the First Class end of the train without paying for it. Moreover, it was discovered that he’d tried it on last May. Enquiries are continuing as I type this.

1 Uncle Dick And Blue Peter The Press fixed on an item from BBC man John Simpson’s memoirs about a children’s radio entertainer who he called Uncle Dick. But they didn’t name him. So we did. And also showed that the BBC may have indeed taken action against him, as they did against another presenter, this time on TV.

And that’s the end of another blogtastic week, blog pickers. Not ‘arf!

Leveson – Goodman In Wonderland

[Update at end of post]

The voices from some within the Fourth Estate, and increasingly from pundits on the right, are still sounding off about what Lord Justice Leveson will recommend when he reports next month, despite not knowing what will be in that report. And the welter of adverse comment is throwing up some truly desperate ideas, none more than that expounded by Paul Goodman on ConservativeHome today.

“The end of Mitchell spells the end for Leveson” trumpets Goodman, which sounds truly batshit, and the intricacy of his argument does not disappoint even the most discerning rant connoisseur, being so off the wall that it could have been advanced by Melanie “not just Barking but halfway to Upminster” Phillips, although there are no references to political correctness or society destroying itself via leftism.

Goodman’s argument goes that Andrew Mitchell’s departure is purely down to the competitive nature of the free press, and the determination of those at the Super Soaraway Currant Bun. That the Mail and Telegraph were also intimately involved does not enter, and nor does any explanation of how anything recommended by Leveson would stop what is a news item being reported.

No, the Mitchell resignation was proof that “the media is back on top”. Moreover, Goodman asserts that the pressure on Young Dave to reveal his communications with the twinkle toed yet domestically combative Rebekah Brooks was “a warning to him not to concede statutory regulation if Lord Leveson recommends it”. Er, why? Why is there always an assumption that a new regime will mean less freedom?

But, as the man said, there’s more: Goodman states totally erroneously that “It's worth noting that the man who can claim to have turned the tide against Leveson is a politician, though admittedly one who is also a journalist: Michael Gove”. Anyone recall “Oiky” Gove’s intervention? If not the whole thing, is there anyone who can quote the odd quack from him?

No matter. Goodman is sure that “It was the Education Secretary's exquisitely polite but unremittingly defiant evidence to Leveson that signalled a Government retreat from the enquiry that Mr Cameron himself had set up”. He then asserts that the Jimmy Savile business reinforces the case for this freedom which Leveson must surely be planning to take away.

There’s only one thing wrong with this argument: it’s crap. The Savile revelations were started by the broadcast media, which operates within a statutory framework. The wonderfully free press did nothing, being more interested over the years in hacking, blagging, smearing, libelling, surveillance, interference in Police investigations, and maintaining a culture of Omerta.

Paul Goodman is Ron Hopeful and I claim my five pounds.

[UPDATE 21 October 1910 hours: Paul Goodman is not alone in advancing the anti-Leveson line while not having any idea what is to be recommended. As Brian Cathcart at Hacked Off has found, the Murdoch Sunday Times, once noted for great investigative journalism - OK, I'm going back to the pre-Rupe era here - has today put out an article titled CENSORED.

This fails to explain the culture of Omerta over Phonehackgate, the failure to say boo about Jimmy Savile until ITV had acted (and a golden opportunity to kick the BBC had presented itself), and of course the disgraceful treatment of the McCanns, Robert Murat, Christopher Jefferies and the Taylor sisters. The freedom of the press is once again held to be under attack.

Except, as Cathcart points out, Leveson is directed by his terms of reference - yes, the ones that the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre finds so flexible after the event - to preserve press freedom. The problem for the Fourth Estate here is that firstly, they're ranting about something that does not exist, and secondly, this is in danger of becoming so much background noise and therefore doubly counter productive.

But the press seems not to be listening, so frightened of the prospect of losing control of regulation has it become. All the more reason for a new approach]

Tories On Rail – Do As We Say, Not As We Do

The continuing story of the Rt Hon Gideon George Oliver Osborne, heir to the Seventeenth Baronet, and his apparent attempt to get away with enjoying the benefits of First Class travel on a standard class ticket, is not going to go away – not now that the details of his travel expenses have arrived on Zelo Street. And nor is the stench of rank hypocrisy following yesterday’s news.

What kind of ticket does Sir have? Oh dear, Sir, now that's going to cost you ...

First Class rail travel was for many years acknowledged as par for the course with our elected representatives. But that was before the Parliamentary expenses scandal rocked Westminster and the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) heralded a hair shirt approach by many to their constituents, some almost boasting how little they claimed from the public purse.

Indeed, when the Coalition came to power, Osborne’s then deputy David Laws – and yes, he too fell victim to dodgy expense claims not long after the event – made a speech which is still on record, on May 24 2010. This announced £6.2 billion in savings across Government. The cabinet would all take a pay cut. Departments were urged to look again at their budgets. And there had to be leadership.

In a section of that speech titled “Luxuries and Leadership”, Laws asserted “Full first class fares are very expensive and should be avoided by all public servants wherever possible ... [we] are minded to deduct the costs of any first class travel from the future spending limits of any public sector body”. From this followed the imposition of standard class walk-up fares as the maximum that could be claimed.

And woe betide Civil Servants who were subsequently caught travelling First Class: the Coalition could count on the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre and his obedient hackery to go after them with a vengeance. In an article from December 2010, titled “Civil servants spend £1m on first class rail travel each MONTH”, several individuals were named and shamed as the Mail talked of a “gravy train”.

There was the obligatory quote from the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA), on this occasion provided by Emma Boon, whose apparent abrupt departure from the TPA at the end of June – no announcement was made – has yet to be explained by the remaining non-job holders. But the news was widely disseminated across the news media – even in the Guardian and Independent.

It’s a straightforward and explicit message: claiming full first class fare is out. That, by implication, must extend to occasions when an upgrade has to be paid that causes the cost of one or more journeys to equal that full fare – as it seems happened to Osborne yesterday. So he must pay at least some of that cost himself. In the meantime, his rail fare claims over the 2010-2012 period are being examined.

And enquiries are being made about where he sits on the train. More later.

All In This Train Together

[Update at end of post]

And so it came to pass that the Rt Hon Gideon George Oliver Osborne, heir to the Seventeenth Baronet, had to return from his Tatton constituency to London. In order to speedily facilitate this move, he presented himself – plus an aide, natch – at Wilmslow station for the 1511 Virgin Trains service to Euston. Having boarded, he sat in the comfy end of the train – that being the First Class one.

One passenger ruefully counts his pennies as his Pendolino train piles south through Nuneaton

But, you may ask, how does he manage that? Maybe the Chancellor had an advance purchase ticket which worked out cheaper than the equivalent walk-up (or “Anytime”, as they’re now called) Standard Class fare. Sadly, whatever he possessed was not a First Class ticket, and nor was the Train Manager about to abandon his revenue protection duties on this occasion.

So Osborne was informed he would have to stump up the difference in fare. This he initially declined to do. There then ensued a stand-off until what appears to be a point not far south of Crewe, when even the Chancellor conceded that his personal fiscal rule was about to be broken big time, and he paid up. The difference in fare was an eye-watering £160.

Now, walk-up fares on Virgin Trains services to and from Euston may seem pretty steep to many of us mere mortals, but they aren’t so high. Had Osborne been in possession of an Anytime Standard Class ticket, the upgrade, according to a quick scan of National Rail Enquiries, would have been £49.50 (the single fares are £140 Standard Class, and £189.50 First).

So what’s with the £160 excess, then? It can’t be that Osborne had an advance purchase ticket for a different train, as that would have meant the full £189.50 would have been payable. No, the Chancellor must have bought an advance purchase Standard Class ticket, and done so a while back, or he wouldn’t have managed to pay only £29.50. Which means one thing.

Osborne bought that ticket, or directed someone to do so on his behalf, with the full knowledge that it would be valid only in Standard Class. He’s been MP for Tatton long enough to know that cheap upgrades to First Class only happen at weekends, and that he wouldn’t get one during the week. So why go and sit in the First Class, knowing what would ensue when the Train Manager came round?

Well, maybe the art of blagging is not confined to the cheaper end of the tabloid press. The impression is given that the Chancellor thought he could get away with sitting in the comfy end of the TiltyLiner (tm) because of who he was, and that the Train Manager would assume he was a legitimate First Class traveller and leave him alone, or at least would let him off – again, because of who he was.

But this time it didn’t work. Well done that Virgin Trains Train Manager.

[UPDATE 1905 hours: a Zelo Street regular has pointed me to a Tweet from Alex Andreou, who has noted that Osborne apparently tried to blag his way into First Class back in May.

That suggests that my theory about him being a potentially regular blagger may be rather adjacent to the mark. Time for further investigation into the Chancellor's travel arrangements, methinks]

Leveson – Winston’s Gestapo Warning

Education Secretary Michael “Oiky” Gove is supposedly hot on getting pupils to learn their history. One wonders if those within the Fourth Estate who are railing against the outcome of Lord Justice Leveson’s deliberations have been so keen on learning theirs. Because recent political upheavals show that trying to whip up apocalyptic visions of lost freedom have a habit of backfiring.

And loss of freedom is the mantra being obediently chanted throughout the popular press and by its advocates and lobbyists, as a look at the Newspaper Society (NS) website confirms. The prospect of regulation underpinned by statute has set David Newell off: “99.9 per cent of innocent newspapers and magazines would be dragged into funding and being shackled by the scheme from day one” he protests.

He then talks of “statutory fines” (while still, it may be noted, having no idea what will be proposed): “Ultimately, these would have to be enforced through judicial mechanisms which could include suspending publication of the newspaper”. Anyone not in agreement with the NS was “in denial that they are advocating a government structure of controls”. Frightening stuff.

Let me guide Newell and his clearly less than merry band to a slice of political history that is still within living memory for the oldest members of society. After the war in Europe had been won in 1945, the UK had its first General Election for some ten years. The Tories played on the personal popularity of Winshton, because the party was not at all popular in parts of the country that had suffered during the 1930s.

Churchill railed against the prospect of a Labour Government in terms so apocalyptic that the NS might recognise their own ranting in his speeches. But he sold the pass during an electoral broadcast, and I reproduce his exact words here.

“There can be no doubt that socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and the abject worship of the state. Socialism is in its essence an attack not only upon British enterprise, but upon the right of the ordinary man or woman to breathe freely without having a harsh, clumsy tyrannical hand clasped across their mouth and nostrils. (Labour) would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance”.

Even without the use of the pejorative term “Gestapo” – not Winshton’s finest hour, considering the wide public knowledge at the time of what that arm of the Nazi security apparatus had been getting up to during the war – the rhetoric was singularly unfortunate. Clement Attlee seized on the speech as an example of Churchill being inseparable from, yes, the “nasty party” of the Thirties.

The Tories lost. Badly. And this despite the UK never having had a majority Labour Government before. Those railing against Leveson may be about to lose, too.

Guido Fawked – Luciana Berger Howler

[Update at end of post]

The rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog does seem to have problems understanding Limited Companies. First there was all the rubbish spouted about former Labour London Mayoral challenger Ken Livingstone, demonstrating that the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole didn’t understand how the taxation regime works with such bodies, and now the same buffoon has a problem with annual returns.

Ms Berger is duly elected

Cole has gone after Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger and her constituency party in relation to donations it has received in the recent past. Here, he has discovered a payment from a company called Purple Apple Facilities Management Limited. This company has recently been dissolved, but then, limited companies are set up, sold on, renamed and dissolved on a daily basis.

The flannelled fool has noted – correctly for once – that Purple Apple was, in the year ended on 31 March 2010, dormant. This means it wasn’t trading. So far, so clear. But if the donation made by that company to Wavertree CLP was, as Cole claims, made in April 2011, then the company’s status in the year ending in March the previous year is totally irrelevant.

Trust me ... I'm on telly

The donation wasn’t made in that year. Moreover, it wasn’t made in the next one either, as that would have run from the beginning of April 2010 and finished at the end of March 2011. Any activity from April 2011 would come within the 2011-2012 financial year, and the accounts for that year are not yet available. So what the status of the company was during that time we don’t know.

So when Cole asserts, in relation to the donation in question, “Purple Apple were not however carrying out any business in the UK”, he is making an assumption he cannot stand up. The flannelled fool is either even more stupid than he looks – entirely possible, of course – or more likely he knows full well that he doesn’t have the information to prove his point, but is smearing Ms Berger anyway.

Either way, once again the Fawkes blog has been caught bang to rights making up its facts to fit its agenda, with the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines’ tame gofer giving every appearance of once again having his trousers well and truly alight. If either of them had a gram of principle in them, they would acknowledge they don’t have the information, withdraw the post and apologise to Wavertree CLP.

But the iron law of the Fawkes folks is that they don’t do withdrawals and apologies, especially to rotten lefties, and most especially those in cities like Liverpool. Another fine mess, once again.

[UPDATE 20 October 1415 hours: the Fawkes blog's original snipe at Ms Berger - the above was a follow-up - is even more lame. She had asked the Chancellor "if he will bring forward proposals to make entrepreneurs' relief from capital gains tax available to those who rent out property in the private ... sector".

The Fawkes rabble concluded that this was asking for "a tax cut for property developers" (the characterisation being used twice, to show it was not an accident). Now I'll have to take this slowly and carefully, as we're clearly dealing with people who can't tell the difference between building property and holding and renting it.

People who rent out property are called Landlords. Property developers are something different. Ms Berger was asking about tax relief for Landlords, and not for property developers. Messrs Staines, Cole and Wickham have had to make a blatantly false statement in order to stand up an argument. Another fine mess, once again]

Driverless Tube Train Dream Officially Dead

Occasional London Mayor – and full time collector of “chicken feed” from the Maily Telegraph – Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson has set great store by his pronouncements on “driverless tube trains”, and that new trains would be ordered without drivers’ cabs. I said at the time that this would not happen even if he were to serve another two terms as Mayor. Today I was proved right.

Not automatic now, and it won't be in future

Because, this morning, Mike Brown, who is the head rail travel man at Transport for London (TfL), conceded that no driverless trains would run on the Underground network until 2020 at the earliest. And even then, there would have to be a full analysis, which would consider passenger safety, staffing, and “design modifications” to the Tube network – as I’ve already pointed out.

Thus far there has been no response from the Evening Standard, aka London Daily Bozza, to the news: only yesterday it was trumpeting “Driverless Tube trains must go ahead” above a photo of a train of “A” stock, which is not only not a Tube train, but is so Old Technology that it has separate control handles for power (or “motoring”, as they say at the Underground) and braking.

The Standard was quoting at length Tory AM Richard Tracey, who claims to have authored a report on driverless trains. On this I commend his efforts, but do wonder if he has taken into account the mildly inconvenient facts, such as none of the existing fleet, or any of the trains on order, being suitable for driverless operation, or the inevitable requirement for platform doors for all underground stations.

Moreover, it is debateable whether driverless operation would be permitted on those parts of the network that run above ground – remember that, for instance, the new Lines 9 and 10 in Barcelona are going to be completely below ground. And, given the need for platform doors – inevitable on the crowded London system – there is the prospect of major re-engineering of Tube stations to retain adequate ventilation.

Somehow I doubt that Tracey has considered this, and the consequent effect on the cost of implementing driverless operation. There are few Metros around the world that have to live with the constraints of the Tube, and few which have so many lines that date back a century or more. Not of course that Bozza will have bothered to consider any of this: he just spouts without thinking things through.

For now, the best that Londoners can hope for is more coverage of the network with Automatic Train Operation (ATO), which is better for capacity but still requires a Train Operator, and a move to renew the fleets on the Piccadilly (1973 stock) and Bakerloo (1972 stock) lines. In other words, Bozza and his cheerleaders would do well to concentrate on practical matters, rather than pipe dreams.

And that includes the hacks at the Standard. Get real, folks.

Mensch In Murdoch Land

Former Tory MP for Corby and East Northants Louise Mensch, she of the accidental-but-more-than-likely-on-purpose smearing of the appalling Piers “Morgan” Moron, has now left the Parliamentary building and repaired to New York to spend more time with husband Peter. And she has been gifted a berth by dear old Rupe at the Super Soaraway Currant Bun.

Does Fox have news for her

And any thoughts that all the regular reading of the deeply subversive Guardian that she had supposedly been doing in the recent past would cause her to be of inconvenient view were banished as she did exactly as the Murdochs would have wanted: the Tories were Really Very Wonderful, especially Young Dave and Bozza, and Mitt Romney was possibly even moreso.

This immediate locking on to the wavelength of Rupe-friendly punditry caused the Guardian’s only slightly mischievous Jonathan Freedland to make the assertion openly that has already been discussed in private, as he Tweeted “So @louisemensch is working for the Sun. I still reckon her ultimate destination is anchoring a show for Fox News”.

I can’t fault the Freedland analysis: Ms Mensch is the kind of immodest self-promotion specialist who would have no problem following the deeply unpleasant Moron into the realm of cable news hosts. Where I do have a problem is imagining her being so incalculably shameless as to be able to spout the Roger Ailes line, day after day, no matter how extreme and ridiculous.

Maybe Ms Mensch is not quite up to speed on the propaganda machine that is Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse)? Well, have I got news for her. As a gentle introduction, here’s a video from a recent edition of the Daily Show where Jon Stewart compares the attitude of Fox presenters to the party conventions, with the acts of blatant hypocrisy and double standards clearly visible.

And if she needs any detail on the propensity of Fox hosts to engage in deliberate and serial dishonesty, she need look no further than PolitiFact’s background work on another Daily Show segment, where Stewart lists 21 (that’s twenty-one) whoppers that those hosts have told their viewers. These included two “lie of the year” awards and four that were rated “pants on fire” (the rest were merely rated “false”).

Then, of course, Ms Mensch would have to fit in somewhere. Who would stand aside for her? Not any of the blokes. Not Megyn Kelly. Not Greta van Susteren. Certainly not Gretchen Carlson. Not Laura Ingraham. Maybe she might replace Sarah Palin, who appears to be out of favour with Ailes right now. But she would have to leave any independent opinion at the door. Could Louise Mensch go that low?

It’s not the Beeb, Louise. And it ain’t Sky. Abandon credibility all ye who go there.

Leveson Is Served (21)

LUCKHURST – NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING

The Hacked Off campaign has commissioned an online poll from YouGov to gauge the public mood on future press regulation. The sample size was relatively large, at over 2,800 respondents. The responses obtained demonstrate that the idea that few care about this issue is at best questionable, and at worst utter claptrap. Over three quarters preferred an independent regulator backed by law.

By two to one, respondents trusted Lord Justice Leveson to “make fair and effective recommendations”. Over three quarters said it was not acceptable in the wake of recent events for owners and editors to control the complaints system. As to whether the Government should implement Leveson’s recommendations, the margin of approval was almost ten to one.

As to the correction of inaccurate stories, 68% said papers should do more to ensure this happened, against 9% who did not. These numbers are not merely in favour of a system different to what exists today. They demonstrate that the public has lost faith in the newspaper industry’s ability to keep its own house in order. The drinking in that mythical last chance saloon has gone on long enough.

Sadly, this news has not been universally well received by those in and around journalism, and especially our old friend Professor Tim Luckhurst, who must be causing those at the University of Kent to wonder if it would not be better for all concerned if he were to just keep schtum, especially on Twitter. The Prof has found forthrightly and adversely on the poll.

His comments on the size of the majority in favour of an independent regulator started with “yes, but hanging” and quickly moved to denounce the poll as “propaganda”. Hacked Off, he asserted, were wrong. Former Daily Star man Rich Peppiatt was denounced as a “Marxist” (predictable, as he had already called me an “Authoritarian”). There would be an end to press freedom.

Statutory framework would mean more Government interference. Ofcom meant impartiality would be imposed (it wouldn’t, of course – Luckhurst deliberately selects a feature of the broadcast regime, rather than the way it operates). Campaigning papers would be silenced as if by diktat. But this is complete crap, and the Prof chooses yet again not to address the real issues.

The present system allowed the Daily Mail to carry out a thoroughly wicked campaign against the Taylor sisters and get away with it. It excuses the likes of Richard Littlejohn when he lies, on the grounds that “it’s comment so that’s OK”. It does nothing about the packs of journos pursuing young women. It does nothing about Islamophobia. It provides no adequate redress. That’s not good enough.