Stop The Boats = Save The Votes

Rampant and endemic corruption. Failure to invest in, well, just about anything, and especially infrastructure, housing, the NHS, Police, security agencies and education. Refusal to pay public sector workers decently, driving many into poverty. Inability to prevent blatant profiteering by energy suppliers. Doing nothing to encourage use of public transport.

Who has been responsible for all this? On whose watch has the UK become a significantly poorer and less happy place? Where does the buck stop? That would be the Government of the day. And that Government, although it knows full well the length and breadth of its own ineptitude, would rather the people look somewhere, anywhere else. And blame someone else for its mistakes.

So it came to pass that Suella Braverman, who ceased to be Home Secretary last year after breaking the Ministerial Code, but was reinstated to the post a week later by Rishi Sunak, brought forth her Illegal Migration Bill, accompanied by yet another of those Three Word Slogans, this one being Stop The Boats. It is not an original slogan, but an Australian import.

Those arriving on small boats, crossing the Channel from France, would be arrested. They would be returned, or sent somewhere like Rwanda. But Ms Braverman has had to make an addendum to the opening page of her bill, on the European Convention of Human Rights. And it doesn’t look good.

“Secretary Suella Braverman has made the following statement under Section 19(1)(b) of the Human Rights Act 1998: I am unable to make a statement that, in my view, the provisions of the Illegal Migration Bill are compatible with the Convention rights, but the Government nonetheless wishes to proceed with the Bill”. But Rishi Sunak says the UK will not be ditching the European Convention on Human Rights.

Which, combined with the lack of potential Parliamentary time available, given the challenges the bill is likely to face in both Houses of Parliament, means that this is not a serious legislative exercise. It is, to quote some Tories’ immediate analysis, merely “Performative”. “Small boats bill aimed at galvanising political support at home” was the BBC’s understated headline.

The Tories are predicted to lose so badly come the next General Election that they will be down to fewer than 100 seats - maybe far fewer. Altrincham and Sale West, for example, where Graham Brady, head of the Tory 1922 Committee, has decided he will not seek re-election next time, is predicted to go Labour with a majority in excess of 10,000. Red Wall? Forget it.

So the Tories’ idea is to frighten the living daylights out of those same voters who they conned with the last Three Word Slogan: “Get Brexit Done”, pushed so enthusiastically by disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson in 2019. Swing voters may usefully note that Bozo’s slogan was a dud, and be suitably warned about the latest variant.

Especially when the inflammatory language from Ms Braverman verges on the desperate: there were 100 million displaced people around the world “who could qualify for protection under our current laws ... they are coming here”. This is Vote Leave writ large: then, it was “75 million Muslim Turks” who were “coming here”. It wasn’t. Now it’s “100 million”. And it still isn’t.

The Home Secretary was challenged by host Susanna Reid on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on those numbers, it being pointed out that only 26 million of the notional 100 million had actually left their own country. And Ms Braverman fell back on the dog-whistles: all those in hotels, and WE’RE PAYING FOR THEM. They’re in hotels because the Tories ran down the system.

We are also given the “jumping the queue” chestnut. But there is no “queue”. Enough. We know that, to use that word again, this is merely Performative. It is another way of distracting from failure elsewhere. That much was confirmed when Match Of The Day lead presenter Gary Lineker passed adverse comment on the bill and those out there on the right demanded he be silenced, or even sacked. The bill is a sham? Look over there again!

Our country is broken, but those who broke it want to blame those so desperate to flee war and persecution that they are willing to sail across the Channel in little inflatable boats to get here. The Tories have their own desperation: they have nothing else to offer the electorate.

The difference from 2019 is that, this time, it won’t work. The Tories are done.

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Murdoch Fake News EXPOSED

Many of those who read papers like the Times and Sunday Times, and even some who read the Sun, believe what those titles feed them. There must be some substance in what they are told, they think, no-one seems to be taking them to court over the stories, and in any case, not even Rupert Murdoch would push that much falsehood and misinformation. Or would he?

It is here that the goings-on elsewhere in the Murdoch empire prove instructive: the discovery phase of a lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems against the Casa Rupra for accusations levelled by hosts, and others, on Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) around the 2020 US Presidential Election has shown us exactly what they would push.

FNC’s hosts knew that some of their guests, like lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, were lying and pushing conspiracy theories, rather than dealing in facts. But such was the channel’s grovelling backing for Combover Crybaby Donald Trump that they let rather a lot of the lying pass without challenge. That was bad. But what the New York Times just found is worse.

What the NYT has revealed is that, in the aftermath of that election, when those at FNC called Arizona for Joe Biden, the channel began to ship serious numbers of viewers. All those MAGA wackos were being told what was happening out there in the real world, and they didn’t like it one bit. So they turned off, or turned over - to media outlets that were even more wacko.

At this point it has to be stressed that FNC’s number crunchers have - or maybe that should be had - a reputation for getting their predictions right. This was demonstrated in 2012, when they called one key state for Barack Obama in the teeth of protests from their then guest Karl Rove - another Republican who didn’t want to hear what was really happening out there.

Following the accurate Arizona call, there was a panic meeting over Zoom, the entire content of which appears to have arrived at the NYT. And it was during that call that CEO Suzanne Scott and hosts such as Bret Baier considered pulling the (accurate, remember) Arizona call as a means of placating the MAGA wackos and getting them to tune back in.

You read that right: they gave their viewers the truth, a lot of those viewers didn’t want to hear the truth (that Trump was losing the election), and so they considered withdrawing the truth and pretending it hadn’t happened. This would mean changing the whole of FNC’s election coverage. Truth is playing badly, so let’s lie instead. They know they would be lying, but hey, ratings.

FNC’s CEO is on tape saying “If we hadn’t called Arizona for Biden … our ratings would have been bigger”. The channel’s experts’ job was not about accurate election coverage, but to … “protect the brand”. They pushed back, stressing that they had called Arizona right. And Ms Scott agreed that it was important to be right. But, and this is a significantly sized But.

“But I think we’re living in a new world, in a sense, where half the voting population don’t believe in big corporations, big tech, big media … there’s a lack of trust”. So Fox News lies to its viewers, over a period of years, thereby undermining trust. Then the channel’s CEO bemoans a lack of trust. Half the population disagrees with the truth, so let’s not report the truth.

Unsurprisingly, MSNBC is making hay with this revelation, with its Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber pointing out “The whole role of a legitimate news organisation is to report the truth, regardless of disagreement and especially when there’s a coordinated attack on the facts”. This is how blatant the lying very nearly became. This shows the Murdoch mafiosi’s standards. Or not.

Why, some media watchers in the UK wonder, is anyone concerned about noise floor occupants like Murdoch property TalkTV? One look at Fox News Channel is all you need to answer that one. Why is anyone worried about the Times and Sunday Times? Likewise, look at what’s happened to the Wall Street Journal since Murdoch took over. And you get the same answer.

Rupert Murdoch has poisoned media discourse in the USA. He was already well on the way to doing the same in the UK. Call him for what he is: this is not someone wanting to impart news. This is a far-right propagandist.

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Bozo Does Not Have A Horse

No matter how serious the corruption in and around the Tory party, and especially that not unadjacent to disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, those in the right leaning part of our free and fearless press can content themselves that at least it’s not as bad as the worst excesses of Roman emperors like Caligula.

After all, Caligula wanted to make Incitatus, his horse, a Consul in the Roman Senate. Sad to say, he was assassinated before that event could come to pass, and equally sad to relate, we don’t do that kind of thing in the UK, so Bozo is able to indulge in the slightly less bad practice of putting forward his father’s name for a knighthood, as part of his resignation honours list.

That would be the same Stanley Johnson who flagrantly broke lockdown rules (like father, like son), was accused of being a sex pest (ditto), and beat up his former wife, Bozo’s mother, to the extent that he broke her nose. While such a nomination sends the worst possible signal on domestic abuse, at least we read that Stan deeply regrets what he did, so that’s all right, then.

And while those out there on the right are playing “look over there” by howling with joy at Labour leader Keir Starmer coming over all evasive under questioning from LBC’s Gammon Emeritus Nick Ferrari on when he first approached Sue Gray about becoming his new chief of staff, the Bozo honours list is not going to go away. Because it’s about more than Stan.

Indeed, that list contains an awful lot of names which are, shall we say, a tad controversial. The only saving grace is that, unlike his contemporary and predecessor Young Dave, he does not have a horse. So perhaps we should be thankful for that news: instead, as Peter Walker at the Guardian has noted, we should, rather, be wary of other names being allegedly pitched.

After telling readers “Boris Johnson has been accused of having ‘discredited the honours system’ after it was reported that his long-delayed resignation list includes a knighthood nomination for his father, Stanley Johnson”, he reminds us “Previous reports have suggested Johnson could also be considering honours for his wife, Carrie Johnson, and his sister, Rachel Johnson. As prime minister he made his brother, Jo Johnson, a peer”. There was more.

“According to other reports, among those in line for peerages are the former culture secretary Nadine Dorries and the former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre”. Arise Lord Effing And Blindigham of Arnos Grove in the London Borough of Enfield. Or perhaps it will be Earl Vagina of Monologue. And it got worse.

“Other reports have said peerages could also go to Ross Kempsell, 30, who formerly worked for Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV station as political editor, and subsequently for Conservative central office and for Johnson, and to Charlotte Owen, one of the ex-prime minister’s former assistants who is understood to be in her late 20s”. Ross Kempsell? Who he?

Kempsell became initially infamous after covertly recording a conversation between Paul Mason and a Spanish MP in a Liverpool eatery at the time of the 2016 Labour Party Conference. He subsequently went to work as assistant sandwich monitor, er, sorry, “Senior Reporter” for the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog. Real peerage material.

But then, Bozo has already ennobled the likes of Evgeny Lebedev, son of a “former” KGB officer, despite the reservations of the security agencies, and Zac Goldsmith, whose campaign to succeed Bozo as Mayor of London was tainted by the racism aimed at eventual winner Sadiq Khan.

Over at the HuffPost, readers are told that “It also emerged last year that Johnson has nominated four of his closest allies for peerages in his resignation honours … The former prime minister wants to ennoble Nadine Dorries, Alister Jack, Alok Sharma and Nigel Adams”. Is that the same Nigel Adams who used to be a regular at Young Britons’ Foundation gatherings?

Well, we’ve already seen the ennoblement of Claire Fox, a bona fide terrorist sympathiser and a part of Living Marxism, famous mostly for genocide denial. All that the alleged K for Stanley Johnson does is underscore the corruption that Bozo has brought into politics, and at which all too few commentators out there on the right have raised a finger, never mind condemned it.

Bozo will get away with it, too. Because no-one who matters will stop him.

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Dan Hodges And A Lack Of Evidence

One problem that faces those who scrabble around the dunghill that is Grubstreet is ensuring that, behind every one of those attention-grabbing headlines, every social media boast, is sufficient evidence to stand those claims up. It is an issue that the Mail on Sunday’s not at all celebrated blues artiste Whinging Dan Hodges has failed to address - more than once.

He's desperate, Dan

Desperate Dan was for some time merely an opinion writer, and only for the MoS, but has more recently branched out into pieces for the Daily Mail too. Perhaps, with all those redundancies coming down the line, he is having to prove his worth to his editor in chief, the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre.

The Hodges problem was demonstrated superbly after the Mail pitched the misogynistic and, indeed, untrue and likely defamatory smear of Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, claiming that she had done a “Basic Instinct” at now disgraced and former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson to put him off his stride at PMQs, which she did not.

As those working in the service of the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog noted, “The oddest thing about this row is that from Boris’s vantage point, and with Rayner sat behind her despatch box, the line of sight for Boris means it is almost certain that he was unable to see Angela’s legs”. Yet Hodges claimed to have “sources” and the “truth”.

Now has come the move by Labour leader Keir Starmer to appoint senior Civil Servant Sue Gray as his chief of staff. At least Hodges is not, this time, among those attempting to invalidate her inquiry into Partygate: his line is to attack Starmer, something which will be taking up more of his time, and that of other Northcliffe House bunker inmates, as the General Election looms.

Headlined “This grubby Sue Gray recruitment annihilates all pretence that Sir Keir Starmer is a man of principles”, Hodges rather let himself go when advertising the piece on Twitter. “Sue Gray attempted to block government over Trans-policy veto. Intervention came at time when she was believed to be negotiating with Keir Starmer to join his team”. Cue the article.

“Just before Christmas, Ministers took the fateful - and controversial - decision to block Scotland’s new Gender Recognition Bill … On December 22, Sue Gray, Second Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office, sent an email to those discussing the legislation … ‘I found reference to S35 [the section of the Scotland Act that allows the Scottish Secretary to exercise a veto] difficult,’ she wrote, ‘but I found even more difficult the words about stopping the Bill. But as you say, this seems to have been agreed.’”

Why's my f***ing photo here again, c***?!?!?

What was that, again? “THIS SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN AGREED”. Moreover, the approach from Starmer and his team is believed to have come as recently as last month. Hello Dan Hodges. But it isn’t the only problem with this article: he then infers that she, and Labour, are jumping the gun on her move.

“A key part of Gray’s defence is that her appointment will be fully scrutinised by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA). But again, the regulations are crystal clear. The Business Appointment Rules for Crown Servants state that people leaving the Civil Service ‘should not accept or announce a new appointment or offer of employment before it has been approved’” he notes. Then comes the lack of evidence.

“But last Thursday, a Labour spokesman confirmed: ‘The Labour Party has offered Sue Gray the role of chief of staff to the Leader of the Opposition. We understand she hopes to accept the role subject to the normal procedures.’” SUBJECT TO NORMAL PROCEDURES. Like that approval. But do go on.

“Labour and Gray are self-evidently flouting these procedures. And going to increasingly desperate lengths to cover up that fact”. Bullshit. And he then doubles down: "The only logical rationale for the move is that Starmer - and Gray - want the flexibility of operating in a more overtly political way”.

Now he’s just guessing. But revealing interesting details on how the Mail titles intend to go after Starmer and his party. And go after him they will: remember, these are the papers that refused to endorse Tony Blair’s New Labour, telling voters to “hold their noses” and keep on voting Tory. The problem for the Mail and Hodges is that this kind of drivel will not seriously detain swing voters.

Because it’s just more desperate barrel scraping. But you knew that anyway.

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Mail Joins Bozo Down The Rabbit Hole

On occasion, our free and fearless press likes to remind us that, not only is it a bought and paid for part of the political establishment, and usually the right-leaning part of it, but also that it is prepared to bend the facts well beyond the limits of structural integrity in pursuit of shoring up that establishment.

So it was that the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker went in to bat for disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson this week. This was, you understand, with the highest of motives, and nothing to do with the Mail’s editor in chief, the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre, and its current editor, Ted Verity, both apparently being in line for gongs when Bozo eventually gets his Prime Ministerial resignation honours passed.

10 Downing Street under Bozo’s tenure, despite the Covid restrictions that most of us had to obey, had been Party Central. The booze flowed, there were impromptu bouts of freestyle vomiting, some engaged in consensual if alcohol fuelled sex, a little property damage occurred, and worst of all, this resulted in 126 fines being issued by the Metropolitan Police.

Under pressure from all sides, including his own, Bozo commissioned an independent inquiry into what he claimed not to know anything about. This would be undertaken by senior Civil Servant Sue Gray, and we should wait for her findings. She came to a conclusion not dissimilar to that of the Met: there had indeed been parties in Downing Street during lockdown.

And it was here that the Mail began its journey into the rabbit hole, by talking well, but lying badly. Bozo had a birthday party in Downing Street? Readers were told “The cake remained in its Tupperware container”. Once established upon the course of saying anything - usually untrue - to excuse Bozo’s antics, what has happened this week was the inevitable end point.

Ms Gray has now, it seemed, been tapped by Labour leader Keir Starmer to be his chief of staff. This should not surprise anyone: he knew her from his time as Director of Public Prosecutions. She had already been praised for her rigour and independence by senior Tories; Starmer would therefore demonstrate that he was serious about getting the Top Job himself.

The result at the Mail, though, was one of pant-wetting fury. “Outrage as Sue Gray accepts plum job with Starmer … Boris allies say validity of her No10 inquiry is ‘destroyed’ … Ex-PM ‘shocked and disgusted’ as senior Tories ask IS THIS PROOF THE PARTYGATE PROBE WAS A LABOUR PLOT?” howled the Friday headline, bringing a superb example of QTWTAIN.

Who went in to bat for Bozo? Sadly, only (yes, it’s her again) Nadine Dorries, and Jacob Rees Mogg, already on record praising Ms Gray’s independence. And the Commons Privileges Committee, before which Bozo will be giving evidence later this month, is now awaiting the ex-PM’s explanation.

Why so? “On 1 December 2021, Mr Johnson told the House: ‘All guidance was followed completely in No10’. We will consider why Mr Johnson told the House that no guidance had been broken in No10 when he knew what the guidance was and was in attendance at gatherings where the guidance was breached; and why he failed to tell the House about [those] gatherings”.

There was more. “On 8 December 2021, Mr Johnson told the House: “The guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times”. We will consider why Mr Johnson told the House that no rules or guidance had been broken in No10 when he knew what the rules and guidance were and was in attendance at gatherings where the rules and guidance were breached; and why he failed to tell the House about [those] gatherings”. Ouch!

What the f***'s my gong to you, c***?!?!?

Bang to rights, Mr Johnson! So how is the Mail going to spin that one? As if you need to ask. “Report claims Partygate rule breaches would have been ‘obvious’ to ex-PM … But he insists they’ve found no proof and he’s been vindicated … BORIS: NOT A SHRED OF EVIDENCE I MISLED MPs”.

Yes, Dacre and Verity have led their unfortunate hacks even further down the rabbit hole. The problem with going in to bat for a congenital liar is that you end up having to, at a very minimum, broadcast his lies, and as with the cake-and-Tupperware-container whopper, throw in a few of your own. And going from praising Sue Gray’s independence to slagging her off.

All this to save the reputation of someone who wouldn’t cross the street to piss on Dacre and Verity if he saw they were on fire. All the reinvention of reality just to keep alive the increasingly distant prospect of the two of them securing honours from a system that Dacre, for one, has regularly denounced as being “tainted”. Reality, for him, truly is no more than a state of mind.

Bozo is toast. He will be found to have misled Parliament, and on multiple occasions. And his boosters will be exposed as sad, pathetic fools. The end.

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Hancock Half Hoakeshotted

She told Vicky Pryce that it would be OK to shop her former partner Chris Huhne over his getting her to take the points for him being caught speeding on the way back from Stansted Airport to London. Ms Pryce was then convicted of perverting the course of justice and jailed. That alone should have rung warning bells about mercenary hack Isabel Oakeshott.

Cock indeed

And it wasn’t the only time where information in Ms Oakeshott’s possession leaked, although attributed to her equally untrustworthy protégé Steven Edginton: the nominally confidential cables sent by then UK Ambassador to the USA Kim Darroch were leaked to the Mail on Sunday. Darroch incurred the displeasure of Combover Crybaby Donald Trump and had to resign.

On top of that was the time Ms Oakeshott claimed she’d been hacked, as an explanation for Byline Media getting hold of a tranche of emails exposing the true extent of Brexit Bad Boy Arron Banks’ relationship with representatives of the Russian state. The dirty tricks, spoilers, and damage limitation would have made even the late Max Clifford stop and think.

Nevertheless, former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, for reasons best known to him, and which he will probably come to regret, entrusted Ms Oakeshott with a significant tranche of WhatsApp conversations around Hancock’s behaviour during the then developing Covid-19 pandemic, for his “Pandemic Diaries”. He also got her to sign an Non-Disclosure Agreement.

This has proved to be a most unwise choice, as Hancock discovered earlier this week when the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph revealed that the former minister’s trusted source (ho ho ho) had shared said WhatsApp conversations with its hacks. “The Telegraph has obtained more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent between Matt Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic”. Whoops!

There was more. “The Lockdown Files is the biggest leak of data involving the Government since the 2009 MPs' expenses scandal, shedding new light on issues including care home deaths, lockdowns, testing, school closures and face masks”. To be recycled by the Tel in favour of lockdown deniers.

And more. “The Telegraph analysed messages containing 2.3 million words. In The Lockdown Files we reveal the contents of those messages, and the serious questions they raise … In the first major story from The Lockdown Files, we found evidence that Matt Hancock watered down his Chief Medical Officer’s plan for testing in English care homes”. And yet more.

Hugely embarrassing not just for the Evening Standard, but every other paper, was the revelation that Hancock tapped the title’s then editor George Osborne - his former boss - for favourable coverage, and Osborne effectively responded “yeah, sure”. Ben Kentish of LBC admitted he was “lost for words”.

Rachel Clarke, who you can tell as she’s a doctor, observed “Wow. In Sept 2020, Covid testing backlogs were so dire that people were driving hundreds of miles for tests. But [Matt Hancock] personally arranged for a test to be couriered to Jacob Rees-Mogg for one of his kids. And then sent straight to a lab … A corrupt little man to the core”. Were any more Tories thus favoured?

The questions are being asked already, with Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper putting the Government front bench very much on the back foot. Meanwhile, the questions are being asked as to why Ms Oakeshott feels it’s OK to shaft Hancock, NDA or no, but not Brexit booster Banksy.

Marina Purkiss put it this way: “Have I got this right … Oakeshott felt compelled to leak Hancock’s WhatsApp messages because we need ‘urgent answers’ … But apparently sat on emails showing alleged Russian interference in Brexit and our democracy … Or have I missed something?”

Why did Ms Oakeshott break an NDA and shaft Matt Hancock? Whatever her claims - which should be treated with maximum scepticism and equal contempt - one thing comes clear: this is someone that no-one should trust, not even as far as they could chuck her. She is not a disinterested party, but someone most likely wanting to push a lockdown demonising agenda.

Never trust Isabel Oakeshott with anything confidential. Ever. That is all.

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Carole Cadwalladr, Lawsuits, And Misogyny

The perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog were in jubilant and aggressive mood yesterday, as they trumpeted the headline “Appeal Court Rules Against Carole Cadwalladr”, along with annotating a photo of their target with the one word caption LOSER. Then followed Warby LJ’s ruling allegedly in favour of their pal Arron Banks.

Carole Cadwalladr

The deeply unsavoury Banks had mounted an appeal against his earlier loss, with The Great Guido proclaiming “Warby’s ruling in favour of Banks says that this kind of appeal will ‘rarely’ be disturbed in the absence of an ‘error of principle potentially critical to the outcome’. A high bar, nonetheless the Appeal Court rules Judge Steyn was in error … Banks also won damages to be assessed in respect of publication of the TED Talk”. Sounds like a victory.

This news caused the not at all crafty Darren Grimes, officially too stupid to fill in a form properly, to leer “The Guardian's Carole Codswallop became the darling of the anti-Brexit lobby in Britain when she published accusations of dodgy data, electoral fraud and Russian collusion.” There was more, sadly.

"She was part of a cabal that almost ruined my twenties. Today she was found out”. Given a choice between Guardian and Observer, Dazza chose poorly. As the Tweeter known as My Sweet Landlord pointed out, “That £675,315 you found under your pillow nearly ruined your twenties. As for being a failed YouTuber and a sacked TV presenter, that was all your own work”.

The same Tweeter was there when Banksy claimed “the appeal court found I had been defamed, suffered serious harm & they award unspecified damages. You can’t really ask for more vindication than that. The Russia allegations were always confected lies spread by [Carole Cadwalladr] and others that hated Brexit”. Because that wasn’t all that happened.

“Er, not exactly. You did ask for more than that and didn't get it. Two out of three ain't bad”. Two out of three to whom? Ms Cadwalladr had the answer. “The Court of Appeal has ruled. I've won on 2 of 3 important grounds of principle. Most importantly, the landmark public interest ruling is intact. The judge's findings of fact are intact. The original judgment holds”. Hmmm.

Sounds a bit different to what Banksy and his pals chez Fawkes are claiming. And there was more. “It has ruled that after the NCA concluded its investigation in April 2020, the continued publication of the TED talk caused him serious harm. Only guess what? That 'continued publication' has nothing to do with me! I'm not the publisher. And the court even *acknowledges* this”.

It's cost me how much already? Oh SHIT

Bit more complicated than Banks and his cheerleaders pretended. But do go on. “But this is a technical judgment that concerns just 100k views of the TED talk after April 2020, not the 4.3million who saw it before. But to be absolutely clear: this is a minor skirmish. I won the case. The judge's ruling, on everything else, holds”. Might this be costly for The Bad Boy Of Brexit?

Carole reckons so. “As ever, Banks and his henchmen are desperately trying to clutch victory from the jaws of defeat. Absurd to suggest this is any way a win for him. It's cost him £2m+ to have a judge establish that he'd misled the public over his (extensive) relationship with Kremlin officials”. Banks must have deep pockets. Or he knows someone else who does.

Also, one aspect of this case has to be stressed, and that is the obvious and, indeed, dripping misogyny. The Fawkes mob’s “LOSER”, Grimes’ leering, and Banks’ claim of victory, all allied to Banks’ choice of target, confirm it. As Carole says, “Why didn't Banks sue TED? Or [the Observer] which first published the words?” Because, as the says, the case is a SLAPP.

What that? Wiki definition begins “Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits), or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition”.

All backed up with the sneering misogyny of The Great Guido and his pals, including Banksy himself, his slippery and deeply untrustworthy pal Andy Wigmore, creeps like Darren Grimes, and the rest of the unappealing convocation of Brexiteers who would rather no-one shine a light too closely upon what really went on with the various Leave campaigns back in 2016.

And they’re still rewriting history. But not, thus far, with much success.

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Rees Mogg - Right Royal Hypocrite

While disgraced and now former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson could only look on from the sidelines, Rishi Sunak appeared to have done the unthinkable: amended the Northern Ireland Protocol for the better, seen off any backbench rebellion, and even got the DUP to consider his deal, rather than dismissing it immediately. But some were not happy.

Because European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had not only had talks with Sunak, she had then gone on to Windsor Castle to take tea with The King. The Mail was not best pleased, asking “Could this meeting be a moment the King comes to regret?” QTWTAIN take 94. It’s all part of the UK now being pals with the EU, rather than the antagonism of the past.

But it was not just the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker who had their noses put out of joint by the Ursula and Brian Show. Jacob Rees Mogg, the member for times long past, sniffed “It is surprising that the King will meet Ursula von der Leyen today, as it antagonises the people the PM needs to conciliate. It is also constitutionally unwise to involve the King in a matter of immediate political controversy”. Sound that hypocrisy siren!

Either Rees Mogg has a very short memory, or thinks the rest of the world has forgotten his part in involving the monarch in, to use his happy phrase, “immediate political controversy”. His problem is that the rest of the world remembers all too well his part in the 2019 prorogation scandal.

Bozo, then in charge of a Government that could not even win its votes in Parliament, and responding by stripping several of his own MPs of the whip and then having them expelled from the Tory party, secured a suspiciously long prorogation of that Parliament. He achieved this by getting the Queen to agree to it. Rees Mogg was his messenger to Brenda.

In late August 2019, Bozo had sought legal advice on proroguing Parliament from his then Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox. Then, as the Wiki account tells, “On 28 August, Jacob Rees-Mogg, in the role of Lord President of the Council, convened a small Privy Council meeting with Mark Spencer as Chief Whip, Baroness Evans of Bowes Park as Leader of the House of Lords and the Queen whilst she was in residence at Balmoral Castle”.

Brenda consented to the prorogation, lasting from early September until the State Opening of Parliament on the 14th of October. The move sparked outrage, with then Commons Speaker John Bercow calling the move a "constitutional outrage" designed to "stop MPs debating Brexit”.

The prorogation eventually ended up before the Supreme Court, which had to consider whether the matter was justiciable, and if so, whether what Bozo and his pals had done was lawful. The Court concluded that the matter was indeed justiciable, and further, that it was unlawful. Therefore, the prorogation was null and of no effect. The advice to the Queen from Johnson was concluded to have been “outside the powers of the Prime Minister”.

Bozo, it seems, tried to run down the clock and force a No Deal Brexit upon the UK, even though he had lost his majority as early as the second day of his premiership. His advice to the Queen had been conveyed by his willing messenger - Jacob Rees Mogg. “Immediate political controversy”, eh?

Rees Mogg is a shameless hypocrite. But you knew that already.

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Mark François Prepares To Shaft Himself

With commendably bad timing, on the eve of Rishi Sunak announcing that he has “got Brexit finished”, and has secured amendments to the Northern Ireland Protocol from the EU, up has popped Mark François (note cedilla under the c), head of the Tory ERG, to tell anyone prepared to listen that he and the DUP are most likely not going to agree to it.

This should come as no surprise at all to Zelo Street regulars: I warned only last weekend that Sunak could not do the deal and hold his fractious party together at the same time. François, in an interview with Sophy Ridge on Sky News, has all but confirmed that warning. Here’s what he had to say about the deal, with my fisking added to show where he diverges from reality.

“They [the DUP] made very plain that they would not sign up to anything until they’ve read the legal text [and] we’re in the same position. What MP worth their salt would vote for something without having read it? [Er, you did] So unless that legal text, when we see it, expunges EU law from Northern Ireland [it won’t, and it can’t], I think it’s very unlikely that the DUP will support it”.

Do go on. “In which case the whole process won’t work [why not? The DUP refused to back the Belfast Accords, and they worked]”. Ms Ridge put it to him that the ECJ would have less of a role, with trade being made easier. “Less of a role is not enough. Just putting a couple of intermediate phases in, in a situation where you still end up with the ECJ, is effectively sophistry”.

It’s what you’ll have to accept. Oh, hang on, he’s not finished. “I mean, we’re not stupid”. You don’t say? Then riddle me this: unless you have a hard border on the island of Ireland, you have to accept some EU law, and some role for the ECJ, because the ultimate arbiter of EU law is the ECJ. And a hard border is an unacceptable price to pay for François’ ERG purity test.

Also, he is stymied by the inconvenient fact that he voted for the Brexit deal presented to Parliament by disgraced and now former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. The Northern Ireland Protocol, which was part of that deal, is what allows some EU law to prevail in Northern Ireland. Did he not read the agreement? Is he not worth his salt?

Worse, Sam Coates pointed out “I’m very struck by ERG Mark Francois to [Sophy Ridge] seizing on James Cleverly saying government will not sign off on NI deal unless they’ve addressed DUP concerns. That’s NOT the government line. They’re pressing ahead without likely agreement … Why did For Sec say this”. Sunak is, ultimately, going to call the ERG’s bluff.

And if Mark François (note cedilla under the c) is the best that the ERG can pony up for the Sunday media round, it very much looks as if Sunak won’t be seriously troubled by the flat earth brigade. The DUP will say NO, slowly, loudly and deliberately whatever happens. But a majority of Northern Irish MLAs backs the Protocol, and will almost certainly back this deal.

So Sunak will already have replacements lined up for ministers who are reported to be on “resignation watch”, such as Steve Baker, recipient of the YBF Golden Dolphin, and Suella Braverman, about whose departure few will care. The only regret will be that it had not happened a lot earlier. François will be harming the career of only one person - that would be himself.

He could stop and think, then read what today’s Observer has told: “Key pro-Brexit Tory MPs suggested on Saturday night they would be prepared to back Rishi Sunak over any ‘sensible’ deal on the Northern Ireland protocol … They said the number of Tories who might vote against the deal, which could be announced to parliament as early as Monday, was likely to be limited to between 20 and 40 hardcore anti-EU MPs”. A split, but manageable.

Labour won’t back the hardliners, and the DUP will be left to continue their impotent ranting. Sunak will get a boost, however temporary, in the opinion polls, and Bozo will be further diminished. The ERG is becoming an irrelevance, just another embarrassing waste of taxpayer funds.

Mark François was for a time, but not for all time. Just rejoice at that news.

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Bozo For Nato - That’s A No-No

Superbly illustrating not only its ability to play Ron Hopeful, but also the incestuous nature of the UK’s right-wing media outlets, the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph told readers in late January that disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was in line to become chairman of the Tory Party, honestly.

“Speaking to Camilla Tominey, The Telegraph’s associate editor, on her GB News politics programme, [Jacob] Rees-Mogg said that it had been a ‘mistake’ to remove Mr Johnson from Downing Street in September. ‘He has all the right attributes for a party chairman… He is charismatic, he rallies the troops,’ Mr Rees-Mogg said. ‘He's a sort of fully loaded Conservative. So I think that type of personality would be a very good one for a party chairman’”.

Unfortunate use of the word “loaded” there. And, to no surprise, it didn’t happen: Greg Hands was chosen instead. It was only the latest in a long line of Tel promotion pieces, following on from the equally ridiculous claim from Christopher “No” Hope last July that Bozo was tipped to lead NATO.

Except that Bozo has taken this non-starter on board, to the extent that he has been prepared to tell the world that he is a candidate to succeed Jens Stoltenberg when the latter steps down later this year. To this end, Johnson told an interviewer from Ukraine the news that no-one with brain plugged in and a hole in their jacksy wants to hear. He was a serious candidate.

“Heading NATO? That's a great idea. You know, it is a very good idea. I want to emphasise, dear friends, that I have this idea, and let no one forget that there is a candidate [for NATO Secretary General] on the line. This time, I think I will be lucky”. But, it was put to him, former Italian PM Mario Draghi had said that someone from an EU member state should get the job.

“I completely disagree with him. I think there are other candidates outside the European Union. It doesn't have to be the EU. I certainly consider myself a candidate. It is a good and important position … And we see quite clearly that Ukrainian membership is a prospect. It has to happen … Putin has debunked all the arguments against Ukraine's accession to NATO. Now they are gone”.

But this time, the Tel, and indeed the rest of our free and fearless press, are keeping schtum about the idea. They have good reason to be so. Because, whatever Bozo may think about his chances, his ability to talk well, but lie badly, would disqualify him. And that would be before the questions over whether he was a security risk, or even a potential Russian asset.

It was back in 2019 that former BBC Panorama man John Sweeney told us about what he called the “Russian Mountain” in Umbria. The south side of that mountain, he observed, was owned by Evgeny Lebedev. “That’s his beautiful Palazzo, Palazzo Terra Nova, and a regular guest … Boris Johnson, first as London Mayor, then as Foreign Secretary”. There was more.

“So, Boris goes to Bunga Bunga parties in Italy. Who gives a damn? I don’t. But, and here’s the rub, MI6 did. What concerned them was not what Boris was doing, but where he was doing it - the Russian Mountain. I have two sources who have told me that MI6 was worried that Boris Johnson, when he was Foreign Secretary, was a security risk”. And more.

“And there’s another thing. On at least one occasion that we know about when Boris Johnson came to Italy, he left his Metropolitan Police protection team back in England … This story has been reported by the BBC and the Sunday Times this summer. The newspaper even quoted a cabinet minister, saying that Boris Johnson, because of his private life, was open to blackmail.”

Do go on. “Then Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister, and silence falls”. Since then, Lebedev has been ennobled - by Bozo. His father Alexander was an officer in the KGB. Except, as the saying goes, there is no such thing as a former KGB officer. What did Bozo let slip at those parties? Do the Lebedevs, and therefore Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, have Kompromat on him?

Every NATO member state has a veto on the appointment of a Secretary General, the opportunity to slip the black ball into the bag, rather than the white one. If Bozo were to push his luck and really try and go for the job, he might find rather a lot of black balls had been pitched against him.

How will his press pals report that onset of reality? Get the popcorn in.

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Sorry We Have No Turnips

Among those Brexit benefits which the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press missed is a shortage of fruit and vegetables, which may last until, well, May. As the BBC has reported, home grown produce will not immediately save the day: “The Lea Valley Growers Association said major UK growers were delaying planting some crops due to high energy costs”.

I'm sorry I haven't a clue

Do go on. “Major UK supermarkets have been placing limits on fruit and vegetable sales after shortages … The government and industry have blamed bad weather in Spain and North Africa for the squeeze”. Except that supermarkets in France, Spain and Portugal are not suffering shortages.

But back to the Lea Valley Growers Association. “Growers there produce around three-quarters of the UK cucumber and pepper crops, and a lot of aubergines and tomatoes … the situation is being made worse by UK producers delaying planting crops this season … They have been put off by high energy costs for greenhouses, and low prices offered by supermarkets for their produce”. So what is our Government doing about this problem?

“Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said on Thursday that shortages could last for a month, but UK growers think it could be for longer”. Like two and a half months. Also, the LVGA reckons “As Spanish and Moroccan produce starts increasing again, growers in those countries are more likely to sell to buyers closer to home”. Less hassle. Better prices.

So fruit and veg is going to cost more - make that even more - on top of all the price rises that have already been passed on to consumers. The Beeb has also noted that their “Basket of 15 food items” has increased in price by 34% over the past two years, with pasta products seeing a 90% rise. So over to Ms Coffey. Would she care to offer some words of reassurance?

The BBC suggested not: “Environment Secretary Therese Coffey has suggested turnips could be a suitable alternative while other vegetables remain in short supply … Ms Coffey told MPs British consumers should ‘cherish’ home-grown produce”. She also suggested that consumers should consider working more hours or looking for better paid jobs.

Not at a supermarket near you, sorry

Any criticism from Rishi Sunak? “Downing Street insisted Ms Coffey had simply been ‘setting out the importance of celebrating the produce that we grow here in the UK … We don't believe it's for us to tell people what they should or shouldn't buy,’ the prime minister's spokesperson said”. On recent poll puts Labour on 50% and the Tories on 22%. No need to ask why.

So let’s consider the humble turnip as a veg alternative. Stu Brooking did just that, consulting the Asda website to find that … they were out of stock. Louis Henwood looked instead at the Tesco site, and found a similar lack of availability. Griff Griffith, who has to have his fruit and veg delivered, got the same result from both Morrisons and Ocado. Yes they have no turnips.

Our Government appears not to have a Scooby Doo when it comes to food security. There has not been the assistance with fuel costs that would have enabled a winter crop grown in glasshouses. Or the realisation that suppliers from southern Europe and north Africa would prioritise the Single Market above those countries which are outside it. No grasp of economics.

What, then, do they think will get them returned by the voters come the next General Election? It certainly won’t be anything in the area of giving a flying foxtrot about the 90% plus who aren’t rolling in the folding stuff. No, next time we go to the polls to elect a Government, the Tories and their press pals will be scaring the crap out of voters by waging an incessant culture war.

And that isn’t good enough. A Government that cares so little about the people it is supposed to look after first should never expect to be ushered back into power, and certainly not when those people have figured out what is going on. A cabinet of clueless and inept nonentities does no more than tell voters to turn up on polling day and usher them out of office for good.

That polling day needs to come sooner rather than later. That is all.

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Shamima Begum - What Have We Become

To the evident satisfaction of those out there on the right - deeply unpleasant former Murdoch editor Kelvin McFilth was especially righteous in this regard - Shamima Begum remains stateless in Syria after her latest appeal was rejected by a semi-secret court. What Mr Justice Jay effectively said was that the Home Secretary is the ultimate arbiter in such cases.

Shamima Begum

Kel sneered “Gary Lineker tweets that the Shamima Begum decision to keep her out of the UK ‘feels very wrong.’ What is ‘very wrong’ is that viewers who disagree with his Lefty position are still forced to fund his £1million BBC pay package. Time to rip up that contract”. Empathy is now a “Lefty position”.

McFilth then blamed Ms Begum for the Manchester Arena bombing. “Much admire teacher Jade Gough, injured in the Manchester Arena bombing, for saying; ‘Those innocent pop fans never came home, why should she.’' Publicly-funded Gary Lineker and Lefty tosser Owen Jones might reflect on Jade’s views and change their nauseating pro-Begum stance”.

Sadly, Kel can’t differentiate between the Middle East and north Africa. But he is brim full of hateful bigotry, an attribute which appears not only to be spreading, especially when combined with racism, but also to be swaying the judgment of politicians who should know better. Like the Labour leader.

Unlike a former leader of the Lib Dems: “If she was white and called Sharon from Manchester, it wouldn’t even occur to the govt to take the passports of somebody ‘obviously’ British” … Ex Lib Dem leader [Tim Farron] says Shamima Begum’s UK citizenship stripping is a “reminder [that] not everyone's equal.” Farron was talking to Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel.

Still on the produce of the Global empire, Matt Harris observed “On Shamima Begum ex-MI6 Chief Sir John Sawers tells [Andrew Marr] ‘I think at some point western countries are going to have take responsibility for their citizens, or former citizens, & deal with them here where we can keep an eye on them & bring them to justice’”. As opposed to abdicating responsibility.

Intolerant then ...

Which is the stance of the current Home Secretary, and that at the time the decision to strip a British Citizen of her citizenship was first taken, accompanied by the lame excuse that, technically, Ms Begum could apply for Bangladeshi citizenship. Except Bangladesh has declined the idea.

So Ms Begum remains stateless, along with the impression being given, as Tim Farron implied, that the Government is getting away with it because she is not white. It was also, as John Sawers told Marr, what looked very much like that same Government is shirking its responsibility in the matter.

Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal put it directly. “Shamima Begum was born here to British nationals, educated here, radicalised here as a child, trafficked (the court accept that) & she is OUR problem & should be tried here … Secret national security concerns need to be heard before that jury … We can’t have second class citizens.” Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy agreed.

“Shamima Begum was born & groomed in the UK and trafficked to Syria as a minor by a western spy [a representative of the Canadian security services] … The Government's choice to strip her of citizenship is a dereliction of duty - It highlights the two-tier citizenship system which now exists in our country”. But Sajid Javid, who took the initial decision, was happy with the result.

Sunny Hundal was not. “1) You condemned an alleged terrorist to live in another country, rather than taking ownership. UK police should have arrested and tried her here in Britain. What if other countries did this to us? 2) You've removed her citizenship b/c of her Bangladeshi heritage - disgusting”.

... and intolerant now

What if Albania found a way to strip some of its nationals of their citizenship while awaiting deportation from the UK? Send them somewhere else, parents born in another country. Other country then refuses to play ball.

That did not, to his shame, sway Keir Starmer, who was lightly grilled on the subject on BBC Breakfast. “I think the court decision yesterday is the right decision … obviously, the court has looked at all of the information, got all the evidence, not only that was available at the time, but all the evidence that’s available since then. National security has to come first, the court’s reached its decision, it’s looked at all the evidence. I support that decision”.

There was more. “And as I say, national security has to come first”. But that wasn’t quite what Mr Justice Jay said: he stressed that our “Constitutional Settlement” meant that the Home Secretary had the power to make the final decision, even though “reasonable people with knowledge of all the relevant evidence will differ”. To no surprise, press intolerance was off the scale.

At the Mail, the odious Sue Reid sneered “Thank heavens Shamima Begum's slick PR blitz - aided by the BBC - has failed to win her the right to return to Britain”. The Murdoch Sun snarks “don’t kid yourself we are yet rid of her for good” and berates “the BBC/Labour/Guardian axis of feeble”.

It is hard to imagine this happening to anyone who was white. Ms Begum should, if there are charges to answer, return to the UK and face justice. She should not be made stateless just to appease the racist right.

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Suella Braverman Goes Full Enoch

After a protest about refugees in Kirkby turned violent, with a Police van being burned out, more far-right gatherings were planned outside hotels alleged to be housing those seeking asylum. That there would be counter-protests was inevitable. So what would a responsible Home Secretary have done? What would a sensible person have done? What would Nietzsche have done?

Sadly, the principle-free opportunist that is Suella Braverman does not operate on that lofty intellectual plane, and instead she offered herself up for interview before the gentle questioning of Liam Halligan on Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) with a message that would all but encourage the far right in their mission to whip up hatred.

Halligan cued her up: “Some have been calling, in the media, those protesters against asylum seekers, perhaps, some would call them illegal immigrants, some have said that those protesters are ‘far right’. Is that a fair characterisation of those protesters?” What say Ms Braverman?

“We are all frustrated with the situation that we are currently finding ourselves in and it is clear and undeniable that there are really serious pressures on communities, and saying so does not make you racist or bigoted … because of the overwhelming numbers of people arriving here illegally, and our legal duty to accommodate them, we are now having to house them in hotels, and that is causing understandable tensions within communities”.

Any condemnation of the violence, and trashing that Police van? But there was more. “Pressures on local resources, and is frankly unsustainable”. So, as it’s on her watch, what’s she going to do about it? But Halligan wasn’t going down that road, although his next question was a good one. “So you support those protesters?” Another opportunity to condemn the violence.

Which, once more, went begging. “I very much understand peoples’ frustrations with hotels being occupied by large numbers of illegal immigrants or asylum seekers”. But, eventually, she addressed the point. “Anyone contemplating violence, harassment or intimidation should desist from doing that. It is not an acceptable way to voice your concern or frustration”.

But the organised far right, and indeed neo-Nazi, protest is not merely saying there are pressures on communities. They are there to whip up hatred, to be violent and thereby legitimise, even normalise, more violence. Small wonder Ian Dunt of the i paper called her “This monstrous moral abyss of a woman”. She had gone full Enoch Powell, but with one big difference.

When Powell gave his infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech in 1968, Ted Heath sacked him from the shadow cabinet. Rishi Sunak shows no sign of sacking Ms Braverman. 55 years on, and an abject failure to condemn gratuitous violence does not even merit a ticking off. But it did earn her fulsome praise from former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage.

As Byline Times political editor Adam Bienkov noted, “Nigel Farage now tipping Suella Braverman as a future leader of a new right wing movement … ‘I think there's a possibility that by 2026 there is a realignment of the centre right in British politics and if there is I think she could be just about the most important player in it.’” But others had seen and heard quite enough.

Brendan May was one of them. “Here you go, far right thugs, a free pass from a Home Secretary who is meant to uphold both the law and public order. Get these dangerous Trumpites out of office or our own January 6th won’t be far off. Shameful legitimisation of racists here. Abysmal.”

Suella Braverman has failed to call out the far right and neo-Nazis, or indeed even to confirm that far right is what they are. She has failed to condemn the violence, preferring instead to just suggest that those thus inclined “desist”. She has failed to condemn the trashing of that Police van, or property more generally. And her party leader has failed to discipline her.

The Tories just green-lit neo-Nazi violence. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

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Nicola Bulley And Selective Editing

Our free and fearless press wanted the world to know that Part 1 of the Leveson Inquiry taught them a lesson which they had learned well: from that point, there would be no more illegal information gathering, no more intrusion into grief, no more use of paparazzi photos, no more defending the indefensible. And if you believe that, I have a Garden Bridge to sell you.

Nicola Bulley

That the press has not changed one jot was underscored by the statement put out yesterday by Lancashire Police on behalf of the family of Nicola Bulley, following the sad news that the body found earlier in the River Wyre was that of the missing woman. The media does not come out of it well.

“We will never forget Nikki, how could we, she was the centre of our world, she was the one who made our lives so special and nothing will cast a shadow over that … Our girls will get the support they need from the people who love them the most”. Then came the part focusing on the press.

“And it saddens us to think that one day we will have to explain to them that the press and members of the public accused their dad of wrongdoing, misquoted and vilified friends and family. This is absolutely appalling, they have to be held accountable this cannot happen to another family”.

Do go on. “We tried last night to take in what we had been told in the day, only to have Sky News and ITV making contact with us directly when we expressly asked for privacy. They again, have taken it upon themselves to run stories about us to sell papers and increase their own profiles. It is shameful they have acted in this way. Leave us alone now”. It wasn’t just the press.

But it was the press who continued to get it in the neck. “Do the press and other media channels and so called professionals not know when to stop? These are our lives and our children's lives”. So let’s mosey over to the Daily Mail, to see just how full their disclosure of the criticism is this morning.

Except it isn’t: all the media criticism has been excised from the Mail’s report. All of it. But there is plenty of unpleasantness being aimed at the cops, following two of their pundits indulging in highly personal attacks on one of the senior officers involved, something Zelo Street covered yesterday.

There has also been a broadside from the deeply unpleasant Dan Wootton, another of those economic migrants like Amanda Bloody Platell without whom the print media would be a less poisonous place. Sadly, the Mail is not the only media outlet censoring that statement to spare its blushes.

As David Challen observed, “Newspapers front pages cover Nicola Bulley, however none (excl The Guardian + the i) report the family's criticism of the media + press … Mail and the i have even gone to the lengths to EDIT the text of the family's statement to omit the worst of their criticism of the press?!”

Professor Brian Cathcart reminded us “Under their ‘Editors’ Code of Practice’ every UK national newspaper makes this promise to the public: ‘In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively”.

Or, in this case, maybe not. And nothing will be done, not by the press, and not even by our elected representatives, so craven and timid have they become in the face of the mafia operation that is the Fourth Estate. Campaigner Evan Harris made this point on the Radio 4 Today programme.

“There’s impunity, effectively. We saw this with Grenfell, we saw this with the Manchester Arena bombing. Every time there’s a tragedy like this, there is criticism of the newspapers and nothing happens. Suella Braverman and Yvette Cooper and Rishi Sunak have criticised the Police. Maybe they’re right, maybe they’re wrong. Will we hear a politician get off their knees to attack the press, the power of the press and their abuse of ordinary people? I doubt it”. Our media class has once again behaved abominably.

But in their own minds, they have done nothing wrong. As with any addiction, those addicted have first to admit their problem. It’s all gone quiet.

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Nicola Bulley - Police Blaming Begins

It was a baffling disappearance: Nicola Bulley, a 45-year-old woman from rural Lancashire, went missing one morning leaving her phone still logged in to a work call, and her dog wandering loose. The disappearance had occurred next to the River Wyre; Police divers searched the river. Ms Bulley was classed as high risk, lending the search rather more urgency.

Nicola Bulley

All the while, the massed ranks of our free and fearless press were on hand to make sure their readers knew that they really cared; what they really meant was that the Fourth Estate was sharpening its cudgels in anticipation of the missing woman being found dead. Then the blame game could begin in earnest. Yesterday a body was found in the river. And the Mail was away.

Although the process of identification has not yet been completed, the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker are readying themselves to dump on the cops. “'It was a body of a woman, there is definitely a body down there': Dogwalker told police searching for Nicola Bulley that dead person in river 'is a woman' - as photo shows awful moment they point to body” they tell.

Read down the article and the preparation for cop blaming is clear. “The investigation into Ms Bulley's disappearance has attracted widespread speculation as well as criticism of the police response … The force came under fire after making Ms Bulley's struggles with alcohol and peri-menopause public three weeks after she vanished”. There was more.

“Lancashire Police faced backlash for ‘wasting’ the first 24 hours of the investigation by not carrying out door-to-door inquiries and jumping to the conclusion Nicola fell into the river … fierce criticism of police for releasing personal health details about Ms Bulley this week, including from Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt and PM Rishi Sunak”. And more.

Getting righteous: Rolf's old pal ...

“Criticism of the force has been mounting since the 45-year-old's disappearance on January 27 … This week police publicly divulged information about Nicola Bulley's battles with alcohol brought on by the menopause - a decision critics blasted as ‘sexist’”. That’s the same paper that invented a malicious story about Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner.

That was the “Basic Instinct” defamation of Ms Rayner, which could not have actually happened. But all this is rather general: isn’t there an individual, a senior Police officer, who the Mail and the rest of the tabloid pack can then latch on to and blame? But you know the answer: Amanda Bloody Platell, who first mentioned the Rayner invention, has already been on the case.

And so it came to pass. “Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith at press conference yesterday - skin tight navy dress, stilettos, poker straightened hair - whatever happened to a cop uniform! Or is she auditioning for Love Island for midlifers. Show some respect for a missing mother!” There was more.

“It was a cocktail frock and wildly inappropriate for such an important circumstance”. Just in case anyone thought this was an isolated occurrence, along has come Petronella Wyatt, another Mail regular and defender of Lady Susan Hussey’s drift into unconscious racial bias. She agrees with Amanda.

... and Bozo's former mistress

“Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith seems to be using Nicola Bulley’s disappearance as a excuse to showcase her toned physique. Who wears a sleeveless dress in February? To those who say, does it matter what people wear to work? Yes, it does, when they are police officers.” There was more.

“Had it been a male detective wearing something slightly unprofessional I would have remarked on it, too. It has nothing to do with her sex. Men and women should not go sleeveless in the office in February. It’s not a [sic] elegant look”. And, just to remind us, she had the best of intentions.

“If the Lancashire Police had done their job, there wouldn’t be mad Tik Tok sleuths trampling all over the ground, and Nicola Bulley’s family would have had some answers. As it is, it’s become a circus. I think of her poor children all the time”. Yes, DS Smith is being lined up for a good press kicking.

Which may well feature a righteous blast from the pundit who brought us “Why I pray my dear friend Rolf [Harris] is innocent” (he wasn’t), and the former mistress of disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. Or it could be anyone from the Mail’s unappealing and obscenely overpaid roster of Opinionistas. Someone must be blamed.

Profiting from someone’s sad death? Thus the sickness that is the Mail.

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