January 8th, 2010

Staggeringly Shocking

Guido is frankly surprised with Mehdi Hasan’s latest article In Defence of Ed Balls.  Not that the ‘senior political editor’ of the New Statesman is defending the indefensible, it is his admission that “I don’t know him. Never met him.”

How do you get to be a ‘senior political editor’ of a supposedly serious political journal without ever having met Ed Balls?  Staggering.


112 Comments

  1. 1
    Brown Hater says:

    Never met Ed Balls?

    I’ll bet Balls’ constituents would share the thought…

    • 6
      Expat says:

      One of my ambitions is never to meet Ed Balls

      • 9
        Beezley says:

        Would that no one had ever met him. I do not wish ill on his mum, but she knew not what she was doing when young Eddie popped out.

        • 14
          Piggies are Piggies are Piggies says:

          I’ve never met Brown, Blair, Cameron, Campbell or even Steve Hilton

          But I still know they are all wankers
          And so do most of the public

        • 17
          Road_Hog says:

          Guido, surely you must know by now that politics is not a meritocracy, it’s about who you know not what you can do and your abilities. I’m surprised that you are shocked that someone could be a senior political editor of a left wing rag and having not yet met senior policy makers within the party he writes for.

          • guffaw says:

            Inversely: Guido, surely you must know by now that politics is a meritocracy, it’s not about who you know but what you can do and your abilities.

        • 18
          Richard Manns says:

          As they say in Scotland,

          “You couldn’t love him if you’d reared him.”

        • 41
          what do balls, osbore, fat ken, and mandy have in common - themedia wont give you any clues! says:

          perhaps the anti british, war monger backing creep has been given his orders by ball`s bilderberger pals to pump out more propaganda to go with the rest of the propagda they already pump out on a daily gasis.

          anyone want their children indoctrinated at great cost on global warming – the NWO hoax of the millenium, backed by ALL the mainstreme lib lab con bilderberg riddled parties.

          yep good old dave gets his kicks shoving this global totalitarian lie down our throats with his trillionair puppet masters – er i man pals – the goldsniffs and the interwoven rottenchilds.

          just throw trillionair big ears charlie boy and you have the full house of elitist shits out to destroy you and what`s more you get to pay for it!

          dave, gordon, osbore, balls.

          puppets to the trillionair banking elites each and every one of them.

          meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

      • 15
        Hugh Janus says:

        You beat me to it Expat.

      • 36
        Mr Ned says:

        Mine too expat. I hope never to meet Brown, Blair, Straw, Reid or any of the other ministers that lied us into a war in Iraq either.

        How do you know I have never met them?

        I am not in prison for murder!

      • 62
        BigBoots says:

        My right foot dearly hopes to one day meet Ed’s balls.

    • 83
      Down with Brown! says:

      Guido, give Mehdi Hasan time. He’s a young bloke (29/30?) and actually it’s a strength of his that unlike people like Marr and Toynbee he’s not part of the left-wing/Islington journalist establishment. Mehdi is of the left but he’s a free-thinker. The future of the New Statesman and probably the Guardian too, if they are to avoid bankruptcy, is in writers like Mehdi.

      • 85
        Down with Brown! says:

        Guido, give Mehdi Hasan time. He’s a young bloke (29/30?) and actually it’s a strength of his that unlike people like Marr and Toynbee he’s not part of the left-wing/Islington journalist establishment. Mehdi is of the left but he’s a free-thinker. The future of the New Statesman and probably the Guardian too, if they are to avoid going broke, is in writers like Mehdi.

        • 91
          Animal says:

          You consider it a strength of someone to indulge so heavily in the politics of envy with spite-laden descriptions of siginificant sectors of the population of this country?

          Mehdi is no free thinker, just a bitter, narrow-minded little man who craves control and uniformity and expects it to be applied to all citizens.

        • 103
          goobar says:

          give him time ? sure, how about 25 years for treason ?

        • 104
          pull the other one says:

          He is just another mooslim supremacist. Fuck him, fuck the fucking Guardian, and fuck the pantomime horse they rode in on.

        • 107
          Allan@Aberdeen says:

          He’s not of the left – or even of the right. In islam, there is neither left nor right: only islam, and Hasan is most definitely a muslim.

  2. 2
    Gordons Blownit says:

    Ed tells me to tell you he is the most wonderful person ever.
    He saw the plot off on his own and i won’t be were I am without him ( oh and Pandy Mandy) – so no need to meet him.

    • 94
      Oxman says:

      Interesting to read what the Times has to say about Gordon’s desperate surrender to the pack of wolves we call the Cabinet. It seems that the delay in “support” was not so much deliberate hinting at doubt as an interval during which the pack snarled for a few bones that Brown reluctantly fed them.

  3. 3
    Yvette says:

    What a load of Balls.

  4. 4

    When I play Rugby, I always defend my Balls.
    The device that I employ is called a jockstrap

  5. 5
    Timothy says:

    Can’t agree with Guido on this one; I don’t read New Statesman, and I doubt I’d like Mehdi Hasan even if I knew who he was, yet being required to meet the odious Mr Balls just keep one’s job is a fate I wouldn’t wish one anyone.

  6. 7

    I’ve always understood the title “senior” to mean someone who has a big ego but is too useless to merit a step up the ladder, i.e. being “senior manager” rather than “director”. This would seem to support that theory.

  7. 8
    Desperate Dan says:

    He got the job thanks to positive discrimination in favour of the politically unconnected.

  8. 11
    Throbber says:

    Why would anyone want to meet the odious Ed Balls under any circumstances?
    I can think of one exception… meeting him with the express plan to punch the fucker hard in the face.

  9. 12
    PM says:

    What a pervert.

  10. 13

    Ed Balls is a really mad little c’unt he needs sectioning and boiling in milk

  11. 16
    TonkaTom says:

    Ed Balls always strikes me as a little bit thick.

    His ramblings on Sky News on Wednesday were plain embarrassing and if that the calibre of Brown’s cabinet (think Milband as well) then it’s no wonder the country is screwed.

  12. 19
    DAVE MAN OF IRON(cast iron that is) says:

    He’s probably never met Mr Bean either
    But he sure looks like him !

  13. 21
    Eggo the Ostrich says:

    A quick glance at Balls on the telly is enough to learn everything you’d ever want to know about him.

  14. 22
    Tory Fawkes says:

    Where does one find this list of Politico’s and SpAds you absolutely must meet before you are deemed fit to write about them ?

    I must say this sounds very Westminster insider and the type of thing one would expect from a snooty Lobby journalist not a blogger

    Leaves a bit of an unpleasant elitist taste does it not ?

    • 30
      The IMF is coming says:

      A well known indendent sports radio broadcaster used to commentate live on radio, on matches that they were watching on TV, giving the impression they were there.

      • 46
        Tory Fawkes says:

        Was Mr Fawkes in the Commons yesterday ?

        Has he attended every PMQ’s ? Everyones Party Conference ?

        It’s all very Westminster insider willy waving I’m afraid
        The type of thing sozzled old Westminster hacks and correspondents get round to after hours in their watering holes and just too tedious for words

        A blogger should know better than to start a pissing contest on the subject of namedropping Politicos one has personally met

        • 56
          Al says:

          TF. You have issues, in addition to being a crap troll. Seek help and fit a breathalyzer to your laptop.

          You Fuckwit.

          • Coholic says:

            the tiny twatty tory toddler is back

            did you escape from nanny and find your way to a keyboard again ?

            no cutting and witty ‘you smell’ comeback this time I see
            now run along and watch CBeebies little twat before you embarrass yourself again

  15. 24
    The IMF is coming says:

    By mistake I read the article in question.
    The author can carry on with his ideas: Class war, tax the rich, ignore middle England, Blanchflower etc. Perfect.

  16. 25
    Pass the prozac says:

    Staggeringly shocking article too! What a loon. I can only assume he does not earn £100 +. I’m sure he can voluntarily give some more of his money to this useless government if he wants? Or cut out the middle man and take a load of benefit claiming chavs to the Goucho for dinner?

    Why doesn’t he send lil ‘ol Ed a tweet?

  17. 26
    Sir William Waad says:

    Balls wanted to meet me but I left him dangling.

  18. 27
    Fees Office Clerk says:

    Don’t know him. Never met him. Never want to meet him. Hope he falls over in the snow and lands on his ego.

  19. 28
    DAVE MAN OF IRON(cast iron that is) says:

    Guido Wheres the Caption Contest ?
    There must be some great photo’s around this week

  20. 29
    Spud_Gun says:

    I have to say that the best bit of Ed Balls ran down the crack of his mums arse.

    • 33
      Dr Edvette Cooper-Balls says:

      You’re assuming a hell of a lot there. Who’s to say Ed Balls Mum’s arse has got a crack in it. I’d like a second opinion please. Is there a Doctor on the blog?

      • 53
        Dr Dolittle says:

        I can confirm that, like humans, baboons do have a crack in their arse.

        Does this answer your query?

  21. 31
    Dr Edvette Cooper-Balls says:

    Has Mehdi Hasan got a cleft palate?

  22. 38
    eek says:

    Why on earth would anyone willingly (or even unwillingly) want to meet the odious Mr Balls. While I can see why a political editor should have met him surely bonus points should be awarded for successfully failing to.

  23. 38
    Steven Speilberg says:

    Hey that title of your thread sounds like a great idea fro my latest movie

    “In defence of Ed Balls”

    It’s going to be a blockbuster and I can see Guido & Old Holborn in the lead roles.

    This has made my week-end

  24. 40
    Sir George of Formby says:

    Turned out nice again!

  25. 42
    NJW says:

    I wouldn’t worry too much about not meeting Martin Bormann (Ed Balls) he wont be in his job for much longer so there is little need for Mr Hasan to get to know him.

    • 49
      JH says:

      Balls is more of a Stalin to Brown’s Lenin with Mandelson as Zinoviev and Miliband as Trotsky.

  26. 47
    non-dhimmi says:

    Beware of muzzies in high places.

  27. 50

    [...] ’senior political editor’ of the New Statesman is defending the indefensible, it is his admission that “I don’t know him. Never met him……How do you get to be a ’senior political …Staggering.” Guido [...]

  28. 52
    Anonymous says:

    wont be long now any way, the pickfords van is getting ever closer, has it been booked yet?

    i think it would be nice to have a thread on what things these labour Hunts will go on to do?

    what would balls do for instance or brown?

  29. 54
    DAVE MAN OF IRON(cast iron that is) says:

    Maybe Guido Should ask him Who he has actuall met ?

  30. 55
    gildedtumbril says:

    Who in their right mind would want to meet blinky balls?Or for for that matter any one of the odious, disgusting marxist traitors in government? They all urinate in the same pot and are totally incompetent except for an all-consuming ability to destroy Britain. Damn the bastards, and the MSM.

  31. 57
    Sir William Waad says:

    I’m all in favour of people being moral, but the man who says he is more moral than you is usually lying.

    • 66
      The Ayatollah of Penge says:

      Alal al-haq- haraam hashaq alhaq allam shizoo alllah alhaqistan baked beans innit, al-elhar erruque alhaq. Aleem haq huq Ed Balls, aleen alhaq furrah hareem, child fiddler, azeer al haq New Statesman almeji harqu George Galloway, farah haq alemni haq al zurbi Jews, al haq pigs. Haramaq alhaq allah vermin allahq hqreen haq hiq huqur vote Labour alahu akbar.

  32. 59
    Anonymous says:

    I remember him vaguely when he was at University. As there were two kebab vans in central Oxford, one called Mehdi’s and one called Hassan’s he was known as the Kebab Kid…

  33. 63
    BillyBob ... reduce crime, national debt and carbon footprint, stop immigration? Every little helps! says:

    Hasan was on the box this morning, crap, all nicely nice butter would not melt in the mouth, typical of his type and would turn….very quickly methinks!!

    Hasan was commenting on theis headline in the Mail

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1241503/David-Cameron-aide-arrested-fined-train-ticket-tirade.html

    Mr Hilton, 40, apparently failed to show his ticket as he dashed to get a train from Birmingham after the party’s conference in October 2008.

    Just wondering why this headline and near half page article for something that happened in 2008 should now be hitting the headlines???

    Someone is sh*t stirring???????

    • 80
      Flat Earther says:

      I saw him too not much to say but ethnic token match with wassername made the news look positively cosmopolitan apart from the pitiful content.
      The Hilton article reminds me of a spoof mag I used to read whose front page celebrated such earth shattering news as “40th anniversary of Editor’s wife’s appendectomy followed by a minor news oneliner “World War2 started and finished.”
      Jon Snow was also scraping the borttom of the barrel last night with the same non event he must be further up gordon’s arse than toenails.

  34. 64
    LP says:

    So the Senior Political Editor of the New Statesman is someone who thinks the vast majority of his readership are ‘stupid kaffirs’ and ‘infidels’.

    And the Labour voting readers just lap it up. LOL

    • 65
      Ken says:

      What do you expect from self-hating, white, middle-class, PC, Guardian reading idiots?

      • 69
        jgm2 says:

        Socialism has manifestly failed so they’ll be on the lookout for a new religion. If you told the dumb fuckers to start building pyramids and worshipping cats they’d be out there tomorrow proclaiming ‘It’s the right thing to do’.

        Vacant minds with too much time.

        Jackasses.

        • 70
          Jon says:

          These dumb socialist fucks do whatever their Frankfurt School masters tell them. That’s why they call them “cattle”.

        • 99
          Ruth Kelly's plaything says:

          Nah, jgm2 – they aren’t idle, not while there’s the altar of Global Warming to worship at. Pushed hard enough it could have the desired effect – of causing the collapse of capitalism.

  35. 72
    JK says:

    I hear Iris Robinson (age 60) is looking for a new toyboy.

    Are you interested, Guido?

    She’ll set you up in your own cafe using taxpayers money, if you’re interested.

    • 87
      Iris - low fat spread says:

      Probably driven mental by all that shagging over the sandwich counter.

    • 101
      BillyBob ... reduce crime, national debt and carbon footprint, stop immigration? Every little helps! says:

      Absolutely disgusting, I am offended and sickened…… but probably increased the sales of KY Jelly in NI !!

      Hope when I get to 60 I can find a 19 years old LBFM :)

  36. 73
    Raving Loon says:

    Mehdi Hasan is the 2nd only to Polly for being an awful, wholly backward minded journalist. Their understanding of economics is that of a 5 year old.

  37. 78
    Sir Trev Skint MP says:

    Can I just say I have never met Mehdi Hasan!

  38. 79
    Down with Brown! says:

    I used to know Mehdi Hasan a bit and liked him. He was a great guy to argue with. He has opinions on everything. Good luck to him, he is one of the very few New Statesmen writers who is interesting to read.

  39. 81
    Down with Brown! says:

    The crux of his argument is against violence. Like I say below, I used to know Mehdi a bit a decade ago and he is most definitely not an extremist.

  40. 86
    Balls - a study in ugliness says:

    There must have been a lot of Nazi’s that never met Hitler,too

  41. 88

    Would YOU want to meet Ed Balls? Except, that is, to push his piggly little nose back into his piggly little face?

  42. 89
    Lola says:

    Not ‘stagering’ at all. Completely unsurprising for the lefty press and the culture of deceit.

  43. 90
    Lola says:

    Not ‘staggering’ at all. Completely unsurprising for the lefty press and the culture of deceit.

    (Corrected spelling versions – apologies)

  44. 96
    Anonymous says:

    Don’t agree that you need to meet Balls just in order to write about him.

    Talking to other people who’ve met him and/or being able to read, and having the ability to think are surely the only pre-requisites?

    Following the headline logic, if you wanted to write an article about Hitler then you’d be disqualified from doing so unless you’d met him.

    Does willie walsh have a pilot’s license? If not, then how can he be in charge of BA if he doesn’t know how to fly a plane himself?

    That’s not to say that Mehdi Hasan isn’t a twat or incompetent, he may well be, I don’t know, just that the reasoning behind the logic is flawed.

    Now, if you’d said that Brown shouldn’t have been in charge of the economy/country because he doesn’t understand basic maths/economics and is a bullying lying sociopathic fuckwit, then I’d agree, even though I haven’t met him, I’ve read enough and heard enough from him to know that it’s true.

    • 100
      Ruth Kelly's plaything says:

      I believe Willie Walsh actually was a pilot before they took him off really responsible work.

  45. 98
    Ruth Kelly's plaything says:

    Mehdi Hassan: serious delusions of superiority from one whose chums think it’s OK to murder innocents on tube-trains and airliners.

    Pillock.

  46. 102
    Roger Rigid says:

    Inexperienced crap journalists.
    Still, they’re cheap!

  47. 105

    Simple answer to that, he probably hasn’t met any of them.

    Gets his lead in stories from this blog :-)

  48. 108
    alex taylor says:

    well he does have a great british name… Mehdi Hasan? and no l don’t think his promotion was a politically correct move , things like that don’t happen here ……do they???? ……….like fuck !!!!

  49. 109
    harpic says:

    He only said that to draw attention to himself normally with that skin colouring he would be ignored – quite rightly. Too much sun has addled his thought processes.

  50. 110

    The way these New Immigrants are treating Brits, just look at the Isle of Man and Health Charges, according to ogue Gunner we will soon have to invade our own country to get it back.
    Me being of dubious Celtic stock I was wondering if we were any good at raping and piilaging? As long as I don’t have to fuck a Labour supporter. They’ve fucked everything in record time, twelve short years. It took my ancestors hundreds…
    Immigrants: Howard, Johnson, Miliband Bliar, if only U check…

  51. 111
    khomeni is us says:

    if you listen or watch that creepy gordosucker yvettey cooperballsperson u know mr bollox…anyone that could stomach that smarmy twattess must be a creepy birdbrain….. and herr hasan..just tell him to fuck off back to teatowelshire

  52. 112
    Willsteed says:

    He probably came here in the back of a lorry.

    How can I say this politely. Fuck off back to where you came from, our country will be the better for it.



Another Twittish Tweet from Kerry McCarthy | BBC 
What’s the Point of Our Anti-Business Secretary? | Ruth Porter
HuffPo Hiring Pro-Iranian Mehdi “Act of Desperation” | Fox News
Krugman is Seductive, Simplistic and Unrealistic | Jeremy Warner
Lower Taxes, Higher Growth, the Statistical Evidence | CPS
Bash the Unions, Gatecrash the Quangos | ConservativeHome
I Told You So: Euro is Doomed | Douglas Carswell
PM Speaks for the Nation When Bashing Balls | Quentin Letts
Time for an Alliance | Dan Hannan
Farage’s Plan | ConservativeHome
Guardian Open News is a Failure | Heather Brooke
Balls Calls for Deeper Cuts | Speccie
Lessons from the Thirties | CPS
PMQs Idiots | Harry Cole
Jon Cruddas is Not the Messiah | Dan Hodges

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Peter Botting



Lord Lamont told ITV News…

“I think the PM is just human and Ed Balls is a pretty irritating person”



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