Good news – the government’s moronic, illiberal, impracticable and illegal plans to shut down social networking sites during times of crisis have been thrown out the window. Theresa May met with the bosses of Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry today where it was made clear that the plans had been abandoned. Exactly how anyone could think for a second that this country had any jurisdiction over an American or Canadian company beggars belief. However the idea was heavily briefed regardless.
When a feral group of looters wanted to secretly destabilise the establishment, without getting caught out, they reverted to Blackberry Messenger. Encrypted, untraceable and discreet – no wonder it was also, back in the day, the favourite means of communication between Cameron’s Shadow Cabinet.
Given that a large chunk of the BBC staff are being sent to Manchester against their will as part of the Beeb’s politically correct, and spectacularly wasteful, relocation to “Media City”, jokes about the city from senior staff have not gone down well:
http://twitter.com/#!/WilliamsJon/status/106700859190149121
Foreign Editor Jon Williams has apologised, but only to his Mancunian pals. Not the legions of staff forced to move there.
Were you on a flight from Edinburgh to Geneva yesterday? Gordon Brown was, presumably on the way to speak to his comrades at the International Labour Organisation. Unfortunately for him though, so were travelling Celtic fans on their way to tonight’s match against Swiss side FC Sion. This bunch are not known for their tact:
http://twitter.com/#!/eyespymp/status/106426005618556929
Guido has been racking his brains to what those chants might have been. Thoughts?
Time and time again Guido finds himself asking why Ken Livingstone bothers to open his mouth. What was the point of that silly Boris is Hitler reference? What was the point of the silly in joke of putting Boris’s house on his website? And as Andrew Gilligan points out, what is the point of all this little medical references to how fit and healthy is? In that interview with Total Politics, Ken claimed “I still don’t need glasses.” But this just isn’t true now is it:
Why bother trying to pretend?
Hat-tip: Milo Yiannopoulos
Former Express hack turned Policy Exchange wonk-spinner Gabriel Milland is off to the Department of Education to be their Head of News. This is their second high profile recruitment from “the movement”, with former Taxpayers’ Alliance / Westbourne PR man James Frayne going to head up the Department of Education spin operation in February.
Quite a little empire Gove is building…
When even Nick Clegg is calling for you to be locked up, you know you are in trouble. The Deputy Prime Minister told Scottish radio yesterday:
“My personal view is that I would like to see al Megrahi behind bars, because whatever you think, he was convicted in a court of law for one of the most atrocious terrorist acts this country has ever seen…”
Apparently it’s a decision for the Scottish executive alone though. Just like the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber…
After the humiliation of their flag being waved in Gaddafi’s compound upon Megrahi’s return, the Scots have a chance to do the right thing. Leaving aside whether appearing at a murdering dictator’s last stand constitutes good behaviour, part of the release conditions state that Megrahi must be in regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council. But he’s gone AWOL:
http://twitter.com/#!/SkyScot/status/106626825375055872
Find him and cuff him. For a full independent medical at the very least…
