If you’re about to launch yourself into an almighty rant about people you do not like being “inept” , it’s probably a good idea to make sure you get your facts right. Guido meant to complete this take down of Tuscany’s finest earlier, but got distracted. Polly Toynbee’s diatribe this morning was riddled with more mistakes than she owns houses. The entire premise of the article was a half-time review of the coalition, which Polly states is tomorrow, it seems pretty much everyone else disagrees. The Guardian‘s very own Patrick Wintour set it at  the beginning last month. He even wrote his own half time report…

She talks of “cutting into a slump has killed demand, paralysed investment and choked off growth”, wilfully blind to the fact that the ONS say retail was up 1.6% in October on the year, and 4.9% since 2010. Consumer confidence is also up – seven points in one month – and the UK currently enjoys the highest business confidence in the EU. It’s hardly much to write home about, nevertheless you could be forgiven for thinking Polly is ignoring the fact that GDP increased by 1% in Q3. Note that she can’t explain what is going on with the employment figures either.

Polly concludes: “This is the world of Smythson of Bond Street, headed by Cameron’s wife”. A basic fact-check from a sub would have thrown up the fact that SamCam quit “heading up” Smythson in May 2010. The whole thing is wrong from top to bottom.

Did anyone even read it before it went to print?

Read about the Huffington Post’s latest hypocritical sexism…

…only on Media Guido.

“There’s been an awful lot written about women’s bodies recently” wrote Carla Buzasi, the editor of Huffington Post UK, on her own site in September:

“All in all, that’s a lot of column inches devoted to fatness, thinness and everything in-between. No wonder we’re all so f*cked up about our figures. The fascination with bodies, celebrity or otherwise, isn’t exactly something new, of course, and shows no sign of abating. But here’s a thought: why don’t we just stop? Stop obsessing about the latest fad diet that doesn’t work. Stop gossiping over how many pounds the new Hollywood mother has gained/lost and in how much time. Stop trying to analyse why we care so much, and who we care for because it doesn’t appear to be the opposite sex…”

You’ll never guess what the Huffington Post UK are going with today:

“Natalie Cassidy has unveiled her new body after dropping two dress sizes, and doesn’t she look great? The former ‘EastEnders’ star has had a well publicised battle with her weight over the years, but she has now proudly showed off her new slimline figure on the pages of Now magazine. Speaking of her one stone, two pound weight loss, she told the magazine she felt ‘so much sexier’ after sticking to a 1,200 calorie-a-day diet and cutting out the carbs. What’s been amazing is I was my own diet boss so there was nothing faddy about it.Since having my daughter I’m not obsessed with being thin any more. My ultimate goal was to look curvy, toned and fit,” she added. Natalie, who shrunk to a just 7st 12lb in 2007 after making her infamous fitness DVD, has fluctuated with her weight since. I’ve never liked my body and those issues are still there, but I do feel sexier now,” she said. “My partner Adam asks me why I’m suddenly walking around the house in skimpy underwear!”

Seems Carla does not have control over her own website. She could put a stop to all this…

Those averse to the current Prime Minister’s penchant for u-turns better hope his successor doesn’t turn out to be the Mayor of London. Earlier this year Boris signed the People’s Pledge for an in/out EU referendum. Last month he was all change, backing Dave and insisting there was no need for a plebiscite. Today Boris wants us to pull out of the political part of the union with Europe, staying in the single market. We don’t know what he thinks, and it’s starting to look like he doesn’t either.

It seems that Boris takes his political vows as seriously as his wedding ones…

Helen Grant may have sacked her part time researcher/husband in the wake of a turning over by Dispatches for her expenses and property rent-swapping, but the Equalities Minister is not out of trouble yet. Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle Price has humiliated her fellow 2010 Tory by refusing to share a platform with her at an event in constituency. Grant was visiting the town hall and Doyle put the boot in:

“I only heard she was coming on the grapevine, but chose not to go as I disapprove of Helen Grant’s expense claims and I don’t really wish to be associated with that kind of behaviour.”

Nice to see principles before party politics for once.

It’s that time of year again: Guido has drawn up his Christmas naughty and nice list. The naughty column of MPs who will be lucky to receive any seasonal goodwill are made up of those who signed George Eustice’s letter calling for statutory regulation of the press, those who spoke in favour of legislation in the debate yesterday and those who have otherwise supported shackling the press via statute.

Over in the nice column are the MPs who signed Conor Burns’ letter in defence of press freedom, those who stood up to Leveson’s key recommendation in the House yesterday and those who have backed the press over the state on other occasions. Most have remained oddly quiet…

We will be updating the list this afternoon so get in touch with any more suggestions…

Victims of press abuse are currently stood outside Downing Street as editors file in to discuss #Leveson.—
Hacked Off (@hackinginquiry) December 04, 2012

Victims outside No.10 in the
Cold whilst Editors warm
& cosy inside with PM #nochangetherethen—
JohnDickinson-Lilley (@HackedOffJDL) December 04, 2012

Apparently ‘collateral victims of phone hacking’ are holding a ‘vigil’ outside Downing Street. Funny that they forgot to mention that the well-funded lobbying group got their own private meeting with all three of the party leaders last week. In the warm etc…

Guido cannot fault Jonathan Reynolds’ taste. The Labour MP told the House last night:

“Some of my favourite media sources are those that feature very different politics to mine. I like reading The Spectator and Guido Fawkes’s blog. I find them entertaining because they are witty and well written, and they do not simply mirror my own politics back at me. We want a lively press.”

Not so much with Reynolds’ red colleague Jim Dowd, who went off on one at those that will not bow to a state regulator:

“What these people are basically saying is that they are above the law. This parliament, the British public, can say what they like. If it does not meet their approval, they will not abide by it. That is the calibre, that is the type of people we’re dealing with and we cannot trust them to act in the public interest.”

Needless to say, the Spectator have had a thing or two to say about that. Guido is currently working on his “naughty and nice list” for this year. Sadly not many members actually turned up for yesterday’s debate so it’s tough to get an accurate picture. Despite that groundswell of public support for the topic…

Dr Sara Payne is pretty hacked off:

“We all want the same thing — a free and fair Press — and I think we need to debate the right way to do this. While I have been mistreated by the Press, I certainly don’t believe in statutory controls. The Press needs to get its house in order and not only be subject to new rules and regulations, but also have a moral high ground to aspire to.
It is important that celebrities and MPs, whose own moral shortcomings may have been exposed by the Press, are not allowed to hijack this vital overhaul.”

Last night during the Leveson debate Chris Bryant brought up the issue of how did Murdoch’s New York Post and Sun newspapers obtain the famous picture of Saddam in his pants?

Clearly they paid someone a bung. Is it evidence of systemic corruption? Not really, it was opportunistic and reputedly cost about as much as Bryant gets paid for his Indy column. Is Chris Bryant, a public servant, corrupted by being in the pay of an ex-KGB media mogul? Of course not. Is the prison guard, a public servant, any more corrupted being in the pay of a different media mogul?

Perhaps he has another motivation for feeling so much sympathy for a fellow politician humiliated in his underpants? Well, Chris?