Earlier this month panicked reporting from The Guardian’s environment desk predicted that the “nature-friendly farming budget is set to be slashed” at the Spending Review. The Guardian must be well sourced on eco-matters – unless…
A half-billion cut was reported to be on the way:
“However, the entire farming payments budget including the EU acreage payments which were being phased out was £2.4bn, so looks like £400m a year cut.”
This prediction was later amended to a £400 million a year cut by the last year of the spending review. Scrambling…
DEFRA released a document yesterday going into the details of the funding settlement it had reached with Reeves. No surprise: the Chancellor kept subsidies up…
Combining tree funding along with some other measures and the total cut is a small £100 million. The Guardian was forced to publish all of the subsidy-guzzling farming groups favourable statements on the settlement: “Nature and farmers’ groups cautiously welcome spending review as there were fears Treasury wanted bigger cuts.“ Neglected to mention that the ‘fears’ were entirely manufactured by them…
The Guardian is busy promoting its main exclusive story today: “NATO rearmament could increase emissions by 200m tonnes a year, study finds.” A corker…
Apparently the costs of responding to armed threats to the West are doubled by the resulting “climate action.” Miliband will be reading closely…
“For every dollar invested in new hardware, there is not only a corresponding carbon cost but also an opportunity cost to potential climate action, critics say.”
The Guardian’s report has only looked at NATO countries. Russia and China are off the hook…
“Recent estimates of the social cost of carbon – a monetary indicator of the damage of CO2 emitted – put it at $1,347/tCO2e, suggesting the annual cost of Nato’s military buildup could be as much as $264bn a year.”
Naturally the recommendation will be that western allies should pay for a carbon offset for every rifle they buy from now on. Clown show latest…
After weeks of constant stories on Attorney General Richard Hermer, the defence operation is shifting into gear. And where else to put it than the Guardian…
The paper quotes ‘senior government figures’ who are “baffled by the attacks complain that attacks and the implicit suggestion that the government should be less concerned about following the law.” They complain that briefings about the AG are “deeply unfair“:
“If you were a member of the cabinet who wanted to know how to deliver on this government’s missions while also navigating the law, you couldn’t ask for someone with more ability.”
The spin won’t convince many. Hermer, who has earned himself the nickname among some SpAds of “the F*cking Lawyer,” is causing constant frustration across numerous departments with his politics-cum-law obstructionism. Which is seen to run directly against the newest reset…
The crux of the Guardian piece is that attacks on Hermer are attacks on the PM himself:
‘Insiders believe Hermer has become a sort of cipher for the prime minister and his approach… “I think there is some proxy work going on – having a go at the big man by having a go at [Hermer],” a well-connected senior Labour figure said.’
That is a clear cease-and-desist warning shot to those venting their frustration at Hermer. ‘Attack my mate and you attack me’…
One Downing Street source tells Guido the PM is the only senior figure currently offering Hermer support. That is not to say that co-conspirators should expect the AG to go anytime soon. Despite feeling “beleaguered” Guido is told Hermer “sees this as a vocation and he can just ignore the brickbats.” If the “blocker not builder” keeps it up the expectation of some in SW1 is that he will start seriously butting heads with Morgan McSweeney. At which point, one government figure tells Guido grimly, “Morgan always wins”…
The virtue signalling response of many leftists to Elon Musk’s breakout role as an unofficial Trump advisor has been to quit X. This is nothing other than welcome for X users, who are finally getting a break from accounts such as The Guardian…
The exodus of leftists have mainly embraced an alternative platform called Bluesky Social. Among them is Stop Funding Hate – the lefty campaign group that attempts to silence media it doesn’t like – such as the Daily Express, Daily Mail and GB News – by targeting its advertisers. Over on Bluesky, Stop Funding Hate is regularly sharing content criticising Elon Musk and X. Meanwhile, it continues to utilise X itself to promote its own campaigns, of course…
Hypocrisy isn’t unfamiliar to Stop Funding Hate. Its 2023 accounts show its financial income dropped from £107,000 to £74,000, yet at the same time, its sole remunerated director enjoyed a 27% pay rise. Clearly, “go woke, go broke” doesn’t apply…
After the approval by the Scott Trust – which owns the Guardian Media Group – of the sale of the Observer to James Harding’s Tortoise Media last week nerves are far from calming. 125 Guardian and Observer staff have penned a letter – published on the Guardian website – accusing Scott Trust chairman Ole Jacob Sunde of being far from accurate in his claim that the sale of the paper was agreed only after “extensive internal and external consultation.” The staff were having none of it:
“There were no conversations with Observer staff prior to a decision to explore selling the Observer. Observer journalists have not been involved in due diligence relating to the transfer. Several Scott Trust directors have refused to speak to senior Observer staff, including the editor, or simply ignored our approaches. The deal was approved while journalists were on strike… Key questions have been left unanswered. We were told that the rationale for the transfer is that the Scott Trust would never invest in the Observer; why, then, has £5m been found to underwrite Tortoise in exchange for a less-than 10% stake of this company?
Guardian hacks note that putting the Observer behind a paywall would mean the site would only be “accessed by a tiny fraction of that readership.” Striking hasn’t done the job – are principled resignations on the way?
An email has just gone out to all staff at the Guardian and Observer. Deal’s done…
“Dear all,
I wrote to you earlier this week to let you know that the Scott Trust has been reviewing the ownership structure for the Observer over the last few months. Earlier this week, I set out the criteria the Trust has been taking into account to reach a decision. I believe they have now been met.
With that in mind, we have now in principle approved the sale of the Observer to Tortoise Media.
These are the principles we were guided by during the negotiations:
- The Scott Trust to stay on as a part-owner of the Observer
- The Observer to have secure and sustainable, long- term funding
- Other owners of the title to take a long-term view of their investment
- All owners to embody the values of editorial independence, press freedoms and liberal journalism that have been part of the Observer’s ethos since we bought it in 1993.
- The Observer to be governed by a mature board structure, with a role for the Scott Trust on the Tortoise Media editorial and commercial boards
Collectively we have thought long and hard about this decision.”
All that’s left is for the Guardian Media Group and James Harding’s Tortoise Media to sign on the dotted line. The strikes didn’t work then…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
