Former Guardian editor and media standards bloviator Alan Rusbridger has been spending his time appearing in broadcast studios and writing articles on his special investigation into GB News. He claims that the channel is “driving a coach and horses through the laws that were put in place to define broadcasting in the UK” and that Ofcom has “more or less given up the ghost”…
Rusbridger seems to have forgotten his own record on media accountability. In 2020 he was appointed to the Irish’s government “Future of Media” commission, which was tasked with upholding journalistic standards. One year later Rusbridger was was forced to resign from it over a piece that Guardian columnist Roy Greenslade had written in 2014 – while Rusbridger was editor…
Greenslade wrote a piece stating that the BBC had been “too willing to accept” a statement from Máiría Cahill, a former Labour Senator, that she was raped by an alleged member of the IRA when she was 16. Rusbridger reportedly said he knew at the time that Greenslade was a supporter of Sinn Fein. In 2021, the issue resurfaced when Greenslade admitted to being “in complete agreement about the right of the Irish people to engage in armed struggle.” Even the Guardian’s “readers editor” said Greenslade “ought to have been open about his position,” and Rusbridger’s successor Katherine Viner said it “was not handled appropriately.“ Something something glass houses…
Reeves and Starmer have so far offered basically nothing in terms of action to lower bills in the face of disruption from the Iran war. But there is something they could do…
The below tax hikes are due to come into force tomorrow. Co-conspirators will notice many of them relate to travel…
The government could cancel them before they take effect. Instead Reeves is bleating about fake price gouging claims and Starmer is hosting infinite Cobra meetings…
Taking effect tomorrow:
BONUS FEATURE. Here are all the taxes coming in from the 6 April…
Alcohol duty went up on 1 February this year. When Reeves tells you there’s nothing she can do on the cost of living…
Downing Street is out hiring for communications staff. There is still no Director of Communications following the departure of Tim Allan…
Two job ads have appeared overnight for two roles:
There have been recent departures at the mid-ranking level from the communications team in Downing Street. Some title inflation going on…
Any applicants need to demonstrate “confidence and expertise to brief the Prime Minister and their senior advisers.” For a salary of £68,558 could you bear speaking to Starmer every day (apart from Friday evenings and most of the weekend)?
Karl Turner is a frequent critic of Starmer and was leading the charge against the Jury trial abolition. He recently accused Morgan McSweeney of telling mistruths when it came to his phone theft. The whips have snapped…
UPDATE: Turner responds: “I am being told that I have had the whip suspended but I have not had any notification from the whips about this. It seems journalists have been told but I have not.” He said last month: “If my parliamentary Labour party chief, Prime Minister, leader of the party or whatever else doesn’t want me in the party anymore, fine. I don’t mind walking and causing a by-election.”
UPDATE II: Labour spinners say the suspension is a result of Turner’s interview with Jody McIntyre, an activist who ran a controversial campaign against Jess Phillips at the last election. Turner, for his part, claims he didn’t know about McIntyre fully when he provided the interview…
Buckingham Palace:
“On advice of His Majesty’s Government, and at the invitation of The President of the United States, The King and Queen will undertake a State Visit to the United States of America.
Their Majesties’ programme will celebrate the historic connections and the modern bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, marking the 250th anniversary of American Independence.
The King will then continue to Bermuda to undertake His Majesty’s first Royal Visit as Monarch to a British Overseas Territory.”
Despite agitation from hacks and activists…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”